Boston to require hybrid taxis by 2015.

BOSTON – Boston is joining some other cities in requiring taxis to switch to low-emission vehicles.

Mayor Thomas Menino announced Friday that Boston taxi owners will need to make the change by 2015. He called it “an essential step” in improving air quality.

New York and San Francisco are requiring taxis to convert to hybrids and other low-emission vehicles by 2012.

The president of the Boston’s Independent Taxi Operators Association, Marckinson Charles, tells The Boston Globe his group of about 360 taxi owners isn’t ready to move to hybrids. Aside from the cost, he said, drivers feel hybrids such as the Toyota Camry don’t have enough trunk space.

Boston officials also approved a taxi rate increase to offset rising fuel costs.

http://www.seacoastonline.com:80/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080830/NEWS/80830002/-1/rss95

A Manners Mall re-think for Wellington.

Pedestrian-only Manners Mall could be transformed into a road for buses in a radical rethink of Wellington’s city centre.

Wellington City Council’s proposal would let buses travel in both directions through the mall, linking Courtenay Place to Willis St.

It is a back-to-the-future plan, as buses would take the same route they followed till the late 1970s when Manners Mall was created.

Several traffic lights would be bypassed, making bus travel quicker and more reliable.

Motorists and pedestrians would have faster journey times as intersections shared with buses would be reduced.

Sections of Manners St would also be altered under the proposal, which would make buses travelling in opposite directions use the same streets.

The public transport corridor created would be suitable for a light rail system, as suggested in the Ngauranga-to-airport study.

The mall’s public space could be replaced by small squares outside McDonald’s and Burger King.

About 50 new on-street car parks would be created along bus-free Dixon, lower Cuba and Wakefield streets. Mercer St would also be bus-free, and part of it could be used for a new public park linked to Civic Square.

The preferred option is one of four contained in the council’s Golden Mile bus priority plan, which includes participation from Greater Wellington regional council and New Zealand Bus.

The partly completed draft plan was revealed yesterday after lobbying by city councillor Jo Coughlan saw the council ditch a decision for bus lanes along Courtenay Place.

Mayor Kerry Prendergast said the changes would work alongside the new Snapper ticketing system and the proposed real-time bus timetable system to cut city centre travel times.

“It has the side-effect in Manners Mall of turning a space that does not work, and hasn’t worked for a long time, into a space that will work.”

Andy Foster, the council’s urban development and transport portfolio leader, said more work would be done to ensure benefits for shopkeepers.

“But the 50 car parks that this plan would create is significant. It would be the biggest improvement in on-street parking that we have had for yonks … probably decades.”

How many travelling minutes the new route would shave off bus and car journeys through the city had not been established.

The proposal’s cost is not yet known, but the biggest expense would be installing overhead trolley wires. Funding would be sought from organisations including the New Zealand Transport Agency. Fees from the extra car parks would also contribute.

Evaluations will continue before the draft goes before councillors on October 9. The public will also be consulted.

NZPA.

Taxi driver shaken after altercation.

A female taxi driver was left “extremely shaken” after being slapped, spat at and threatened by a male passenger in Oamaru on Sunday morning.

She called for assistance and the man was restrained by other taxi drivers until police arrived.

A 21-year-old Oamaru man will appear in the Oamaru District Court on September 3 charged with assaulting a female and threatening grievous bodily harm, Sergeant Wayne Brew said.

The man threw a sandwich in the driver’s face, slapped her in the face five or six times, spat at her and threatened to cut her throat, Sgt Brew said.

When contacted, Murray Bell, from Whitestone Taxis, said one of the two other passengers – both females – had asked the taxi driver to stop so she could be sick.

The driver stopped and said she would not take them any further.

The women were “perfectly reasonable” but the man became abusive, he said.

• A 54-year-old North Otago man was charged with dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and failing to stop after a police pursuit which started at Katiki on Sunday afternoon.

A police officer went to stop the vehicle, which was checked driving over the speed limit, and the vehicle accelerated.

At one stage, the patrol car was doing about 170kmh and was not gaining on the man.

He was stopped after about 4km, Sgt Brew said. 

http://www.odt.co.nz:80/the-regions/north-otago/19469/taxi-driver-shaken-after-altercation 

Text-A-Taxi.

DUBAI — Getting a taxi in Dubai is now just an ‘SMS’ away.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Monday introduced taxi stand (rank) numbers, modelled on the Singapore taxi service system, for different locations. The passenger could send an SMS to the toll-free number 4774 mentioning the number of the taxi stand where he or she is waiting, said Abdul Aziz Malik, CEO of Dubai Taxi.

The majority of taxi drivers now find it difficult to track down the locations of the passengers, ultimately resulting in long and frustrating waiting.

Malik explained the ‘taxi ranks’: The authority has given rank numbers to 54 locations or taxi stands in various congested areas of the emirate; every stand will have an area code. A passenger waiting for a cab in a particular stand will have to SMS to 4774 the area code, which would be mentioned on the boards installed at each stand. “The passenger would receive an acknowledgement message from the RTA and a taxi would pick the passenger up from the exact spot within minutes.

For instance, Rank No. 1 stands for Century Mall in Al Mamzar, 2 for Al Hamriya Shopping Centre in Hor Al Anz East, and 3 for Abu Hail Centre in Hor Al Anz East.

Altogether, 54 areas have been earmarked as taxi stands in the emirate. Each stand will have an information board listing the rank numbers and respective areas, the SMS number and the toll-free booking numbers of all taxi companies operating in the emirate.

“If a passenger does not find a cab at any of the stands, he/she can also call up any of the dispatch centres of any taxi company and give the rank number to the customer service agent.

“The RTA will track the nearest taxi and give the driver the message. The GPS meter system in the taxis will have the information about all rank numbers and the locations. The driver will not have to search for a particular location and could reach the exact spot easily,” Malik said.

This would drastically reduce the waiting time for the passengers,  Essa Al Dossari, CEO of the Public Transport Agency, said.

“The people will be informed about the rank numbers and locations through media campaigns. This is just Phase -1 and the next phase will see more areas included.

“There is no fixed number of taxis for each rank. The driver, who is the nearest, would be contacted and asked to go to the particular stand. Taxis would also be waiting for passengers at some stands like in the shopping malls, hotels etc,” he said.

New taxi booking system hailed

 

DUBAI — Anuj Narayan, a resident of Dubai, welcomed the new SMS taxi booking system.

“I had not got taxis even after booking them over the phone on several occasions. This system can help mitigate the current situation. Moreover, with five dispatch numbers in place, people can now heave a sigh of relief,” he said.

Shaukat Alam, another Dubai resident, said, “The system sounds good, but some areas are very large. How will a person reach any of the taxi stands in the area? The RTA must now increase the number of taxi stands from where passengers could board. The big areas should have more stands.”

“Many taxi drivers don’t attend to the messages. Some don’t go to the passengers even after receiving the messages. The RTA should end this practice. Introduction of more dispatch numbers is welcome. With only one number earlier, people had to wait for a long time to get through the number,” said Shayantani Shankar, who lives in Bur Dubai.

FOR A SMOOTH RIDE

54 taxi ranks in different locations of the emirate; the number to increase in a later phase

These taxi stands are in congested areas where finding a taxi is very difficult

Passenger can SMS the rank number to 4774 after which he/she will get a notification and a taxi will reach the stand shortly

 The number of the existing dispatch system 04-2080808

The numbers of four new dispatch centres: 800-272242 for Arabia Taxi, 600-543322 for National Taxi, 800-227789 for Cars Taxi, and 600-566000 for Metro Taxi

Dubai Taxi has 3,906 taxis in its fleet; the total number of cabs with the other four franchise companies is around 7,000

1,200 more taxis on Dubai roads by year-end; another 1,000 by 2009.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com:80/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=&section=theuae&xfile=data/theuae/2008/August/theuae_August379.xml

Waterford Taxis protesting against deregulation.

 A selection of photos taken over the past 8 years at different taxi protests.

http://irishtaxiindustry.coolforums.org/

Submitted by Dave Davew.

Police pressure Melbourne taxi drivers to take home drunks.

TAXI drivers are furious at being made by police to ferry drunk troublemakers from the city so authorities do not have to arrest them.

Police are bundling drunks into taxis to get them off the streets, because of a culture of minimising arrests and a lack of city cells to cater for drunks.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said today on Radio 3AW that taxi drivers were not compelled to take the fares.

But Victorian Taxi Drivers Association president Arun Badgujar said cabbies were being ordered to take home drunks even if they initially refused.
Many drivers feared for their safety, he said.

“Drivers have spoken to me and said they told police, ‘No I don’t feel safe. I don’t want to take them’, and police have pushed the driver and said, ‘No you have to take them because it is your job to take them’.” Mr Badjugar said.

“We have a situation where the driver fears for his safety and refuses to take the fare and the police are actually making them take the fare.’’

“The solution is not to just dump drunks in a car by themselves with a driver’’

“Police have all the training, experience and accessories to protect them and they are still ready to put these people in a car and make the cabbie go through all the trauma.’’

Victorian Taxi Association executive officer for policy David Samuel said putting drunks in taxis to clean up the streets was the wrong message to be sending police.

“It’s just shifting the problem from one place to another and making it a personal problem for the cab driver’’ Mr Samuel said.

“We don’t see ourselves as a service for the refuse of society to get them home.’’

Mr Brumby said it was up to police to decide how to handle city drunks, but he had no problem with drunks being taken off the streets.

“It’s a matter for police. They will make judgments if they think that somebody has had too much to drink,” he said on 3AW radio this morning.

“It’s my understanding that if they’ve got money on them they put them in the cab, give the money to the driver and say ‘take them home’.”

While senior police have said the culture exists because there aren’t enough cells available, Mr Brumby said police have been given extra powers under the Safer Streets Taskforce, including banning notices.

He said hundreds of bans had been put in place.

“We are cleaning up the streets,” Mr Brumby said.

“I believe we are getting on top of a problem caused by people drinking too much and the hundreds of thousands of people in the city on the weekend.”

He said he believed there was sufficient capacity in city cells, but the use of taxis had more to do with effective use of police time and resources.

Yesterday Police Commissioner Christine Nixon also told Radio 3AW that the practice was an efficient use of police resources.

“What we’re trying to do with people is if they’re with friends is get them out of the city and get them home.

“If there are taxis close by we get them in a taxi and send them off.

“Arrest is an option for some people, but it is not an option for everyone and so we’re just trying to get them out of the way and off the street.”

 

http://www.news.com.au:80/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24205323-661,00.html

Green Cabs NZ joins United Nations scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

   

18 August 2008 – The European branch of the world’s largest car maker, Toyota, today became one of six companies to join the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net), a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) initiative bringing together organizations which pledge to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  

 

Toyota Motor Europe is the first car manufacturer to join CN Net, a web-based network pooling the resources of governments, local authorities, private companies and individuals to make large cuts to their carbon footprints or even neutralize them.

“The participation of a major company like Toyota is a sign that private companies are increasingly playing their part on the road to a low-carbon society,” said Angela Cropper, the Deputy Executive Director of UNEP. Toyota has sold more than 1.5 million hybrid cars worldwide.

Along with the five other companies which joined the CN Net today – the Carbon Association of Australasia (Australia), CO2focus (Norway), EcoSecurities (UK), Green Cabs (New Zealand), and Wairau River Wines (New Zealand) – Toyota Motor Europe will share ideas and best practice with the rest of the growing CN Net community for lowering their impact on the environment.

In a related development, UNEP today welcomed the launch in the Netherlands of an innovative mobile laboratory to support the international response to environmental disasters.

The Environment Assessment Module (EAM) can be rapidly deployed to disasters that involve hazardous substances, along with two fully-equipped off-road vehicles and the relevant technical expertise.

“This rapidly deployable mobile laboratory will help us to fulfil the urgent need to address environmental emergencies from their onset,” Ms. Cropper said. “This is an excellent example of integrating environmental and humanitarian concerns.”

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27727&Cr=unep&Cr1=

Why go Green? – From Greencabs Website.

If you think what we’re trying to achieve is great, take a look at our tree planting partner ‘Trees for the Future’.
These guys really are awesome.Trees for the Future has helped thousands of communities in Central America, Africa and Asia improve their livelihoods and their environment by planting nearly 50 million trees and they’re not finished yet. These trees remove approximately one million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year, and provide a number of other benefits like…

• Giving villagers in third world countries an income they wouldn’t have otherwise had
• Reversing desertification taking hold in some areas
• Re-establishing underground waterways and in turn providing access to fresh water
• Facilitating native bush regeneration
• Providing habitats for flora and fauna
• Providing shelter, food, and access to medicines

And all sustainably.
So as you can see it is about way more than just offsetting CO2 emissions for us. We really do care about the environment and want to make a difference. So when you take a Green Cab you’re helping to do this too.

http://www.greencabs.co.nz/environment.html

Combined Wellington Hummer -gta sa taxi gameplay.

Taking the environmentally friendly route.

By Wellington Today  ::  18 Aug 2008

 

Wellington Combined Taxis might not have painted its vehicles green, but the innovative taxi company is working hard to improve fuel efficiency and reduce its impact on the environment.

Wellington Combined Taxis (WCT) is the capital’s largest taxi company, operating 442 cabs throughout the region. It offers a comprehensive range of services and vehicles, including cars, vans, total mobility, shuttles, wake-up calls, urgent deliveries, scenic tours and vouchers.

Environmental changes
Wellington Combined Taxis began trialling a hybrid vehicle a year ago in its attempts to cut vehicle emissions.
Marketing manager Ani de Graaf says customers love the new hybrids, with the company currently operating about 20.
WCT has introduced a new rule that from June 1, 2008, it will only bring cars into its fleet that are hybrids, LPG or diesel vehicles. These vehicles include the Prius, new diesel Hyundai Sonatas, new diesel Hyundai Grandeurs, LPG-dedicated Ford Falcons and new diesel Ford Mondeos.

The company’s vehicle replacement policy means it should have an entirely new fleet of environmentally friendlier vehicles within six years.

Ani says extensive consultation was carried out with the Ministry of Environment, certification agencies and taxi drivers before the rule was put in place.

“About a year ago we started to make environmental changes in the way we operate. A lot of our clients are government and corporate clients and we’re very loyal to them,” Ani says.

“It’s been a growing concern on our minds for a while but we weren’t quite sure what we could do about it, being that we’re a transport fleet. We’ve been visiting companies that have gone carbon neutral and getting their advice.”

Carbon neutral status
Wellington Combined Taxis has been working with certification agency’s to become carbon neutral. This status is audited and then certified.

Ani estimates WCT’s environmental efforts will significantly reduce the fleet’s emissions.

“We’re measuring our emissions at the moment and then plan to reduce and offset them. We’re trying to make our office as paperless as we can through recycling and reducing our electricity use” says Ani.
“Our big issue is we can’t send a big six-cylinder car to someone’s house and say it’s environmentally friendly. The new vehicle rule is a huge step in that direction and we’ve investigated these cars thoroughly.

“We’ve also trialled the Toyota Estima hybrid which we have had for the past year now and this hybrid vehicle can hold up to 6 passengers. Our customers have been really stoked with the fact that we’re taking it seriously,” Ani says.

“We talk to them about our sustainability initiatives so they can see what we’re doing. The drivers of the hybrids love them and so do our customers.”

TaxiCharge NZ
Wellington Combined Taxis is the second largest shareholder of nationwide taxi billing solutions provider TaxiCharge NZ Limited, which undertakes all of the company’s billing and customer reporting options.

TaxiCharge general manager Mark Lines says WCT has always been a leader in the taxi industry.

“The company has demonstrated its commitment to the environment and signalled its long-term sustainability policy direction to all taxi users.”

Mark says TaxiCharge’s goal is to achieve carbon neutrality and is working closely with Landcare Research towards achieving small enterprise carboNZero certification.

“We are supporting our TaxiCharge partners throughout New Zealand in their quest for sustainability. Converting fleets to hybrid, fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles is one way of achieving this.”

Wellington Combined Taxis offers residents and visitors to Wellington the complete package in vehicle services.

The company prides itself on being a total one-stop shop, with a wide range of vehicles available to suit any purpose.

Extensive services
Wellington Combined Taxis has a fleet of more than 440 white, spacious, late-model cars, with all drivers trained, professional and in uniform, possessing an excellent area knowledge.

The company offers a meet-and-greet arrival service with a name board, as well as having a dozen 10-seater vans and nine of those vans dedicated to the needs of disabled customers.

“We’re the whole package,” marketing manager Ani de Graaf says.
“We’re trustworthy, we’re safe and reliable and we’re affordable.”
Wellington Combined Taxis underwent a total rebranding a couple of years ago. Ani says now that customers can easily distinguish between WCT and other taxis companies, complaints have fallen significantly.
WCT provides a range of additional services the average taxi company doesn’t offer. The company aims to give the best service to customers to ensure their experience is positive, with increased convenience and a long-lasting relationship formed with WCT.

The company has dedicated ranks around the city, does wake-up calls, can advise on arrivals and offers urgent parcel/food delivery services.

Last year it purchased Co-op Shuttles and now operates the company as a subsidiary, with 40 shuttles available, cementing WCT’s position as a total transport provider.

The shuttles still operate under the Co-op Shuttles brand, with many WCT account holders now using both services. Ani says there is no additional surcharge for shuttle use when you use your taxi charge card or vouchers.

Value-added options
Wellington Combined Taxis also offers a range of exclusive and personalised tours of Wellington City, the Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa, all in the comfort of a WCT vehicle. All tours are competitively priced, with Wairarapa tours incorporating the Martinborough wine village.

Ani says a current major push for WCT is the rebranding of its home safe vouchers, which are pre-paid vouchers parents can buy for their children, to ensure they can get home safely at any time.
“The vouchers get them from the city to home and there are seven different zones. If your children are out and about and they need to get home but have no money, they can use their voucher. They can’t exchange them for cash,” she says.

“We’re about to rebrand and market them. We worked with the police and the Wellington City Council on the vouchers and the feedback we’ve received has been really positive.”

Wellington Combined Taxis’s use of GPS systems means it is easy for the closest vehicle to be distributed to a call out, resulting in lower fuel emissions and a smaller wait time for customers.
Ani says the success and growth of Wellington Combined Taxis is due to its dedication to offering the best possible service.
“Our drivers operate to a high standard and we receive a lot of complements and loyalty,” she says.

“We try and focus on our customers.”