Taxi drivers warn cost of hybrids bad for business
Blast requirement, say cars hard to get
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Not only can hybrid cars be expensive, they can be hard to come by.
That was the chief complaint yesterday from about 70 cab owners, operators, and drivers who crowded a room in Boston police headquarters and insisted that new rules requiring them to buy hybrid vehicles will put them out of business.
"My livelihood is in jeopardy," Maurice Dauphin said after the 90-minute hearing.
The Allston resident, who has owned and operated a cab since 1991, said the new requirement will force him to sell. "It's not fair for us."
In another interview after the hearing, Donna Blythe-Shaw, a staff representative for the United Steelworkers union, which is affiliated with the Boston Taxi Drivers Association, predicted that the "immediate mandate will put hundreds of people out of work."
On Friday, police officials announced that all Boston cabs would have to be hybrids by 2015, part of the city's mandate to clean up the taxis while promoting cleaner energy.
Because owners are required to replace cabs every six years, some 2002 models will have to be substituted with hybrids by Jan. 1. Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said only 18 cabs will have to be replaced by then; only 98 of the 1,825 cabs in Boston are 2002 models, and the single owner-operators who control the bulk of them have been granted a one-year extension, Driscoll said.
Still, owner-operators said yesterday that the city is rushing unnecessarily to force them to change over.
If hybrids are not available for months when owners need to replace their cabs, they may not be able to afford a temporary replacement, said Andrew Hebert, a manager at USA Taxi in Dorchester.
At yesterday's hearing, Boston police Captain Robert W. Ciccolo Jr. assured drivers and owners that their economic situations would be taken into account.
"We will address that issue as it comes up," he said. "Every individual is different."
"But we're not, captain," countered Hebert. "We're all in the same boat."
The expense, owners told Ciccolo yesterday, is enormous, and particularly affects the single owner-operator. A 2005 Crown Victoria, a common model among Boston cabs, costs about $5,000, Hebert said.
And the logistics of getting a hybrid, owners said, are worrisome.
One man who stood up at yesterday's meeting said he had called 20 dealerships and was told no one would have a hybrid ready for three to four months.
Jewell Wilson, a sales manager at Boch Toyota in Norwood, said the wait for a Camry hybrid is about three months.
At Toyota Scion of Watertown, getting a Camry hybrid would take four to six weeks, sales manager Juan Banos said.
There's a "huge, huge demand" for hybrids, Banos said. He said the dealership could try to make cabdrivers who need a car quickly a priority.
If owners are unable to secure a hybrid in time, Driscoll said, they can show police a purchase order and receive an extension until the vehicle arrives. The wait for a hybrid, she said, was discussed when the department devised the new rules.
Despite Ciccolo's assurances, cab owners at yesterday's meeting said they felt picked on.
"Why is the cab industry the only one to get a mandate?" demanded one man to applause.
Others shouted and threw their hands up to ask questions.
"Please," a frustrated Ciccolo said, trying to quiet the crowd, "can I only have one riot on my hands at a time?"
The cab rules are the beginning of the city's plan to promote the use of hybrids, he said. "We do regulate the sightseeing vehicles, and I can tell you that they're next."
