Public Transport

prod_igy

Can anyone explain why taxi's and buses aren't being made 'green'? Surely the dublin taxi service could be made have standard cars and colours(i.e. New York, and most other major cities) and that these cars could be green cars, such as prius' etc? The same could apply for buses

probe

prod_igy wrote: »

Can anyone explain why taxi's and buses aren't being made 'green'? Surely the dublin taxi service could be made have standard cars and colours(i.e. New York, and most other major cities) and that these cars could be green cars, such as prius' etc? The same could apply for buses

While I think it is a good idea to standardize the colour of taxis, the use of green for Irish buses would be fraudulent and misleading to the consumer. Irish buses are a huge part of the problem – deliberately designed as “transport for peasants” as someone else recently coined them here. Only people who have to use them, use them. Everyone else opts for the private car. The system doesn’t work. The powers that be don’t want to design a public transport system that becomes the default mode of travel out of choice. Painting Irish buses green would be a serious act of the crime of greenwashing. On top of that there is the issue of diesel emissions from these vehicles.

Taxis in Catalonia and some other provinces in Spain have a standard yellow and black colour. Basically a black car – but the boot lid and back doors are painted yellow. Very recognisable in the street. A simple and relatively inexpensive matter to paint the yellow doors and boot lid back to black when the taxi owner decides to sell the car. Aside from that, the standard of most taxis in Spain is almost as appalling as in Ireland. Transport for peasants.

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2qk4u

The problem with Taxis is that the driver pays the total cost for the car and fuel ect...If the Government want to tell Taxi drivers what they should drive and what colour it should be then they should cover part of the cost.Would you like your car to be destroyed when you buy it by painting it some stupid colour ?
I cant afford to convert my car to veg oil or whatever fuel is more green,also there is not enought availability for green fuel.Im sure I would save in the long run but it just isnt really peactical at the moment.
What difference does it make if the cars are different colours ? Can people not see the big yellow lit up sign on the roof ?
The Taxi industry works differently around the world so you cant compare them. In a lot of countries the Taxis are owned by a company and the drivers are just employed.In some countries the cars are suplied at a reduced rate in standard colours ready to go,thats not the case here.

BendiBus

In fairness I have to agree there are probably much more important things than making taxis the same colour. They're easy to see with their (standard) blue & yellow roofsigns. Even first time visitors don't need help identifying what's a taxi. Even in London with it's world famous cabs, I'm noticing more & more silver/grey/maroon taxis. So even cities that may have had what the OP suggests don't appear all that bothered.

I would have thought that the taxi industry, if it got it's act together, could do a very competitive deal with a single manufacturer to supply all taxis.

I don't know if the regulator can set standards for fuel economy or emissions in excess of standard requirements. Currently they don't appear to.

probe

BendiBus wrote: »

I would have thought that the taxi industry, if it got it's act together, could do a very competitive deal with a single manufacturer to supply all taxis.

I don't believe that the taxi industry should enter into an agreement with a single auto manufacturer. London taxis were fashionable for a few years in Ireland, until the word got around among taxi drivers that they were unreliable rubbish. Much of Britain’s engineering expertise unfortunately vanished after the Victorian era (which was among the best in the world back then). The brains of Britain now work in the “City” creating SIVs, derivatives, and trading securitized packages of subprime mortgages to sell to naïve Continental investors who are only slowly waking up to untrustworthy dysfunctional realities of the Anglo Saxon world in 2007.

Choice and competition are important. If I arrive at an airport, I often hang back if there are a few rubbishy cars in the taxi line, and wait until I see a decent car (eg a diesel Merc) and grab it - letting other people ahead of me in the queue, where necessary – especially if I have a long journey ahead.

This is not an issue in Germany where virtually all taxis are diesel Mercs, all the same colour too. Mercedes Benz give discounts to taxi owners in many European countries who buy their cars - it is a good sales generating device. Unfortunately not in Ireland, because Mercedes Benz operations in Ireland are in a bit of a mess. (understatement mode = on).

Giving taxis a standard colour scheme differentiates the system and gives it an identity, and adds to its credibility as a reliable system (assuming the system works). However one can arrive at Dublin airport and wait in line for 15 minutes or so for a taxi (in the absence of a railway station) – because the system doesn’t work. Undoubtedly not the fault of the 15,000 odd Dublin taxi drivers. More likely the fault of the appallingly dysfunctional state monopoly – the bloody-minded absentee landlord that owns and controls the space that is Dublin Airport. No amount of colour scheme standardisation can fix that issue - which is far more important than any brand of vehicle or colour scheme.

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Capt'n Midnight

prod_igy wrote: »

Can anyone explain why taxi's and buses aren't being made 'green'? Surely the dublin taxi service could be made have standard cars and colours(i.e. New York, and most other major cities) and that these cars could be green cars, such as prius' etc? The same could apply for buses

Buses are far greener than cars, if you work out the CO2 per passenger mile , if you compare the resources needed to make one bus compared to 70 cars, not forgetting that buses have a longer life too.
It is possible to make buses greener, things like trolley buses / regenerative braking with an air pressure / flywheel system.

prius is NOT greener than a comparable diesel when you take into account the raw materials used to make it. and if the prius is running on bi-ethanol then a diesel running on bio diesel would be even greener again.

was a thread on this recently but existing Taxi drivers have until 2012 or something to get rid of cars older than 9 years, so bugger all chance of them going green with serious financial support, and personally I much rather see that money go to mass transport. About two weeks ago I saw a taxi out side 'the nest' IIRC it was a 97 but the driver was filling up the fuel tank from a container, nearest garage was a mile back the way he came.

Dubit10

Because our goverment isnt serious about public transport.Nothing more to say

BendiBus

probe wrote: »

I don't believe that the taxi industry should enter into an agreement with a single auto manufacturer. London taxis were fashionable for a few years in Ireland, until the word got around among taxi drivers that they were unreliable rubbish.

But that's not an argument against doing a deal with a manufacturer. It's just an argument against picking the wrong vehicle. Anyway a deal would only be valid for a certain time period and have an exit mechanism in the event of the arrangement not proving staisfactory.

probe

BendiBus wrote: »

But that's not an argument against doing a deal with a manufacturer. It's just an argument against picking the wrong vehicle. Anyway a deal would only be valid for a certain time period and have an exit mechanism in the event of the arrangement not proving staisfactory.

Which car manufacturer would do the deal with the taxi manufacturers? Answer - the one with the crappiest car on the market that they have difficulty selling - deep discounts for the big fleet buyer - where the end user has no choice. Look at most car rental company fleets at the budget end of the price range. Full of cars that only morons would end up buying!

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