CHICAGO (STNG) - Chicago cabdrivers strangled by skyrocketing fuel prices -- even after a $1-a-ride surcharge -- could have a new financial headache on their hands: a city mandate to purchase costlier hybrid vehicles.
Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) and Transportation Committee Chairman Tom Allen (38th) want to follow New York City's lead by mandating that Chicago's entire fleet of 6,700 taxicabs go green by Jan. 1, 2014.
Currently, Chicago has 50 hybrid cabs. Companies with 50 vehicles or more are required to have one.
That's nowhere near enough to satisfy Burke and Allen.
Starting next year, they want every new or replacement cab that hits the streets to be either gas-electric hybrid or powered by innovative fuels, including compressed natural gas, biodiesel, propane and hydrogen.
Since cabs must be replaced every four years, that means the entire fleet would go green by Jan. 1, 2014.
"We all have to be sensitive to the needs of the environment. ... New York is well on the way to experimenting with this kind of a proposal and Chicago ought to be on the cutting edge," Burke said.
Allen was asked whether the mandate was motivated more by a desire to clear the air or ease pressure to raise fares.
"Probably both. Gas efficiency is critical, but fares, too. They just got their $1 surcharge on fuel and it's moot already. I've heard that from many of the cabdrivers. They're well past the $3.20 [a-gallon trigger] that we set. And there's no end in sight. They're talking about $10-a-gallon gas before long," he said.
Cabdrivers reacted angrily to the latest in a seemingly never-ending parade of city mandates.
They argued that hybrid vehicles can add $10,000 or more to the cost of a new vehicle and that replacing the battery pack -- guaranteed for 100,000 miles -- can cost $5,000.
"These [hybrid] cars are not cheap. The owners, invariably, are gonna go to the city and say, 'We've got to have a lease rate increase to pay for these vehicles,' " said veteran cabdriver Arnie Kast.
He added, "With what we're already paying for the lease and gas, there's no breathing room. The average driver is starting out every day at least $125 [in the hole]. You know how many hours you have to work to make $125? It's easy for them to sit and mandate this and mandate that. They're not paying for any of this stuff. These people need to take a long hard look at what is real and what is not real."
Cabbie George Kasp was more concerned about possible "maintenance headaches" caused by hybrids.
"I don't want to have a guinea pig of a car for a cab. These hybrids are not proven durable commercial vehicles. Until the Police Department and fleet buyers start using hybrids, cab companies shouldn't be forced to put on unproven vehicles for the sake of aldermen looking politically-correct and green," Kasp said.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in the process of converting the Big Apple's cab fleet to hybrids. Under Bloomberg's plan, all New York cabs must go hybrid or get at least 30 miles-per-gallon by 2012.
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