Taxis- The New Form of Sustainable Travel

Ah, taxis. They are the arch- nemesis for most major cities around the world. Sustainable travel may be merging with this globally loathed yet dependent form of transportation in the coming months. Several green technology companies are hard at work trying to create the next environmentally- friendly taxi cab, but New York City Mayor Bloomberg is ready to put the pedal to the [sustainably produced] metal. In Hong Kong at the C40 conference, a meeting of 40 of the world's largest and most powerful cities, Bloomberg took the opportunity to urge other city leaders to begin replacing some of their environmentally toxic taxi cabs with electric taxi cabs. Sustainable travelers have heard this message before, but billionaire Bloomberg is going one step further. He is planning on promoting the use of electric cars beginning this year. He also insists on forming partnerships with other large and willing cities to put in mass orders of these environmentally- friendly taxis. This sounds wonderful, but how will this impa
ct the sustainable traveler?

Sustainable travel is about more than recycled postcards from glitzy conventional destinations. A large part of sustainable travel is promoting others' efforts to improve our environment. After partnerships have been made and mass orders for these electric taxies have been placed, it is up to the sustainable traveler to support these efforts by traveling to these cities and actually using the electric taxis over the conventional taxis. This may cause a bit of delay or inconvenience in the itinerary for the day, but the economic proof that consumers want to move towards a green society will prove to be beneficial. Fortunately or unfortunately, legislation about green laws that require any up-front investment often doesn't pass until there is solid proof that the investment could soon turn into profit. So when travelers choose electric taxis over conventional taxis, profit increases and, hopefully, catches the eyes of legislation.

So what can sustainable travelers do in the meantime? The idea of electric taxis weaving in and out of lanes in New York City or Boston is wonderful, but we are still a long way away from that reality. In the meantime, a little pre-planning when using conventional taxis can improve our environment today. If you are traveling with a large a group, resist the urge to be a diva and make sure that all taxi cabs are full with your group. That is, you don't need a taxi all to yourself and your purse. Buddy up with other members of your travel group. If some group members are going to different destinations, try to plan the different destinations in such a way that you can still take fewer taxis. If Mayor Bloomberg can still go to work on packed subways, it won't hurt to pack into a conventional taxi with a few of your travel buddies.

Photo Credit: Carl MiKoy