SOMERVILLE — A year ago, city officials and owners of local taxi company, Green Cab, gathered in Davis Square to unveil Somerville’s first hybrid taxi.The mayor and aldermen stood for photographs around the white car with its green painted lettering, a symbol of the city's dedication to saving the environment.
But while Boston has made plans to have an all green taxi fleet by 2015, Somerville’s efforts to make driving more environmentally friendly have stalled.
“We are still very committed to greening the city,” said Jackie Rossetti, a spokesman for the mayor. “I hate to say that right now our budget is making it hard to put a lot of focus on one thing.”
Though old city practices are being phased out for more environmentally conscious ones, these changes take time said David Lutes, program manager at the city’s Office of Sustainability and Environment.
Lutes said that Somerville is buying renewable biodiesel fuel and equipping its diesel vehicles with clean air technology.
This year the city has also begun replacing smaller city vehicles Lutes said. They purchased four energy-efficient Smart Cars for the Assessor’s Department and replaced Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher’s vehicle with a Toyota Prius hybrid.
Horan said Green Cab is weighing the possibility of converting their taxis to compressed natural gas, a cleaner and safer fuel than gasoline.
“With a hybrid you compromise on vehicle size and typically people want leg room and trunk space for their luggage,” Horan said. “With compressed natural gas we’d be able to optimize the size of our current vehicles while maintaining a greener fleet with better gas mileage.”
Hybrid additions to the city’s vehicle fleet may seem small, but they are the visible aspect of what Lutes said is a much larger context for environmentally conscious driving.
“The city fleet is small and its impact may technically be limited but I think we’re sending out the right message here,” Lutes said.
Lutes also said the city was considering proposals to give drivers of hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles preferential parking in the city.
“We’re working on it,” Lutes said. “It’s hard because we don’t have a direct ability to control the taxi fleet like Boston seems to have.”
Though old city practices are being phased out for more environmentally conscious ones, these changes take time said David Lutes, program manager at the city’s Office of Sustainability and Environment.
Lutes said that Somerville is buying renewable biodiesel fuel and equipping its diesel vehicles with clean air technology.
This year the city has also begun replacing smaller city vehicles Lutes said. They purchased four energy-efficient Smart Cars for the Assessor’s Department and replaced Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher’s vehicle with a Toyota Prius hybrid.
“We’ve really only begun to look at that,” Lutes said. “I think it’s important to set goals like that, but so far in the future you never know what the technology will be. It’s not unrealistic, but I think it’s more important to find ways to help and influence them to go green than it is to set some kind of mandate.”
Green cab has put further expansion into hybrids on hold in favor of alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas. The company’s only hybrid taxi has been problematic because no one stocks parts for the vehicle locally, said Cheryl Horan, vice president of Green Cab.
Horan said as a result of the hard-to-find parts, the hybrid taxi has had to spend time off the road.
“We’ve had instances where it’s been down and we haven’t been able to act quickly,” Horan said.
Green cab has put further expansion into hybrids on hold in favor of alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas. The company’s only hybrid taxi has been problematic because no one stocks parts for the vehicle locally, said Cheryl Horan, vice president of Green Cab.
Horan said as a result of the hard-to-find parts, the hybrid taxi has had to spend time off the road.
“We’ve had instances where it’s been down and we haven’t been able to act quickly,” Horan said.
Horan said Green Cab is weighing the possibility of converting their taxis to compressed natural gas, a cleaner and safer fuel than gasoline.“With a hybrid you compromise on vehicle size and typically people want leg room and trunk space for their luggage,” Horan said. “With compressed natural gas we’d be able to optimize the size of our current vehicles while maintaining a greener fleet with better gas mileage.”
Hybrid additions to the city’s vehicle fleet may seem small, but they are the visible aspect of what Lutes said is a much larger context for environmentally conscious driving.
“The city fleet is small and its impact may technically be limited but I think we’re sending out the right message here,” Lutes said.
Lutes also said the city was considering proposals to give drivers of hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles preferential parking in the city.
“We’re working on it,” Lutes said. “It’s hard because we don’t have a direct ability to control the taxi fleet like Boston seems to have.”
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