The Council of the District of Columbia is currently considering a bill that, if passed, would offer incentives to city cab companies to use more hybrid vehicles in their fleets.
On October 2, Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) introduced the “Taxicab Hybrid Technology Vehicle Expansion Act of 2007.” The bill would give D.C.-based taxi companies a one-time $2,000 tax credit to be put toward the purchase of a hybrid or alternative fuel car.
The act would also require Mayor Adrian Fenty to publish a report on “the status of hybrid and alternative fuel technology” cabs currently in use in D.C., as well as set goals for phasing out traditional cabs in coming years.
“[W]ith our taxicab fleet comes a lot of pollution—and it is incumbent upon us to do everything we can to demand more fuel-efficiency from those vehicles and create the incentives that help get us to our goals,” Wells said in an October 3rd press release.
Wells’ Chief of Staff Charles Allen said that the Councilmember has been searching for a way to tailor the solution to D.C.’s traffic situation.
“A hybrid car is best suited for that stop-and-go traffic,” he said. “It’ll create that type of fuel efficiency.”
Allen said that a tax credit would provide cab companies with “a financial incentive” to invest in hybrids. He also noted that the federal government offers tax breaks to purchasers of hybrid vehicles, and that D.C. has a reduced registration cost and reduced excise tax for hybrid cars.
“All in all, it creates a package from the car owner’s standpoint that is cheaper,” he said.
The bill was referred to the Committee on Finance and Revenue and the Committee on Public Works and the Environment. Though Wells is not a member of either committee, the six co-sponsors of his bill form a majority on both committees.
Even though six members of the Council did not sponsor the bill, John Abbot, Chief of Staff for Councilmember Carol Schwartz (R-At Large), cautioned against construing silence as opposition to Wells’s legislation.
“You shouldn’t read any opposition into people’s not sponsoring things,” he said. “It’s a matter of who is around and has time to sign.”
Abbot declined to make Schwartz’s stance on the bill public, but said that her legislative record showed a pattern of promoting hybrid vehicles.
Allen emphasized the need for Wells’ bill so that D.C. companies will invest in hybrid cabs. He noted that New York City recently set goals for the number of hybrid cabs to be in service by certain dates. Because each cab has to be individually licensed, the city government there can mandate that a certain number of licenses be reserved for hybrid cabs.
“We don’t have that … so we’ve got to have an economic incentive,” he said. “The leadership part is about setting goals of having fifty percent of our taxicabs being hybrid by the end of the decade.”
