http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/80028-just-got-my-taxi.html http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/79614-any-prius-taxi-owners-here.html
What do you want to know? Are you looking at using a Prius as a cab or just want to know how they handle the hard day to day taxi use?
I'd be interested to know how they hold up with taxi use. It would seem to be a perfect car for a taxi if it can hold up. Good interior volume and great gas mileage (particularly important in the UK with your petrol prices). I have yet to see a Prius taxi in my area (northern Virginia).
Well mine is holding up well but only gets mild taxi use compared to some company owned vehicles. I've just done 12 months and have today hit 36k miles. The average fuel economy is 49 mpg UK which is about 41 mpg US and I am more than happy with this for the driving I do. The interior is good and roomy though the boot/trunk is a tad on the small size compared to many popular cars used as cabs over here (Toyota Avensis, Ford Mondeo etc), but I have not had any problems with luggage - yet. I don't expect any problems between now and 150k miles - it is a Toyota after all, though I hope to trade it in for a plug in or the Prius people carrier/mini van in the next 18 months or so. There are pockets of Prius cabs around the world - usually either where fuel is expensive or where cab drivers have worked out that they make good work horses. Some areas do exclude them though - some require 6 cylinder engines or saloons/sedans only etc. My local experience is that I am the only hybrid cab in the area with the other drivers sticking to the diesel cars they are more familiar with or lpg conversions of petrol cars. Many have asked me indepth questions of my experiences and I think they are watching me closely to see how I get on with the Prius in the longer term. Check the links out that someone gave you above - some cab drivers have run the gen2 Prius upto massive mileages.
Here a link about hybrid taxi Taxi driver was a driving force in hybrid movement | Climate Blog | David Suzuki Foundation
No offense to the taxi drivers, but MPG tips aren't something you're likely to get from them. They're typically paid by the mile, not by the minute (unless you're sitting still), so they'll typically sacrifice a few mpg to get more miles.
Depends where you are! I guess that might be why some areas have many Prius cabs and others don't have any. I personally am an owner operator with only me driving. I can make a good enough living (or did before the banks went pop) out of cabbing and the Prius has cut my fuel bills by over 40% on average. As fuel is soo expensive over here, that's a significant saving and almost covers the payments for the car! @timbo I keep the car in Eco mode in town and slow, start stop traffic, normal everywhere else and Power mode for overtaking or when I want a bit of fun between fares . Reliability of the car is good so far but 36k miles is nothing and barely run in. I believe it should run well past 150k miles before some 'niggles' start to develop but I might not even keep it that long and just trade it in for the latest new Prius plug in (or whatever else looks good). Regarding mpg tips - I don't really have any. I do tend to just drive normally at the expense of fuel economy - esp when it's busy, but when things are quieter I will try and take it easy. The HUD (which is standard over here) is handy for mpgs as you can display the Hybrid System Indicator on the windscreen/shield in front of you. This enables you to get the best fuel economy out of the car WITHOUT taking your eyes of the road. Very important when changing lanes in heavy traffic! Hope this helps.
i have had my prius as a taxi for just about a little over 6 months and got 27000km on it . its doing very good i am averaging 5.2 liters to the hundred but as one friend states above i do push it a bit so to get extra fares in the day ,driving slow wont gets me as many fares hehehe.. but on days that i know its not as busy i drive relaxed an some times get a reading of 4.3liters to the hundred... i reacts good on the potholes and is still sounding pretty solid. some times i even press the power button just to have some fun hehehe !!!
