On The Car Connection today there is a short article explaining how the Prius is finding it's way into different kinds of uses - taxis, campus police etc. Seem to make a heck of a lot of sense Short clip from the site the whole paragraph can be found here: [web:eb044a89c3]http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=7238&sid=173&n=156[/web:eb044a89c3]
Here is the clip and the pic of the Prius police car. Prius finds home in unusual fleets Celebs have turned to Toyota's Prius hybrid as the anti-HUMMER - but what about taxi drivers and police departments? In Vancouver and Victoria, B.C., Priuses are being pressed into service as cabs. And at Northern Illinois University, the Department of Public Safety is turning them into law enforcers. The university believes they're the first police department in the nation to use the new Prius for patrolling the campus. NIU has a fleet of six Priuses and plans to convert its whole fleet to Priuses in the future. They expect it will use up to 80 percent less fuel than the Crown Victorias used now. "It just makes good sense. On a campus this size we don't need big vehicles that are expensive to operate, cumbersome and environmentally unfriendly," says NIU Police Chief Don Grady. Jeff
While I love the idea of Prius' as a cab, given that they spend most of their time in city driving, I wonder how good an idea it is to adopt them for campus police. The only reason I say that is b/c on some college campuses, streets are virtually sidewalks during the day (like at Cal). A swarm of totally silent cars would make the walking experience more, umm, exciting. Maybe they should all have a small bike horn installed next to the drivers-side mirror : )
