Making a Taxi out of the Prius

Ask any of the taxi drivers who already drive a Prius. There are lots!

 

Actually, compared with a regular car, the Prius will work quite well. The gas engine will shut off automatically if it is not needed.

 

OP,

It looks like you're from Tacoma. Vancouver B.C is filled with Prius Cabs. 1 guy I talked to had 300,000 km on his 05 I think it was. Winnipeg has a bunch as well. I think San Francisco has a bunch too if memory serves.

Icarus

 

Victoria, BC too. For taxis the hybrid synergy drive is great. Isn't New York going to require that all taxis be hybrids?

 

Leaving the prius on in park will only drain the battery until it reaches the "mandatory" recharge point, at which time the ICE will automatically turn on and charge it back up and then turn off again.

Theres no chance a taxi will completely deplete the battery UNLESS you either run out of fuel or if you leave the car in neutral (with the parking brake set).

 

And for the second part of your question, I drive from south of Portland to Seattle sometimes. I need more rest stops than the car does...:car:

 

If i can get my meter sealed by weights & measures today,I will be in service as a taxi tomorrow. I applied with the state of Montana on 9/25/06 as a hybrid service. Google green taxi Missoula to see how much fun the process has been.

 

Re: Making a Taxi... I just did.. I'll keep you all posted.

I just joined the group. I purchased a 2005 Prius 10 days ago. I started operating it as a taxi Thursday.

I work with a company in the northern suburbs of Atlanta that runs a fleet of 55 taxis and 20 town cars. Business in the last couple of years has slowed due to the slowing economy, and the increase in fares.

I had gotten out of the business for a few months because rising fuel costs made it difficult to earn a living. When my 99 Ford Windstar passed the vehicle age limit to get the permits, I had decided to hang it up. My fuel bills averaged about $1500 a month, and $2000 wasn't uncommon. With the prius, my projections have cut that down to about $600 a month. The difference is all out of my pocket, or in my pocket, depending how you look at it.

I first became interested in using the Prius as a taxi after reading an old review of the 2004 Prius, with particular interest in how much room the back seat offered. Most compact cars don't make good taxis because the back seat is more of an afterthought, apparently intended for toddlers. After reading the review about the amount of room in the back seat, I started looking for a post 2004. I did look at a 2003, and while it was barely big enough to be a taxi, it appeared that due to the passenger side dashboard design, hauling a full load would be tough. The 2004's through 2008's, however, were much more usable for the purpose due to the increase in internal space for the redesign.

When I brought the car to the boss for inspection (he is 6'4" and a big guy), his first comment was "is that car big enough to be a taxi?" My response was "Sit in it." I had to repeat it before he realized that I was serious. He sat in the back seat, and said WOW! We need to get a whole fleet of these! That was the first of many favorable responses from passengers. So far nobody has complained that the car is too small.

I just completed my first full load (i.e. four large adult male passengers) last night, and all were seated comfortably. They even commented on the remarkable amount of space for the size of the vehicle. The three in the back were crowded a little bit width-wise, but they all had plenty of legroom, and stated that it was even better than riding in a Crown Vic (the industry standard taxi car). I wasn't surprised because the Crown Victoria has a rather large center hump for rear-wheel the drive shaft. While the prius also has a center hump, it's much smaller and narrower, and one foot can be placed on either side of it with very little discomfort.

Although a number of reviews complained about a lack of power, I was surprised to find that the Prius is as peppy as it is. The reviewers must have been comparing it to a two seat BMW, because my Prius has as much pep at ALL speeds as just about any four banger I have driven.

The de-facto freeway speed limit in the Atlanta area is 80 mph, so a modicum of power is important if one is to avoid getting run over by a tractor-trailer. I was pleasantly surprised to find that accelerating from 60 MPH to 80 MPH takes very little time, and pushing it to 90 doesn't pose much of a problem (though I have only done that once, just to see).

As for how well the Prius will hold up under the grueling demands of taxi service, I have yet to see. As of this posting, I have only had the car on the line for four days. I will report back as time progresses.

Wish me luck.

Scott

 

There's a LOT of Prius taxis, all over the place!
I'm told that Vancouver, B.C., has a huge Prius taxi fleet, and around Seattle, WA, you will see a lot of them:

 

Re: Making a Taxi... I just did.. I'll keep you all posted.

Good luck! I have been to Atlanta a couple of times and distinctly remember the often aggressive driving that seemed to be required to not get run over. Anyway, how does the mpg compare to your previous taxi vehicles?

 

New York City is going to move to an all-hybrid taxi fleet by 2012.

We already got plenty of Ford Escape Hybrids in the taxi fleet since 2004, and lately lots of Toyota Hybrid Camrys and Nissan Altima Hybrids have been joining the Medallion Fleet.

...And a few Priuses too.




All of these use the Power Split Device full-hybrid system. NO Honda IMA hybrids are allowed by the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission to be used as cabs. That says a lot about the relative durability of these hybrid systems methinks!

 

I'm a Taxi driver in Dublin,2006 with just over 185,000kms,not one problem yet,wouldn't drive anything else....only thing i've done is turn off the MFD,after answering the same questions night after night for over 2 years[to mainly drunk people]i just couldn't handle it anymore:blah:,now i find i'm telling passengers who know what car they're in why i've turned off the MFD,
I just can't win!!

 

You also must have a decent graphics job:



More at Flickr: yee_willie's Photostream

 

Wth,Do they supply paper bags for passengers to place over their heads when they're being transported......or maybe plastic bags for the "I wouldn't be seen dead in that" types!!

 

Around here, people are tripping over each other to try to get a ride in this cab.

We are only 20 miles from Woodstock, NY, and we haven't forgotten.

Peace, bro'

 

I think you mean "Trippin"......"And that'll be 20 Shrooms please"