How The City Is Making Chicago's Taxi Fleet Greener
By Margaret Paulson in News on Aug 19, 2015 9:31PM
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The City of Chicago announced today it is accepting applications for its Drive Clean Chicago program—a federally funded initiative offering more than $1 million in vouchers for green-compliant taxi or other service vehicles.
Taxi drivers and others in good standing with the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) can apply to receive a $10,000 discount on fuel efficient vehicles, including electric or compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles. Fleets can purchase new vehicles with the voucher, or it also covers about 80 percent of costs for upfitting.
Chicago has made great strides in the past four years alone; in fact, according Drive Clean Chicago, in 2011, about 88 percent of the taxi fleet in Chicago was gas-powered. Today, the numbers are dramatically different: 82 percent of the taxi fleet is hybrid, with only 12 percent gas powered.
A similar program was launched in 2014 aimed at truck drivers, called Drive Clean Truck, which offered vouchers to electric and hybrid Class 2-8 commercial and public vehicles in Cook and surrounding counties. Additionally, the CTA has been working on “greening” its fleet for several years. Currently, more than 250 of its buses—about 15 percent of the fleet—are hybrid, and the CTA has more bus retrofits and replacements in store. In addition, the 5000 series CTA trains have an innovative braking system that transfers electricity to the 3rd rail to supplement power to passing CTA trains.
Drive Clean Chicago works in partnership with CALSTART, a nationwide nonprofit working to grow clean public transit technology. Livery and taxi drivers interested in applying for the new program can check out eligible vehicles here, see a list of approved vendors here, and apply for the voucher. It operates on a first-come, first-served basis.