Taxis going green in Banff
Banff’s cabs are going green.
Banff Transportation Group – which operates two separate companies, Taxi Taxi and Banff Taxi – plans to voluntarily get rid of its old sedans to reduce emissions.
“We agree to provide a transportation system that is more environmentally friendly for our town, the national park and all our visitors,” said Jeremy Powell, of Banff Transportation Group.
“We are ready to comply with the Banff Community Plan by greening the taxi fleet.”
On Monday (Oct. 22), council unanimously asked administration to come back with a taxi bylaw amendment to mandate conversion of taxi licences to the most efficient vehicles as defined by Transport Canada’s fuel consumption guide.
Council was okay with the Banff Transportation Group coming up with the schedule in which to make those conversions after the group asked council to be patient as they moved through this process.
Powell said Banff Transportation Company plans to convert five taxi licences in 2013, then convert three licences per year for the next seven years until they reach 80 per cent conversion.
“We would like to leave room to keep certain types of vehicles, such as mini vans to accommodate larger groups of passengers,” he said.
“At this point, BTG is looking to make a major impact with our sedans, which account for about 80 per cent of the fleet.”
Currently, all 35 legally available taxi licences are owned and held by Banff Transportation Group. The current fleet consists of 28 Ford Crown Victoria sedans and seven Dodge Caravan minivans. The year models range from 1999 to 2006 for an average vehicle age of eight years.
Banff’s current taxi bylaw does not impose any restrictions relating to what the maximum age or minimum fuel efficiency of a taxi should be, but each year, the fleet must have one complete mechanical inspection.
In 2011, council indicated a willingness to see guidelines set and maintained at a standard that reflected Banff’s profile as a premiere tourist destination inside the boundaries of a national park.
“I appreciate your response to this,” said Mayor Karen Sorensen to the Banff Transportation Group on hearing they are keen to make the conversion to more eco-friendly vehicles.
Chad Townsend, the Town of Banff’s environmental co-ordinator, said like transit and rental bikes, taxi fleets are a key part of the municipal transportation system.
“They are a very visible opportunity to demonstrate environmental commitments to visitors,” he said in a report to council.
Many North American jurisdictions have addressed the issue of fuel efficiency in taxis, including British Columbia, where all applications for new and additional taxis operating in the Lower Mainland and in the capital regional district would only be approved if the vehicles are eco-friendly.
The B.C. government also offers PST sales rebates in a bid to provide an incentive for all taxi operators in the province to use hybrid and eco-friendly vehicles.
Also in Canada, the province of Quebec has earmarked funding for rebates of up to $2,000 for taxi operators who purchase and use hybrid vehicles.
San Francisco, New York City and Boston all have programs in place, too.
Banff Transportation Group is not requesting any specific funding for its fleet conversion to a more fuel-efficient vehicles, but council does have the power to waive annual inspection fees for taxis that are considered green.
If inspection fees were waived on five taxis, for example, the Town of Banff would get $620 less in revenue. Banff Transportation Group currently pays the Town $4,340 per year in inspection fees.
In order to post comments on our web site, you must validate your email address. An email was sent to you when you registered that included an activation link. If you have not yet done so, please click on the link to activate your account.
If you did not receive your activation email, please click here to have it resent.
Already a member? Login here!
Not yet a member of the site? Register here!
Comments
If Banff does go the hybrid route, Ford has some very credible hybrids as well such as the European C-Max, the more taxi friendly North American made Fusion hybrid, and as a bonus there is a dealership here in Canmore. There are plug-in hybrids and range extended EV’s such as the Chevrolet Volt that merit some consideration but as taxis they lose their battery powered advantages. There are also pure electric vehicles on the market but their short range makes them useless as taxis and in Alberta they are mostly coal powered cars anyway. The good ol’ gas engine is fighting back with new technologies that have produced some vehicles with impressive fuel-efficiency numbers such as Ford’s Transit Connect Wagon which even has a taxi version.
In the end the best option would be something diesel powered as range, life expectancy, emissions and fuel-efficiency all come together in one taxi & earth friendly package. New diesels are more eco-friendly in many ways than their gas counterparts and as Canadian Rockies Public Schools has proven, Bio-Diesel is a viable fuel source that reduces emissions by up to 60% (if you’ve got your own tank). Unfortunately for many reasons the USA has robbed Canada of many of the uber-efficient Japanese and European diesels that would be perfect for Banff’s taxi applications. All is not lost however as Chevrolet is introducing a diesel Cruze, Mazda is bringing some diesels over soon, Chrysler keeps trying them, hopefully Ford will bring us the diesel Transit Connect Wagon and we already have the usual suspects from Europe via VW, Audi and Mercedes.
I wish Banff all the best in their quest to live up to the environmental responsibilities of being in a National Park, but as you can see it’s not easy being green.
Category:
Category 2:
Category 3:
message ID: 334833
Post On: October 28, 2012
Posted by User #: Chris Kern
Posted by IP:
message:
I’m glad to see that Banff is looking at more fuel efficient taxis but please don’t confuse that with going ‘green.’ For a full size car, Ford’s Panther platform (Town Car, Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis) is actually not too shabby for fuel efficiency and its great as a taxi but not for a National Park, so let’s look at the options. The green hoards will trot out the Toyota Prius family as the pinnacle of green-cred but as fuel efficient as the Prii and other hybrids are, most hide a dark secret. Every new Toyota Prius for example contains 30Kg (65lbs) of Rare Earth metals mined in China that take specialized recycling at the end of the car’s lifecycle. Each year China’s Rare Earth industry produces 13 billion cubic metres of waste gas including deadly fluorine and sulphur dioxide which is five times the amount of the total waste gas flared annually by all miners and oil refiners in the U.S. and it also produces 25 million tons of wastewater laced with cancer-causing heavy metals such as cadmium. I realize it’s not all meant for hybrid vehicle manufacture but green? Hmmm.
If Banff does go the hybrid route, Ford has some very credible hybrids as well such as the European C-Max, the more taxi friendly North American made Fusion hybrid, and as a bonus there is a dealership here in Canmore. There are plug-in hybrids and range extended EV’s such as the Chevrolet Volt that merit some consideration but as taxis they lose their battery powered advantages. There are also pure electric vehicles on the market but their short range makes them useless as taxis and in Alberta they are mostly coal powered cars anyway. The good ol’ gas engine is fighting back with new technologies that have produced some vehicles with impressive fuel-efficiency numbers such as Ford’s Transit Connect Wagon which even has a taxi version.
In the end the best option would be something diesel powered as range, life expectancy, emissions and fuel-efficiency all come together in one taxi & earth friendly package. New diesels are more eco-friendly in many ways than their gas counterparts and as Canadian Rockies Public Schools has proven, Bio-Diesel is a viable fuel source that reduces emissions by up to 60% (if you’ve got your own tank). Unfortunately for many reasons the USA has robbed Canada of many of the uber-efficient Japanese and European diesels that would be perfect for Banff’s taxi applications. All is not lost however as Chevrolet is introducing a diesel Cruze, Mazda is bringing some diesels over soon, Chrysler keeps trying them, hopefully Ford will bring us the diesel Transit Connect Wagon and we already have the usual suspects from Europe via VW, Audi and Mercedes.
I wish Banff all the best in their quest to live up to the environmental responsibilities of being in a National Park, but as you can see it’s not easy being green.