Taxi medallions for 'green' vehicles receive record bids

[DoYouEverWonder]

June 22, 2006, 11:01 PM EDT

NEW YORK -- The number of "green" taxis in the city will increase more than tenfold to 281, more than in any other U.S. city, after the city's first major auction Thursday for permits to operate hybrid electric cabs, taxi officials said.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission, which tightly regulates the number of taxis prowling New York streets, wasn't sure whether cabbies would embrace the new technology, so it opened the bidding at discounted prices as an incentive.

Those fears proved meritless. When the sealed bids were opened Thursday, some buyers had offered record prices. One paid $554,147, the highest sum ever spent for the privilege of operating a hybrid or natural-gas cab.

Green taxis will still represent a tiny fraction of the more than 13,000 yellow cabs in the city's fleet, but the success of the sale may indicate a bright future for the technology, said Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman Matthew Daus.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--greentaxis0622jun22,0,4764869.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

Maybe the US auto companies need to buy a clue? People want hybrid technology in their cars.