Mayor and Transport of London are being urged to come up with ‘imaginative’ ways to help Taxi drivers buy environmentally friendly cabs.
Earlier this year Boris Johnson announced that all taxis registered from 2018 would have to be zero emission capable and operate in their greener mode while in pollution hotspots.
The policy is one of a number of initiatives by City Hall to improve the capital’s air quality, though critics claim the Mayor is doing too little now and accuse him of delaying schemes such as the Ultra Low Emission Zone until he’s left office.
London Assembly Member Darren Johnson wants the Mayor to ease the financial burden to taxi drivers of adopting the new vehicles.
Earlier this week, the Mayor told Assembly Member Johnson that Transport for London are now exploring a number of options to “encourage the introduction of new zero emission capable taxis as quickly as possible.”
Possible action could include providing financial incentives to ease the upfront costs of moving to greener cabs.
Mr Johnson AM said he was “pleased” the Mayor was considering providing help but said he had repeatedly failed to deliver on promises of a £1 million fund to increase the use of low emission vehicles.
He commented: “We need action on air pollution sooner rather than later and taxi drivers need to be given assistance to switch to zero emission vehicles as soon as possible.
“TfL need to think imaginatively on this, such as bulk buying electric black cabs and leasing them out to drivers, which could help deliver clean cabs at an affordable price.”
