New Nissan taxi vans will be coming to New York City later this year, despite a judge’s ruling that they can’t be the only kind of taxi allowed on the streets of the Big Apple. Mayor Bloomberg had hoped to make the van-like cabs the only ones in the city as a part of his Taxi of Tomorrow initiative.
The Nissan taxi is a remodeled version of their NV200 van with sliding doors and skylight windows that will hopefully make the ride through the city’s streets a little more enjoyable. It’s also safer than many other cabs and features a panoramic sunroof.
Even though a judge said cab companies can’t be required by the city to use them exclusively, that doesn’t mean that they can’t choose to use them if they want to add them to their fleets. Dealers are reporting that vehicles are just beginning to arrive on their lots and are already being purchased by taxi companies.
They’re priced at about $30,000 each and are being made in Mexico. There will also be some that receive modifications to make them wheelchair accessible at a facility in Indiana. Bloomberg’s plan called for only 2,000 of the taxis to be handicapped accessible which caused objections from some politicians.
New York City currently has a fleet of 15,237 cabs that Mayor Bloomberg hoped to have standardized. At this point, the administration would have to win an appeal by December 31st when Bloomberg leaves office or the effort at standardization will likely be done.
There was a two-year competition to determine exactly which vehicle would be chosen as New York City’s exclusive taxi with the Nissan NV200 coming out above the rest. They designed it with the input of taxi owners, drivers and passengers to create a unique vehicle. No word yet on what action Nissan might take as a result of not getting the exclusivity they were promised.
Check out this insider TFLtruck video of the 2014 Nissan NV200
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
