How would Latka say “Chicago taxi runs on natural gas?”

Latka and the other folks at the Sunshine Cab Company in New York City would have a hard time recognizing some of the new taxis in Chicago….why?  Well they run on natural gas and are providing savings AND opportunities for the drivers.

In a pilot project in Chicago, more than 30 cabs have been retrofitted to run on compressed natural gas (CNG). Currently they are saving more than a dollar per gallon equivalent by using CNG instead of gasoline.  This kind of savings adds up quickly for cabbies.  There are five fueling station in Chicago and that number is expected to grow.  So cabbies have a bit of planning to do when they need to fuel up but they need less money when they do it.

“Natural gas cabs? Get outta here!”

The City of Chicago has made the experiment a lot more interesting by allowing CNG cabs to skip the waiting lot at O’Hare and Midway airports and zoom to the front of the line to pick up passengers.  You can imagine how many more round trips a cabbie can make when they don’t have to spend all that time in a parking lot waiting with the other cabs.

Here’s a short video that shows cabbie reaction to the program.  More than 8,000 rides have been provided to and from O’Hare in the CNG cabs in the past four months.  Here’s a release from the City about the new program.  Remember, CNG vehicles also create fewer emissions and greenhouse gases.

Clean Energy Fuels and the City of Chicago are trying to find ways to see if this kind of fuel system for cabs, fleets and freight make sense.  Clean Energy is taking the lead on creating an infrastructure of fueling stations so our nation’s trucks can run on CNG. After President Obama doubled down on natural gas development in his State of the Union this past week, they may be making a decent bet.

Obama in Nevada last week, talking about CNG

Obviously, the viability of CNG cabs depends on how they perform, the growth of fueling stations and the price of natural gas and gasoline.  But pilot projects like this pave the way to see if we’re going to catching more cabs that run on CNG in the future.

As Latka would say: “bee bop ze bluntz tobee!” (Translation:  “You never know until you try!”)  Thank you very much.