In Bloomfield, CT little girls can have big ideas. Honda Civic GX natural gas powered sedans are wearing bright yellow as part of the Yellow Cab Company's move to go green. However, if it wasn't for Shantal, the 10-year-old daughter of Marco Henry, president and CEO of Yellow Cab Company, the idea may never have developed.
"My daughter was really worried about saving the planet, which got me thinking," said Henry. "Suddenly, I found myself determined to find a way for my company to help cut air pollution."
As a test, the 100-year-old taxicab company purchased six GXs in October 1998 from Manchester Honda in Manchester, Conn. They were so well-received by both cab drivers and passengers that in January 1999, the taxi service bought 25 more Civic GXs.
Henry noted that local residents often request the natural gas vehicles when they call for a cab.
"The Civic GX was a natural choice for The Yellow Cab Company because it has the cleanest internal combustion engine in the world and it gets higher fuel economy than other fleet vehicles," said Craig Peters, assistant sales manager and administrator of natural gas vehicle purchases at Manchester Honda.
Not only does the environment benefit from The Yellow Cab Company's use of ultra-low emission vehicles, but operational costs have been reduced. The Civic GXs also provide far better mileage than the vehicles they replaced.
The cost of adding the ultra-clean Civics to the fleet was offset by financial assistance from Capital Clean Cities Coalition, a non-profit organization. The company was also able to acquire major government funds from CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) and additional financial assistance from Connecticut Natural Gas. The Civic GXs account for one-third of the cab company's total fleet.
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