By Alex Taylor III, senior editor atlargeMay 5, 2011: 11:49 AM ETFORTUNE -- News item: New York Cit...

1. Nissan's taxi of tomorrow for New York has a lot to prove
By Alex Taylor III, senior
editor at
largeMay 5, 2011: 11:49 AM ET
FORTUNE -- News item: New York City selects Nissan to design and build the "Taxi
of Tomorrow." The Japanese automaker will supply a purpose-built version of the iconic yellow cab
reimagined as a minivan starting in late 2013.
Good luck, Nissan. You are about to become the target of intense media scrutiny, unsolicited
"advice" from every politician who can get to a microphone, and complaints from most of the
drivers and taxi fleet owners in the city.
And good luck, Gotham. Your record of success in directing the future of the taxi cab -- and any
other futuristic method of individual or mass transit is rather spotty. Remember the
Peugeot diesel that was practically shredded by your ill-maintained streets? Or the way the courts
twice blocked your efforts to penalize fleet owners for using non-hybrid cabs? And I
won't even get into your difficulties with such forward-thinking mass transit projects like the
Grumman Flexible bus and Bombardier subway car.
The latest debate centers on bike lanes, which have been popping up on major thoroughfares,
including Broadway. Supporters argue they are the wave of a gas-short, air-polluted future.
Opponents claim the little-used lanes were imposed without due process, steal space from car and

2. bus traffic, and are a safety hazard.
Look, I'm no fan of New York City taxis. Except under extreme duress, I let minivan and SUV taxis
pass me by because I can't stand the ballistic-grade clear-plastic seat covers or
scratched and dirty plexiglass driver partitions. Even those more comfortable Ford Crown Victoria
sedans leave me trapped in the back seat because my size 11 shoes are wedged under the
front seat.
No, I'm not nostalgic for those buckboard-riding old Checkers with the hose-out interiors either. And
I understand that those wonderful London taxis (with their equally-wonderful
knowledgeable and polite drivers) are too expensive and hard to maintain in our city.
But to be frank, your record in directing transportation projects that are supposed to improve on the
status quo is spotty at best.
Take those Grumman busses. According to contemporary reports, Grumman, the company that built
the lunar landing module, produced a bus in 1978 that was supposed to kneel for the
handicapped and flashed "Have a good day" to passengers. The buses quickly developed problems
with air conditioning, and within months the city had to take all of them out of service for
repairs because of cracks in the supporting frames.
Then there were those Bombardier subway cars from the late 1990s. After they had been in service
for a while, the Transit Authority discovered they were requiring maintenance almost twice
as often as promised. Software and hardware glitches, prevented some cars from getting power from
the third rail, while some car doors wouldn't open or close, forcing conductors to walk
through the trains and operate them manually.
This doesn't bode well for the Taxi of Tomorrow. Planning began in 2007 with the creation of a set of
goals. As a
result, the Nissan has a long list of features, such as a 12-volt electrical outlet and two USB plugs,
antimicrobial seat fabric, and a transparent roof panel.
Nice, but unnecessary. Wouldn't it have made more sense to create a list of basic requirements and
let manufacturers figure out the best way to meet them? All the "attractive, breathable,
and easy-to-clean seat fabric" in the world isn't going to make it any easier to catch a cab during
shift change at 4 p.m.
And I'm just guessing, but I bet the new unibody, front-wheel drive van will have as hard a time
holding up to the constant pounding that taxis take as the current fleet of unibody
front-wheel drive vehicles do.

3. Call me old-fashioned, but there is nothing as durable as antique body-on-frame, rear-drive
construction for city use.
One of the largest taxi fleets in the city is run by Midtown Operating Corp. When it was announced
that Ford (F, Fortune 500) was taking the venerable Crown Vic out of production, the New York
Times interviewed owner Ron Sherman and here's what he said:
"There's not another approved vehicle at the Taxi and Limousine Commission that works for my
operation. We need a commercial-grade, fleet-grade, purpose-built vehicle. It took 20 years
and $50 million to perfect the Crown Vic. You can't just paint any passenger car yellow and put it on
the road. It has to be taxi tough."
Until the Nissan Taxi of Tomorrow proves differently, that will be my last word on the subject.