Yellow is the color traditionally associated with taxicabs, but in Memphis another cab color – albeit a metaphorical one – is gaining ground.

Kristin Bell, who works Downtown and takes cabs regularaly, prefers the environmentally friendly Prius to the other available cabs.
(Photo: Ben Fant)

Local cab companies Yellow Cab and Checker Cab – both of which are sister companies – in addition to Metro/Advantage Cab Co. have all officially gone green, with new environmentally friendly rides having been added to each company’s fleet.

Yellow Cab has added a hybrid cab, a Toyota Prius, to its fleet of 88 cabs. It’s one more step forward as part of the companies’ environmental focus that has included recycling things like motor oil and paper and finding ways to reduce fuel consumption.

“We’ve already bought one (hybrid),” said Ham Smythe IV, president of three sister companies Yellow Cab, Checker Cab and Premier Transportation. “We’re experimenting with it to make sure it fits our needs. So far, we’re very happy and plan to buy more. Cabs can run up to 300 miles a day, so it’s well worth it. The hybrid feature pays for itself down the road.”

The Prius has been painted Yellow Cab’s signature “swamp holly orange” color and is now available to transport passengers throughout the metro area.

Yellow Cab and Checker Cab, which provide 24-hour taxi and courier service in the metro area, have been in the business for more than 150 years. A sister company, Premier Transportation, provides bus, shuttle, minivan and sedan services.

Another local cab company is also “going green.”

Metro/Advantage Cab Co. is planning to convert 30 percent of its fleet to the Toyota Prius fuel-efficient hybrid by the summer of 2012. But that’s just the start.

Lawrence Dowdy, a driver for Metro Cab, is one of two cabbies who drives a Toyota Prius that gets him 40 miles per gallon.
(Photo: Ben Fant)

“By next month, our fleet will be at 80 vehicles, and then by November we should be at 90 vehicles,” said Jay Kumar, president of parent company Kumar Transportation Inc. “By 2015, our goal is to have 100 percent of our fleet as hybrid vehicles.”

According to information from Metro/Advantage Cab, the Prius produces up to 90 percent less toxic emissions than other non-hybrid vehicles, a shift away from standard fossil-fuel engines that the company says over time will help improve air quality in the city.

The company also cites Consumer Reports data to say that the Prius gets 44 to 48 miles per gallon.

An environmental focus is one of several initiatives the company is pursuing. Next month, it will relaunch its “Pink Ride” campaign, for which $1 of every fare collected in the company’s signature pink taxis will go to the American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” program.