San Antonio Hybrid Taxi (Text Version)

This is a text version of the MotorWeek video segment, San Antonio Hybrid Taxi, which aired on May 6, 2010.

JOHN DAVIS: Our success story this week eyes a hybrid-taxi replacement program in San Antonio, Texas. A 2007 city ordinance, filled with incentives, kicked off the voluntary program to replace traditional cabs with gasoline-electric hybrids.

While familiar rides like the Crown Vic still ferry most passengers around the Alamo city, thanks to a commitment by several large taxi firms, more than 100 hybrids are already on the road.

And program coordinators are keeping the pedal down and hope to see more fuel-stingy taxis in the near future.

GARY GILBERT: As technology changes in the automotive industry, our program will change with those technologies to provide a cleaner vehicle but still provide the transportation needs of our citizens

JOHN DAVIS: Drivers like the fuel economy and cost savings hybrids offer, and passengers enjoy the ride—knowing they, too, are doing something good for Texas.