More than 50% of London’s black cabs are now zero-emission capable, with the number totalling more than 7,970 on the streets of the UK capital city, according to Transport for London (TfL).
What’s more, TfL claims to have seen a 10% percent growth in the more environmentally friendly vehicles in the last six months.
Helen Chapman, director of licensing and regulation at TfL, said: “Reaching this milestone is a great reflection of how London is working hard to be a greener, more sustainable, environmentally friendly city.
“We know that by bringing more electric and zero-emission capable vehicles to London we can continue to bring down the level of harmful chemicals in the air and reduce the impact of road transport on our environment.”
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While figures from 2019 show taxis were responsible for 29% of the NOx emissions from central London road transport, more than 4,000 older, polluting vehicles have reportedly been removed from the UK capital’s roads since 2018.
This was after TfL mandated that all new taxis licensed for the first time had to be zero-emission capable and started providing taxi delicensing grants to drivers.
Further measures to reduce emissions from the taxi fleet by phasing out diesel taxis and increasing the number of zero-emission capable vehicles in London include reducing the maximum age of the most polluting taxis from 15 to 12 years between 2020 and 2022 and bringing in discounts and incentives to help drivers transition to new vehicles.
These include helping fund a plug-in vehicle grant, providing taxi drivers with up to £7,500 off the price of a new zero-emission capable taxi.
Achievements and innovations in clean air vehicles will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations officially open in March 2024. Visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector.
