Hybrid Cabs Debut in New York City

Associated Press ^ | 11-10-05 | DAVID B. CARUSO

[WillamShakespeare]

I remember one time I checked out the back seat just for that reason and it did have a solid plastic backing, but who knows if it stops bullets. Either way if they want to kill a driver it wouldn`t be that hard.

There was a cabbie last March who picked a guy up in Brooklyn and for some reason the guy plunged a knife into the cabbies back and took off. The driver lived but it just goes to show the real danger is your back is always turned and the passenger is literally 3 feet away.

Here is the article...

http://gothamgazette.com/community/39/news/1405


Oh yes, and get this: Being that it is New York, liberal Capital of the east coast, home of Michael Moore and the Hillary cultists who feel GW is a bigger threat to the country than the psychos who took it upon themselves to fly two jet planes into their city, there is a law that says cab drivers cannot under any circumstances carry any kind of a weapon.

Of course that means no gun or knives, but get this; Not even a tire iron, a bat, a club, brass knuckles (they actually mention brass knuckles) a butter knife, NOTHING that even resembles a weapon or your license gets immediately revoked!

Isn`t that just lovely? God forbid the guy who decides to stick a knife in you back gets scratched with a butter knife.

[Oatka]

Buses are diesel. This tech [hybrid] would not work with them.
The tech that seems to work for buses is natural gas. ortland Maine is converting it fleet over the next two years to CNG.

The WWII subs had diesel-electric drives, so I think that it is immaterial what the engine is. Perhaps diesel would be even more economical.

I've heard good things about CNG conversions, not the least being longer engine life. Mechanics were reporting little or no contamination of the engine oil.