The quality of the air in New York City could come down to 10 inches of legroom. That is approximately the difference in backseat space between a standard New York taxi and the new hybrid SUVs that environmentalists would like to see added to the city's fleet of 12,760 yellow cabs.

Whether New Yorkers are willing to give up the extra room is about to be tested.

Running on a combination of gasoline and electricity, the hybrids get double the gas mileage of traditional taxis and pollute far less. But for months, the city Taxi and Limousine Commission has been reluctant to allow them to be used as cabs.

...

Yellow Cab Cooperative of San Francisco owns 10 of the hybrids [Ford Escapes]. The company's general manager, Hal Mellegard, said customers seem to like them, but he is waiting to see how the vehicles hold up on the city's famous hills.

"I expect a car to be running well after just 50,000 miles," he said. "When we get to 90,000 miles, we'll talk."

I note the glaring omission of the well-known Prius cab in NYC that's way past 90K miles, or any possibility of using a Prius as a cab.

Also, why do you need to go to a SUV to becoming a greener cab? Is a SUV safer, and more maneuverable than a Crown Victoria extra-long?
Maybe the extra cargo space would be nicer, but maybe they should make a hatchback Crown Victoria instead?

Now I've been in Lincoln Towncar extra-long and it's very roomy in the back, but 5" less of room in say a Prius shouldn't make that much of difference, unless you're doing other things in the back besides riding to a destination.

At least |Forbes| lets you add comments to the story.