"Play. Run. Walk. Breathe." That's the tagline for this summer's biggest no-car experiment in the U.S. For three Saturdays in August (the 9th, 16th, and 23rd) certain streets in New York City will be car-free zones. Actually, it will only be for part of the day on those Saturdays, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., that the nearly 7 miles of roadways selected for the "Summer Streets" event will be repurposed for some emissions-free activities. You can download a PDF of the streets that will be closed to cars - and open to your imagination, as the city says.

The Village Voice says that NYC is taking a page from the Ciclovia festival, a regular event in Bogotá, Columbia, and other similar events from around the world. It's not just that the city is shutting the streets down to make it safer for bike riders. No, this is a full-fledged summer activity program, with dance, fitness, and yoga classes on tap. Transportation Alternatives is one of the groups supporting the city in Summer Streets, and a spokesperson for the group told the Voice that this program will bring people together and will connect "communities who don't have parks to those who do."

One taxi manager's response to the idea: "They've got to be kidding,"

[Source: NYC via the Village Voice]

Since it was decided that the entire fleet of taxis in New York City should become hybrids by 2012 less than a year ago, the number of hybrid hacks has doubled. If the city can achieve that same 200 percent increase every year it will achieve the goal. Out of 13,150 taxi medallions 1020 (just under 8 percent) of them are hybrids today, according to this article at YellowCabNYC. Way to go, New York!

We know you were wondering which hybrid leads the pack so we have the skinny on that too. Drum roll please. The number one vehicle choice of taxi buyers in the Big Apple was the Ford Escape hybrid (pictured above) a with whopping 845 units out there pounding the pavement. Yeah, we are pretty sure Ford is happy about that too. To see how the rest of the field breaks down, hit the jump.

It's finally arrived. NYC is copying London's Congestion Charge. The City Council voted 30 to 20 for a Home Rule resolution asking lawmakers to approve a Senate Bill empowering the city to impose the traffic plan. Congestion pricing, as the plan is called.

How does it work? The congestion charging zone would be in effect in Manhattan south of 60th Street between 6 am and 6 pm Monday-Friday. Cars will be charged $8 daily, trucks will be charged $21 daily ($7 if it's a low-emission vehicle) when entering the zone and there would be a $1 surcharge for vehicles without EZ-Pass readers. Weekends, evenings and early mornings remain free. Moreover, each taxi ride will be surcharged by $1 for trips that start and/or end in the designated zone. Motorcycles and scooters will have to pay $4. Big Apple drivers can also look forward to increased metered parking rates and residents won't be able exempt from the parking tax, although there will be a residential parking program. What do we get for the cost? The Council committed the estimated revenue of $491 million for transit improvements.

[Source: NYCDOT via Bloomberg]

NYC efficiency is not only for cabs, the Big Apple is going to get better limousines as well. At least, that's the plan. The city's entire fleet of roughly 10,000 chauffeured cars, mostly black, would be required to meet fuel efficiency standards, currently attainable with hybrids, of 25 miles a gallon in 2009 and 30 miles a gallon in 2010. The plan aims to cut emissions in half, in part because of the hybrid powertrain benefits of switching off the car's engine at idle.

The plan includes a mandatory requirement to change black cars every six years, in order to ensure that the entire fleet will be renewed by 2013. In order to make things easier for limo operators, the plan would also include incentives like tax breaks and low-cost-financing options to make purchase of new vehicles easier. Some dealers announced special offers and a couple of banks announced good conditions on loans. The city is also asking the state to approve the waiver of sales taxes on purchases of hybrids.

[Source: NY Times via LCT (gracias a David)

Are you an automaker interested in having your cars cruising the streets of the Big Apple as taxicabs? If so, then keep on reading. New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) has created a website with a request for information (RFI) that seeks information on ways to bring the "next iconic taxi to the City's streets."

This RFI will get feedback from the auto industry so the TLC can study possibilities of creating a special vehicle that balances the city's need for taxis as well as a blueprint and timeline to bring the new "medallion yellow" NYC taxi model to the streets. According to the website, the new taxi should have the following requirements:

• Meets highest safety standards
• Superior passenger experience
• Superior driver comfort and amenities
• Appropriate purchase price and ongoing maintenance and repair costs
• Smaller environmental footprint (lower emissions and improved fuel economy)
• Smaller physical footprint (with more usable interior room)
• Compliance with appropriate Americans with Disabilities Act requirements
• Iconic design that will identify the new taxi with New York City

Got any ideas?

[Source: TLC]

At least as early at April 2007, public officials in New York City were publicly engaged in a discussion about instituting a congestion charge in the Big Apple. Heck, Mayor Bloomberg even had the daily dollar amount picked out: $8. But the plan faltered and we haven't heard much recently. Until now. According to the New York Sun, Bloomberg is "likely to win some sort of "congestion pricing" plan by the spring now that the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, is on board with developing a plan to reduce Manhattan traffic by charging a fee to drivers." So, what will happen?

The details remain unknown, and the Sun says we'll probably have to wait until we approach the March 31 deadline for final approval from the City Council and state Legislature to find out more. That $8 idea? "No chance," says the Sun. That plan was made ultra-confusing by including full rebates for drivers who paid tolls coming into Manhattan (in some cases already $8, in others, $5) and Council members are paying close attention to how the charges will affect their burroughs. This won't be an easy fight, but it smells like something's cooking and will be ready in the spring.

[Source: New York Sun via Winding Road]

If you’re in NYC this weekend with nothing to do (ha!) you might want to check out this conference on how local action can make a big difference in the international world of energy. The conference has interesting plenary sessions, with titles like “The Paradigm is the Enemy: The State of the Peak Oil Movement at the Cusp of Collapse” and  “Sunlight is Life”, and seems to be offering a fairly broad scope of topics. I’d be most interested in the two sessions scheduled for Saturday (at the same time, natch) “From Petrocollapse to Culture Change” and “Biblical Perspectives for Active Creation Care”. If you went to the conference, could you post in the comments how it was? The event goes through tomorrow, with all events at the Cooper Union.