My family ran a taxi business for years. The margins are really thin on this taxi business, as the cost of doing business is high. If there is way to cut costs, a taxi operator is going to take it. If you ever want to see the lowest cost per km of any vehicle, go look at what the local taxi operators are using. In small towns, you still may see used cars like old Centurys on the road but in Canada's major cities, hybrids rule. Here in Vancouver 90% of the taxis are Prius, the V being the favourite now. Drivers tell me the cars do 6 L /100 km in Vancouver's horrid traffic and when the cars are retired after six years, the have decent resale. Usually they run about 100,000 km a year.
Taxis are not about go fast, brand loyalty or image; they are about dollars/passenger km. Low fuel costs and maintenance costs, good space for passengers and luggage and bullet-proof reliability are the reasons the Prius rules around here.
