We’re Greening Our Routine!  
It’s true, the company long known for its orange and white colors is steadily growing green.


Metro Taxi is proud to receive the Business New Haven 2010 Green Award recognizing environmental leadership in the category of Transportation companies within the Greater New Haven area

A Car-Free Lifestyle:
We’ve introduced a suite of Metro Taxi charge and debit cards: the Metro Charge Card for corporate clients, the University Ride Safe® Card for college and university students, and the Gift Card ideal for any transportation need. This innovation allows us to provide our customers the top quality service they’ve come to expect with the extra benefit of providing cash-less cab rides that lessen our paper consumption.  Each Metro Charge Card, for instance, replaces more than 3,000 paper vouchers. By combining this service with our new electronic invoicing, we’re significantly reducing paper use.  All of our cards are also accessible and reusable online. Did you know that Metro Taxi is the only cab company in the state using this system? Even our satellite dispatch technology is computerized to dramatically reduce paper. Here too, we are one of the rare taxi companies in Connecticut with such a system. 

Metro Taxi’s hybrid cab is distinguished by this logo on its driver, front-passenger, and trunk doors.

Our Green Machine:
Beginning in the summer of 2008, when Metro Taxi added its first hybrid electric vehicle – a 2008 Ford Escape – to the company’s 161 car fleet, cabbie Richard Miller has driven Connecticut residents, tourists and corporate clients more than 100,000 miles throughout the state and sometimes even as far as J.F.K. International Airport.  Often his customers express surprise that there’s “no engine sound.” In addition to providing a very comfortable ride, Miller also reports that the “gas consumption is very low.” He says that the Metro Taxi Hybrid transitions easily from gasoline engine to electric generator motor, meeting changing conditions such as city driving or idling. This is how he gets more mileage out of each and every gallon of gas while minimizing emissions.

Clean and Green:
For almost a decade, Metro Taxi has been recycling its own used motor oil – approximately 3,000 gallons a year – to heat its 3,200-square-foot, seven-bay service area. “Billy” Miller, who heads up Metro Taxi’s Service Department, takes pride in recycling the company’s used oil filters and anti-freeze. In addition, all aged batteries from Metro Taxis are returned to the local auto parts store and the company’s scrap metal is also recycled. "Our ongoing recycling efforts help to ensure that hazardous materials are disposed or reused safely," Miller said.  

Greening Our Routine:
Metro Taxi is currently collaborating with Connecticut Light and Power to conserve electricity. Through CL&P's Small Business Energy Advantage Program, Metro Taxi has installed new high-efficiency fluorescent tubes and ballasts throughout its headquarters, including the Service Department.  These lights last longer and require less maintenance than the standard fluorescent tubes used in the past.

We also had occupancy sensors installed in our break rooms, restrooms, managers' offices and conference areas. These sensors detect the motion of room occupants, turning off lights in unoccupied areas and turning them back on when movement is detected. With the new energy-saving program, Metro Taxi estimates it will conserve about 31,102 kWh per year while dramatically reducing overhead utility costs. With the new energy-saving program, Metro Taxi estimates it will conserve about 31,102 kWh per year while dramatically reducing overhead utility costs.

Our future goal at Metro Taxi is to expand our fleet of taxi cabs to run on natural gas. Compressed natural gas is the cleanest alternative fuel available, reducing tailpipe emission by anywhere from 35 to 95 percent. Cars already using natural gas have about 90-percent cleaner emissions than their counterparts. It's  also considerably cheaper per gallon. Natural gas will reduce our imports and dependence on foreign oil. We happen to have an abundance of natural gas right here in the U.S. so we are very excited about the possibilities!

By keeping our costs down, we're able to make charitable contributions to our community  organizations. It gives our employees and our families a sense of pride to know we're doing our part to preserve our environment.

Our Green Scene:
Since we’re talking green, did you see us in the 2009 St. Patrick’s Day Parade encircling the New Haven Green? We were one of the corporate sponsors who helped save New Haven’s keepsake parade and we're delighted to help sponsor the parade again this year. We couldn’t imagine the State of Connecticut’s largest, single-day spectator event being cancelled due to lack of funding. What – disappoint 300,000 local fans? Metro Taxi’s vintage checker cab is a natural in the parade, and of course, our Hybrid will once again wear its green proudly.

A Green Team:
We know that stepping up our environmental efforts is the right thing to do for everyone: clients, drivers, employees, our planet.  So we celebrated Earth Day by teaming up with Community Health Network of Connecticut (CHNCT), the only not-for-profit health plan in the state, as well as our Community Partner, the American Red Cross. With the New Haven Parks Department and the Coalition for a Safe Connecticut, we encouraged you to “Green Your Routine.” CHNCT is committed to ensuring the highest quality of health care delivery to its members; many of whom are the state’s uninsured or undeserved. 

For more details, check out our community-focused collaborations. Meanwhile, if you haven’t yet ridden in our Metro Taxi Hybrid, either “just call 7” or take a spin here with WTNH News Channel 8 reporter Jodi Latina.