Green Cab fleet rolls onto Madison streets. The city's taxicab service turned a little bit greener Friday, when the full fleet of Green Cab of Madison hybrids took to the streets for business. The new company, run by the owners of Schmidt's Auto, has a fleet of 10 Toyota Priuses and a non-hybrid 14-passenger van. The plan for a taxicab company began about four years ago, said John Schmidt, who owns the company with his brother Mike. Originally it was going to be a standard company, one that like most other cab companies buys used police vehicles such as the Ford Crown Victoria. "Then we thought, ‘Let's start looking green,'" Schmidt said. The Schmidts bought 10 new Priuses and a GMC van and have plans to add another 10 new vehicles next year. The Schmidts chose the Prius over the Ford Fusion. "People identify the Prius as a hybrid right away," Schmidt said.
The company also didn't go the standard route when it installed its dispatch software. Green Cab isn't the first use of alternative fuels in Madison taxicabs. EurekAlert! - Science News. Publication of the first Swiss Cleantech Report. Empa. Justice related.