A best practice guide for reducing emissions from taxis in London

Within London, taxi activities from both the black cab and private hire fleets represent a significant source of transport emissions. This is due to both a combination of a relatively large fleet, but also as a consequence of the high annual mileages accrued by their activities. Within West London, the presence of London’s Heathrow Airport is also a significant generator of taxi cab movements, and thus this area is particularly impacted by taxi emissions. Whilst the Mayor of London’s taxi emission strategy targets the London black cab fleet (Hackney carriages), it does not explicitly cover those emissions from private hire vehicles. Many taxi companies are actively involved in reducing their fleet emissions through gradual fleet replacement schemes, fuelling choices and practices to encourage fuel saving. This report reviews a range of these practices and provides an initial draft of a best practice guide for taxi fleet operations, for consideration and use by the London Borough of Hillingdon and a consortium of local authorities who form the West London Alliance Air Quality Cluster Group.