Soon the end for the last Crown Vic taxis in NY | Automotive news | Auto123

• The last two Ford Crown Victoria taxis in service in New York will be retired.

For a little over 10 years, when you saw a taxi in New York, it was a Ford Crown Victoria that you saw. This iconic model came to replace the legendary Checker Marathon which was the image of New York taxis from the end of the 70s until 1999, when the Crown Victoria quietly came to take its place.

In 2011, as Ford ceased production of its sedan, New York City switched to another model, the Nissan NV200. Today, we are entitled to a plurality of models, often of the hybrid type for better energy efficiency.

But for those who don’t know, there are still two Crown Victorias in service. These examples will, however, be taken out of service soon, as reported by the CarBuzz site.

The two cars began their respective careers in 2011 and 2013. However, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), taxis cannot remain in service for more than seven years. When the pandemic hit, drivers of older models were given extensions, allowing those vehicles to stay in service longer.

Drivers of the last two Ford Crown Victorias were summoned to a hearing today regarding their old taxis. We’ll see what happens after this meeting with the TLC, but if things go wrong for the drivers, they could see their licenses suspended, in addition to receiving a fine of $500 USD.

The Crown Victoria put into service in 2013 belongs to Haroon Abdullah and the latter has covered 790,000 km with his mount. He wants to replace his Crown Victoria with a new Sienna van, but he’s having trouble finding the money for a down payment.

The other car belongs to Ravinder Sharma, who has driven a little over 885,000 km with his taxi. Aged 64, he wants to be able to drive his Ford until his retirement, which is fast approaching.

The Crown Victoria is one of the strongest cars Ford has ever built. This model is practically indestructible. Jason Kersten, a spokesman for the Taxi and Limousine Commission, said the Crown Victorias will be in short supply, but they need to be taken off the road. As was the case for the Ford Model T, Checker Marathon and Chevrolet Caprice, another car that marked the New York landscape during the 80s and 90s.

And the future is definitely electric. We have already seen Mustang Mach-Es being used as taxis on the streets of New York, just as we see Hyundai Ioniq 5s in abundance here.

By 2030, all Uber and Lyft vehicles operating in New York City will need to be fully electric. The TLC regulates both ride-sharing firms, so it will be interesting to see if the same rule applies to the city’s vast fleet of yellow cabs.