By Bernard Vaughan
NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - New York City's plan to create a uniform taxi fleet with cabs from Nissan Motor Co won approval from a state appeals court on Tuesday, which overturned a lower court ruling that had struck down the initiative.
The "Taxi of Tomorrow" initiative developed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission is "a legally appropriate response to the agency's statutory obligation to produce a twenty-first century taxicab consistent with the broad interests ... that the agency is charged with protecting," Justice David Saxe wrote for a 3-1 majority of the Manhattan-based appeals court.
Nissan had in 2011 won a 10-year contract worth $1 billion to provide its Nissan NV200 cabs, a fuel-efficient minivan with the potential to convert to full electric power, only to have a state supreme court justice rule last October that the TLC had overstepped its authority. [ID: nL1N0HY28R]
But Saxe concluded that the city's charter granted the TLC "far-reaching control," and said the agency "carried out its assigned mission with an exacting process lasting from 2007 to 2011 ... to ensure a final decision that would best satisfy taxi passengers, owners, and drivers, as well as the general public."
The appeals court also said concerns about the NV200 being a "non-hybrid, non-handicap-accessible vehicle" do not justify rejecting the TLC decision, noting that the NV200 can be modified.
The plan had been challenged by Evgeny Freidman, a major city fleet operator, and the Greater New York Taxi Association, which claimed the commission could not force taxi operators to buy specific vehicles. Lawyers for the association were not immediately available for comment. A representative for the New York City Law Department was also not immediately available for comment.
Nissan spokesman Travis Parman said the Japanese company is pleased with the decision.
When the contract was awarded, Nissan officials said they expected to provide as many as 26,000 vehicles to the city's taxi fleet over the deal's lifetime. (Reporting by Bernard Vaughan; Editing by Jonathan Stempel and Gunna Dickson)