As part of the Green City Charter, Southampton City Council highlighted that a reduction in vehicle emissions across the city was essential to improving air quality and achieving the ambition of creating a cleaner, green, healthier and more sustainable city.
To reduce further emissions produced by the local taxi trade, Southampton City Council are adding new licencing conditions to prevent older, more polluting vehicles being provided with a taxi or private hire licence.
The council has also introduced several incentives to support taxi and private hire vehicle owners to change to low emission vehicles. The Low Emission Taxi Incentive Scheme (LETIS), provides a grant to eligible taxi owners, providing up to £3,000 cashback in licence cost. Since the launch in December 2017, 77 upgrades have completed.
Southampton are also introducing a free consultancy service for taxi and private hire drivers to assess their driving styles and recommend how they can achieve savings by upgrading to cleaner vehicles. The taxi and private hire trade will also be supported with dedicated rapid charging points.
