London's Green Tomato cars

Environment-friendly taxis that run on Toyota's Prius are currently running throughout West London.

14 March 2006
LONDON, UK

The duo of Tom Packenham and Jonny Goldstone, both former law students, have founded a company called Green Tomato Cars, an environment-friendly taxi service that runs on Toyota's Prius.

The company is looking to provide a greener option to what is probably one of the biggest sources of pollutants in any city.

According to the company, Green Tomato drivers will be fully licensed, trained, and conversant with Green Tomato's environmental implications.

The company also boasts that they charge nothing for the 'extra cost' incurred in going green, and thus the consumer can, at the same cost, extract a lesser cost from the environment, for the same service.

Currently operational throughout West London, company co-founder Packenham stresses that 'Being green used to mean paying more for worse service, but we intend to emulate the best of the other cab firms if we are going to compete.' He adds, 'We want to attract everybody: people who care about the environment, corporate clients who want to show that they're not just chasing profits, and people who just want a cab that is comfortable, fast and doesn't break down.'

Now if only they would operate in Mumbai, Bangalore or Delhi!