"The taxi project is a real success. The great demand shows that we have struck a nerve in the industry," said Anjes Tjarks, Senator for Transport. The scheme's success means Hamburg already has more registered e-taxis than any other city in Germany. Katharina Fegebank, Senator for Science, Research and Equality, stressed the role of new barrier-free e-taxis: "I am very pleased that inclusion, climate protection and modern mobility concepts are no longer contradictory, but complement each other."
More than 30 taxi companies and private firms have drawn a positive interim balance of the "Future Taxi" funding scheme launched in April with the City of Hamburg to make the sector more sustainable, inclusive and electric. High demand meant the previous funding volume was exhausted after just a few days and benefit 130 e-taxis and 20 barrier-free inclusion taxis so far. Fifty e-taxis are already on roads across Hamburg - ten times as many as at the start of the project.
Most e-taxis in Hamburg
Second funding stage from October
The approved e-taxis will take to roads all over the city during the Hamburg Climate Week from September 17, 2021. The second stage of the funding scheme will start on October 1, 2021, according to the Ministry of Transport. Then, another 170 e-taxis are to be subsidised with up to EUR 5,000 and 30 so-called inclusion taxis for transporting wheelchairs with up to EUR 10,000. The project has received up to EUR 3 million as part of the Hamburg Climate Plan. The Hanseatic city aims to save around 1.4 million tonnes of CO2 in the transport sector by 2030 to protect the climate.
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