City Cab also owns Chevrolet and Nissan hybrids, he said.
United Independent Taxi, the company that pledged to Burbank officials that future new cabs will either be hybrids or alternative fuel vehicles, uses the Prius, Nissans, Toyota Camrys and Ford Escape hybrids, said President Melese Adamu.
"The investment is high, between $26,000 and $32,000. The drivers choose the vehicles," Adamu said.
Because United is a taxi association, its drivers buy their own cars.
Burbank officials, who in May granted United a permit to field 20 cabs in their city, closely monitor the 130 authorized taxis. They keep Burbank fares at the same rate as neighboring Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, city Transportation Department leaders are preparing to introduce an alternative fuel/hybrid taxi program of their own for the 2,303 cabs authorized to work within their city limits.
Officials say San Francisco, Seattle and New York City -- which hopes to replace its 13,000 taxicabs with hybrids over the next five years -- are ahead of them.
"We're researching the issue very carefully. We want to do it right," said Tom Drischler, taxicab administrator for Los Angeles. "We really want to get something going this year. We hope to present a program to the Board of Taxi Commissioners this fall."
One complicating factor is the Los Angeles requirement that cabs have safety partitions to protect drivers. Before the thick plastic shields were mandated in 1993, taxi drivers were being murdered at a rate of one every 18 months. Since then, only two cabbies have been killed by robbers in their car, Drischler said.
"It's hard to put a safety shield in a Prius," but surveillance cameras might be an option, he said.
Most Los Angeles cabs are retired police cars picked up at auction and refurbished for a total cost of about $6,500, he said. "With hybrids, they'll have to come up with a $25,000 investment."
At the airport taxi lot in Burbank, United cab driver Bereket Haile picked a 2008 Nissan Altima hybrid in June when he replaced his Crown Victoria at his own expense. In two months he put 4,500 miles on it, registering between 32 and 34 mpg.
"I didn't try for a Prius. There was a wait," said Haile, 63, who lives in Inglewood. "Passengers all give very good comments about this car. But I don't know how long it will last. It's not heavy-duty."
Haile cut the conversation short when he was dispatched to pick up a fare at the airport terminal.
