Green Cab Offers Madison a Hybrid Alternative

A new taxi company establishes its niche in Madison

Since joining Madison’s public transportation force last fall, Green Cab of Madison has taken an environmentally friendly approach to the taxicab service.

On Sept. 17, 2010, Green Cab put 10 brand-new Toyota Prii (plural of “Prius”) and one 14-passenger GMC van onto the streets in the Madison area, hoping to use their “green” image to compete with the three taxi companies currently operating in the region.

Green Cab was founded by Mike and John Schmidt of Schmidt’s Auto, a Madison-based towing company. The Schmidt brothers are grandsons of the late Norbert Schmidt, one of the original founders of Badger Cab of Madison in 1946.

“We had the idea for a green taxi service for about two years,” said Amanda Schmidt, Green Cab’s marketing manager. “We actually sat down to write the business plan in February 2010.”

According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Green Cab is the first new taxi company in Madison since 1986. In order to compete with the existing taxi companies, Green Cab was designed to offer a distinct alternative.

“We wanted to offer Madison a greener, less expensive option to travel. That's where the idea for hybrids came in,” said Schmidt. “We are also a shared ride cab company which allows us to be both inexpensive and environmentally friendly.”

In addition to using vehicles that are less harmful to the environment and promoting shared cabs, Green Cab is also a strong advocate for the use of bicycles in the Madison area.

“Our motto has always been to ‘one day a week ride your bike, take a hybrid bus, or ride in a green cab’ to save energy,” said Schmidt. “We put bike racks on the cabs to promote people using their bicycles.”

In addition to environmental consciousness, Green Cab has used new technology to help their company become more efficient. Every Green Cab taxi has an Apple iPad installed on its dashboard.

Each iPad is outfitted with a special application designed specifically for Green Cab.

“After watching several demos on dispatch software, we decided to develop our own. So we created an app for Apple and installed iPads in all our cabs,” said Schmidt. “It was actually less money and we were able to make the software to fit our needs. A lot of the software we looked at did not offer the shared ride option.”

The iPad application allows the drivers to stay connected with each other, as well as with Green Cab headquarters, and keeps track of fares while providing navigation.

Green Cab’s fare system is different from those used by Madison’s other taxi companies. Green Cab uses a zone system, which charges a minimum fare of $3, then adds an additional dollar for each zone entered along the ride.

An extra dollar is charged for each additional passenger in the cab and if a cab leaves the mapped zones, an additional $0.25 is charged for every 1/10 mile outside the zones.

Now in its 7^th month of operation, Green Cab continues to grow. Since launching, Green Cab expanded its fleet of Prii to 15 total cars and looks to continue expanding.

“We continue to add hybrids to our fleet,” said Schmidt. “We'd like to see more people in Madison using the public transportation that's available. We want to grow the pie in Madison for public transportation and also make people aware that there is a greener alternative to commuting.”