AM General's New Taxi (MV-1) Coming to Toronto as a Standard?

[dwaxman1]

CANADIAN TAXI OF TOMORROW



A Toronto area company is pushing for Toronto to follow New York City's lead and create a standard taxi-cab for the city.



And specifically, the Motion Group of Companies (MGC) is hoping the city chooses the MV-1 -an Indiana built vehicle distributed by the Canadian company.



Toronto city councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (inspired by New York City's two-year-long Taxi of Tomorrow campaign to leverage the purchasing power of the taxicab industry to manufacture a safe, environmentally sustainable and comfortable cab for NYC passengers and drivers) is leading the charge for Toronto's Licensing and Standards Committee to follow a similar course.



Of interest to MGC is that Disability Rights Advocates filed a suit against NYC when the city awarded the Taxi of Tomorrow contract (for 10 years) to Nissan for its NV200 minivan. The group claims that the Nissan NV200, and even the other two finalists in the competition, did not meet the needs for wheelchair access as would some other vehicles such as the MV-1 -produced by The Vehicle Production Group (VPG) and assembled in Indiana by AM General (formerly of Hummer fame).



"Toronto's Wheel Trans program is expensive to operate, often carrying fewer wheelchair passengers than its capacity", says Nick Grande, CEO of Motion Group of Companies. "Choosing a fully accessible taxi, like London's black cabs, would improve public service and relieve the burden on the city's Para transit program which will only increase with our aging population".



As Toronto vies for more international events such as the Pan Am Games, standard accessible transportation will only add to the City's image and attractiveness.

[shotgun-cam]

have a look http://www.vpgautos.com/experience-MV-1 ... e-features

[dwaxman1]

These are actually built in the old H2 assembly plant in South Bend, Indiana, I believe there are not many built currently but full production will be sooner then later..