The new system, which was introduced in the spring, gives priority to ecotaxis in the airport’s taxi lanes. The fewer emissions an ecotaxi produces, the shorter the waiting time will be for being dispatched to the taxi lane in front of the terminal.
“We are on our way to achieving the goals we had in making the change. We want to reduce the environmental impact of ground traffic to and from the airport and at the same time create a system that makes it easier for travellers to find the taxi company they want to travel with,” says Jan Lindqvist, Head of Corporate Communication at Stockholm-Arlanda.
“Now almost 75 per cent of taxis at Stockholm-Arlanda are ecotaxis. Before we implemented the change, the figure was 48 per cent, and over the long run this major improvement affects large parts of the taxi industry in the county,” Mr Lindqvist notes.
For travellers at Stockholm-Arlanda, the change is most apparent in the taxi companies today having more lanes, which provides a good overview of which taxi companies serve the airport. That is something customers appreciate, according to a recent survey.
“Of the 200 travellers who have now been interviewed, 93 per cent think that the taxis/companies they want to travel with are easily accessible outside the terminal, compared to 73 per cent before,” Mr Lindqvist says.
Since December 2005, Stockholm-Arlanda has given priority in various ways to taxis that are ecotaxis, and has indicated for almost two years that in 2011 planning will take place for the next phase, in which only ecotaxis will be able to use the taxi lanes.
But ecotaxis have also been affected by problems this past spring with contaminated ethanol and a lack of fuel at biogas filling stations. However, Stockholm Gas is now opening Sweden’s largest biogas filling station at Stockholm-Arlanda. It is already operating on a limited basis and will open to the public – and of course to all biogas taxis – on September 30.
For more information, please contact:
Jan Lindqvist, Head of Corporate Communication, Swedavia Arlanda, 0708-91 64 02