The National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company has asked the government to replace polluting taxis in Tehran that run on gasoline with cabs using the environment-friendly compressed natural gas (CNG).
“Even cars that run on Euro-5 standard fuel emit some pollutants, but that is not the case with cars that burn CNG,” Abbas Kazemi, CEO of the NIORDC, was quoted as saying by IRNA.
He said his company has written to the government urging President Hassan Rouhani to issue a directive that would see taxis, which make up 2% of the capital’s public transportation fleet, use cleaner fuel.
Despite accounting for such a low percentage of the fleet, taxis contribute a whopping 18% to Tehran’s air pollution.
He warned against converting gasoline-powered cars to run on natural gas, and said, “CNG cars produced in factories are more efficient and perform markedly better than gasoline vehicles converted later to run on CNG.”
Using taxis that operate on CNG is the latest suggestion to help curb Tehran’s toxic air quality, which after experiencing two surprisingly pollution-free days last week, began to deteriorate and registered an index of 104 on Saturday morning; within the yellow zone based on World Health Organization standards which means the air quality is unhealthy for sensitive groups, including children, the elderly and sick.
