Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius during 2000-2007, is no stranger to innovative ideas - such as a free bicycle scheme for Vilnius and live streaming of the mayor's office over the internet among others. His latest idea? In September Mr. Zuokas bought a London taxi.
What prompted this purchase? “Well, I always liked the design of London taxis, it is a classic design, which has a certain history and a certain charm”, he says to lrytas.lt. “It is also a timeless model, it does not get old.”
But this is just part of the story. Having previously used a chauffeured BMW 7, Mr. Zuokas says that he does not really need a car in the city, as the journeys are usually short and his personal driver spends most of the time waiting to pick his boss up. Hence the new taxi – which will be available not only to him, but also to the citizens and guests of the city – as a regular taxi.
This approach has a number of advantages, Mr. Zuokas says. A taxi can use public transport lanes thereby being faster in traffic, it can enter the restricted Old Town zones, inaccessible to private cars. And the taxi is used not only for Mr. Zuokas own needs, but also for those of other people.
Mr. Zuokas envisions that this could become a broader iniciative if public institutions and municipalities adopted the same approach. “For instance, ministers, mayors, and department heads also have cars with personal drivers, who spend most of the time waiting until the officials have to be transported from one place to another. If they were operating as taxis, other people and employees of the institution could use them as well,” he explains on his blog. “It would be a more efficient way of spending taxpayers' money, and the government would be closer to the people,” he adds.
