London cabbies are being given fancy silk purses, feedback "guest books" and a bleeper to stop them revving their engines too much in a move to turn them into green ambassadors to fight climate change.
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (RSA) has helped establish an ambitious and unusual trial which has already encouraged taxi drivers to cut fuel consumption by 12% in the first two weeks.
The silk purses are meant to remind cabbies to drive "smoothly" while the guest books are to assess their driving style and trigger debate with passengers about the advantages to the purse and planet by saving fuel, says the RSA.
The "spring-o-meter" is a dashboard-mounted device that wobbles, and sounds a beep if the cabbie brakes too harshly or accelerates too aggressively, according to Jamie Young, a Royal Society researcher on the project.
"We chose cabbies on purpose because they are stereoyped by critics as cynical and set in their ways and so are a relatively difficult group to influence and who tend to think the high cost of fuel just comes with the job," he said.
"But they are also informal opinion formers because they come in contact with a large number of people so they can influence others ... We are keen to extend these trials outwards and yes, 'white-van man' could come next," Young added.
The RSA, which is undertaking the Smarter Cab Drivers study along with oil company Shell, says it expects savings of 15% by the time the nationwide study of taxi drivers is wound up in another two weeks.
If continued over the course of a year, taxi drivers could each be in line to save £600 a year, or the equivalent of 200kg of carbon, in the case of a new diesel car, the Royal Society claims.
Young says there could be a huge impact on Britain's overall C02 emissions if all the country's drivers could be encouraged to take the relatively simple step of driving differently.
"We're pleased to see our Smarter Cab Drivers doing so well as they they bid to improve their driving behaviour, and we hope that this campaign can show everyone how quickly you can become a smarter, more fuel-efficient driver - and save money in the process," he said.
The silk purses and other specially-designed "nudges" are considered more effective that just endless verbal or written messages to slow down and drive more carefully.
The RSA and Shell have talked at length to taxi drivers about what motivates them. One typical response from an unnamed cabby was this: "We all know how to drive fuel-efficiently ... I would happily drive along the Broadway at 40mph so long as cabs didn't overtake me at 60mph so that I'm 20 places back in the queue at the airport."
