In 2020, the world's largest sports event, the Olympic Games will be held in Japan. In order to solve one the challenges by providing high-quality transportation to the tourists from all around the world, Toyota has released the new taxi model, “JPN TAXI” which has various feature such as wide interior, low fuel consumption, and wheelchair accessible function. After the debut in October 2017, approximately 4,000 cars have been registered by end of March this year. Therefore all of us will have more opportunities to see their appearance in Tokyo and other cities in Japan from now onwards.
Designed exclusively for convenience as a taxi
In Japan, it was common that a 4-door sedan type model with an independent special trunk are used as a taxi. However, the model which released by Toyota this time is completely different from the conventional one.
The car body is hatchback style without the independent trunk room. The total length is 4,400 mm which is compact as compared to a compact class car, however, the passenger seats are as wide as a limousine car for passenger comfort.
The total height of the JPN TAXI is 1,750 mm, which is similar to a minivan height. The height is designed for tall people and elderly people to easily get in the car. When we try to get in the car, we could see that the aim has been achieved at an amazing level. It is same like we are sitting on the chair on the ground. The rear door is a sliding automatic door, as the result, the passenger seat has a larger space.
In history, London taxi in the UK is one of the famous cars which designed exclusively for a taxi. London taxi was designed with the high car roof in order to allow the gentleman to get in even wearing a silk hat, while JPN TAXI with high car roof is designed for the purpose of passenger user-friendly. Don’t you think this is so interesting?
A newly implemented system which is accessible for wheelchair passengers
Another feature of JPN TAXI is the feature of barrier-free. Usually, when a wheelchair passenger gets into a taxi, they will need to fold the wheelchair and ride with other’s assistance. For certain car, the wheelchair passengers might even have difficulty to get into the car.
However, for JPN TAXI, wheelchair passenger can get into the car easily. There is a mechanism which can transform the seat layout for wheelchair loading, where wheelchair passenger can get into the car while sitting on a wheelchair. It is one of Japan's weaknesses among the developed countries to have a lesser barrier-free public infrastructure, however, Japan Taxi has been overriding this perception by the release of JPN TAXI.
JPN TAXI is also excellent in energy saving performance. The powertrain is a full hybrid with twin motor and a 1.5-liter liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) engine. The fuel consumption of Japan Taxi is 19.4 km per liter of LPG, and it can run approximately twice of the distance of a conventional taxi with the same fuel consumption.
The price is reasonably high from 3,280,000 yen to 3,500,000 yen (approximate RM 120,000). Even though the price is high, but it is highly evaluated as a highly innovative taxi and economic efficiency taxi, and therefore there will be more taxi companies are registering for JPN TAXI. If you have the opportunity to travel to Japan please try it out!!
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