Toyota Prius, the New Limo?
I hope this dude loses his appeal. Because I, for one, would be completely pissed off if I ordered a Limo and a freakin’ butt ugly PRIUS showed up.
TAMPA – Moshe Leib says it’s not a stretch to call his black Toyota Prius a limousine.
Hillsborough County’s Public Transportation Commission is skeptical, though, and has denied Leib’s application to operate the gas-stingy vehicle as a limo service. That means Leib, who operates TB Limo in Pinellas, can use the car to take customers into Hillsborough County, but he can’t pick them up there, even at the airport.
Now the North Redington Beach man is suing the agency in federal court.
Leib’s Prius has four doors, seats five, including the driver, and has black leather seats. Passengers are entitled to bottled water and a newspaper. The also derive comfort from knowing they’re driving in a fuel-efficient vehicle, he said.
Bottled water, a newspaper and environmentally conscious? Er, no thanks. Give me my huge wasteful stretch with a wet bar…….a full one, of course, a cranking stereo system and a moon roof (for actual mooning after wet bar fun commences).
He says the commission infringed upon his right to earn a living as he sees fit when it denied his request for a waiver of its rules that regulate limos.
“It’s my right, and the people’s right, to drive this car and be driven in this car. If you want to be green, an environmentalist, then you should be able to do that,” he said.
I LOVE his entitlement attitude. He has the RIGHT to earn a living as HE sees fit? Um, sorry but we have rules and laws here. Granted, I hate most of them, but as they are currently in place, everyone else has to follow them so you do as well, Mr. Cheap-Ass-Trying-to -Pull-a-Scam-to-avoid-taxi-permit- lottery-and-failing-Dude.
If driving in a Prius is a “right”, then that is one right I can gladly live without.
Jenny
Lori Ziganto
somegit
Snark And Boobs 
Amazing how many Dummy’s just don’t get it. It’s about choice for the consumer & the business person providing the product that consumer’s want.
What does the average consumer want with transportation to & from the airport? The lowest price possible. So thanks to the morons regulating the transportation industry we have “executive style limousine services” providing transportation to the old retiree’s in $40,000. vehicles at $40. a shot. Smart business sense isn’t it?
Transportation Rules in Hillsborough County? Yeah, rules that violates the US & Florida Constitution, Federal & State Transportation Statutes and numerous case law findings. Of course being Hillsborough, such shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Leib filing suit to avoid a “taxi permit lotto”? Obviously the head is stuck up the ass & clueless to the issues at hand. Go study up on the Interstate Commerce Clause of the US Constitution & the relationship between interstate travel & the providers of prearranged chartered transportation to and from the interstate hubs. Maybe you just might learn something about the law, rules & regulations that are being violated by the local regulatory thugs.
Bringing the issues before a Federal Judge is a citizens right to challenge government laws. And if one did a little research, they may find that the “limo” rules were written with one mindset in place. Protect the revenue stream of the Tampa Taxicabs. Now what the Tampa Taxicabs, of which 90% of the permits are owned by 2 individuals, have to do with prohibiting a Pinellas County business from bringing home prearranged interstate travels from the regional interstate hub is something a Federal Judge will have to sort out.
The United States Constitution – Ever hear of it?
Nah, I still want a big, shiny, pretty car.
While I do deplore most bullshit local regulatory laws, I hate the Prius (and all it stands for) more.
Being a dummy with my head stuck up my ass and all, I can’t possibly grasp such concepts as the US Constitution or interstate commerce clauses. Thank goodness for people who can tell me what I should want and put me in my place for daring to poke fun at Prius “limos”.
Giving passengers a plastic water bottle that will sit in a landfill for 8 trillion years and a newspaper that only exists because some diabolical corporation murdered trees to produce it doesn’t seem very environmentally conscious to me. And leather seats? Someone think of the poor dead cows! This destructive human should be denied his permit if only due to his furtive hatred of Spaceship Earth. Shame on him and his phony greenness! Tell me when and where for the mooning, ’cause of course I wanna see
Oh, and for future reference, I also come to this blog expecting to find analysis of insterstate commerce law and the excruciating minutiae of Tampa taxi licences, not to read jokes about how crappy hybrids are or funny commentary about other dumb, silly things going on in the news. Could you please write in a less interesting and humorous manner and more like a law school textbook? Thanks much!
Will do, sir! I thought I’d discuss the fine points and excruciating details of US tax codes next. Fun!
No, Toyota Prius is not a limo. It is just an usual car, which are millions in the world.
Limousine should be huge, very impressive.And first of all it should be suitable as a wedding car.
So, if any limousine hire company has in their stock such car, they will go down.
Interesting car, but not so impressive.
As for me limos should look like a Hummer limo, Cadillac Limo or smth like this, but not as Prius. Prius is a typical car, like a huge family car.
Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius limo is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.