How the City of Tampa Mayor Saved Money by Going Hybrid

Here's something different as we usually hear about pork spending from our city government. The City of Tampa Mayor, Pam Iorio, has saved 330 gallons of gas in just ten months by switching from a Lincoln Town Car to a Toyota Hybrid .

In May of 2007, the mayor traded in her city car, a Lincoln Town Car, for a Toyota Camry Hybrid. How has the hybrid performed so far? Here are the comparison numbers for both vehicles for 9,000 miles.

The Town Car used 580 gallons of gas getting 15.5 miles per gallon. The Camry Hybrid used 250 gallons of gas getting 36 miles per gallon - a savings of 330 gallons of gas. The City also purchased hybrid cars for use in Code Enforcement, Growth Management and Solid Waste.

Those vehicles have been in use for a shorter period of time and stats are not yet available on the savings.

If you are really interested, you can get additional information about the hybrid-pilot program by contacting the Public Works Director Irvin Lee at (813) 274-8580.