MEXICO CITY — This city is trying to crush the Bug.
The old Volkswagen Beetle is the vehicle of choice for Mexico City's legions of taxi drivers. Somewhere upward of 70,000 of them scuttle about this capital's teeming streets, more than half of the fleet, which is probably the biggest in the world. Many have logged a quarter-million miles or more, 10 times around the earth, and some date to the days of black-and-white television and free love.
Their 45-horsepower engines have been part of the city's cacophonous symphony since the 1950s. Mexico is the only place where they still make the old Beetle, the most popular car in history, with over 22 million manufactured since the first one emerged from Hitler's Germany in 1936.
Now the city government wants them gone. It has branded the old Beetle taxis as a threat to public health, a blight on Mexico's City's air, a locus of crime and kidnapping. It has started a program to replace the cars with four-door sedans, offering taxi drivers hard-to-obtain bank loans for new Nissans, Ford Fiestas, Hyundais and Volkswagen Pointers.
By the end of the decade, if all goes according to plan, the taxi fleet will be Beetle-free. But things rarely go according to plan in Mexico City, where laws and regulations, like red lights, are often regarded as mere suggestions.
There is fierce resistance from hacks.
Fernando Diaz Guerrero, 28, holds a college degree in business administration, earned six years ago, when Mexico's economy was deep in the tank. He has been driving a cab ever since.
He views the program as a big swindle. "It's corruption," he said. "I imagine there is a conspiracy between the government and the car dealers." For its part, the city government insists that the program is needed to cut pollution and crime by pirates. But the plan is hardly a handout. Drivers must come up with a $1,500 down payment and find a property-owning co-signer to qualify for a loan, with an interest rate of 20 percent. That is a high hurdle for the poorest drivers, some of whom make their Beetles double as bedrooms.
Many of the Beetle taxis here — most painted a vivid green to look like limes on wheels — lack catalytic converters, much less seat belts and safety glass. Their inability to go from zero to 60 in less than 30 seconds is not a big problem here, where traffic tends to crawl. Their knack for scooting and squeezing is more prized.
"The car is an extension of you," said Antonio Arizmendi Armenta, 72, who has been driving for 45 years. "When you drive a taxi, you serve society. You must take care of your life, your passengers and your car. And the Bug responds to you. You take care of it, and it takes care of you."