Taxis - A Uniform Colour ?

Hagar

Should all taxis be the same colour?
Would it provide a sense of identity / uniformity that is lacking now?
New York's famous yellow cabs, London's black cab, Barcelona's green and white.
Instantly identifiable as public transport and add a certain character to a city.

It would also stop ex-taxis being palmed off on Joe Public as easily in the future.

If you think this idea has merit let's hear suggestions for colours.

silverharp

I'd be more interested in the quality then the colour, ideally cars restricted to Merc/BMWAudi/Lexus. Always liked the fact that most taxis in Germany are Mercs. If pushed would say white or off white colour

cyclopath2001

I like the idea. It'd make Taxis easier to spot, encourage professionalism and reassure tourists.

Lime green would be a good distinctive colour & would offer good visibility too.

Badabing

There was a big debate about that and other issues in the driving forward document last year by the taxi regulator, there wont be a uniform colour but all cars will be of a standard size ie, avensis or octavia and have first aid kits etc.. in the car.

mikemac

I'd like less pre 1994 battered Jap imports

Capt'n Midnight

Badabing wrote:

document last year ... but all cars will be of a standard size ie, avensis or octavia and have first aid kits etc.. in the car.

I can see LIDL selling out of the kits then

Green - not lime though

and yes given the price of a taxi fare it should be something that hasn't gone around the clock

Should taxi drivers have to have GSM or do a "knowledge" type exam.

Actually should taxi drivers have a GSM tachometer with the pickup and drop points registered regularly sent to the regulator so they can keep an eye on the routes

Saruman

I do not know of any country that has Taxi's of all the same colour.
I mean some people associate London with Black cabs and New York with Yellow however this is just some (maybe most) of them and in some cases just the colour one particular firm uses.
I cant see it happening unless the government change the rules so that all NEW taxis have to be one particular colour/model etc and then in about 60 years we will have the one colour. You cant expect the existing cab drivers to go buy new cabs or get them resprayed. Thats ridiculous.

weehamster

On the Island of Kos, Greece all the Taxis are Merc's and are Sliver in colour. If only... :rolleyes:

talkingclock

Taxis in Germany are ALL ivory-ish. The colour is "RAL 1015" Every child recognises a taxi by it's colour in Germany. I'd say 95 percent of all cabs are Mercs there.

tbh

In Leeds, all the taxi's have a white bonnet. or, if you prefer, hood.

Reassures the public, and means less part-time taxi drivers. All good IMO.

silverharp

Anyone heard of anyone buying plates to use the bus lanes apart from Michael O'Leary

stovelid

Hagar wrote:

Should all taxis be the same colour?

I can see it now..

"Striking taxi drivers demand cab painting subsidy"

SickCert

Bright yellow like a workers bib.
And a large piece of rubber around the whole taxi (like a dodgem car).

Age limit on the cars themselves?

Victor

SickCert wrote:

Age limit on the cars themselves?

Already in the process. I think 8 years, unless its a classic (limo only I think).

Capt'n Midnight

tbh wrote:

In Leeds, all the taxi's have a white bonnet. or, if you prefer, hood.

Reassures the public, and means less part-time taxi drivers. All good IMO.

yes it's quite distinctive on a black car. and not very expensive to do either

Wishbone Ash

Badabing wrote:

but all cars will be of a standard size ie, avensis or octavia

I would hope that the standard size would be much more generous than an Avensis or Octavia! :eek:

Agent Smith

The reason why there is objections to this is because taxi drivers sometimes dont want other people ( like neighbours) knowing what they do for a living...

Ham'nd'egger

Stovelid, if you popped off to your local panelbeater and ask to repaint a whole car, you would balk at the price asked, not to mention the time to do it. The bonnet idea sounds reasonable enough though the cars must look very stockcar-ish (Not that some cabs don't look enough like stockcars already )

I think, though, three issues would come to surface if taxi's had a standard colour here; would you buy a car of the taxi colour on the second hand market? The prices for same would collapse in trade in and conversely the price of a second hand car in that shade may go up over a similar motor in a different colour; lastly, some decent cars that are used merrily as cabs may not come in such a shade and as such would not be available to be used as a taxi without an aforementioned visit to a low bake oven.

All in all, it would be a very delicate situation to handle though not impossible.

SeanW

I'm a bit of a libertarian, so I oppose having regulations just for the sake of it. Which is what this sounds like. What do you expect colour mandating to achieve that the present "TAXI" panel on the roof and info sheet in the window doesn't?

DubDani

I am very much for that idea. They have the "one colour for taxis only" in several countries. In other countries they have a few colours, depending on who owns the taxis.

- In HK they are mostly red, but there are two other colours depending on the area they are in
- In Germany they are all Ivory (noone else is allowed to register a new Ivory coloured car)
- Malaysia has them in Red and White
- NY mostly yellow etc..

laoisfan

agent smith wrote:

The reason why there is objections to this is because taxi drivers sometimes dont want other people ( like neighbours) knowing what they do for a living...

so do they take the taxi-sign off the car-roof around the corner from the house before they drive into the estate or driveway of their house ?

not sure what hackney drivers would do

Hagar

I think a standard colour with the boonet/boot painted another colour would sork out best. I'm not suggesting that all taxi drivers go out today and do it. It would be a big expense. But suppose all new taxis from 1st Jan 2009 had to be the new colours with full compliance by 1st Jan 2015. That would give plenty of time for current vehicles to be phased put and replaced. I would add that I'm in favour of only certain type of cars being allowed as taxis. At the prices paid by the travelling public a good minimum standard of comfort should be provided.

I think with a bit of State involvement the motor companies would not object to providing the required paint jobs as an "order". As for costs, well many current taxis are sporting metallic paint which can be an additional €500 to €800 on a new car. That could easily offset the special taxi colours.

The advantages I would see of all taxis being easily identified are:

Cuts out cowboys - taxi drivers can't object to that
Easier to spot non-taxis in bus lanes
Safer for lone women traveling at night
Raises the Taxi industries profile
Taxis much easier to spot for locals and tourists alike
Ex-taxis would be more difficult to pass off as privately owned vehicles to unsuspecting buyers

/edit as for Taxi drivers not wanting the neighbours to know what they work at...
I'm sure some of them are more concerned about the Social Welfare / Unemployment Office / Revenue Commissioners finding out.
Roll out the high horse brigade...

Del2005

Hagar wrote:

/edit as for Taxi drivers not wanting the neighbours to know what they work at...
I'm sure some of them are more concerned about the Social Welfare / Unemployment Office / Revenue Commissioners finding out.
Roll out the high horse brigade...

The reason given by the Taxi men for this was safety. If a little scumbag is walking through an estate and spots a Taxi in the drive of a house, he'll think now theres a place where the owner deals only in cash and mostly works at night/unsocial hours. They may have money in there so I'll break in and see. I'd say that a very good reason.

As for a standard colour to stop people buying 2nd hand taxi's. If people don't do enough checks to spot an ex-taxi then they won't spot a lot of possibly bigger issues. And as the old saying goes Caveat emptor

Dont be at yourself

The reason given by the Taxi men for this was safety. If a little scumbag is walking through an estate and spots a Taxi in the drive of a house, he'll think now theres a place where the owner deals only in cash and mostly works at night/unsocial hours. They may have money in there so I'll break in and see. I'd say that a very good reason.

Would the taxi roof sign not give it away? Or the PSV plates?

Victor

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

Would the taxi roof sign not give it away? Or the PSV plates?

Most / all of the roof signs are detachable. What do you mean by PSV plates?

talkingclock

Victor wrote:

Most / all of the roof signs are detachable.

Are Taxi drivers remove their roof siogns for safety reasons before they enter housing estates?

Victor

If they are oeprating they must have the sign up. If finished work, I imagine its for the driver to decide when to take down the sign.

Nevyn

talkingclock wrote:

Are Taxi drivers remove their roof siogns for safety reasons before they enter housing estates?

Most taxi drivers take off the roof sign as they drive home and do not want a marked taxi car parked in front of thier home, singling them out as taxi drivers have had the car and thier homes broken into by thugs looking for money.

Celticfire

Well considering that the car tax is something like €79 a year and that all fuel, repairs and depreciation can be written off on these cars I think they should be identified as a commercial vehicle with some sort of identifiable livery.

Most taxi's serve a dual purpose. Half the time they are a taxi and rest of the time they are the family car that still avails of cheap car tax and tax write offs .

Del2005

Celticfire wrote:

Well considering that the car tax is something like €79 a year and that all fuel, repairs and depreciation can be written off on these cars I think they should be identified as a commercial vehicle with some sort of identifiable livery.

Most taxi's serve a dual purpose. Half the time they are a taxi and rest of the time they are the family car that still avails of cheap car tax and tax write offs .

TBH most commercial cars/vans serve a dual purpose. If you have 2 vehicles parked outside you're house what are you going to drive most of the time. They are also paying much higher insurance and costs. I'd say the percentage of private use compared to most other commercials is tiny, if they are driving the car for ~10 hours a days 5 days a week then there is little time left for private use. I'd say if they had a choice they wouldn't drive a knackered Taxi around, but unfortunately can't afford 2 cars.

Your also ignoring the safety of the drivers and their families, who would want a big sign outside their house saying LOADS OF CASH INSIDE?

Capt'n Midnight

Del2005 wrote:

Your also ignoring the safety of the drivers and their families, who would want a big sign outside their house saying LOADS OF CASH INSIDE?

Night deposit safe.