Uniform color cabs

Boston's uniform color is essentially white. Only Brookline has different colored cabs (red). If you're looking for a taxi in Boston, you look for white. It's unofficial, but every company seems to buy into the scheme. I think it looks better than the garish yellow of NYC.
 
^Ya white is the de facto. I dont think the range is too much at this point.

I think the whole industry needs reform. After the globe, we all know how corrupt the system is. They need to release more medallions and change transfer and rental rights.

The system also needs to be regionalized for the benefit of both the cabbies and consumer. When I was at BC, brookline cabs used to get pulled over for picking people up on campus or in cleveland circle, when brookline is right there. Peoples travel habits don't follow the boundaries and I almost cant blame cabbies in the back bay for not wanting to drive me home to somerville when they can't legally pick up a fare in there.

At minimum, Cambridge, Somerville, Boston and Brookline should be one system (and not Bostons!). No Maybe make some exceptions for places around the edge so you dont have every cab clogging downtown, but Revere-Eastie, Newton-Brighton are two edge areas i would include.
 
The problem with white is that it is one of the most popular colors for cars. Having our taxis be white is not much different from from having them all different color.

London's black is largely mitigated by the unique shape of the cab. While New York's yellow is garish, it is very functional. I like DC's choice of red as well.

Give us a nice bright stripe or something to jazz up our bland taxis a little.
 
Don't MetroCabs dispatch to other places than Boston? I've called a cab and had Metro pick me up in Somerville before...
 
You can be picked up anywhere if you call ahead. Just street hailing is restricted.
 
Madrid's taxis are unmistakeable and they use a predominantly white scheme:
Taxi-Madrid-2-zoom.jpg


I'm also partial to the taxis in Barcelona - much, much classier than NYC.
8009652437_5123643eed_z.jpg


Streamlining the whole taxi system is just one of the reasons why we need a metropolitan-level government encompassing everything inside and around 495 - a la Greater London.
 
Matthew said:
You can be picked up anywhere if you call ahead. Just street hailing is restricted.
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This is a provincial protectionist policy to shield small local cab companies from competition?
 
omaja said:
Streamlining the whole taxi system is just one of the reasons why we need a metropolitan-level government encompassing everything inside and around 495 - a la Greater London.
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In a region that prides itself on hyper-locally devolved political power? Never.
 
^ Oh, believe me, I know Massachusetts is far too parochial to consider the concept, but in a normal world where the region's largest and most important city should actually control the goings on in its vicinity, that's what would happen. :)
 
Well yes :)

Since our county level government is a) non-existant, and b) still parochially divided around the metro-area, the State would have to create a regional taxi authority, the results of which would definitely be questionable.
 
Well, what is stopping taxis from picking a color that stands out? Don't they WANT to be seen? Shouldn't they be picking the best color themselves? Who are we to determine what color they should be?

Serious question. I don't see why some guy who slaved his ass off to maybe earn his own medallion should now have to repaint his cab to the will of the city.

Sounds like something the owner of Boston Cab Co. cooked up to squeeze out some more competitors.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Well, what is stopping taxis from picking a color that stands out? Don't they WANT to be seen? Shouldn't they be picking the best color themselves? Who are we to determine what color they should be?

Serious question. I don't see why some guy who slaved his ass off to maybe earn his own medallion should now have to repaint his cab to the will of the city.

Sounds like something the owner of Boston Cab Co. cooked up to squeeze out some more competitors.
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This is a collective action problem. You can claim the market will solve for this and that cabbies will pick the color that stands out, but if they all pick different colors, that doesn't send a strong signal to consumers. If the benefit to the consumer (and to the cabbies who might get more business if it's easier to spot cabs) flows from all cabs being a uniform color, there needs to be some level of coordination.

I've been to Madrid. The cabs there work with a white scheme, yes, but that red sash makes a difference. Your average white car won't have that.

As for consolidating the different cab companies - does this really require a metropolitan government? Somehow the MBTA functions as a district under the aegis of the state without there needing to be a special municipality to control it. Couldn't a cab commission?

It might not even be necessary. Cabs in Jersey default to yellow, like NYC cabs, because of the strong local understanding that yellow cars are likely to be cabs. If Boston adopted one color for its taxis, the rest of the metro might follow.
 
Frankly, all the multimedia ads assaulting the senses from the screens on top is as dead a giveaway that there is that it's a Boston cab and not some random car. I'm not sure a cosmetic simplification is really going to change that. When it's late at night and I need a cab, I can see those screens or see them reflecting off things from several blocks away.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
This is a provincial protectionist policy to shield small local cab companies from competition?
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It goes along with the medallion system. Otherwise people would just get medallions from other towns and pick up in Boston.

Of course the whole medallion system is stupid, but the hail restrictions are consistent with it.
 
datadyne007 said:
Boston's uniform color is essentially white. Only Brookline has different colored cabs (red). If you're looking for a taxi in Boston, you look for white. It's unofficial, but every company seems to buy into the scheme. I think it looks better than the garish yellow of NYC.
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Actually, per Boston , all cabs must be painted white:

http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/Rules_tcm3-9921.pdf

(Page 19 of PDF)

vi. Display Vehicle Color:
1. All taxis must be painted white as originally manufactured, including
all doors, door jambs, trunk lid interiors and any other portion of the
vehicle visible to the public.
 
^ Woah, thanks. I had a feeling it was more than a strange coincidence.
 
Personally I think the mandate for white cabs is both boring and frustrating. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds myself trying to hail every single white car I see coming down the block at night...just in case it turns out to be a cab.

Of course that task would be exponentially easier if cabs in Boston actually used their "for hire" lights with any type of consistency.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Frankly, all the multimedia ads assaulting the senses from the screens on top is as dead a giveaway that there is that it's a Boston cab and not some random car. I'm not sure a cosmetic simplification is really going to change that. When it's late at night and I need a cab, I can see those screens or see them reflecting off things from several blocks away.
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From what I recall they don't all have these, especially in the outer jurisdictions like Cambridge and Brookline. It gets easy to confuse those with things like pizza delivery cars and MBTA The Ride cars, especially from a distance or at night.

As for that "paint it white" regulation - seems almost every cab company violates this with giant colored stripes and such? I wonder if it was implemented recently - I definitely recall yellow cabs in Boston, too, or maybe those were from Cambridge or Brookline, which would just underscore the need for regional cooperation.
 
Toonie29 said:
Of course that task would be exponentially easier if cabs in Boston actually used their "for hire" lights with any type of consistency.
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THIS would be so helpful, and 100% possible to do without any organizational change.
 
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