One
of the great things about living in the city is the abundance of yellow cabs
that you can easily flag down to be able to get to your destination. In New York, there are more taxis than
privately owned vehicles in the streets because locals find the daily traffic
too big of a hassle, and not worth their mental and physical effort and
exhaustion. Plus, this mode of transportation is established to be more
efficient because it gets you right in front of the place you need to go — just
show the driver the address of your destination and he will get you there. And
there’s lower risk of getting lost, especially in a big new city.
In
different countries, cabs come in different hues though, some are just plain
black and you distinguish them from other vehicles because of that iconic taxi
sign on the roof of the cab. In the Philippines, most cabs are white. In New York, green cabs are rising to
prominence though most locals still prefer the yellow ones for sentimental
reasons (perhaps?) and then there are those orange and white or green and
yellow airport taxis. But when people
think of a cab, yellow remains to be the colour that comes to mind even though
new colours of cabs have already been introduced.
Yellow
cabs, Melbourne transport experts claim should remain the norm for a number of
reasons. The first is it’s a greatly distinct colour. Most privately owned
vehicles come in dark hues or white and silver so in a traffic of privately
owned vehicles, it’s easy for commuters to spot a cab to hail. Second reason is
there’s low likelihood of people using this colour for their own vehicles for
the hue is either deemed too shocking or tacky, therefore, it decreases the
likelihood of people trying to flag down a private car, which is quite
embarrassing by the way. Third is, according to a University of Chicago study,
the colour yellow with a bit of red mixed in was the colour determined most
visible from a distance even in bad weather, so no matter how far the vehicle
is or how low visibility is, people can automatically tell if a cab is coming.
Anyway,
all these reasons are rooted in the value of recognisability. But this only
goes to show that choosing the colour yellow has been a strategic move that
remains to present an advantage to the popular mode of transport.
Do you have have any questions or suggestions? Write in comment section.
