The History of Yellow Taxi Cabs

An icon of New York City, yellow taxi cabs have been synonymous with the Big Apple for decades, but you may be surprised to learn that the city’s taxi cabs weren’t always painted yellow. The first metered taxi cabs in the U.S. were painted red and green and were imported to New York City from France by businessman Harry Allen in 1907. At the time, cab companies would paint their fleets a signature color; there was a wide variety of colorways, including brown-and-white cabs, black cabs, red cabs, checkered cabs, and yellow cabs. In 1908, Albert Rockwell established the Yellow Taxicab Company in New York after being inspired by taxis he saw while on a trip to Europe with his wife. She suggested that he paint his own fleet of cars yellow with a fancy ‘R’ on the door, which he did. Rockwell incorporated his company in 1912 with Robert C. Watson and William M. Lybrand and even tried to stop other taxi cabs from using yellow paint, but a judge ruled against him. A man named John Hertz (now known for his famous rental car company) also started a taxi cab business in Chicago in 1907. He called it the Yellow Cab Company and chose to use yellow cabs after seeing a study that yellow with a touch of red was the most visible color over large distances. He later expanded his operations to other cities, including New York City, before selling his stake in the company. Then in 1937, New York’s medallion system was established under the Haas Act and famously limited the number of taxi licenses. Only taxi cabs with medallions could pick up riders who hailed them on the street; other livery vehicles were legally required to pre-arrange their fares. The medallioned cabs took over Manhattan while livery cabs handled the outer boroughs. Still, there were disputes among the two classes of drivers. In 1968, a law was passed to help passengers tell the difference between the two kinds of cabs — medallioned taxi cabs had to be painted yellow and all other cabs had to be painted a different color. Livery drivers initially protested, but the law stood. Today, medallioned taxi cabs in New York City are still identifiable by their yellow color — and it’s not just any shade of yellow, but Dupont M6284 or its equivalent. Recently, light green cabs were added to the medallioned fleet, but they can only operate in specific areas. Through movies, daily life in New York City, and the relative lack of yellow cars that aren’t taxis, the color yellow has become inextricably linked with New York City taxi cabs, which, even in the era of rideshares, remain an important part of city life.