Great cities are known as much for their iconic taxis as for their buildings. What would London be without its black cabs? The popular image of the city is of black cabs crawling down the congested roads around Oxford Street or going bumper-to-bumper past Big Ben.
New York’s yellow taxis – principally, the soon to be phased out Ford Crown Victoria – are also as emblematic of the city as Venice’s gondolas, Bangkok’s Tuk Tuks and Kolkata’s Ambassadors.
And what of Abu Dhabi? As The National has reported, TransAD will roll out 270 silver Mercedes Vito Compact vans this month. The vehicles will join the existing fleet of black Mercedes people carriers that can be found ferrying customers to and from the airport.
But taxis are not just about the vehicles themselves, they are about livery, a point that is emphatically made in London and New York. Maybe it’s time our taxis wore a more distinctive colour scheme.
