Uniform color for cabs in Prague not likely to become reality

Everyone knows what the ubiquitous New York yellow cabs look like. Prague Town Hall, too, is pushing for the bright shade to be the color of taxi cabs operating in the city, but legislation at this point does not allow for the city to force taxi companies to abide by just one shade.

If you were asked what the typical color for a cab was, chances are you’d answer yellow, the color that the famous New York City cabs come in. Or maybe black, if you are a resident of London. In Prague, there is no such uniformity. Prague Town Hall would like the city’s taxi fleet to be more uniform, but current legislation prevents it from being able to dictate the color of cabs. Eva Kubátová is a spokeswoman for Prague Town Hall.

“The current legislation does not allow us to have an all-encompassing regulation that would force all companies to only use yellow cabs. So Prague Town Hall tries to give an incentive to the providers of taxi services. If they want to serve at our Fair Place points, they have to be yellow. And that also forces them to provide quality service to their passengers.”

The Fair Place points were introduced in 2007, and the yellow color is only one of several requirements for cabs to be able to take advantage of them. In addition, the cabs have to display fare information, charge prices that don’t exceed 28 crowns per kilometer and have the driver’s taxi license displayed in the cab. In exchange, providing service at the Fair Place points gives cab companies an edge over competitors. Eva Kubátová again.

“The yellow cabs can use certain lanes within the city that other taxis do not have access to, which is a positive edge in Prague, because it makes it possible to serve customers quicker. And Prague traffic can be quite dense, so that’s really an advantage.”

Taxi companies in Prague have adapted to the city regulation by keeping yellow vehicles in their fleet, so that at least some of their cabs can use the Fair Place points. One of them is Tomáš Horcička, the manager of City Taxy, a 400 car company with about 20 percent of yellow cabs, who thinks that the current regulation is a bit confusing.

“It seems a bit strange that the taxis serving those points have to fulfill other criteria than cabs that provide services elsewhere in the city. We believe that either the points should be open to all taxis operating in Prague, regardless of their color or what they’re equipped with, or there should be a regulation that all taxicabs have to have a certain color and equipment.”

A change in law seems unlikely at the moment, and so passengers hailing a cab in Prague have to watch out for hints other than just the color.