Survey Be Damned, Let's Go With Red and White Cabs

Good enough for Virginia Beach, good enough for D.C.?

En route to the New Hampshire statehouse this morning, Post reporter Tim Craig overheard Mayor Vince Gray and Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) discussing one of the most crucial questions Cheh asked in a recent survey of District residents about the city's taxicab fleet: What color should they be?

Respondents, perhaps in a twinge of New Yorkiness, went with yellow. But on the way to Concord for a hearing on getting Granite State legislators to back D.C. statehood, Cheh appeared to get on board with Gray's previous suggestion to paint the city's roughly 8,500 in the colors of the D.C. flag:

“We are going to do some designs for red and white,” Gray said. “I think we have already started the process.”

D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown, who is also on the trip, agreed.

“Something not goofy looking, but something that represents the city,” said Brown, noting the city flag is white and red.

Despite my colleague's protestations, yellow isn't that bad of a color for taxis. It's bright and plenty visible in streets crowded with darkly colored cars. But red and white isn't bad either, provided the final design doesn't minimize either color. And it would be much better than other uniform color schemes seen elsewhere around the world, certainly an improvement over the teal and orange of cabs in Toronto or lime green and yellow in China.