A D.C. Taxicab Commission committee tasked with exploring a number of uniform color schemes for the city’s 6,500 taxicabs recommended today that red be adopted as the color that all cabs will eventually have to be painted.
In making its announcement, the committee bucked a number of multi-color schemes unveiled in December, saying that the 38,000 responses received online largely panned the designs. Additionally, the committee found that red is closely associated to D.C.’s identity, from the color of the stars and bars on the city’s flag to the choice of the color for multiple transit options in D.C.
“Red is a color that is strongly associated with the District, by both residents and visitors. The stars and bars on the District’s flag are red. Each of the major sports franchises in the District uses a shade of red as a prominent part of its uniforms. In the area of transportation, both the District’s Circulator and Capital Bikeshare vehicles are red,” said Commissioner Stanley W. Tapscott, who sat on the committee reviewing the proposals and weighing the public’s response.
On that, he said, the opinions were clear—the multi-color schemes proposed weren’t very good. “Public feedback strongly opposed these options. Of the more than 38,000 responses to the alternatives offered, most rejected the multi-colored concepts. In fact, each option, other than black, received more opposition votes than favorable votes,” he said.
The committee’s recommendations will have to be voted on by the full commission before being adopted, and if they are, taxicab drivers will have a while to bring their cabs into color compliance.
The D.C. Council included a uniform color for the city’s cabs in a taxicab modernization bill that passed last year. While the bill did not specify a color, a survey conducted by Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) found that 38 percent of 4,000 respondents wanted yellow, while red came in second with 15 percent of votes.
If anyone will be happy with today’s news, it’s likely Cheh—she called the multi-color schemes “horrid” after seeing them late last year.
Martin Austermuhle