Yellow Taxis Of Kolkata At The End Of Their Road

By Tirthankar Mitra

Introduced in the 1960s, the yellow Ambassador taxis, which had come to be synonymous with Kolkata, are at the end of the road. Come March, 2025 most of this nearly 7,000 fleet will be off the road following a Supreme Court order of 2009 together with the fact that Ambassador cars have ceased to be produced.

These yellow cabs became a part and parcel of the city, driving passengers from one end of the metropolis to another. They also found a place on the silver-screen, whether it was Satyajit Ray’s Calcutta trilogy, Aparna Sen’s directorial debut ’36 Chowringhee Lane’ or the whodunit ‘Kahaani’ starring Vidya Balan.

Way back in 1958, Hindustan Motors started manufacturing Ambassador cars from its Hindmotor factory. Four years later, Calcutta Taxi Association introduced these cars as the standard taxi in two colours, yellow and black, of which the yellow taxis were for intercity travel.

In 1994, the Left Front government introduced ‘All Bengal Permit’ for all taxis. Things appeared to be too good to last as in 2009, the Green Bench of the Supreme Court directed the scrapping of all commercial vehicles which are more than 15 years old.

More than 10,000 taxi drivers upgraded their vehicles to the newer Ambassador model. But in 2013, the Trinamool Congress government of Mamata Banerjee changed the model of taxi cabs to Maruti Swift Dzire with the colour changing from yellow to blue and white.

This is the backdrop for the requiem for the yellow taxis! Next year, their disappearance from the roads of the city will add to the nostalgia. With it will vanish a sliver of the city’s past. Be it politics or culture, Kolkatans pride themselves in nursing divergent opinions about anything under the sun. But even those straining their vocal chords about their differences with their peers will be unanimous about one thing. One and all thrive on nostalgia.

It is tumbledown houses standing cheek by jowl proclaiming past glories in north and central Kolkata. In south Kolkata, together with a few similar mansions, there are vast tram tracks no longer in use but certainly with a strong claim especially after being shunted out of Kolkata’s traffic loop.

The next in line are the yellow Ambassador taxis, which will stop ferrying passengers from next year. Once a distinctive totem of the city, 80 percent of the yellow Ambassador taxis will go off the road. By 2027, most of these taxies are expected to be phased out.

Once synonymous with durability, they had been a part of the traffic landscape long before Calcutta was rechristened Kolkata. Apart from durability, the skill and reliability of the drivers are legendary. Many a critical patient and his near and dear ones will vouch for it recalling his journey in a yellow cab in the small hours of the night being driven at breakneck speed to the hospital.

And there is more to it. Ray with his eye for detail had once asked one of the aspirants of a film whether he can whistle. Pat came a positive reply as the actor who had cut his histrionic teeth on stage said that he had learnt to whistle from taxi drivers. He landed the role and the rest is celluloid history in the film ‘Abhijan.’

Marked out for their bright yellow paint and ample girth, these cabs were much more than a mode of transport. Their sight and sound were trips down memory lane reminding one of the joys of a family outing on a Sunday or a rush to the airport or a railway station through traffic-clogged streets. These races against time through traffic snarls and pot-holed roads bound the driver and commuter in kinship. But this kinship will not no longer flower now.

But it will be treasured by those who thanked their stars and the drivers of the yellow cabs who time and again let them catch their flights and board the train at the last minute even as time stretches and folds in its unique rhythm.

There is no denying that everything old needs a new lease of life. The yellow taxis being no exception; then why not turn them into a fleet of cabs more attuned to the times and taste. (IPA Service)