Why the iconic yellow taxis of Kolkata will honk their last in March

Since it was first introduced in the 1960s, the yellow Ambassador taxis have come to be synonymous with Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, and were featured spanning decades – from Satyajit Ray’s Calcutta Trilogy in the 1970s, to Aparna Sen’s 1981 film 36 Chowringhee Lane and more recently, the 2012 Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani.

But a 2009 order by the Supreme Court, combined with the fact that Ambassador cars have long ceased to be produced, have meant that by March 2025, a majority of the city’s current yellow fleet – over 7,000 cars – will go off road.

The Ambassador – an enduring icon

Hindustan Motors began producing the iconic Ambassador in 1958 at their factory in Hindmotor, some 20 km away from Kolkata. Based on the 1956 Morris Oxford Series III, the Ambassador, conceptualised by the British automotive designer Sir Alexander Issigonis, soon became one of India’s most popular cars, a status symbol and the automobile of choice for government officials because of its sturdy body and spacious interiors.

In 1962, the Calcutta Taxi Association introduced Ambassadors as the standard taxi models in two colours – yellow and black for the city commute and the yellow taxis for intercity travel.

In 1994, the state’s then Left government under former chief minister Jyoti Basu announced “All Bengal permit” for all taxis in the state. The government also gave Kolkata cabs their universal and the now iconic yellow colour.

But it was in 2009 that the first blow was dealt. In July that year, the green bench of the Supreme Court ordered that all commercial vehicles that are over 15 years old be scrapped. Following this order, over 10,000 taxi drivers upgraded their vehicles to the newer Ambassador model, statistics from the state’s transport department showed.

This was but the first in the series of events that led to the gradual decline of one of the city’s most enduring icons.

In 2013, Bengal’s Trinamool Congress government under Mamata Banerjee changed the model of commercial taxi cabs to the Maruti Swift Dzire. But that wasn’t the only change she affected – the colour of the taxi too changed from yellow to blue and white.

In 2015, Hindustan Motors announced it had stopped the production of the Ambassador in its Uttarpara plant.

All these events taken together sounded the death knell for the iconic yellow Ambassador taxis. According to a senior official of the state transport department, over 5,000 yellow Ambassadors have already gone off the road as of August this year, and that 2,500 more will soon follow suit.

“Now that production has stopped, the vehicles replacing these will not be Ambassadors and won’t be yellow,” the official says. “By 2027, we’re expecting that the Ambassador taxi would have all but vanished from the city streets.”

But there are other factors too that contributed to the slow decline of the cabs. For one thing, the car was considered a fuel guzzler, and the rising fuel costs combined with stagnant taxi fares and the prohibitive price of vehicle maintenance has pushed many taxi operators towards newer vehicles.

For another, the entrance of app-based taxi services considerably changed consumer preferences, leading to a significant shrinkage in the market space for the Ambassador taxis.

According to Shambhunath De, a leader of the TMC-affiliated Taxi Owners Association, stagnant taxi fares have meant that increasingly, taxis are abandoning their established practice of charging by the metre. On December 19, trade unions, taxi associations, owners and drivers held a protest at Sealdah against the discontinuation of the yellow taxis.

“Fares have not changed from 2013. Now, taxi drivers are trying to compete with app-based cabs. The government should understand that and help us,” he says, calling on the state government to seek a review of the decision to scrap 15-year-old commercial vehicles.

Taxi associations claim repeated appeals to West Bengal Transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty to save the yellow taxis have so far come to naught.

There are five most recognisable icons in Kolkata — the Victoria Memorial, the Howrah Bridge, rasgullas, the tram and the yellow taxi. It’s very disappointing to think that yellow taxis will go off road completely. Shouldn’t we do something to preserve our heritage?” Naval Kishore Shrivastava, convener of the AITUC-affiliated West Bengal taxi Operators Coordination Committee and National Federation of Indian Road Transport Workers, says.

The state government, he says, should allow taxi owners to buy new vehicles at a subsidised rate and have them painted yellow.

“This way, the model might not be the same since the Ambassador is no longer in production but yellow taxis can still be part of the City of Joy,” he says.

A banner at the protest against the discontinuation of yellow Ambassador Taxis in Kolkata | Partha Chatterjee

Nostalgia

For actor Vidya Balan, Kolkata’s yellow cabs make some of the most lasting images of the city.

“There are some images that you associate with Kolkata – trams, the Howrah Bridge, puchkas, and yellow taxis,” Balan, who was in the city for the screening of Goutam Halder’s 2003 film ‘Bhalo Theko’ earlier this month, told the media. Balan, who made her movie debut with ‘Bhalo Theko’, has since shot several movies in Kolkata – including Parineeta (2005), Kahaani, and Kahaani 2 (2016).

“It breaks my heart to think that I’m not going to see any more yellow taxis on the streets of Kolkata.”

For playback singer Usha Uthup, yellow cabs bring back images from her youth. “I’m very sad that yellow taxis are phasing out in Kolkata. As someone who has been seeing the yellow taxis for decades in Kolkata, bidding them adieu is very disappointing,” she tells The Indian Express.

On his part, West Bengal’s transport minister Snehashis Chakraborty believes while phasing out of the Ambassador cabs was inevitable, the government was willing to extend support to cab unions that seek a review of the SC decision.

“It’s true that, with time, old vehicles phase out and new ones come in. Once upon a time, bullock and horse-driven carts were seen on Kolkata roads but those went out too. We can’t resist that. But simultaneously, we also can’t go against the court order. However, our chief minister is sympathetic towards the cause. We also think that these vehicles can continue (to run) even after they turn 15. We told them that if they want to go to court to seek a review of the ruling, we’ll give them the necessary legal support,” he says.

But until such a time, yellow taxi drivers such as Shaw and Rajendra Routh find themselves facing months of uncertainty. Originally from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and now in his 50s, Routh moved to Kolkata several decades ago in the hopes of a better life.