what color were nyc taxis before they were yellow

Before New York City taxis were yellow, the first metered cabs in the early 1900s were mainly painted red and green.

Quick Scoop

• Early NYC gas-powered taxis, imported around 1907, often appeared in a red body with green detailing or accents.

• Different companies used their own colors, so streets also saw brown and white, black, red, and even checkered cabs before yellow was standardized.

• Yellow only became the legally required color for official medallion taxis around 1968, mainly to make licensed cabs easy to spot among unregulated cars.

Why yellow became standard

• Operators realized a bright yellow hue stood out in traffic and could be recognized quickly at a distance, boosting both visibility and brand identity.

• As companies like early “yellow taxicab” fleets grew and regulations tightened, yellow evolved from a branding choice into the iconic, mandated NYC taxi color.

TL;DR: Before yellow took over, NYC’s first metered taxis were famously red and green, with many other colors in use until yellow was mandated citywide in the late 1960s.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.