Chapter 12 Question ○○8

Why are all the taxis in Manhattan yellow sedans, but most of the taxis in Ithaca are minivans of various colors? (Andrei Chenovanov) Looking down on Thirty-fourth Street from the top of the Empire State Building in Manhattan, you may wonder why 70% of the cars on the street are bright yellow sedans.Except for a few Lotus or Lamborghini sports cars, these yellow cars are basically taxis, most of which are Crown Victoria made by Ford. But in Ithaca, a small college town not far upstate New York, none of the taxis are yellow, and almost all of them are minivans.Why is there this difference? In Manhattan, although it is possible to call for a taxi, it is more common to wave to a taxi as it passes by.Therefore, the more eye-catching the color of the taxi, the better.Research has shown that bright yellow works best for this purpose (red was once thought to be the most conspicuous color, which is why fire trucks are still painted red to this day. But many fire brigades are now starting to paint their fire trucks yellow. )

In Manhattan, taxis generally only carry one passenger, and taking more than four passengers does not bring any benefits to the taxi driver.As a result, taxi drivers in New York find sedans more attractive because they are cheaper than minivans and can easily meet most needs. But Ithaca's taxi demand pattern is quite different.Car ownership is expensive in Manhattan.Parking alone costs more than five hundred dollars a month; but in Ithaca, it is much cheaper to keep a car, so most people own a car.Since relatively few people in Ithaca depended on taxis, it wasn't economical to have them all over the street.People hail taxis mainly by phone.That way, taxi drivers in Ithaca don't have to paint their cars yellow.

One might object that taxis in New York are yellow because the government mandates that taxis carrying passengers on the street be of that color.This is true.Someone once angrily expressed objection to the interpretation of Braille on the ATM keyboard, saying that there is some Braille on the ATM keyboard at the highway because of government regulations. How similar are the two opinions.Government regulators have mandated vehicle colors in the wake of scandals in the taxi industry, with the aim of giving passengers an easy way to identify taxis that are legally licensed to operate.They chose yellow because yellow was the mainstream color for taxis at the time.Why were most taxis yellow before the government made a regulation?The assumption that yellow is conspicuous generally makes sense.

Ithaca taxi drivers prefer minivans because passengers there tend to travel in groups.Students and others who do not have cars in the local area often have low incomes, and it is more economical for them to share the road cost.For example, a taxi that picks up passengers at the New York airport will generally carry only one passenger into the city; a taxi that picks up passengers at Ithaca airport will mostly carry six or more passengers.