The taxicabs of Mexico are a common form of transportation in most cities of the country. Taxicabs in Mexico tend to have very low fares compared to that in more economically developed countries. There are more than 140,000 taxicabs in Mexico City, making it one of the largest taxicab fleets in the world.
History
Modern taxicabs in the country had their origin in 1970 when the government took measures to give Mexico City an affordable taxi transport. Instead of the big cars used through the '50s and '60s, the Volkswagen Sedán was the car selected to serve as taxicabs. They were colored with yellow panels and white roofs. During the late '70s, however, other automobiles started to run as taxis, such as the Nissan Tsuru and the Datsun 160J. Sometime in the early '90s, government decided to change taxi and other public transport such as Peseros panel color to green, in order to give an impression of "eco transport", and the VWs started to be called "taxis ecológicos". Soon, very few yellow taxis were running by the city although it is still possible to see some of them occasionally - and a yellow color scheme is used by a private airport taxicab company "Yellow Cab" and another called "Sitio-300". In 2003, the government decided to change the colors again - to a full white colored car with a red stripe on both sides of the panels. At the same time, the old 2-door VWs were retired and replaced with 4-door saloons or subcompacts such as the Nissan Platina, Hyundai Atos the most populous taxicab choice the Nissan Tsuru. The colors changed again in 2008 this time to maroon with golden rooftops and a row of the city symbol, the Angel of Independence. in 2014 color changed again to Mexican pink and white by this time all the Volkswagen beetle taxis were not in service However, there are no more Volkswagen beetle taxis anymore as the government does not allow for a taxicab to run after 8 years
Regulation
In Mexico City, according to Mexican legislation introduced in 2001, public taxicabs must be 4-door red cars, with a white roof. Before 2001 most taxicabs were green Volkswagen Beetles with a white roof. They had the front-right seat removed in order to ease entry for passengers. Originally they were yellow with white roof, until they were changed in mid-90s or have a number drawn or printed in place of a licence plate instead of a taxicab licence plate. These pirate taxis are common throughout the city due to government's failure to enforce the regulations. Indeed, sanctions have been threatened by the trade unions, and others, should there be any clampdown on the illegal taxis.
