A taxi ride, perhaps, has an intrinsic quality of germinating a tale. A taxi/cab is emblematic of every city in the world and, no matter where you live or travel, it can be a journey of frustration, delight or simply sheer stupefaction from where scads of tales could be spun.
To celebrate the New York City’s taxi hundredth anniversary in 2007, the Design Trust for Public Space along with Parsons The New School for Design have kick-started a study on enhancing the taxi system & vehicle. The current status of the New York City taxi has been billed as appalling and inefficient and the entire Designing the Taxi enterprise focuses on overhauling the taxi experience. A workshop was held in May where the participants that included fleet owners, drivers, landscape architects, urban planners, vehicle and industrial designers, graphic artists, etc. discussed techniques in which expertise, experience and innovation could intersect. An exhibit of project proposals will be on view at Parsons through January 15, 2006.
Designing the Taxi is all set to recreate the cab as a definitive urban icon. A point to note though – there’s absolutely no compromise on the distinctive colour … the yellow stays.
