As one truly said Kolkata is a city of heritage, love and good vibes. No matter how many changes occur, Kolkata never forgets its tradition and these yellow ambassador taxis will prove you just that. A shot of long rows of yellow ambassador taxis in front of Howrah station or Esplanade is considered iconic. Though Victoria Memorial, Shahid Minar or Howrah Bridge have represented Kolkata, still photographers like to have these quintessential shots of these yellow ambassadors. Still, these ambassadors are considered the very essence of this city. One cannot imagine our city’s road scape without these yellow taxis.
These yellow taxis fitted with 1.5-litre diesel engine are approximately 4.3 meters long and 1.6 meters wide and weighing more than just a ton. The metered-cabs are mostly of the brand “Ambassador” manufactured by Hindustan Motors (now out of production). The first iconic ambassador taxis were first produced in 1957. After almost 60 years of production, Hindustan Motors have stopped manufacturing all models of ambassadors. An era ended on May 24, 2014, when Hindustan Ambassador rolled off the last assembly line. However, there are still plenty of them on the streets of Kolkata.
So these metered yellow taxis are truly a thing of the past. Once in a while, one or two Maruti Omnis, and Tata Indigo CS can be seen painted in yellow. There are increasing numbers of white with blue border Tata Indigos and Swifts in the city which ply with the same meters as the yellow taxis under ‘No refusal’ tags. These yellow taxis in Kolkata can be booked through an app of cab-booking service, ola. According to the company,1000 of these tallow cabs have registered with ola. With changing times, the yellow ambassadors have learned to keep their above water.
These cabs are not luxurious but you can get the smell of Kolkata’s tradition in them. For decades these yellow taxis were the most common vehicle on Indian roads. To date, they are considered “The king of Indian roads”. These ambassadors have been virtually hailed as indestructible. These taxis are so robust that you can sit on them, stand on them without risking a dent. The best part of these ambassadors is their back seat. It’s almost like a sofa. As one 68-year-old cab driver said, “only these mighty ambassadors can tame Kolkata traffic with its potholes, new swanky cars can come and go”.
In the 1990s Bollywood or in Bengali film, numerous occasions you can find where these metered cabs were used. For instance, in the movie Nayak(1966) you can see Uttam Kumar riding one of the models of ambassador. These taxis serve an epic background for photos. So if you are visiting Kolkata don’t forget to have a ride in these yellow taxis.