The original Yellow Cab Company based in Chicago, Illinois is one of the largest taxicab companies still in existence. Independent companies using that name (some with common heritage, some without) operate in many cities in a number of countries. Many firms operate with drivers as independent contractors.

Related companies include The Hertz Corporation, Yellow Freight Systems and the Chicago Transit Authority.

History

In 1905 Walden W Shaw and John Hertz partnered in an auto agency that became the Walden W Shaw Company . In 1907 it acquired some Thomas Taxicabs with meters. The Shaw Livery Company , which combined several livery and taxicab companies, was founded in 1910, operating Keaton Thomas Flyers , and Cadillacs, and ultimately 12 different models.

None of these fully suited the taxicab industry, so on December 31, 1914 the first Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company Cab was designed, and the Model J was released in August 1915.

Yellow Cab taxicab service was founded by John Hertz in December 1, 1915. The related Yellow Cab and Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company acquired Walter L Jacobs car rental business. The Yellow Truck Company and rental car business was sold to General Motors in 1926.

Hertz ran the taxicab company until 1929, when he left to found another rental car company, Hertz Rent-a-Car, which still uses a yellow logo as well.

The taxicab company was purchased in 1929 by Morris Markin, who had established Checker Cab Manufacturing Company, with the Checker Taxi, a driver's cooperative.

The company was sold again in 1996.

The Color Yellow

The color (and name) yellow was selected by John Hertz as the result of a survey by the University of Chicago which indicated it was the easiest color to spot.

Australia

The Yellow Cab Group in Australia was founded in 1924. The Australian color scheme for Yellow Cab is more "orange" than "yellow".

Canada

• Yellow Cab of Edmonton, Alberta was purchased and given the Yellow name in 1945 [1]

United States

• The Yellow Cab Company of Baltimore, Maryland was founded in 1909 [2]
• Yellow Cab of Chicago, Illinois was founded by John Hertz in 1915, and claims to be the "oldest and largest" cab management and services provider in the US (see Baltimore above) [3].
• Yellow Cab and Transit Co. in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was founded in 1924. It became Yellow Freight System , a major US truck operator. [4]
• Yellow Cab of San Diego, California has been in continuous operation since the 1920s. [5]
• The Yellow Cab Cooperative of San Francisco, California was founded November 8, 1977, succeeding a failed private company [6].
• Peter Pan Bus Lines was founded as Yellow Cab Air Line in Springfield, Massachusetts, which was purchased by Peter Carmen Picknelly in 1933.
• White Line, Inc. , founded in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1905 using horse-drawn carriages now operates Yellow Cab service in that city.

Yellow firsts

• Firestone balloon tires on taxicabs
• automatic windshield wipers
• ultrahigh frequency two-way radios
• transistorised UHF radio
• passenger seat belts.
• antilock brake systems ;
• child safety restraint seats ;
• computer dispatch system.
• traffic tower constructed by private firm in Chicago, Illinois

Movie

A movie, The Yellow Cab Man was made in 1950 [7]

External links

• List of Yellow Cab Groups

References

• Yellow Cab Celebrates 50 Years of "Service to the Public", published in Trips 'n' Tips March 1965 [8]
• Yellow Cab and Truck Production