If you’ve ever gotten lost in GeoGuessr -that game that drops you in the middle of the world via Google Street View to guess where you are- you’ll know that cabs are essential allies. In Madrid, that clue is unmistakable: white cars crossed by a diagonal red stripe. But was it always like that?
Spoiler: no.
In the 1920s, cabs in Madrid were what today we would call a chromatic chaos. Each car could wear any color it wanted as long as it had an identifying stripe: white, red, yellow or blue, depending on the fare. The color palette of Madrid cabs was mutating by ordinance.
Madrid’s cabs were not always like they are today.
In the 1950s, Madrid decided it was time to go uniform: black top half, dark blue bottom half, vermilion stripe down the middle. Imagine summer. Better not. Because yes, black looks stylish, but practical? Not so much. Especially in a city famous for having nine months of winter and three months of hell. No air conditioning. With drivers sweating on the asphalt.
The definitive change came in 1980, when Enrique Tierno Galván, one of Madrid’s most beloved mayors (and if not, ask anyone who remembers being present when he said: “Quien no está colocado que se coloque!”), approved a new cab ordinance: from that moment on, cars would be painted white with a diagonal red stripe on the front doors.
The Madrid coat of arms crowns the whole. However, a period of five years is given for the transition. Between 1980 and 1985, the white-red cabs coexisted with the old black models, as if it were a half-light duel between two eras.
Today, these cabs are not only part of the Madrid landscape. They are also a key clue for GeoGuessr players who, from any corner of the (digital) planet, try to locate where they have fallen. Because the red on white, in the streets of Madrid (and this is not an apology for either of the two red and white teams in the city), does not deceive.