Taxi 07 celebrated the taxi's centennial by facilitating innovative new taxi designs and creating a strategic plan for how to improve the taxi system over a 10-year period, successfully drawing global attention to the taxi's history, iconic status and possibilities for its future.

impact

Our Taxi 07 project catalyzed change. As a direct result of our project, the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission launched the Taxi of Tomorrow competition in 2008 to create a new, purpose-built taxi in partnership with a major auto manufacturer. Today the Nissan NV200 Taxi of Tomorrow is on our city's streets, providing passengers and drivers with a safer, more comfortable, user-friendly taxi designed especially for them.
Read more about our role in Taxi of Tomorrow.

background

Encouraged by the outpouring of support and level of interest for our Designing the Taxi project, we launched a second phase called Taxi 07. This large-scale initiative focused on re-imagining both the vehicle and the system for the twenty-first century. Working in collaboration with many different industry and stakeholder groups, we celebrated the taxi’s 2007 centennial, fostered design innovation, and developed a 10-year master plan for the taxi system.

process

Public Exhibit
The Taxi 07 Exhibit premiered at the New York International Auto Show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, April 6-15, 2007. With this ambitious, large-scale public exhibit, we showed tangible improvements to the taxi vehicle and system created by top design firms and major auto manufacturers.

Exhibit participants were required to address at least one of these design challenges: 

1. Roof light with improved legibility
2. Partition with passenger services
3. Integrated seats for children
4. A skylight
5. Hybrid or alternative-fuel engines
6. Wheelchair accessibility
7. Alternatives to the four-passenger sedan 

With eight full-scale taxi prototypes (including a wheelchair-accessible taxi), redesigned taxi stands and roof lights, improved passenger and driver areas, a film portrait of NYC taxi drivers and a comprehensive overview of the taxi's history, our Taxi 07 Exhibit enthralled 100,000 visitors in 12 days. This tremendous public response demonstrated unequivocally that taxis are a touchstone issue for New Yorkers and reiterated the taxi’s identity as a global icon for all things New York. See the exhibit publication.

Exhibit Participants included: 
Antenna Design, Art Center College of Design, BAF Technologies, Birsel+Seck, Bruno Independent Living Aids, College for Creative Studies, Hybrid Product Design and Development, Kia Motors America, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Pratt Institute, Ricardo, RIDES magazine, Nathalie Rozot, Sirius Satellite Radio, Smart Design, Standard Taxi, TRUCK Product Architecture, Weisz + Yoes, and World's Fastest Taxi

Cultural Programming
Working with a consortium of cultural partners, we also sponsored a series of public events and educational programs for the taxi's centennial, including the designation of "NYC Taxi Week" (April 6-15, 2007) by Mayor Bloomberg, a panel at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, a month-long taxi film series at the IFC Center, and a taxi-yellow lighting of the Empire State Building in honor of the centennial and Taxi 07.

Strategic Plan
In partnership with the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) and working with a team of Fellows, we created the first strategic plan for improving the taxi system over a 10-year period. Taxi 07: Roads Forward analyzes the current taxi system and outlines taxi-improvement strategies that are feasible and cost effective. This publication gave the City of New York and the TLC the best and most thorough information available about the state of the taxi system today, and details ways to improve this crucial transit link over the next ten years. Since its release, several key recommendations have been adopted by the TLC, and they continue to use it today as a vital guide and reference tool about the taxi system.