The colour of taxis in Madrid: from black with a red stripe to white

The colour of taxis in Madrid is white, with a diagonal red stripe on the front doors bearing the city's coat of arms. For much of the twentieth century, however, the Madrid taxi was black with a horizontal red stripe, and before that there were cars in different colours depending on the company they belonged to. The switch to white came in the last decades of the last century, for reasons as practical as the heat inside the car, dirt showing on the bodywork or the difficulty of reselling black vehicles.

Today, that white with a red stripe is much more than a question of looks: it is the first sign that tells you a taxi is official.

A Madrid taxi can be recognised by a set of features laid down by municipal regulations, not just by its colour:

The models have changed a great deal in recent years, with an increasingly hybrid and electric fleet, but they all keep that common image. It is what lets you recognise a taxi from a distance, by day or by night, anywhere in the city.

In the early days of hire cars in Madrid there was no single colour. Each company painted its cars its own way and passengers told them apart by their appearance or their signage. We tell the story of those early years in the fascinating history of taxis in Madrid.

Over time a uniform image took hold: the black taxi with a horizontal red stripe along the sides. For decades it was the quintessential Madrid taxi, the one that appears in photographs and films of the period, and the one many older Madrid residents still associate with the city.

The change of colour was not a whim. The reasons given for abandoning black were mainly practical:

• The heat. A black car parked in the Madrid summer sun turns into an oven, and for many years taxis had no air conditioning.
• The dirt. On black bodywork, dust and stains show straight away, which meant washing the car constantly to keep it looking smart.
• Resale. When a taxi reached the end of its working life, a black car was harder to sell on the second-hand market.

The switch to white was gradual: for a while black and white taxis shared the streets as the cars were replaced. The Federación Profesional del Taxi de Madrid (Madrid's professional taxi federation) lists the change in vehicle colour among the sector's achievements in those years of Spain's transition to democracy.

In a city where taxis, private-hire vehicles with a driver and private cars all share the road, the taxi's image is a guarantee for passengers. If a vehicle does not have white bodywork, the red stripe, the roof light unit and a visible licence, it is not a Madrid taxi, however much its driver claims to be one.

This is especially important at the airport, where some unlicensed drivers approach travellers in the arrivals area. At Barajas, always take a taxi from the terminal's official taxi rank or wait for the driver you have booked. You will find more clues for identifying a professional in how to spot a professional taxi driver.

A white taxi waiting for you at the terminal

If you are arriving in Madrid and do not want to look for the taxi rank, you can book an airport pickup: with your flight number we check the terminal and confirm the meeting point. For the outward journey, from the centre there is our taxi from central Madrid page, with a fixed price of €33 from inside the M-30, and for any other area, our airport taxi booking page.

White with a red stripe is as much a part of Madrid as black and yellow is of Barcelona or yellow is of New York. Each city has chosen a colour that identifies it, and there is often a practical story behind it similar to Madrid's. We look at the most striking ones in taxi colours around the world.