End of an Era: Mumbai Kaali-Peeli Taxis Take Their Last Ride

Mumbai’s iconic Premier Padmini taxis stop running from today! They won’t be running on the roads ever again. These black-and-yellow taxis now have bowed out from Mumbai’s streets, following the path of retirement of the BEST’s legendary red double-decker diesel buses, they also stopped running recently.

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The Mumbai transport department had set a cap of almost 20 years as the age of the black-and-yellow taxis!

According to a report from a transport department official, the last Premier Padmini was registered at the Tardeo RTO on October 29, 2003, and is owned by Abdul Kareem Karsekar, a Prabhadevi resident. He has said, “Yeh Mumbai ki shaan hai aur hamari jaan hai (it is the pride for Mumbai and life for me).”

In the 1980s and 1990s, Premier Padmini became synonymous with Mumbai taxis!

In its glorious days, more than 60,000 Padmini taxis plied the city’s streets, according to Anthony Lawrence Quadros, general secretary of the Mumbai taxi drivers’ union. “It’s an iconic car which has served millions of people,” Quadros says.

The car was an Indian version of the Italian model Fiat 1100, and it made a debut on India’s streets in the 1960s. Premier Padmini was manufactured in India by a local company, Premier Automobiles Ltd. The car was named Premier Padmini, after a legendary Indian royal. Early posters advertise the car as “a beautiful princess of your own,” with a picture of an Indian woman decked in gold jewelry.

The journey of the beautiful princess ends here!

These taxis were then affectionately used to known as “Kaali peeli” taxis due to their black and yellow color scheme. As the last Premier Padmini was registered for city roads on October 29, 2003, due to this 20-year-long age limit, they will no longer be allowed on the city’s roads starting from October 30, 2023, which means today. They were Mumbai’s pride. The iconic Kaali peelis have made appearances in Hindi films also, like “Taxi No 9211,” “Khali Peeli,” “Aa Ab Laut Chalen,” and many more.