Yellow-Top taxis are a collective group of individually-owned taxis in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. They have a yellow top and black body, hence their name. They make up only 505 taxis in total (about 10% of the whole fleet).

History

In 1933 Wearnes introduced the first private Yellow-Top taxis. These cabs were the first of their kind in colonial Singapore and have continued since then.

Ownership

These taxis are required to be replaced every eight years, or they may choose to have their licence acquired by Yellow-Top Cab and become a hirer of the taxi company. These taxis are expected to eventually cease to exist, however, as all new taxi drivers are required to hire their taxis from any of the Taxi Operator License holders.

When taxi drivers reach the age of 73, they are required to surrender their license. If they die before reaching 73, STTA (see below) will then sell the license to another driver, who may continue to drive until he/she turns 73.

STTA

The Singapore Taxi Transport Association (short form STTA) is a union catering to those private taxi drivers. The Association mainly takes care of administrative matters, like the purchasing/selling of licenses et cetera. They also help drivers to purchase new vehicles.

Vehicles used

In the late 1960s the first Yellow-Top taxis were the Mercedes Benz 220S Ponton, followed by the Austin Cambridge A60. In the 1970s the Cambridge A60 still continued until early 1980s followed by the Opel Rekord D, Peugeot 504, Morris Marina and the Russian GAZ Volga 24

GAZ

GAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod , translated as Gorky Automobile Plant , started in 1932 as NAZ, a cooperation between Ford and the Soviet Union. It is one of the largest companies in the Russian automotive industry....

.

Current models seen running around Singapore are Nissan Cedric YPY31s

Nissan Cedric Y31

- Y31 :The Y31 was built from late 1987 through 1991 available in either Sedan or Hardtop guises. The sporty GranTurismo SV version had short bumpers with a body kit, and was powered by a 2.0 liter VG20DET engine. The Sedan version of the Y31 was rebodied at the launch of the Y32...

 and Toyota Crown Comforts, the Toyota Corona CT141 marking the late 1980s to early 1990s period. There were two remaining Toyota Corona taxis in 2006, but they were scrapped on August 20 of that year.

A few of the taxicabs are made up out of brand new Isuzu

Isuzu

, is a Japanese car, commercial vehicle and heavy truck manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo. In 2005, Isuzu became the world's largest manufacturer of medium to heavy duty trucks. It has assembly and manufacturing plants in the Japanese city of Fujisawa, as well as in the prefectures...

 or Ssanyong pickups, Honda Airwave

Honda Airwave

The Honda Airwave is a subcompact car produced by the Japanese automaker Honda since 2005. It is a five-door station wagon version of the City / Fit Aria and Fit/Jazz, which are a sedan and a hatchback respectively. The Airwave is built on the Global Small Car platform; however, unlike the City and...

s and Nissan Pulsar

Nissan Pulsar

The Nissan Pulsar is an automobile that was produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan from 1978, when it debuted as a subcompact car, to 2007, when it was replaced in all markets by the Nissan Tiida. It was originally conceived as a replacement for Nissan's first front-wheel drive platform, the...

s and another handful are Toyota Corolla E110

Toyota Corolla E110

The Corolla E110 was the eighth generation of cars sold by Toyota under the Corolla nameplate.Introduced in May 1995, the eighth generation shared its platform with its predecessor...

s. Other models include the Mercedes-Benz E220 CDI (Sovereign)

Mercedes-Benz E-Class

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is a range of executive-size cars manufactured by Mercedes-Benz in various engine and body configurations. The E initially stood for Einspritzmotor, ; a new feature in volume production vehicles at the time that the E-Class first appeared, with the E as a suffix to the...

, Volvo V70 (natural gas)

Volvo V70

The Volvo V70 is a mid-size five-door estate car / station wagon manufactured by Volvo Cars since 2000. It is closely related to the S70, S60 and S80 saloons, as well as the four-wheel drive Cross Country and XC70....

, Fiat Croma JTD

Fiat Croma

The Fiat Croma is a nameplate used for two automobiles produced by Italian automaker Fiat, one a large family car built from 1985 to 1996 and the other a cross-over wagon built from 2005 to 2011.- Fiat Croma :...

, Toyota Wish

Toyota WISH

The Toyota WISH is a Compact MPV produced by Japanese automaker Toyota since 2003. It is available as a six and seven-seater, equipped with either a 1.8 or 2.0-litre gasoline engine...

, Toyota Liteace (5-Seater)

Toyota Liteace

The Toyota Liteace is a line of motor vehicles produced by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota. Launched in 1970, the Liteace is a medium-sized van which was most commonly exported to Asia, Australia and Africa....

 and Toyota Corolla Axio