After 6 decades, Mumbai bids adieu to its emotion, the iconic Premier Padmini aka 'Kaali Peeli' taxi

The iconic Kaali Peeli Taxis, which were more than a mode of transport, have gone off the roads in Mumbai today. Mumbaikars have been emotionally attached to this car, which ferried them to nooks and corners of the city, for decades.

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Mumbai, India's financial capital has a special connection with taxis, especially Premier Padmini. It was not just a vehicle but an emotion attached to lakhs of Mumbaikars, who used the taxis to commute and criscross the megacity.

From South Bombay to Eastern suburbs, at night or day, around bus stands, railway stations or airports, the Premier Padmini Taxis were widely used by Mumbaikars to cover their daily distances. However, after years of service to millions of commoners, Premier Padmini taxis are going off Mumbai roads from Monday just like the red double-decker diesel buses which were also phased out in the recent past.

The 'Kaali Peeli', the black and yellow colour on-hire vehicles, Premier Padmini, synonymous with Mumbai's fast-paced life, will no longer be in action. Be it a common man, a politician or an industrialist, all have their own Premier Padmini memories.

"The last Premier Padmini was registered as a black and yellow taxi at the Tardeo Regional Transport Office (RTO), which has jurisdiction over the island city of Mumbai, on October 29, 2003," a transport department official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. As the age limit for cabs in Mumbai is 20 years, the megacity officially won't have a Premier Padmini taxi from Monday onwards.

In the Bollywood movies of yore, the iconic Premier Taxis was an integral part - be it 'Taxi No. 9211', 'Khaali-Peeli', and 'Aa Ab Laut Chale'. The hero, whenever he alighted from a train at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, earlier known as the Victoria Terminus, would take a Premier Padmini Taxi. Be it Anil Kapoor, John Abraham or Amitabh Bachchan, everyone had their Taxi moments in movies.

A few years ago, the Mumbai Taximen's Union, one of the biggest taxi driver unions in the city, had petitioned the government to preserve at least one 'kaali-peeli', but without any success. Mumbai now has over 40,000 black-and-yellow cabs, though, in the late '90s, it had about 63,000 of them, including the air-conditioned cool cabs with their distinctive blue and silver colour scheme.

AL Quadros, general secretary of the Mumbai Taximen's Union, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI that Premier Padmini's journey as a taxi started in 1964 with the model Fiat-1100 Delight', a powerful 1200-cc car with a steering-mounted gear shifter. It was small compared to big taxis like the Plymouth, Landmaster, Dodge, and Fiat 1100, called by locals as 'dukkar Fiat'. In the 1970s, the model was rebranded as Premier President and subsequently as Premier Padmini, after the legendary Indian queen Padmini.

Thereafter, the car manufactured by Premier Automobile Limit (PAL) never went through a name change until its production stopped in 2001. Some 100-125 Premier Padmini taxis remained unregistered due to lack of availability of spare parts or other reasons, for a long time after production ceased. However, in 2003, car dealers managed to secure their registration and the last taxi registered then will now be scrapped, Quadros said.

He further added that Premier Padmini's number was at its peak in the '90s, but a big chunk of them went off the roads after the Maharashtra government set a 25-year age limit for cabs in 2008 and then brought it down to 20 years in 2013.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahendra Group, said he had fond memories associated with Premier Padmini."From today, the iconic Premier Padmini Taxi vanishes from Mumbai’s roads. They were clunkers, uncomfortable, unreliable, noisy. Not much baggage capacity either. But for people of my vintage, they carried tons of memories. And they did their job of getting us from point A to point B. Goodbye and alvida, kaali-peeli taxis. Thank you for the good times…," Mahendra posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

• From today, the iconic Premier Padmini Taxi vanishes from Mumbai’s roads. They were clunkers, uncomfortable, unreliable, noisy. Not much baggage capacity either. But for people of my vintage, they carried tons of memories. And they did their job of getting us from point A to… pic.twitter.com/weF33dMQQc

  — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) October 30, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  From today, the iconic Premier Padmini Taxi vanishes from Mumbai’s roads. They were clunkers, uncomfortable, unreliable, noisy. Not much baggage capacity either. But for people of my vintage, they carried tons of memories. And they did their job of getting us from point A to… pic.twitter.com/weF33dMQQc

  — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) October 30, 2023

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  From today, the iconic Premier Padmini Taxi vanishes from Mumbai’s roads. They were clunkers, uncomfortable, unreliable, noisy. Not much baggage capacity either. But for people of my vintage, they carried tons of memories. And they did their job of getting us from point A to… pic.twitter.com/weF33dMQQc

  — anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) October 30, 2023

Yogesh Shekhar Joshi, who owns the iconic Family Stores in Dadar, central Mumbai, shared his memory of the Premier Padmini Taxi. "Premier Padmini taxi is the first car I ever travelled in my life. The manual gear shift handle attached to the steering wheel and old-school fare meter mounted on top of the bonnet still fascinate me. 'Kaali Pili Premier Padmini has a special place in my heart," Yogesh Joshi said. Now, the iconic Kaali Pilli will be seen only in movies.