Two years ago I wrote that DC cabs should be iconic. With such a large fleet of taxis, but without a uniform livery for them, we are losing an opportunity to extend the city’s brand recognition. After all, New York’s yellow taxis are a strong symbol of that city. With a uniform color scheme ours could be too.

And so I’m very pleased to see exactly that provision included in the latest round of proposed taxi legislation. It isn’t a done deal, but it’s a good step forward.

So, what color should the city pick? Yellow is too readily identified with New York. White and black are probably too bland to become iconic. There is a petition floating around to select red, which would be very appropriate. Not only is red the “city color, ” it’s also the color of the Circulator buses, local WMATA buses, and Capital Bikeshare. Tying together all our transportation modes with a unified color scheme would be very strong branding.

This is a simple and common sense thing that will benefit the city for decades. If we give taxi operators a comfortable timeframe in which to make the change, it shouldn’t be too great a burden on them. Let’s do it.