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.