Instant Cities: New York

New York › Places and landmarks

Yellow cabs

The yellow taxis of New York, which you hail from the kerb with a raised hand.

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Photo: Marc-Lautenbacher, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Since 1967 every taxi with a city medallion, the licence to pick up people waving from the street, has to be painted yellow. There are about 13,000 of them, and in Midtown they often make up most of the traffic.

The big Checker cabs of the films were the classic, until the last one retired in 1999. Then came the Ford Crown Victoria, and now hybrid cars and vans. In the game, too, most of the cars in Midtown are yellow cabs. Ride through New York in 3D ›

More in New York

Empire State BuildingThe Art Deco tower on Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, the tallest building in the world from 1931 to 1970. Times SquareThe crossing of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, under walls of lit screens, at the heart of the Theater District. Chrysler BuildingThe Art Deco tower on 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, with a crown of steel arches and a needle on top. Grand Central TerminalThe great railway station on 42nd Street, with its hall under a ceiling of stars and its clock of opal. New York Public LibraryThe marble library on Fifth Avenue, guarded by the two stone lions Patience and Fortitude. Rockefeller CenterThe Art Deco towers between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, with the golden Prometheus, the skating rink and the Christmas tree. Bryant ParkThe green lawn behind the Public Library, with its plane trees, its green chairs and in winter its ice rink. St. Patrick’s CathedralThe Gothic cathedral of white marble on Fifth Avenue, facing Rockefeller Center. Macy’s Herald SquareOne of the largest department stores in the world, on 34th Street, where the Thanksgiving Day Parade ends. Statue of LibertyThe copper statue in the harbour, a gift from France, that greeted the ships of the immigrants. Central ParkThe great park in the middle of Manhattan, four kilometres long, just north of the game’s map. New York pizzaThe big, thin pizza sold by the slice, to be folded in half and eaten on the street.