The phasing out of 15-year-old commercial vehicles by the year-end will drastically shrink the fleet of yellow taxis, yet another fading Calcutta icon.

On Tuesday, an umbrella association of owners of yellow taxis announced an attempt to preserve the fleet.

The Joint Forum of Taxi Association said it would write to the transport minister on Wednesday, urging the department to ensure that any car less than 15 years old can be turned commercial, painted yellow and operated as a taxi.

That will allow private cars of any make to switch to commercial registration and ply as yellow taxis in Calcutta, as long as they are less than 15 years old. There should be a similar provision for commercial vehicles, too, the owners said.

Senior officials in the transport department said there are close to 7,500 yellow taxis, of which around 4,500 are likely to go by the end of the year in compliance with the 15-year rule. The rest will take the axe gradually.

Calcutta High Court had in 2008 ordered that no commercial vehicle more than 15 years old can ply in Calcutta.

The present fleet of yellow taxis is mostly made up of Ambassador cars, whose production has long stopped.

Calcuttans have also long stopped relying on yellow taxis. The rise of app-cabs has contributed to the downfall of what was once a symbol of the city streets. The few yellow taxis that remain have virtually stopped running on metered fares. The ride starts only after the driver and the rider agree on an amount.

“Apart from the 4,493 metered yellow cabs that are being phased out by end-2024, another 2,500 yellow taxis are due to be phased out in 2025,” said Naval Kishor Shrivastav, the convener of the West Bengal Taxi Operators’ Coordination Committee, one of the affiliates of the forum.

Ashim Basu, the general secretary of the Bengal Taxi Association, said that after the phasing out of yellow taxis this year, there will be fewer than 2,000 such cabs in running condition in Calcutta.

According to Basu, they want the transport department to adopt a “flexible policy” so that taxi owners can buy any vehicle less than 15 years old and run it as a taxi.

“A new medium-sized emission-compliant car is priced around ₹6-8 lakh. If a taxi owner finds a pre-used car less than 15 years old, we want the transport department to issue a taxi permit to him,” Basu said.

“The rule should apply to private vehicles, too. The owners can convert them into commercial vehicles and apply for a permit.”

Many taxi owners would find it difficult to afford new cars and banks can refuse them loans because the rate of default is said to be high.

A transport department official said there is already a provision to switch from a private to a commercial number plate. Taxi operators said they want the rules to be simplified. “We want the government to be flexible. We don’t want the norms to be like curbs,” said an operator.

According to Basu, many taxi owners’ earnings have taken a hit after the Covid-induced lockdown and the introduction of app cabs. The cost of operating such vehicles has gone up but the fares have not been revised since 2018, he said.

The owners, he said, will request the transport department to review the fares. “We will seek a fair fare structure. To date, the base fare for yellow taxis is ₹30. But the prices of everything, from fuel to spare parts, have gone up,” said Basu.

Several taxi owners said they earn ₹380-400 a day after running a vehicle for more than 12 hours. “After paying the drivers and for the fuel, we are left with ₹380-400 on average. And then there are traffic fines and challans,” a taxi owner said.

A transport department official said: “We are exploring opportunities with representatives of the automobile industry about filling the void.” The department, he said, will assess the “actual demand” for yellow cabs.