The “taxi revolution”

When federal restrictions were relaxed in 1951, Gottlieb Duttweiler launched his «yellow taxis» in Zurich. With these cheap minicabs, he was looking to implement his philosophy of greater selection at lower prices in the transportation sector – and his success was marked by a significant reduction in fares.

In order to create more jobs in the midst of a global economic crisis, Gottlieb Duttweiler attempted to launch his concept of cheap minicabs in 1934. He applied for a taxi concession in Zurich, but was turned down and was forced to keep the idea on the back-burner. When the state-regulated taxi system was finally relaxed in 1951, he immediately bought one hundred yellow Vauxhall taxis and established Minitax AG, throwing cheap fares into the fray of Zurich’s taxi industry. The competition responded with price cuts, sparking an outright «taxi war», which included a heated discussion between Duttweiler and the taxi operator, G. Winterhalder in a jam-packed Volkshaus.
The only female chauffeur also causes quite a stir: «Now let's be honest here: the prospects of a woman having an extraordinary career here are not particularly rosy», states the Brückenbauer magazine: «Hä, lueg die Grite! Es Wiib als Taxichauffeur» (“Hey, look at that! A woman taxi-driver!”), a couple of Milchschnäuze Rekrutengwändli declared contemptuously, while in the city’s Zürichberg neighbourhood, where they spoke rather more eloquently, men – swinging their canes – would comment, «Hä, lueg do, Eini!» (“Hey, look, another one!”).