Melbourne taxis - Falcon numbers halve since 2018

[MrZ]

3 1/2 years ago, in January 2018, I did a "census" of Melbourne taxis. I wanted to see how many Falcon taxis remained in use, but also uncovered other interesting data. I did another one recently to see how things have changed since then.

In 2018, there were 1344 Falcon taxis in Melbourne, making up 29% of the fleet. Fast forward to today, and there are now only 678 left (16% of the fleet). This means Falcon numbers have exactly halved. Camry was number 1 in both years, at 52% in 2018 and 54% this year.

In 2018, there were still 101 BF Falcon wagons remaining. In 2021, that number has gone down to just 34. Territory numbers have also dropped, slightly - from 148 to 132.

Yellow taxis are disappearing quickly - 68% of taxis were yellow in 2018, compared with just 34% presently. After yellow, the next most common colours are silver (32%) and white (21%).

In 2018 the average taxi was 4.6 years old. This has increased to 7.4 years. This is due to the maximum taxi age limit being scrapped in 2016.

Aside from Falcons and Territories, there are a couple of other Ford models in use as taxis - 21 Mondeos, and surprisingly, a Ford Endura.