MILAN CAB 028585
The Birth of Milan's First Radio Taxi
When were the first cabs born in Milan ? Let's go back a few decades and find out!
The Velasca
The history of 028585 starts in the 1960s., in the midst of Italy's economic boom Italy's and Milan's first radio cab station was born: La Velasca, which owes its name to the tower that houses its offices.
At first the number that everyone recognizes today was not adopted, but a common telephone number, only later, for advertising needs and to be easier to remember the short number was used 028585.
The cabs of 028585 decided to adopt the names of Italian cities to identify their cabs, such as Bari, Como, Merano, Verona, Naples, Turin, Udine by associating it with a number from 1 to 100 (Ex: Bari45 or BA45 ): initially there were provided for 6 shifts of service identified by means of a special leaded metal paddle placed on the roof of the cab, shortly thereafter the shifts increased to 11 lasting 10 hours each, until the present day where there are 73 shifts between continuous and discontinuous in addition to shifts for second drivers.
It was not until later years that other cab companies sprang up in Milan, but as time went on and new technologies came along, the concept of radio cab dispatch center has profoundly changed.
From Yellow to White
To see the first white-colored cabs, such as we have today, we have to go all the way back to 1993, with the Decree of the Ministry of Transportation changing the color of the cars from yellow to white and abolishing the paddles indicating the cab shift, which were replaced by numbered cards placed on the windows of the cars.