While Dubai gets the fastest hypercars on the planet into their emergency fleet and engineers struggle to find newer ways to push the limit, some fellows see things different. There are some places in this world where people actually want to take things slow for a change. Called Turtle Taxi, the Japanese service has more than a year of existence and is growing in popularity by the day.
From the bare moment we wake up until the second we tuck into bed we are on a hurry. We spend every bit of our existence to go faster, get there first, win at least five minutes, be there earlier, buy time. Time is money, it’s a matter of time, we’re in a race against the clock, we’re right on time. Tens, if not hundreds of ways to express the same thing: we need to be fast!
But what if we’d willingly move slow, as slowly as possible? What if your cab driver would be trained to move as careful as possible? That’s pretty much what the Japanese Turtle Taxi is offering. Created last year by the Sanwa Kotsu Group, 10 of their 500 cabs in Yokohama were designated for this service and they each clearly announce customers their drivers will “take it easy.”
Push the "Yukki" and the cab driver will manage the "centrifugal forces"
In fact, the cab drivers are specifically taught to accelerate and decelerate as gently as possible. They’ve also been told to manage the “centrifugal forces” to avoid making sharp turns and such. Every Turtle cab has a special button dubbed Yukkuri (slow) customers push whenever they wan to “activate” the service. It activates a musical chime and a plastic visual reminder with the illustration of a turtle.
You might think it’s funny, but reports are the service has been warmly welcomed by Japan’s growing number of senior citizens, as well as pregnant women who would naturally prefer a smoother ride. And the specs talk for themselves. Since the Turtle Taxi has started, the operating company has seen a gradual 15% increase in the number of calls requesting specifically for a slow cab.
Not only is the company looking to expand the service in Yokohoma, but they are also thinking of introducing the service into urban centers of Tokyo, Kangawa and Saitama. Who knows, maybe we’ll see similar taxis in the U.S. as well.
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