Students of Chinese nationality starting their first academic year at Glasgow’s universities and colleges have been offered a warm and visible welcome – from the city’s biggest taxi company.
Half a dozen iconic Glasgow Taxis with slogan “Your City’s Friend” written on the side in Chinese are now operating on the city’s streets 24/7. The taxis are already proving hugely popular with Glaswegians of Chinese descent, Chinese students in the city and visitors alike, with many pointing, smiling and waving when they see the unique cabs.
Glasgow Taxis Ltd, the largest taxi company in Scotland and biggest in the UK outside London, say the taxis reflect their role as ambassadors for the city as well as celebrating Glasgow’s large Chinese community.
Dougie McPherson, Glasgow Taxis chairman, said: “Glasgow in 2019 is a truly international city and we wanted to make sure our messaging and communications embraced that.
“The response since we introduced our Chinese Your City’s Friend taxis has exceeded any expectation with drivers enjoying a really positive response – one lady commented it was like being at home while many school pupils have joyfully shouted the slogan loudly upon seeing it.
“It’s been a fantastic response and we are currently considering the merits of extending this to other nationalities and languages. The positivity and togetherness is exactly what both the city and Glasgow Taxis Ltd stands for.”
The University of Glasgow’s most recent planning and business intelligence data revealed that students at the university of Chinese nationality during 2018/19 numbered almost 3,500.
Qinzi Deng is a Chinese-born student at the University of Glasgow, now in her second year of studies, and was delighted to see the new taxis on Glasgow’s roads.
She said: “I think it gives such a warm welcome for Chinese students because we see our own characters on the side of the taxi and it’s a nice thing to share with our friends.
“There are a huge amount of Chinese students here and it’s nice that they can see a taxi like this that can be for them, making it easier for them to make contact or call a taxi if they need one.
“It helps to make people feel more comfortable in the city. They will quickly understand that Glasgow is full of friendly people and just how friendly a city it can be.”
Glasgow Taxis is a friendly society run on behalf of its members and drivers and the single largest taxi provider in Scotland and in the UK outside London, with all vehicles wheelchair accessible and all drivers licensed and certified.
The company has been named as a finalist in the 2019 Glasgow Business Awards in the category of Excellence In Communications. The winners are announced on Thursday, 3 October.
For more information visit glasgowtaxis.co.uk or download the app.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel