Black taxis of London “Black cabs”. Why the London cab is the best taxi in the world English taxi

British taxis, traditionally called black cabs, are known throughout the world due to their unusual appearance and phenomenal reliability. Moreover, nowhere except Britain are cars produced that are used exclusively as taxis.

Unfortunately, I was not able to take a ride in the legendary taxi, but nothing stopped me from watching them in their natural environment)

01. In 1958, the famous Austin FX4 was born, which can still be found on the streets of London today. It was this car that over time became the personification of the English taxi for the whole world.

02. The legendary car rolled off the assembly line in various modifications for 39 years. Manufacturers of the FX4 are the joint venture Austin, Mann and Overton.

03. Carbodies bought the production of the FX4 in 1982 and assembled this model under the LTI (London Taxis International) brand until 1997. The updated modification of the FX4 bore the name Fairway. Engines and transmissions for it were branded Nissan. More than 75,000 FX-4s were produced, and these cabs now make up about 80% of all cabs in the UK.

04. The high ceiling of English cabs is not an accident, but an old tradition: it is not proper for a gentleman to take off his hat when getting into a car.

05. In 1997, LTI began producing a new series of cabs - TX. The latest car in this series, TX IV, complies with Euro 4 environmental standards, is equipped with modern safety systems, is equipped with a child seat, a device for boarding and disembarking the disabled and costs no less than £25,000 ($40,000).

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09. English taxis are unusual cars in all respects. The service life provided by the manufacturer is 10–12 years, mileage is 800,000 km, and this is with severe continuous use. In reality, English cabs travel a million kilometers, many have been in service for more than 25 years.

10. A license for private carriage in London has been issued by the police for four centuries, the period is three years. A number badge is attached to the license, and the car receives a special plate with the license number and an indication of the number of passengers that it has the right to transport at a time.

11. The license also gives the right to pick up clients on the street. Not all taxi companies have this opportunity - it is cheaper to get the right to organize a taxi order by phone. Such a cab will never stop if you vote on the road, because this is fraught with a large fine and loss of your license.

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13. To obtain the right to carry a car, it is not enough to pay a lot of money; you also have to pass a difficult test of knowledge of London and its surroundings. Most London cab drivers know the city so well that they don’t even think about using a GPS navigator - only 2-3% of London taxis are equipped with it.

14. Until the 80s of the last century, all English taxis were black. This tradition was born in connection with the desire of manufacturers to save money on automobile enamel.

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16. Today this tradition is a thing of the past. London taxis are not only painted in different colors, but also have bright advertising on their sides without hesitation.

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20. And English taxis are called the most expensive in the world.

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Many thanks to the wonderful sponsor of this trip, the tour operator

Riding them is the dream of many travelers who are lucky enough to visit London.

But few people know that in the capital of Great Britain there are two types of taxis: black cab and mini-cab. First, let's talk about black cabs.

Taxi driving in London is a respected profession as becoming a black cab driver is not that easy. Drivers are required to pass a city knowledge test " The Knowledge" to obtain a license. It includes the most complete register of all streets and roads of the city, routes and significant attractions.

The exam was introduced in 1865 and has remained virtually unchanged over the years. Each black cab driver applicant has 12 attempts to pass the test, but must first complete a 34-month training course.

There are two types of licenses for black cabs:

• Green badge - valid throughout London;
• Yellow icon - applies to the suburbs.

Blue "Black cab"

To use the black cab services, it is not necessary to book it in advance.

You can catch a car right on the street - if the yellow “TAXI” sign is on, then the car is free and ready to take passengers.

What are black cabs inside and out?

The famous black cabs, manufactured by London Taxi International, have not changed their design since 1948 and stand out from the crowd of modern cars.

The interior of black cabs is spacious and roomy - it can accommodate 5 passengers without any problems. The rear seat seats three people, and two more can sit with their backs to the driver. There is no passenger seat next to the driver; this place is provided for luggage; there is another place for luggage in the cabin. No smoking.

Pink "Black Cab"

The only thing that has changed since those times is the color of the car. Taxis are called “Black Cab” because of their black color, but today cabs can be of absolutely any color. We saw pink, green, and multi-colored cars with bright branding.

Black cab fare

Traveling in a Black Cab is not the cheapest pleasure and you need to consider several points:

There are three main tariffs for black cab services in London, depending on the time of day and day of the week.

It is quite difficult to understand these calculations, so here is a table with the approximate cost per mile/minute of travel:

Where to order or find a black cab?

There are a lot of black cab parking lots in London, especially in the very center of the city - in London City, Charing Cross Road, Oxford Street.

Black cabs in the parking lot waiting for customers

You can order a taxi by phone

For more numbers indicating zones, see the website - https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/taxis-and-minicabs/book-a-taxi

Minicabs (minicab)

Minicabs (minicabs) are regular licensed London taxis.

Minicab license on the windshield

They must be booked in advance; they have no right to pick up people on the streets without prior booking.

They have different fixed prices for travel (cheaper than in black cab), discussed in advance directly when ordering a car.

You can order a minicab online or by phone.

Attention! A minicab licensed to carry passengers must have a blue sign issued by the TFL department on the front or rear window. If it is not there, then the car does not have the right to operate as a minicab taxi.

Cabs, or taxis of London (Black Cab) are one of the symbols of the capital of Great Britain. They are terribly impractical, noisy, but the British passion for tradition is simply insane. After all, cabs are an important part of the atmosphere of the city and riding them is the dream of many tourists who come to London.

How to rent a cab (taxi) in London

You will recognize a free taxi by the sign on the roof - if it is lit, then the car is free. Just raise your hand and it will stop. In addition, taxis can be ordered by phone and via the Internet.

London taxi drivers are called cabmen. If a cab driver has a green badge, then he has the right to drive a taxi in London, and if he has a yellow badge, he has the right to drive a taxi in the city and its suburbs.

When using a cab in London, please note that there is a £2.5 fee for boarding. The final payment is made according to the meter. On weekends, holidays and at night, prices are higher.

It should be noted that there are two types of taxis officially operating in the British capital - black cab and mini-cab. Their main difference is that on the street, anywhere you can stop only a black cab (you just have to raise your hand). Minicabs must be ordered in advance.

Black cabs

The most recognizable and famous black cab is the Austin FX4, created in 1948 by London Taxi International (LTI). Over several decades, its design has remained virtually unchanged. The car has a spacious interior and the ability to stand up to its full height. For more than 100 years, there has been an unspoken rule: nothing should force an English gentleman to remove his top hat when boarding a cab.

Having purchased travel package to England, I planned to visit as many as possible historical and cultural attractions of the capital of Great Britain - the city of London . When visiting the sights and shops of the city, you can get around in two ways: either on foot, or by public transport or by taxi. When choosing a method of transportation, you should take into account that the historical and cultural monuments of the capital of England are not always located close to each other and to your place of residence. For this reason, it is worth considering using public transport and taxis in England. When you first look at the streets of London, the red double-decker buses and black taxis with yellow checkers catch your eye.

The cost of travel in the UK capital using bus services is 1.3 pounds. The ticket is presented upon boarding either to the driver or when applied to a special scanning device. On public buses in the city, children travel for free, but adults are punished with a fine of 20 pounds for traveling without a ticket (read more here). If a person needs to get off at a certain stop, he needs to press a special green button on the bus, which gives a signal to the driver of the vehicle.

Taxi in England: history

UK taxis are called cabs. This name for a taxi was acquired back in the distant times of the 19th century, at a time when convertibles were used as a means of transport. In England there are two types of taxis - classic black cars and mini-cabs. To obtain the license to drive a cab, drivers are required to pass a specialized exam. In addition, the taxi driver must have excellent orientation in the city. Most experienced taxi drivers in the capital of England do not use navigators in their work. Regular cabs stand on the streets along the road waiting for clients to transport them, but minicabs must be ordered by phone. The cost of travel in London using a minicab is slightly lower compared to using a classic taxi.

Before using the services provided by taxis in England, you should make sure that the car you plan to use is equipped with a meter . The fact is that English cab drivers, like all other representatives of taxi drivers in the world, relying on the fact that foreign passengers do not know the city and the prices for providing services, deliberately inflate fares. A tourist who comes to the capital of Great Britain for the first time and decides to use a taxi service needs to know that the average cost of travel in the capital is approximately 2.2-lb.

In addition, there is an interesting rule that is unspoken - The taxi driver is always left a certain amount of tip. The tourist himself determines what amount of tip to leave the taxi driver and whether to leave it at all, but most often the tip amount is about ten percent of the total cost of the trip. A tourist coming to the capital of Great Britain should also clearly know that on a holiday or weekend, as well as in the evening, the cost of a taxi fare is slightly higher than on regular days and regular hours. The UK is famous for its well-developed transport infrastructure. In addition to well-developed road connections and excellent roads, the capital of England has built a metro system, which is one of the most famous in the world. The London Underground itself is one of the attractions of the English capital.

Britain became famous for its first hired carriages already in the 16th century, but taxis were formed in England only in the 19th century, when the speech of Londoners was enriched with the newfangled word “cab”. It is an abbreviated derivative of the name of open two-wheeled vehicles - “convertibles”, which, in fact, became the ancestors of the modern “black cab”.

However, we had to wait several more decades before the word “taxi” was born. This happened in 1905, when the car of a private cab driver in England, which remained unknown to descendants, was replenished with the first metering device - a taximeter. The birthplace of the innovation is Germany, the taximeter was invented by Baron von Thurn and Taxis, and at first it was tested on Berlin cars.

In England, the innovation turned out to be so useful in resolving disagreements between the driver and the passenger regarding the amount of fare that a few years later each English taxi had its own taximeter. This responsibility was now assigned to the city authorities, and control was not particularly difficult, since by the beginning of the 20th century there were no more than a hundred London taxi drivers.

Even then the rules in this matter were quite strict., each cab driver received a license to carry out his work only if he strictly followed a strictly regulated set of rules.

Austin cars are the traditional “face” of London taxis

The rules for the provision of taxi services in England were so serious that, for example, it was only in the first half of the last century that differences in car brands were allowed. “Rovers” and “Vauxhalls” showed off in those days along with “Uniques” and “Marks”, and the Scottish “William Breadmores” - with “Morris Commercials”.

Subsequently, the London authorities decided that from now on all taxis in the British capital should be of the Austin brand and certainly black.

This is how black cabs were born., which have remained the “calling card” of the capital of Great Britain to this day - in the form of modified versions of those same good old “Austins”. A hired car driver in London is still called a cabman, and in general, old lady England loves to preserve her good time-tested traditions.

A modern passenger, like a century ago, when calling a taxi, first of all negotiates the cost of the trip. And in this touching “document check” is all of Britain, with its inimitable morals, so wonderfully sung by Jerome K. Jerome!

It is interesting that the history of New York yellow taxis (there they also have their own single color) is directly related to the development of this service sector in England. The fact is that two Austin models - FX3 and FX4 - were painted yellow and sent to the USA, but, alas, popularity passed them by.

Keep up with the times

The 80s became a turning point in the development of the history of taxis in England, when conservative British fashion, moving towards the process of European integration, acquired continental features.

It was then that the new London taxi took on the more modern appearance of the LTI (London Taxi International) car brand.

A company specializing in the production of cars of this brand has produced several versions. The TX IV brand is fully compliant with the Euro 4 standard for its environmental standards. The interior is spacious, it easily accommodates 5 passengers and is famous, like all its predecessors, for its high ceiling.

In keeping with the spirit and traditions of old London, luggage is invariably placed in front, close to the driver. Times have brought some confusion to the strict observance of the traditions of England, for example, now, along with the classic black color, you can increasingly see cars with flashy, multi-colored advertising on the previously austere interior.

Durable and reliable

However, when it comes to reliability, there is hardly a more obedient, strong, fast and comfortable creature than the London Black Cab! The average service life of an English taxi, guaranteed by the manufacturer, is 10 years, and this despite the fact that in ten years the car covers 800 thousand kilometers.

There are quite a few cars in London whose “service life” is a quarter of a century or more.

As before, the duties and the required minimum of professional knowledge, skills, experience and experience are regulated and controlled by the strict regulations of the rules of a true London cab driver.

The knowledge of the representatives of this most interesting profession is something to envy! For example, among them all kinds of modern devices such as GPS navigators, because even a novice taxi driver considers it a point of honor to know by heart not only every corner of the British capital, but also its surroundings.

About minicabs and other features

In addition to traditional “black cabs”, taxis in England are also represented by mini-cabs. These are exactly the same cars as regular private taxi cabs, but the trip in them will cost less.

You can't just stop a minicab in the middle of London., a trip on it can only be ordered by calling the dispatcher. Otherwise, the cab driver risks not only losing his license, but also paying a large fine for his license.

In order to get used to a London taxi, you should know a few basic rules. First of all, in England it is not customary to get into a cab unless you have a sum in your pocket, starting from 3-4 pounds sterling.

If the passenger got into the car, agreed with the driver regarding the route and cost of the trip, and the crew moved off, then he already owes 2.2 pounds. Subsequent payments will be made according to the taximeter readings.

In the evening and at night, on holidays and weekends, cab drivers in good old England are entitled to bonuses.

Just like throughout the world, free taxis are difficult to get on weekends, especially on Fridays and Saturdays.

Do not despair if a tourist is in a popular area of ​​London, replete with bars and clubs, and taxis passing by do not want to stop. It’s just that they are already busy, and will definitely return for the entertaining guests of the capital. You just need to have a little patience.

If you concentrate and pay a little attention, you will immediately discover that each black cab car has its own personal standard identification mark. By the type of light burning in it, you can immediately determine whether the car is free or occupied.

You should not focus your search on “black cabs” alone; if a car appears, plastered with advertising from top to bottom, then this, as mentioned above, is also a taxi! A trip in a neat and well-groomed London taxi is a pleasure at any time of the day!