Short answers, pulled from the story.
The word taxi is a compound contraction of taximeter and cabriolet, with the meter tracing its lineage to the German word Taxameter and the Medieval Latin word taxa meaning charge. This etymological path leads back to the Ancient Greek word taxis meaning to place in a certain order and the Greek metron meaning measure.
The first taximeter-equipped taxis appeared in Paris on the 9th of March 1898. These early machines were originally called taxamètres before being renamed taximètres on the 17th of October 1904.
On the 7th of September 1914, the Military Governor of Paris Joseph Gallieni gathered about six hundred taxicabs to carry soldiers to the front at Nanteuil-le Haudouin. Within twenty-four hours about six thousand soldiers and officers were moved to the front, marking the first recorded large-scale use of motorized infantry in battle.
The Knowledge is a demanding process of learning and testing that typically takes around three years to complete. It equips drivers with a detailed command of 25,000 streets within central London, major routes outside this area, and all buildings and other destinations to which passengers may ask to be taken.
In the United States, a nut is industry slang for the amount of money a driver has to pay upfront to lease a taxi for a specific period. Once that amount is collected in fare, the driver then begins to make a profit.
Taxi deregulation in South Africa in 1987 resulted in the emergence of taxi cartels which carry out acts of gun violence against rival cartels in attempts to monopolize desirable routes. These taxi wars have resulted in between 120 and 330 deaths annually since deregulation.