Taxi: the story on HearLore

Taxi

The word taxi is not a modern invention but a linguistic fossil buried within the history of taxation and military strategy. It is a compound contraction of taximeter and cabriolet, where the meter itself traces its lineage to the German word Taxameter, which evolved from the Medieval Latin taxa meaning charge or scale of charges. This etymological path leads back to the Ancient Greek word taxis, meaning to place in a certain order, as used by Thucydides to describe an orderly battle line, and eventually to the Greek metron meaning measure. The first vehicle to bear this name was not a car but a horse-drawn carriage, and 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. The term itself was borrowed from London by Harry Nathaniel Allen of The New York Taxicab Company, who imported the first 600 gas-powered taxicabs to New York in 1907. Allen's company, the Allen-Kingston Motor Car Company, brought these vehicles from France, and they were manufactured at Bristol Engineering in Bristol, Connecticut. The first domestically produced taxicabs were built in 1908 by Fred E. Moskovics, a man who had previously worked at Daimler in the late 1890s. Moskovics was one of the organizers of the first Yellow Taxicab Company in New York, and it was his wife who suggested painting the vehicles yellow to maximize visibility. A popular but erroneous account claims the name derives from Franz von Taxis, a 16th-century postmaster, but the true origin lies in the Greek roots of order and measurement.

Horse-Drawn Origins And The Black Cabs

Before the roar of the internal combustion engine, the streets of London and Paris were dominated by horse-drawn hackney carriages. The first documented public hackney coach service for hire began in London in 1605, and by 1625, carriages were made available for hire from innkeepers. The first taxi rank appeared on the Strand outside the Maypole Inn in 1636, and the Hackney Carriage Act was passed by Parliament in 1635 to legalize these services. A similar service was started by Nicolas Sauvage in Paris in 1637, and his vehicles were known as fiacres because the main vehicle depot was opposite a shrine to Saint Fiacre. The term fiacre is still used in French to describe a horse-drawn vehicle for hire, while the German term Fiaker is used, especially in Austria, to refer to the same thing. The hansom cab was designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York, as a substantial improvement on the old hackney carriages. These two-wheel vehicles were fast, light enough to be pulled by a single horse, and agile enough to steer around the notorious traffic jams of nineteenth-century London. The cab was introduced to other British Empire cities and to the United States during the late 19th century, being most commonly used in New York City. The first cab service in Toronto, The City, was established in 1837 by Thornton Blackburn, an ex-slave whose escape when captured in Detroit was the impetus for the Blackburn Riots. The hansom cab quickly spread to other cities in the United Kingdom, as well as continental European cities, particularly Paris, Berlin, and St Petersburg. The first motorized-powered taximeter-cab was built by Gottlieb Daimler in 1897 and began operating in Stuttgart in June 1897. Gasoline-powered taxicabs began operating in Paris in 1899, in London in 1903, and in New York in 1907. Electric battery-powered taxis became available at the end of the 19th century, and in London, Walter Bersey designed a fleet of such cabs and introduced them to the streets of London on the 19th of August 1897. They were soon nicknamed Hummingbirds due to the idiosyncratic humming noise they made. In the same year in New York City, the Samuel's Electric Carriage and Wagon Company began running 12 electric hansom cabs. The company ran until 1898 with up to 62 cabs operating until it was reformed by its financiers to form the Electric Vehicle Company.

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Taxis

Common questions

What is the origin of the word taxi?

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.

When did the first taximeter-equipped taxis appear in Paris?

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.

How did taxis contribute to the French victory at the First Battle of the Marne?

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.

What is The Knowledge required for London black cab drivers?

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.

What is the meaning of the term nut in the taxi industry?

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.

How has taxi deregulation affected safety and fares in South Africa?

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.

The Knowledge And The Black Cab Code

In London, despite the complex and haphazard road layout, such aids have only recently been employed by a small number of black cab taxi drivers. Instead, they are required to undergo a demanding process of learning and testing called The Knowledge. This typically takes around three years and equips them 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. This rigorous training ensures that drivers can navigate the city without relying on GPS, a skill that has become a point of pride and a unique feature of London's transport system. The black cabs have been fully accessible since January 2000, with all taxis fitted with a pull-out or portable ramp. In contrast, New York City's efforts to mandate both a hybrid and wheelchair-accessible vehicle have been largely unsuccessful. London and Tokyo's efforts have yielded unique vehicles such as the LEVC TX and Toyota JPN Taxi that meet and exceed modern emissions and accessibility requirements for the future. The black cabs have a large compartment beside the driver for storing bags, while many fleets of regular taxis also include wheelchair accessible taxicabs among their numbers. Wheelchair taxicabs are most often specially modified vans or minivans. Wheelchair-using passengers are loaded, with the help of the driver, via a lift or, more commonly, a ramp, at the rear of the vehicle. However, this feature has led to concern among licensing authorities, who feel that the wheelchair passenger would not be able to easily exit the vehicle in the event of accident damage to the rear door. For this reason, the latest generation of accessible taxis features side loading with emergency egress possible from either of the two side doors as well as the rear. The wheelchair is secured using various systems, commonly including some type of belt and clip combination, or wheel locks. Some wheelchair taxicabs are capable of transporting only one wheelchair-using passenger at a time, and can usually accommodate four to six additional non-disabled passengers. Wheelchair taxicabs are part of the regular fleet in most cases, and so are not reserved exclusively for the use of wheelchair users. They are often used by non-disabled people who need to transport luggage, small items of furniture, animals, and other items. Because of this, and since only a small percentage of the average fleet is modified, wheelchair users must often wait for significantly longer periods when calling for a cab, and flagging a modified taxicab on the street is much more difficult.

The Nut And The Medallion System

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 of time. Once that amount is collected in fare, the driver then begins to make a profit. A driver on the nut is trying to earn back the initial cost. This varies from city to city though, in Las Vegas, Nevada, all taxicabs are owned and operated by the companies and all drivers are employees, hence no initial cost and earn a percentage of each fare. So on the nut simply means to be next in a taxi stand to receive a passenger. Additionally, some cab companies are owned cooperatively, with profits shared through democratic governance. The medallion system has been defended by some experts. They argue that the medallion system is similar to a brand-name capital asset and enforces quality of service because quality service results in higher ridership, thus increasing the value of owning the medallion. They argue that issuing new medallions would decrease the medallion value and thus the incentive for the medallion owner to provide quality service or comply with city regulations. In New York City the monopoly advantage for taxi license holders was $590 million in the early 1980s. The city has 1,400 fewer licenses than in 1937. Proponents of deregulation argue that the main losers are the car-less poor and disabled people. Taxi owners form a strong lobby network that marginalizes drivers and taxi users. It also pays local government officials to uphold taxi regulation. The regulators usually do not wish to rise against the taxi-owner lobby. The politicians do not want taxi drivers to have a negative opinion of them. The medallion may be preferable to alternate systems of regulation because fines are difficult to collect, license revocation may not be a sufficient deterrent for profitable violations such as price cheating, and because using penalties on bond interest payments give regulators an incentive to impose penalties to collect revenue rather than for legitimate violations. Medallions do not earn interest and thus inappropriate seizures of interest by regulators is not possible.

The Green Taxi Revolution

Growing concern for the environment has led to greater demand for more environmentally friendly methods of taxicab travel. On the 20th of April 2008, a solar taxi tour was launched that aimed to tour 15 countries in 18 months in a solar taxi that can reach speeds of 90 kilometers per hour with zero emissions. The aim of the tour was to spread awareness about environmental protection. In Australia, nearly all taxis run on LPG, as well as the growing fleet of hybrids. Argentina and the main cities of Brazil have large fleets of taxis running on natural gas. Many Brazilian taxis are flexible-fuel vehicles running on sugarcane ethanol, and some are equipped to run on either natural gas or as a flex-fuel. At least two Brazilian car makers sell these types of bi-fuel vehicles. Malaysia and Singapore have many of their taxicabs running on compressed natural gas. San Francisco became one of the first cities to introduce hybrids for taxi service in 2005, with a fleet of 15 Ford Escape Hybrids, and by 2009 the original Escape Hybrids were retired after 100,000 miles per vehicle. In 2007 the city approved the Clean Air Taxi Grant Program in order to encourage cab companies to purchase alternative fuel vehicles, by providing incentives of US$2,000 per new alternative fuel vehicle on a first-come, first-served basis. Out of a total of 1,378 eligible vehicles, 788 are alternative fuel vehicles, representing 57% of San Francisco's taxicab fleet by March 2010. Gasoline-electric hybrids accounted for 657 green taxis and compressed natural gas vehicles for 131. As of mid-2009 New York City had 2,019 hybrid taxis and 12 clean diesel vehicles, representing 15% of New York's 13,237 taxis in service, the most in any city in North America. At this time owners began retiring its original hybrid fleet after 100,000 miles per vehicle. Two attempts by the Bloomberg Administration to implement policies to force the replacement of all New York's 13,000 taxis for hybrids by 2012 have been blocked by court rulings. Chicago is following New York City's lead by proposing a mandate for Chicago's entire fleet of 6,700 taxicabs to become hybrid by the 1st of January 2014. As of 2008 Chicago's fleet had only 50 hybrid taxicabs. In 2008 Boston mandated that its entire taxi fleet must be converted to hybrids by 2015. Arlington, Virginia also has a small fleet of 85 environmentally friendly hybrid cabs introduced in early 2008. The green taxi expansion is part of a county campaign known as Fresh AIRE, or Arlington Initiative to Reduce Emissions, and included a new all-hybrid taxi company called EnviroCAB, which became the first all-hybrid taxicab fleet in the United States, and the first carbon-negative taxicab company in the world. A similar all-hybrid taxicab company, Clean Air Cab, was launched in Phoenix, Arizona in October 2009. In Japan, electric taxicabs are becoming increasingly popular. In 2009, battery-swap company Better Place teamed with the Japanese government to trial a fleet of electric taxis with the Better Place battery-swap system in Yokohama. In 2010, the taxi company Hinomaru Linousine Company launched two Mitsubishi i MiEV electric taxicabs in Tokyo. Both taxicabs had female drivers and were branded under ZeRO TAXI livery. In 2010 Beijing, China introduced electric taxis. A trial run began in March 2010 with taxis being cheaper than their regular gasoline counterparts.

The Taxi Wars And The Safety Paradox

Taxicab drivers are at risk for homicide at a far higher rate than the general working population in the United States, with a rate of 7.4 per 100,000 compared to 0.37 per 100,000 for the general population. In efforts to reduce homicides, bulletproof partitions were introduced in many taxicabs in the 1990s, and in the 21st century, security cameras were added to many taxicabs. Security cameras have been shown to be more effective when implemented by cities and not taxicab companies. Cab drivers also work together to protect one another both from physical threats and passengers who refuse to pay. Also, in some countries, it is reported that taxi drivers involve in more unsafe driving behaviors. Taxi drivers' feelings about their occupation, including traffic chaos, social prestige, economic pressure, and job satisfaction, may impact on the subsequent driving behaviors. In South Africa, taxi deregulation has resulted in the emergence of taxi cartels which carry out acts of gun violence against rival cartels in attempts to monopolize desirable routes. In South Africa, taxis were deregulated in 1987, resulting in fierce competition among new drivers, who then organized into rival cartels in the absence of government regulation, and which used violence and gangland tactics to protect and expand their territories. These taxi wars have resulted in between 120 and 330 deaths annually since deregulation. These taxi cartels have engaged in anticompetitive price-fixing. The results of taxi deregulation in specific cities has varied widely. A study of taxi deregulation in nine United States cities found that the number of taxi firms increased, but large incumbent firms continued to dominate all but one of the nine cities. The taxi prices did not fall in real terms, but increased in every city studied. Turnover was concentrated among small operators, usually one-cab operators, and little turnover occurred among medium and large new firms and no exit by a large incumbent firm occurred since deregulation. Productivity decreased by at least one-third in all four cities for which sufficient data was obtainable. The authors argued that decreases of this magnitude in productivity have serious economic consequences for taxi drivers, by shifting the industry from employee drivers to lease drivers and causing the average taxi driver to earn a lower income. Innovation in service did not occur in the deregulated cities because such innovations, especially shared-ride service, were doubted by taxi operators to be justified by demand and because the operators viewed that they would cause a net decrease in revenue. Discounts were offered in certain deregulated cities, however, these discounts were small, 10% typically, and were also offered in some regulated cities. The study found a lack of service innovation and little change in level of service despite the increased number of taxicabs. In Japan, taxi deregulation resulted in modest decreases in taxi fares, primarily among long-distance trips, however, Japanese taxi fares are still very high, still the highest in the world. Also, taxi driver incomes decreased, and the earnings of taxi companies also decreased substantially. Deregulation failed to increase taxicab ridership enough to compensate taxi companies for those losses. The burden of deregulation fell disproportionately on taxi drivers because taxi companies increased the number of taxis rented to drivers to make more money from rental fees, which resulted in stiff competition among drivers, decreasing their earnings. Transportation professor Seiji Abe of Kansai University considered deregulation to be a failure in the Japanese taxi industry. In the Netherlands, taxi deregulation in 2000 failed to reach policy objectives of strengthening the role of the taxi in the overall Dutch transport system. Instead, the deregulation resulted in unanticipated fare increases, not decreases, in large cities, and bad driver behavior became a serious problem. Local authorities had lost their say in the market due to the deregulation, and thus were unable to correct these problems. In Finland taxi fares rose 13% after 2018 deregulation.

The Digital Age And The Future Of The Cab

Taxi dispatch is evolving in connection to the telecom sector with the advent of smart-phones. In some countries such as Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and USA, smartphone applications are emerging that connect taxi drivers directly with passengers for the purpose of dispatching taxi jobs, launching new battles for the marketing of such apps over the potential mass of Taxi users. The activity of taxi fleets is usually monitored and controlled by a central office, which provides dispatching, accounting, and human resources services to one or more taxi companies. Taxi owners and drivers usually communicate with the dispatch office through either a 2-way radio, telephone or a computer terminal, called a mobile data terminal. Before the innovation of radio dispatch in the 1950s, taxi drivers would use a callbox, a special telephone at a taxi stand, to contact the dispatch office. When a customer calls for a taxi, a trip is dispatched by either radio or computer, via an in-vehicle mobile data terminal, to the most suitable cab. The most suitable cab may either be the one closest to the pick-up address, often determined by GPS coordinates nowadays, or the one that was the first to book into the zone surrounding the pickup address. Cabs are sometimes dispatched from their taxi stands; a call to Top of the 2 means that the first cab in line at stand #2 is supposed to pick someone up. In offices using radio dispatch, taxi locations are often tracked using magnetic pegs on a board, a metal sheet with an engraved map of taxi zones. In computerized dispatch, the status of taxis is tracked by the computer system. Taxi frequencies are generally licensed in duplex pairs. One frequency is used for the dispatcher to talk to the cabs, and a second frequency is used to the cabs to talk back. This means that the drivers generally cannot talk to each other. Some cabs have a CB radio in addition to the company radio so they can speak to each other. In the United States, there is a Taxicab Radio Service with pairs assigned for this purpose. A taxi company can also be licensed in the Business Radio Service. Business frequencies in the UHF range are also licensed in pairs to allow for repeaters, though taxi companies usually use the pair for duplex communications. The International trade association, The Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association, was established in 1917 in the United States, and is a non-profit trade association of and for the private passenger transportation industry. Today its membership spans the globe and includes 1,100 taxicab companies, executive sedan and limousine services, airport shuttle fleets, non-emergency medical transportation companies, and paratransit services. In April 2011, TLPA announced a nationwide Transportation on Patrol initiative. The TOP program gives local police departments the materials they need to train volunteer taxi drivers to be good witnesses and watch out for criminal behavior. Passengers may also hire taxicabs via mobile apps. While not directly involving the call center, the taxis are still monitored by the dispatcher through GPS tracking. Many taxicab companies, including Gett, Easy Taxi, and GrabTaxi provide mobile apps. The future of the taxi industry lies in the balance between tradition and technology, as cities grapple with the rise of ride-sharing companies and the need to regulate these new services. Disputes over whether ridesharing companies should be regulated as taxicabs resulted in some jurisdictions creating new regulations for these services. The industry continues to evolve, with new innovations in vehicle design, fuel sources, and dispatching methods shaping the way people move through cities.