Vehicle headlamps and bright red tailights create reflections on London taxis lined up on a busy street - photo courtesy of FreeFoto.com

World of Taxis

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Centuries of history and a rich culture

Femmes Cocher

This image shows an antique postcard with a stamp and postmark in the upper right corner. A woman taxi driver rests against the steering wheel of an early automobile in which the driver seat is exposed to the elements. She wears a cap and a long driver's coat with contrasting colors at the cuffs and collar.

Taxicab driver Inès Decourcelle rests against the steering wheel of an early automobile in this postcard from the Femmes Cocher collection gathered by taxi researcher Norman Beattie. The series celebrates the role of women drivers in the Paris taxi trade during the early 1900s. Beattie's authoritative discussion of the times and lives of the women adds meaningful narrative to an extraordinary collection of images. Together they open a window on the last days of the horse-drawn era and the dawn of the automobile age.


Gaito Gazdanov's Paris

Gaito Gazdanov was a Russian emigre who drove a taxi in Paris from 1928 to 1952. During that time, he wrote seven of his nine novels.

Gazdanov's novel Nochnye dorogi (Night Roads) draws heavily on his life as a taxi driver. Originally titled Nochnaia doroga (Night Road) it was serialized in the emigre journal Sovremennye zapiski in 1939-1940. It did not appear as a book until 1952.

Gaito Gazdanov, wearing a suit and tie, and with a thick head of hair, gazes at the camera through piercing eyes in this black-and-white portrait.

Gaito Gazdenov in the 1930s

The novel was translated to French by Elena Balzanno (Chemins Nocturnes: Viviane Hamy, 1991). An English translation is now available.

Click here for photos and selections translated to English from French by Norman Beattie.


Photo of a classic taxi vehicle parked at a curb in 1930s Paris

A Parisian taxicab of the 1930s


Illustration of a book cover with a drawing that shows a taxi driver and a dream-like image of a nude woman in high-heel shoes.

"Chemins Nocturne" and other works by Gaito Gazdanov are available in French from Editions Viviane Hamy. Justin Doherty's English translation of "Night Roads" was published by Northwestern University Press in 2009. See also Norman Beattie's web essay and photos on Gazdanov.

Many thanks to Justin Doherty of Trinity College, Dublin for his recent translation of Gazdanov's Night Roads from Russian to English. Gazdanov conveys his readers to 1930s Paris and introduces us to the city's late night characters. Night Roads is a great read, and is available from Northwestern University Press.



Taxicab Numbers

Photo of Srinavasa Ramanujan wearing a suit and tie and sitting in a chair - photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Srinivasa Ramanujan, a mathematician who is associated with Taxicab Numbers.

Taxicab Numbers are a mathematical function of cubes. The numbers are difficult to compute and only six have been discovered. The series increases so rapidly that only two Taxicab Numbers can possibly appear as the numbers on real world taxicabs. They are 2 and 1729.


Photo of Henry J. Kaiser presenting a Kaiser-Frazer car for use in taxi service

Henry J. Kaiser presenting Kaiser-Frazer car to veteran owned and operated G.I. Taxi company, 1948. More at Kaiser on veteran employment and benefits..


Tipping

  • The Drivers of Social Preferences: Evidence from a Nationwide Tipping Field Experiment by Bharat Chandar, Uri Gneezy, John List and Ian Muir at the University of Chicago. This 2019 paper is a big-data analysis of tipping behavior in 40 million UberX rides. About 16% of rides were tipped. 60% of UberX riders never tip and just 1% of riders always tip. The authors had access to an enormous amount of data and conducted experiments within the Uber app such as varying the suggested tip amounts. They found many interesting patterns linked to time and location of trips, gender, age and ethnicty of drivers and riders, the frequency of rapid accelleration or hard braking, and more.

  • Kareem Haggag and Giovanni Paci authored a discussion paper for the Department of Economics at Columbia University titled Default Tips. The March 2013 study examined 13 million credit card transactions in New York City taxicabs. The authors determined that the default tips suggested to passengers on rear-seat terminals have a large impact on tip amounts. Generally tip amounts are higher, but the authors "highlight a potential cost of setting defaults too high, as a higher proportion of customers opt to leave no credit card tip when presented with the higher suggested amounts."

  • What sustains social norms and how do they evolve? The case of tipping, an article by economist Ofer H. Azar (258KB pdf). Originally published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, the paper presents a model of the evolution of social norms. From the abstract: "When a norm is costly to follow and people do not derive benefits from following it except for avoiding social disapproval, the norm erodes over time. Tip percentages, however, increased over the years, suggesting that people derive benefits from tipping, such as impressing others and improving their self-image as being generous and kind."

  • The History of Tipping - From Sixteenth-Century England to United States in the 1910s by Dr. Ofer Azar. From the abstract: "This article reviews the early history of tipping and offers an economic analysis of different aspects of tipping. Using the historical evidence, it then addresses two major questions about tipping: why do people tip? And does tipping improve service quality?"

  • Other works on tipping by Dr. Ofar Azar, an economist at Northwestern University and Ben-Gurion University.

  • The Itching Palm: A Study of the Habit of Tipping in America by William Rufus Scott is a 1916 attack on tipping as "a willingness to be servile for a consideration." Digitized book courtesy of Google. (2MB pdf)

  • To Insure Prejudice: Racial Disparities in Taxicab Tipping by Ian Ayres , Fredrick E. Vars and Nasser Zakariya of Yale Law School, Miller Shakman & Hamilton and Harvard University. From the abstract: "Many studies have documented seller discrimination against consumers, but this study tests and finds that consumers discriminate based on the seller's race."

  • Mega Tips - Scientifically Tested Techniques to Improve Your Tips by Dr. Michael Lynn, Associate Professor at the School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University. (586KB pdf)

  • Why Do We Tip Taxicab Drivers? by David Flath, North Carolina State University - Department of Economics, September 2004. From the abstract: " Tipping thus represents a frank acknowledgment that the posted fare or regulatory determined fare is non-binding; the tip is simply the portion of the agreed fare in excess of the regulated one."


Taxi Matchbooks and Matchbook Gallery

Taxi matchbook advertising has a long history, illustrated here with matchbook covers from (almost) all US states and Canadian provinces. The colorful gallery and accompanying commentary by Norman Beattie expolre both the uniqueness of the images and commonalities in marketing strategies.


Common taxi graphics on matchbook covers had bold high-contrast images of vehicles of the 1930-1950 era. Elegant passengers are in the background, and messages proclaim taxis to be modern, safe and dependable.
Common graphic themes on taxi matchcovers


Taxis and San Francisco Labor History

Taxis and San Francisco Labor History tells the story of organized labor unions in the SF taxi industry for more than 100 years.


Drivers in suits and caps smile as a 1940s Yellow Cab vehicle is preparing to leave the garage for return to service following a strike.
Drivers returning to work at the end of a strike, 1949

  • Virtual Museum of Taximeters has lots of photos of vintage taximeters from all over the world. Ricardo Gallo, the site owner, collects photos of taximeters and also collects the real thing with over 100 meters in his collection already.

Vintage mechanical taximeter from Uruguay.

Vintage meter from Uruguay courtesy of Virtual Museum of Taximeters


New Deep City Press


Cartoon cover shows Maxie the Taxi behind the wheel and tipping his cap. He winks broadly and says 'It ain't just a job, folks!

- Cover by Jamie Maddox, Spring 1977

The New Deep City Press presented the world as seen by San Francisco taxicab drivers in the 1970s. The publication nicely captured the spirit of the times in words, images and original art.


The New Deep City Press was a driver-produced publication in San Francisco. Its six issues featured industry news, photos, original art, tales of the road, poetry, social commentary and more. These four issues are posted by permission of Ralph Hoffschildt and Jesus Portillo. Scanning is courtesy of Alan Freberg and Don Anderson. The March 1976 issue is 31 pages, 6.9 MB. The Winter 1976 issue is 57 pages, 7.4 MB. The Spring 1977 issue is 59 pages, 12.8 MB. The 1978 issue number 11 is 64 pages, 24.0 MB. Scanning and archiving of the Deep City Press is an ongoing project, with the July 1976 issue preserved as individual page scans in two zipped packages: pages 1 through 25 and pages 26 through 48 which are 6.9 MB and 5.8 MB respectively. The covers of all six issues are combined here in one graphic. Ralph advises that readers are welcome to share or reprint issues for personal use but not for profit. For other uses contact Ralph Hoffschildt for permission.


City Cab vehicle parked at the cab lot with drivers and friends gathered around while enjoying beer, cigarettes and good company
Drivers and friends pose for the camera at City Cab in San Francisco, 1976.
From the New Deep City Press.


Taxis In Literature and Art

Five numbered taxis in a row with different colors...hmm

Who is going to Barker Street? Try the Five Taxis Puzzle!

  • The Five Taxis Puzzle named "Who is going to Barker Street" challenges five cab drivers to figure out where their five drunk passengers are going. Give it a try and enjoy! If you get stumped, Norm Beattie will show you the way.


Noir-style book cover shows a busty street-walker with a cigarette.  There is a taxi in the background with the beam of its headlamps reflecting off the rain-soaked pavement.
Nobody's Angel by taxi driver Jack Clark

  • Nobody's Angel by taxi driver Jack Clark features a hard-boiled cabbie in Chicago who takes a personal interest in preventing crime.


  • Last Call At The Ringnose Pub by Montreal writer and taxi driver Peter Foster is a mystery story set in 2013 against a backdrop of the contraband cigarette trade.


  • Still Life in Moving Vehicles by Dale Konstanz includes a delightful collection of photos that focus on the superstitious and religious objects inside Bangkok taxis. Dale's book entitled 'Bangkok Taxi Talismans' will be published by River Books in 2010.


Abstract drawing of a cityscape and a taxicab

  • "Yellow Cab" by anthropology professor Robert Leonard, is a portrait of the city he found while moonlighting as a cab driver on the streets of nighttime Albuquerque, New Mexico.


  • The Owl Taxi by Hulbert Footner is a full-length book published in 1921. It is a detective story centered on cabs in Manhattan. Right click the image to download this 14.5 MB PDF file which is a photo-digitized version of the hard-cover book. Document courtesy of Norman Beattie.

Antique book title page

Title page from the 1921 printing of The Owl Taxi by Hulbert Footner.


  • Vance Thompson (1863-1925) was an American author who wrote novels, short stories, nonfiction books and journalism. He traveled widely in Europe, and between 1903 and 1908 he published five articles in Outing magazine on horse cab drivers in Paris, London, Dublin and New York and on gondoliers in Venice. Taken together the five articles form a kind of cross-cultural survey of cab driving in the twilight of the horse-drawn era. Many thanks to Norman Beattie of Winnipeg for preparing this outstanding collection of text and photos, one of the best and most interesting historical works on Taxi-Library.

  • Photo of an early 1900s horse cab driver wearing a top hat, smoking a cigar and holding a whip


  • "Mystic Gypsy Mavericks, Dharmic Visions of a Vegas Cabbie" is the 2005 book by Las Vegas driver Tim Hollis. Read an extract from the book or contact CafePress to obtain hard copy and digital editions.

Line drawing illustration of a Las Vegas taxicab with a top sign and an ad rack in back


    Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes: this delightful and often hilarious collection from researcher Norman Beattie is a goldmine for speakers.

    Max Schodl was noted for his absentmindedness. "Where to?" asked the driver of a horse-cab that the painter had hailed. Schodl reflected. "Number six," he said. "I'll tell you the street later on."


  • San Francisco Taxi: A Week in the Zen Life... by Alex Sack in which he navigates through his first week in the life of a big city cabbie.

Abstract illustration of a book cover

Book cover showing photo of Carmine Lapello
Murder Lost To Time: The True Story of One of Canada's Oldest Unsolved Murders

This June 2017 book recounts a relative's determined search for answers a century after the fact, and a taxi driver's dangerous association with criminals in Prohibition-era Canada. Available through Amazon.



UK and Europe

The NTA logo has a red circle with the association's name, with four images inside the circle. Below the circle is a scroll with the association's motto.

The different sections of the NTA logo represent the different nations that the association represents: top left is the English National Flower; top right is the Irish emblem of the shamrock; bottom left is the Scottish Thistle; and bottom right is the Welsh leek. The association's motto "ubique" means "everywhere."

On James Joyce, Cab Heritage and Bloomsday, contributed by Norman Beattie Line drawing of author James Joyce

June 16 is Bloomsday. Spend a few minutes getting up to speed on the theme of cabs and cab drivers in "Ulysses" by James Joyce. This is another delightful collection of images and text from Norm Beattie. He captures the spirit of June 16, 1904 when Joyce's character Leopold Bloom took his long walk through the city of Dublin in Ireland.

A 1920s cab with a large bag on top for coal gas fuel is parked on a cobble stone street with shops in the background. A woman driver wearing a beaked cap and a long leather overcoat stands next to the cab with her hands in her pockets.

A 1920s coal-gas powered taxicab operated by John Lee Automobile Engineers in Keighley, England. The bag atop the vehicle stored sufficient fuel for 15 miles of driving. Fast forward to 2007...according to an article in The Conservative Voice, more than 1000 taxicabs in the Chinese city of Fuxin have switched from gasoline to compressed coal-based methane (CBM) fuel.

  • London taxi history, part of Jamie Owens' London taxi page

  • Nash's Numbers, London driver Alan Nash has crunched the numbers for just about everything. Highly recommended for drivers who are compiling listings of night spots, theaters, etc.


Photo of multi-colored London cabs

The colorful London "black cabs" of today

  • Bill Clark's Taxi Blog comments on the UK taxi business

  • NetXposure, high quality historical taxi photo calendars from London driver Vince Chin

  • Belfast Taxi: A cast of colourful characters feature in Lee Henry's 'brilliantly researched root and branch history of taxiing in Belfast'. Published 2012 by Blackstaff Press.

  • Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, UK

  • Jeremiah Ryan's Taxi Ireland, what's happening with Ireland's taxi industry, including news, Dublin rates of fare and permit prices.

Photo of a Paris horse cab and driver stopped outside a cafe.  The elevated driver seat is completely exposed to the elements.  The driver wears a shiny top hat and heavy jacket with a double row of buttons.  A blanket covers him from the waist down. The mustachioed driver gazes at the camera with a glass of beer or wine in his hand.  The carriage has a mechanical taximeter mounted to it and has a holder for a long horse whip.

A Paris horse cab driver enjoying a glass of his favorite beverage. Note the early taximeter.

  • Vance Thompson (1863-1925) was an American author who wrote novels, short stories, nonfiction books and journalism. He traveled widely in Europe, and between 1903 and 1908 he published five articles in Outing magazine on horse cab drivers in Paris, London, Dublin and New York and on gondoliers in Venice. Taken together the five articles form a kind of cross-cultural survey of cab driving in the twilight of the horsedrawn era. Many thanks to Norman Beattie of Winnipeg for preparing this outstanding collection of text and photos, one of the best and most interesting historical works on Taxi-L.


Postcard illustration of a top-hatted male passenger with a monocle a cigar, and a buxom lady horse cab driver with a top hat, a red dress and a long whip. A male passenger makes a ribald suggestion to the lady horse cab driver. Postcard from the Femmes Cocher collection gathered by Norman Beattie.
  • The delightful Femmes Cocher collection of postcards from the early 1900s celebrates the role of women in the Paris horse cab trade. Many thanks to Winnipeg librarian (and former taxicab driver) Norman Beattie for this visual treat combined with sound historical research.

Hansom Cabs on London Streets are seen throughout this 1903 video. Don Anderson suggests: "Fans of traffic history should like this video of Old London Street Scenes -- the hansom cabs are the ones with the drivers perched on the back, holding the reins over the top. Those are real cabriolets, not like those automobiles you call cabs! Cab-related scenes include cabbies watching the sides of the street for possible fares, and another cabman opens the lid on the top of the cab to talk to his passenger inside."


A horse drawn hansom cab with the driver riding high up in the rear of the carriage. The street is cobbled, a woman in red with a wide-brimmed hat walks by in front of an elegant stone building.  The driver is dressed all in black with a brimmed hat and long overcoat. A hansom cab on location for the TV movie "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking" at Somerset House in London. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
  • Taxi-in-Berlin, German language page with news and links to cab services

  • Funk Taxi Berlin, website of the Berliner Cab Owners Association, includes versions in German and English

  • HalloTaxi, Hungarian language online taxi magazine

Classic Volvo taxicab with a gray color scheme on a bricked street.

Classic Volvo Duett taxicab


The hansom cab driver has a sarcastic word for an inept private carriage driver who obviously does not know how to drive in big city traffic.

Punch magazine illustration from October 11, 1879


Canada

Old-time photo of a smiling Star Cab driver with a cap and suit and tie. One of the 1920s Diamond Cab Staff photos gathered by Norm Beattie

Book cover shows a Montreal taxi and driver. Photo of a taxi driver badge with the number seven

Taxi driver's badge from Blind River, Ontario. Photo courtesy of Norman Beattie.

  • Taxi and chauffeur badges are displayed in an historical collection of North American taxi and chauffeur badges...hundreds of photos, highly recommended.

  • Montréal Taxi Blog by Jean Schoeters includes a nice collection of historical images.


A four-wheel horse cab in Ottawa.  There are two horses and the driver rides high up front fully exposed to the Canadian elements.  The large passenger compartment is enclosed, has an exterior lantern attached, and has windows.
1920s ad for Diamond taxi service shows an attractive woman in a red dress smiling and looking at the viewer as she speaks into and old-fashioned telephone mouthpiece. There is also an image of a motorized taxi with an enclosed passenger compartment and exposed driver position up front.
  • Taxi history from the 1870s to 1960s is illustrated with more than 100 photos. Text by Norman Beattie chronicles the transition from small horse-drawn liveries operating out of stables to fleets of Cadillacs, Nashs, Packards and Studebakers. Winnipeg Cab History is an enthralling read for taxi folk everywhere.


  • Taxi! is an hour-long documentary about Toronto taxicab drivers in the days before GPS and computerized dispatching. The 1982 film is by Barry Greenwald and is hosted on the web site of the National Film Board of Canada.


Maroon-colored vintage London taxi, now a classic collector's car.

- Austin FX3 vintage London taxi now in Canada. Photo by Norm Beattie, 1994. Below, the exact same vehicle in London.


The same FX3 London taxi as in the previous picture while it was still in service in London.

- The same Austin FX3 London taxi as in the photo above while it was still in London, 1973 or later.


Saint Fiacre

Colorful papier-mache showing St. Fiacre tending to a garden with pumpkins and a blue background. A red-lipped female angel with flowing yellow robes and large yellow wings hovers nearby. The angel has a taxi-like checkered design on her robes and wings. A bearded saint in brown monk's robe appears to be pleasantly surprised by the angel. Papier-mache art courtesy of Canadian artist Kate Hodgson. Saint Fiacre is the patron of gardeners and taxicab drivers. St. Fiacre is memorialized each year on August 30


United States

Mug shot of bandit James Kane
James Kane came to a bad end after robbing a Chicago horse cab in 1908.
Text and historical photos recall The Cab Hold-up Affair by Norman Beattie.

  • The American Memory site of the US Library of Congress has many historic taxi photos. Norm Beattie suggests using "taxi cab taxicab" as the search words, and limiting the search to "Photos and Prints."

  • The New York City Taxi Driver Oral History Project recorded a series of interviews with drivers. See Not Just A Job: Taxi Driver Insight and Inspiration.


Colorful painting of taxis in an airport staging area
"Staging Area" is one of many colorful paintings by Dmitry Samarov. See the following item.
Book illustration with lots of taxis
The American Taxi - A Century of Service, published by Iconographics.


Title page logo from Hacking New York shows an antique taxi
Title page logo from the 1930 book Hacking New York by Robert Hazard.
Right click the image to download the 45 MB full-length novel.

View through the windshield of a taxi heading uptown in New York City at night

NYC taxi driver Max Cohen demonstrates how to catch 100 green lights in a row
safely and without speeding.


  • A wealth of taxi research by Bruce Schaller is available at Schaller Consulting of New York, NY.


Yellow book cover with a picture of a New York taxi

  • Organizer and college professor Biju Mathew's book "Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in New York City" covers the history of the taxi industry in NYC, and the growth and successes of the NY Taxi Workers' Alliance. Published in 2005, the book is available from Amazon for about $16.


Graphic of a fist-like hand on a steering wheel

Logo of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance
See also the Social Justice Movements Wiki about the NYTWA.


Colorful drawing of a cab driver looking with alarm at a carnival-like scene of rowdy ride-seekers on the street.

  • "No Guns, No Knives, No Personal Checks - The Tales of a San Francisco Cab Driver" by Larry Sager, garnered the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award for the Best First Book (Fiction) from the Independent Publishers Marketing Association earlier this year.


  • Edward Dalton of Providence, Rhode Island offers heart-felt views from behind the wheel in his book "Real Cab Rides;" published by Isis of Providence in 2004.

Picture of a taxi on a book cover


  • Joe Biondo's Real Seattle Taxi blog highlights his role as driver representative on two Seattle-area taxi advisory panels.


Abstract illustration on a book cover

Philadelphia driver and activist Steve Chervenka
wrote Memoir of an Independent Contractor.
It is available as an ebook from Smashwords.


  • D.C. Taxi Heist is a video on YouTube that is critical of a proposed medallion plan in Washington D.C.


  • Trailer for the taxi movie by Jim Jarmusch, Night on Earth. Belle Peppa offers this review: The story follows five taxi drivers in their cities, LA, NYC, Rome, Paris, and Helsinki. The movie also takes place (you can imagine the world time clocks) simultaneously. The sun is going down in LA and coming up in Helsinki. Each vignette gives us a little view of the city, and a wonderful story of the transient connection between the driver and passenger. The movie is subtitled when the language spoken is not English.


A cab parked on the street in front of the fence outside the White House


  • The Ultimate Taxi, Aspen Colorado


  • The Alliance, Las Vegas driver coalition of labor organizations


  • "Customers Like You Make Me Want To Go Back To Being A Hooker: The Life and Times of a Corrupt Las Vegas Taxi Cab Driver," book by Patty Noland published by AuthorHouse.com and now available at Amazon


A woman passenger is scowling as she exits a taxi in front of a row of attached houses with a palm tree.  The bearded driver with sunglasses and a beret unloads baggage from the trunk while smoking a cigarette.
- Courtesy of Supervisor Tom Ammiano's office
"Pearl", a painting by Lawrence Montgomery, is on display in San Francisco City Hall. Learn more and view a larger image of the painting.
Uniformed drivers and suited managers pose for the camera in a garage full of antique cabs. The drivers wear caps with visors, waist-length jackets with double rows of buttons and contrasting cuffs and collars, and calf-high black boots.
- Courtesy of Bruce Carlton
Drivers at a taxi garage in San Francisco, probably the early 1920s. View a larger version of the photo.
Two colorful antique toy taxicabs by Cliff Lundberg
Toy taxicabs from the collection of Cliff Lundberg

  • The Spy In the Cab: The Use and Abuse of Taxicab Cameras in San Francisco by Donald Anderson (2012) examines taxi security cameras from a sociological perspective.

    Abstract: "Since security cameras were first required in San Francisco taxicabs in 2003, their unfolding story has come to contain many elements familiar to Surveillance Studies: the initial introduction of new technology in the wake of a moral panic; a failure of maintenance and a lapse into unreliability; and finally a resurgence accompanied by surveillance creep. This trajectory is explored using the concept of “surveillance slack,” and the stages of slackening and tensing of taxicab camera surveillance will be considered in terms of how these have been shaped by issues of acceptability (where the line between use and abuse is drawn), of effectiveness (what the cameras are perceived to be doing), and, underlying both of these, of integration, that is, how surveillance interacts with existing lines of tension and conflict in the taxi industry."


The message is 'We won't ride if Negroes can't drive'
1950s poster calling for non-discrimination in the hiring of San Francisco taxicab drivers. The NNLC was founded in Detroit in 1951. It was disbanded in 1956 under pressure from the federal government. Poster by Frank Rowe. See also Docs Populi and the following item on SF taxi history. Uniformed women cab drivers smile at the camera while enjoying cups of a hot beverage at a cafe table.  They wear caps, white blouses with ribbon-like ties, and matching jackets with wide lapels.
Mrs. Gilbert Gomez and Mrs. Carol Collins Yellow Cab Company drivers, 1958. Photo courtesy of San Francisco Public Library

Full-color drawing of Luxor Cab driver Susan Oak smiling with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Susan's Asian features are framed by her jet-black square-cut haircut.  She is dressed casually and is holding her knitting project.
Illustrator Bill Russell featured Susan Oak on the "Taxi Driver of the Month" page of TODO magazine, which is distributed in taxicabs. See more driver illustrations at Profile Reportage. Illustration copyright by Bill Russell 2007. Ford and a much larger London taxi side by side, photo by Charles Rathbone
American and London cabs side by side at the Luxor Cab lot in San Francisco.

Diamond Cab executives pose alongside a row of about twenty parked taxicabs
Diamond Cab of Long Beach, California 1947. Courtesy of Mark Helfrich. See also a 12 MB higher resolution copy of the photo and a 1947 ad from the Long Beach Independent.

Photo of a metal chauffeur badge
Chauffeur's badge, 1924 California.
Courtesy of Bruce Carlton at ChauffuerBadges.com.

Australia, NZ, Asia and Africa


Elegant high heel shoes with yellow toe and heel, and a black-white checker design
Taxi chic collection on Pinterest

Small statue on the dashboard of a Bangkok taxi, photo by permission of copyright holder Dale Konstanz
Fat and happy Buddha image adorns the dashboard of a Bangkok taxicab. Still Life in Moving Vehicles by Dale Konstanz includes a delightful collection of photos that focus on the superstitious and religious objects inside Bangkok taxis. Dale wrote another book entitled Thai Taxi Talismans is published by River Books.



Photo of Jafar Panahi
Iranian director Jafar Panahi's film Taxi won the 2015 Golden Bear prize for best film at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

A bicycle rickshaw driver assists a woman passenger up a ramp and into the open-air passenger compartment

A wheelchair accessible bicycle rickshaw in India. Appropriate technology provides work for this driver and transportation for his passenger. Access Exchange International works on transportation access issues worldwide.


  • Democracy Now hosts a trailer for the film Taxi To The Dark Side which is about abuses in the war on terror. The taxi in the title refers to the killing in custody of a taxi driver named Dilawar in Afghanistan. The film won the 2007 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.


Book cover with English and Arabic writing and a nightime city view of Cairo


A full cargo rack sits atop a minivan taxi on an unpaved road

- Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

A Cameroonian bush taxi. Toyota minibus-taxis are the primary mode of public transport in large areas of Africa.


Variety

Movie still picture of the stooges and a driver with a 1940s taxi stuck in the desert sand

The Three Stooges take a 1940s Bronx taxicab on a trip out west.

  • Service Excellence, by Terry Smythe, Manitoba Taxicab Board, September 1990

  • Taking Service Seriously by Terry Smythe

  • Taxicab numbers are a curiosity in mathematics, a function of cubes. Unfortunately, the series grows to large numbers so rapidly that only two "taxicab numbers" (2 and 1729) could possibly be the numbers on real-world cabs.

  • Myths, Mysteries and Truths, a collection of short essays about the taxicab industry, by Terry Smythe over some 14 years.

A taxi-themed envelope with a postage stamp and cancellation mark

First day issue of a commemorative postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service, 2002

Photo from above of colorful floral designs on taxi roofs


Taxi associations and publications

  • TLC Magazine, New York City trade publication to 2020.


  • Classic Yellow Cab driver's hat with a dark visor and a flat top

    Yellow Cab driver's hat


  • Chicago Dispatcher, online version of hard copy monthly newsletter for Chicago area drivers.

  • 96.5 Inner FM Taxi Show, hosted by Melbourne driver David Gawthorn

  • Call Sign, in-house journal of Dial-A-Cab in London was edited by long-time driver Alan Fisher to April 2017


Red Skelton and Gloria De Haven gaze endearingly from a poster advertising the light-hearted 1950 film The Yellow Cab Man

Taxicabs and taxi drivers are frequent subjects in popular culture.



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