Taxi-Photo

A smartphone e-hailing app piggybacks on a taxicab's mobile dispatch terminal.

Signs at San Francisco International Airport point to curbside parking spaces reserved for licensed taxicabs.

A cashier at Luxor Cab reaches for one of the turquoise-colored 2009 taxi medallions. For a couple of days in late June each year, different-colored medallions briefly co-exist as the annual renewal takes place. The 2010 San Francisco taxi medallions are orange.

"Calcutta's taxi drivers were usually Sikhs. They were careful, treated their 1930s era vehicles like the antiques they were. Most cabs were open cars with cloth tops, which in decent weather ran with tops down. Spring 1945"

A woman horse cab driver (or possibly a model posing as a driver) comforts her horse in this postcard from early 1900s Paris. The image is part of the delightful Femmes Cocher collection gathered by Winnipeg librarian and former taxicab driver Norman Beattie. The series celebrates the early role of women in the Paris taxi trade.

Driver Laurie Graham sends this photo of a sunny moment with passenger Cheryl Damico at Fort Point. The Golden Gate Bridge is in the background, along with Laurie's rear-loading ramp taxi.

Illustrator Bill Russell featured Chuck Hawkins on the "Taxi Driver of the Month" page of TODO magazine, which is distributed in San Francisco taxicabs. See more driver illustrations at Profile Reportage. Illustration copyright by Bill Russell 2007.

Yellow 831 begins the steep descent down California Street toward the San Francisco Financial District. This is a nice image linking taxis and San Francisco's unique geography. Drivers ought to be able to come up with a whole slew of shots that showcase our city and our taxicabs. Copyright by and courtesy of FreeFoto.com.

A cab at night leaves streaks of light and reflections on cable car tracks in this image taken from Nob Hill looking towards Chinatown.

Another entry in the cab-at-night category shows a view from near City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. A Luxor Cab streaks through the honky-tonk district of North Beach.

Hmm, what to do when I retire? Spotted off Isola di Porquerolles, France in 2007.

The driver has a Bohemian look and the passenger is scowling in the evocative painting Pearl by Lawrence Montgomery. The scene is probably in San Francisco's Mission District, and the time is early-80s. Click here for more about the painting.

The photos on this page don't all have to be happy scenes. In this picture, Iraqi police officers inspect a Baghdad taxicab. In addition to the usual hazards of cab driving, at least two Baghdad drivers have lost their lives to suicide bombers using the cabs to get close to their targets. To read more about one of the toughest jobs in the world, see the article Iraqi taxi drivers risk death daily.

These photos are in remembrance of two guys who would get a kick out of these pages. SF drivers Cliff Lundberg and Mike (Taxiglut) Sealey were long time contributors to online discussion of all things taxi-related. Both died way before their times. The photo of Mike is of unknown origin, possibly a wedding picture. Cliff is pictured in an Aloha shirt at a City Hall demonstration against Proposition Y in the early 90s (Among other things, Prop Y would have imposed a dress code for taxicab drivers.)