Taxis

London taxis search the centre of the city for passengers. Taxis are often called (black) cabs, from the French word cabriolet, which is the nineteenth-century word for a coach drawn by a horse.

Taxi-drivers, or cabbies, are proud of their knowledge of London. They have to know every street in central London - all 113 square miles (292 km²) of it - and spend up to four years learning the best routes. To get a licence, they have to pass tests, known as "the Knowledge", until their answers are absolutely accurate. Because of this long training period, cabbies are often angry that people can drive minicabs without a licence. Minicabs do not have meters and look like normal cars. They cannot pick up passengers in the street, so people have to phone for a minicab.

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain; Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 66