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London's Taxis

London's Taxis

London’s familiar black cabs are famously expensive and often driven by annoyingly opinionated chatterboxes… but they are still the best in the world.

A poll of international travellers has just voted London’s taxis number one for the second year running - confirming what most visitors already believe. If you have to choose how to get around London, it's hard to beat the taxi.

In fact, an overwhelming third (33%) of all travellers surveyed said London’s black cabs were the best in the world.

As a former taxi-driver myself I’ve often travelled to foreign capitals and been appalled at the cabs. The cars are often dirty, dangerous and driven by clueless, hostile zombies. Yet the first lesson all taxi drivers in the UK learn is not about the street names or pick up points - it’s that being nice earns you bigger tips.

Perhaps that’s why London’s taxi drivers pulled in the most votes in the survey for the friendliness of drivers, quality of driving and knowledge of area.

Taking a black cab tour of the city is one of the best ways of seeing the sights and hearing some great stories along the way. When I tested one of these tours for a national newspaper I spent half a day with a chirpy Cockney driver who nipped round alleys and lanes no-one else would dare to go and told me some outrageous London stories that I can’t possibly repeat. It was superb.



Incidentally, London’s taxis beat off competition from New York (favourite amongst 17% of travellers) and Berlin (in third place with 6% of the vote.) The Hotels.com survey found that the Spanish city of Madrid and the Danish capital of Copenhagen completed the top five. Bangkok, famed for its tuk tuk taxis, was a surprise entry into the top ten, beating both Dublin and Paris to the number seven slot.

Other interesting snippets from the world taxi survey are:

With 16% of the vote, London cabbies beat the Irish to the title of the world’s most friendly taxi drivers. Dublin came a close second, with 11%.

Paris taxi drivers are thought to be the rudest in the world.

New York and Rome cabbies are judged the worst drivers in the world.

London taxi drivers know their city best. New York drivers comes in second.

Athens has the filthiest taxis in the world, closely followed by Marrakech.

Despite being voted the best city overall, London is named the most expensive city in the world for taxis, while Bangkok taxis are the best value.

© TheTravelEditor.com

Reproduced with the kind permission of TheTravelEditor.com


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