What came before taxis?

Historians have said for many years that the first documented horse-drawn carriage for hire started in London during the 1600s. The first taxi stands, however, did not appear until 1636. During the 1800s, Joseph Hansom created a smaller, lighter carriage in England that only required one horse to pull it.



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Hansom cabs were patented in 1834 by York architect Joseph Hansom. They were two-wheeled carriages drawn by horses and were much lighter and faster than the Hackney carriages. They were also cheaper to ride in. The Hansom cab soon spread to Berlin, Paris, St Petersburg, and New York City.

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By the mid-1800s, however, carriage services saw a new, faster model called the hansom cab. Joseph Hansom designed a smaller, lighter carriage that only required one horse to pull it. In fact, these coaches could easily traverse city streets and travel around traffic.

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Gottlieb Daimler built the world's first dedicated taxi in 1897 called the Daimler Victoria. The taxi came equipped with the newly invented taxi meter. On 16 June 1897, the Daimler Victoria taxi was delivered to Friedrich Greiner, a Stuttgart entrepreneur who started the world's first motorized taxi company.

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The timeless sedan, the Superba, based on the A8 taxi, was introduced in 1956. Studebaker and Rambler models were also a part of the taxicab fleet service during the 1950s.

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The taxis of 1914 were Renault AG1 Landaulets. They could seat five men per vehicle, but averaged a speed of only about 20-25 miles per hour.

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The Austin FX3 of 1948 made the black taxi look popular. The cab was made in black, and anyone who wanted a different colour had to pay extra. Seeing as it was the post-war period, not a lot of people had money for that.

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Though still popular after four seasons, the ratings for Taxi started to decline, and ABC canceled the show after the 1982 season. The cable television company HBO was in talks to acquire the series, but it went to NBC instead. It lasted just one season on NBC, and its final episode aired on July 27, 1983.

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You can also refer to a taxi as a cab or a taxicab.

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During this period, several aspects of the modern-day taxi began to emerge, such as the popularity of the comfortable and stylish Checker taxicab. Checkers were immensely popular in the 1940s and 1960s and are considered an iconic part of vintage New York history.

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FREE NOW Previously known as “MyTaxi”, Free Now digitizes how you hail city cabs. It is active in over 100 European cities, particularly popular in Barcelona, London, Paris, Berlin, and Dublin.

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Taxi drivers, also called cabdrivers or cabbies, use a meter to calculate the fare when a passenger requests a destination.

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