If you’re thinking about becoming a taxi driver then you may think it’s as simple as getting your taxi license, picking people up and dropping them off. There’s much more to it than that, but if you’re serious about taking the plunge then it’s easy enough to get started in the world of taxi driving. To whet your appetite, here are five things you may not know about being a taxi driver.
- There are more than 230,000 Taxis in England and Wales, accounting for 0.40% of the total population. Of these, 78,000 are Hackney carriages and 153,000 are private hire vehicles.
- You still need to know where you’re going – Even in this age of sat-nav technology, taxi drivers are still expected to have exceptional knowledge of their local area. While many drivers do have sat-nav devices in their cars, most use this more as a back-up. When you come up against a real-world situation that isn’t accounted for by the sat-nav, you’ll need to rely on your own knowledge of the roads.
- You can be a black cab driver and a private hire driver – While black cab drivers generally pick up from taxi ranks or on the street and private hire drivers are only licensed to pick up passengers that have pre-booked, it is possible to do both. You can either hold a dual-license which covers you for both rank work and private hire jobs, or you might hold a separate license for each.
- You need specialist taxi insurance – All vehicles on the road are legally required to have valid insurance, and because of the extra mileage and busy conditions encountered by taxi drivers, specialist insurance is required. Taxi insurance should also include public liability to cover you in the event of a passenger or third party being injured.
- Taxi drivers have bigger brains than the rest of us – At least according to research by Eleanor Maguire. Maguire ran tests on London cab drivers before and after they passed their ‘Knowledge’ tests, and found that those who passed and continued to work as taxi drivers had enlarged Hippocampuses compared to the general population. This was attributed to their in-depth knowledge of the geography of London’s many streets.