Taxi facts for kids

A taxi in London

A taxi (taxicab or cab in the United States) is a car, or other vehicle which is used for public transport. People use them to get to where they want to go. This means there are no stops in between where they get on and where they get off. Many big cities have taxis.

In most other types of public transport, such as a bus, tram, or train, the rider does not get to choose the locations where they want to get picked up or dropped off. These vehicles often take certain roads or follow a very specific route. Because of this, they usually do not stop exactly where people want to go.

Riding a taxi is a lot like having your own car, but you don't drive it. You only tell the taxi driver where you want to go and he or she will take you there. How much you pay for the ride, in most cases, depends on how far you are going from where you get on. It is common for the price for a taxi ride to be more expensive than other forms of transport.

History

The yellow Ford Crown Victoria taxicab of New York City.

The first taxi-type system started in Paris and London in the early 17th century. These were carts pulled by (carriages) and could be hired. The monarchies that ruled these cities controlled the rules. In the 19th century, Hansom cabs were mostly used because of their higher level of safety.

Taximeter

The 1891 invention by German Wilhelm Bruhn of the taximeter helped establish the modern taxi. The first modern meter-equipped taxicab was the Daimler Victoria, built by Gottlieb Daimler in 1897. The first motorized taxi company began operating in Stuttgart the same year.

The term taximeter is an adaptation of the French word 'taximètre', and the German word 'taxameter'. It means measuring a tax or fee.

Related pages

• Automobile
• Cabriolet

Images for kids

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  Cabs in New York City

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  Taximeter

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  17th century hackney coaches in Sir Walter Gilbey's Early Carriages and Roads (1903)

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  Drawing of a hansom cab

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  1897 Daimler Victoria was the first gasoline-powered taxicab

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  Soviet GAZ M-1 taxis in 1938

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  Paris taxis carried 6000 soldiers to the front during the First Battle of the Marne

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  LTI TX2 cab

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  Wheelchair accessible maxicab, unloading a wheelchair-bound passenger in Australia

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  Three-wheeled Coco taxis in Havana, Cuba

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  Toyota Crown Comfort taxicabs lined up in front of Kowloon Waterfront in Hong Kong

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  In this scene from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, a yellow cab driver, played by Peter Falk, contacts his dispatch through a callbox on the street. Two-way radio communication had not become a standard by the time the film was made in the early 1960s.

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  A taxi in Venice.

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  The inside of a Japanese taxicab in Kyoto with GPS navigation on board.

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  A Brazilian Fiat Siena Tetrafuel taxi in São Paulo runs as a flexible-fuel or as a bi-fuel with CNG

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  Singapore Toyota Prius hybrid taxicab

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  Ford Falcon LPG taxicab in Perth, Australia

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  Mitsubishi Taxi in Ghana's Central Region