[Misc] London Cabbies.

[Cowfold Seagull]

Point of order, the circle line does not complete a full circle anymore..

Very true. Not a lot of people know this. My name is Michael Caine.

 

[m@goo]

while every Black Cab driver was fine. A couple of them even saying "It's a load of bollocks mate.".

Probably sums up the average black cab driver

 

[Comrade Sam]

Barely use a cab a year and then just for a lift to an airport. Several of my Jewish uncles are/were black cabbies. The last 5 years have destroyed their business. Uber, Covid and the push to electrify. Personally find it annoying black cabs can use the bus lane, as they're expensive and I don't see them as part of the public transport network.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

A friend of mine once told me that he was picked up by a London cabbie that had a female fake taxi sticker on it.
He didn't complain, in fact he said that apart from it being a bit smelly and he stuck to the back seat, he thought the service was excellent.
What is this fake taxi?
Can someone explain?

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

I find the tube in central London a total mess. I always have to go down and then up about 3 sets of escalators, interchanges often involve a 10 minute labyrinthian hike, it’s over priced, all the touch in touch out crap, endless ****ing messages about ends of escalators, minding gaps, staying hydrated. No thanks.

Last time, I was staying in Kings Cross and had to pick up a passport from the passport office; it was quicker and easier to put my running gear on and run there. It is a very nice run along the River as well.

No comment on the drivers

When I was working in London they published a map showing the average walking times between tube stations in central London. When you took into account the descent / ascent times from street level to platform and the wait times between trains in off peak times it was often just as quick or quicker to walk

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

Can't say I agree with the OP, always felt black cabs are much better and much friendlier that ubers, but each to their own.

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

Get what you pay for ? Haha whatever. You can get an e-class mercedes Uber for less than a black cab. And sorry, google maps beats any cabby. Satellites slightly more efficient at knowing the traffic any given minute than Harry or Garys 'knowlege' Only in Brighton..... Nothing like that in major cities.

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With the amount of restrictions and bus lanes in London for normal cars, a black cab is so much faster than an uber most of the time surely?

 

[dazzer6666]

I find the tube in central London a total mess. I always have to go down and then up about 3 sets of escalators, interchanges often involve a 10 minute labyrinthian hike, it’s over priced, all the touch in touch out crap, endless ****ing messages about ends of escalators, minding gaps, staying hydrated. No thanks.

Last time, I was staying in Kings Cross and had to pick up a passport from the passport office; it was quicker and easier to put my running gear on and run there. It is a very nice run along the River as well.

No comment on the drivers

It’s a shame many don’t realise how walkable (or runnable) London is…..used to chuckle at people in Canary Wharf when the Jubilee was up the creek, waiting an hour or more to get to say London Bridge, which is a lovely hour’s stroll along the river. TBF when it’s working, and if you’re simply going point to point without having to change the tube is good, but agree if you have to change it can be a right ballache.

 

[boik]

When I worked in Leadenhall St, people used to get the tube from L/B to Bank. I used to just walk and always beat them into work. Central London is very walkable.

 

[clapham_gull]

When I worked in Leadenhall St, people used to get the tube from L/B to Bank. I used to just walk and always beat them into work. Central London is very walkable.

Leicester Square to Covent Garden.

That (per mile) did have a record of the most expensive train journey on earth.



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[Paulie Gualtieri]

Leicester Square to Covent Garden.

That (per mile) did have a record of the most expensive train journey on earth.



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Also the most pointless journey in history once you factor in the time to get from Covent Garden Concourse to the platforms!

 

[Lenny Rider]

Just back from a weekend in the smoke. Had the need to take several journeys by black cab whilst l was there, and almost to a man, every cab driver was a surly so and so, all saying as little as possible, and some were outright rude.

In the past whenever travelling anywhere by taxi the driver, having had to complete "the knowledge", would know exactly where every address was, now however that doesn't seem to be the case, with a couple telling me to hail another cab, because l've no idea where that is.

Sadly after many years away standards seem to have seriously slipped. Hardly a great welcome for any foreign vistors on their first trip to London.

Sorry got to disagree with you old love, went up to Town yesterday for a Boxing Writers Club committee meeting, my cabbie who picked me up from Victoria was top quality for the entire journey to Bloomsbury, asked me what I was doing in London and then we got on to football, he was a Hammer, realised they'd had a let off Saturday and then was waxing lyrical about Potter and the potential of Lamptey.

It was The Changing of The Guard yesterday, so diversions and gridlock galore, and too his credit he let me know this as soon as i got in the cab, therefore on arrival at the hotel with the meter on 22.80, I gave him £25.

Don't forget our very own Gary Chivers also drives a Black Cab in London.

 

[schmunk]

Sorry got to disagree with you old love, went up to Town yesterday for a Boxing Writers Club committee meeting, my cabbie who picked me up from Victoria was top quality for the entire journey to Bloomsbury, asked me what I was doing in London and then we got on to football, he was a Hammer, realised they'd had a let off Saturday and then was waxing lyrical about Potter and the potential of Lamptey.

It was The Changing of The Guard yesterday, so diversions and gridlock galore, and too his credit he let me know this as soon as i got in the cab, therefore on arrival at the hotel with the meter on 22.80, I gave him £25.

Don't forget our very own Gary Chivers also drives a Black Cab in London.

...and yet a Tube from Victoria to Warren Street (direct) or Russell Square (one change) would have been 1/10 the price and almost certainly quicker.

 

[Lenny Rider]

...and yet a Tube from Victoria to Warren Street (direct) or Russell Square (one change) would have been 1/10 the price and almost certainly far quicker.

I know that old boy, and that's how I got back, but I wanted to do my bit for the The Great British Cabbie (and its all tax deductable)

 

[dwayne]

Sorry got to disagree with you old love, went up to Town yesterday for a Boxing Writers Club committee meeting, my cabbie who picked me up from Victoria was top quality for the entire journey to Bloomsbury, asked me what I was doing in London and then we got on to football, he was a Hammer, realised they'd had a let off Saturday and then was waxing lyrical about Potter and the potential of Lamptey.

It was The Changing of The Guard yesterday, so diversions and gridlock galore, and too his credit he let me know this as soon as i got in the cab, therefore on arrival at the hotel with the meter on 22.80, I gave him £25.

Don't forget our very own Gary Chivers also drives a Black Cab in London.

A Hammer now there's a suprise [emoji23]

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[Cowfold Seagull]

Can't say I agree with the OP, always felt black cabs are much better and much friendlier that ubers, but each to their own.

I didn't mention ubers in my original post, just the black cab drivers that l encountered on my trip to London last weekend.

I've never used an uber in my life. would have no idea how to book one anyway.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

It’s a shame many don’t realise how walkable (or runnable) London is…..used to chuckle at people in Canary Wharf when the Jubilee was up the creek, waiting an hour or more to get to say London Bridge, which is a lovely hour’s stroll along the river. TBF when it’s working, and if you’re simply going point to point without having to change the tube is good, but agree if you have to change it can be a right ballache.

London has a great bus network too, no times wasted in decending/asceding into/out of stations necessary. Only drawback is that if you don't have a rudimentary idea of the routes etc. it isn't so easy to navigate your way around.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

...and yet a Tube from Victoria to Warren Street (direct) or Russell Square (one change) would have been 1/10 the price and almost certainly quicker.

Ah but without the banter of course.

 

[Robinjakarta]

If you really want to experience crappy taxis and drivers, check out Delhi or Istanbul.

 

[sydney]

Very wise l'd say if my experiences at the weekend were anything to go by! Jump on a bus or even take a tube, it'll certainly be better value and probably just as quick too with London traffic often clogged up nowadays.

it's like everything else , black cabbies used to be revered in Town but now with the traffic , fierce competition from private entities and an absolute glut of ****whitts about it's not a pleasant job anymore.