Okay, so my title sucks :p, but you know what I mean- New York city, DC- big cities w/ taxi cabs driving around the streets and people waving them down and hopping in and going from one place to another. How many US cities have that?
I don’t know that it’s so much a matter of size as it may be other factors as well.
Los Angeles is a great big ol’ city, but if you need a cab you’re better off calling for one. I’ve flagged down cabs in Los Angeles before, but it’s not the kind of thing you can count on.
Compare to New Orleans, a very small city. On major streets and in commercial districts, I could pretty much always flag a cab when I lived in New Orleans- on a small residential street you would need to phone.
I could flag cabs in the central parts of Philadelphia. I seem to remember flagging cabs when I’ve visited Chicago.
I have a related question which I’ve been meaning to ask for some time (I hope the OP doesn’t mind me partially hijacking the thread). In the UK, drivers of cabs that the public are able to flag down (black cabs) must take a test called “the knowledge” in which they memorise every street and routes to or from a particular street before they can drive their cab. Is this the case in the United States? Is there a comparable test for, say, New York cab drivers?
There must not be in Chicago. I remember taking many cab rides where I had to navigate for the cabbie. I wasn’t going to obscure places either, mostly downtown in the loop.
The cab guy I had tonight was very familiar, but I doubt that level of initial knowledge is required for most cabbies (I would bet most have to have a detailed knowledge that becomes more encyclopedic w/ experience).
This only applies to London taxis.
I have read that as well. That isn’t the norm for anyone else. I used to live in Boston proper. You could flag down taxis at all hours there if you tried hard enough. I preferred to flag down by just walking to a main street. My wife and freinds preferred to call. I was convinced that flagging down was faster and won that bet a few times when I just walked outside and got one while they were calling.
I lived in New Orleans before that. You could get a cab anywhere near downtown by walking outside; The city has (had 
) a huge cab fleet for a city its size. You also stood a good chance on any major street outside the downtown area. Some much more than others.
This is a really interesting question, but I suspect as others have said that the answer is not just about city size. Licencing requirements might well be the determining factor for what cities have cabs that people think they can routinely flag down and those where you know you have to book them.
New York City taxi drivers do have to take a test, though it is significantly less complex or difficult than the London “knowledge.” On the other hand, the New York street grid is a lot less complex than London’s road network.
Here is a sample NYC taxi exam from the Taxi & Limosuine Commission.
anyone know if boston cab drivers have to take this “knowledge” test?
Boston is the most difficult place ive ever lived in terms of navigating, - ive never lived in a place where you HAD to have a map almost daily, though i am bit sketchy with this part of my brain
I don’t think the size of the city matters as much as the demand.
Los Angeles is the second largest city in the country, yet cabs don’t cruise the streets looking for fares. Instead they are most frequently found lined up at stands near the largest hotels or at the airport. Or you have to telephone for one. The city is too large geographically for a cab for someone to need one. Also the public transportation system doesn’t carry a lot of tourists or other people with a decent amount of disposable income.
Living in L.A. for nearly 40 years, I’ve taken a cab once. It was at the airport when my shuttle company flaked out on me. The ride cost me $75. If you do ever have to take a cab from LAX to Downtown L.A., there is a fixed rate.
A city like New Orleans needs a lot of cab drivers because it has so many tourists visiting (in normal times) and they might not have cars. Or they wisely chose not to drive them after a night on the town. There’s much more of a market for them in there.
I’ve lived in the Boston area for 8 years now. Four of it was in the city proper. My goal before I die is to be able to navigate at least half of the Boston area fairly well without a map. Some may say that is unreasonable but I am ambitious.
OTOH, I have never understood how can drivers from a Caribbean Island or Africa could come to Boston and know how to get most places right away it seems. I used to live on a street that was about 100 yards long and had a similar name to several other streets (Commonwealth Terrace). Not all can drivers knew where it was but most did.
How do they do that? In my mind, that is way more skill that I have working with corporate computer systems.
I rarely saw flag-downable taxis in Detroit, which one would think has a large enough population.
yeah, it’s amazing- the dig doesnt help things much either, except in the long run of course
btw, holliston and hopkinton are my favorite places in the world
Mudville! 
Yeah, I’d say it has much more to do with density than actual population. A, because it makes a lot more total business for cabbies, and B. it encourages most people to not drive.
Denver is the same as much BobT described LA. A few cab stands at the airport and hotels downtown, as well a a passbys of the popular downtown bars at closing time. Other than that I doubt you will ever be able to flag down a cab.
I count myself really lucky if my NYC or Boston cabbie can speak English.
In my experience the Boston cabbies knowledge of the roads has been less than complete. They can find Faneuil Hall, the airport and the major downtown hotels and tourist landmarks but anything beyond that is hit-or-miss.
I had the opposite experience from Shagnasty in a way…I used to live on Harvard Ave. in Brookline, which is off of Harvard St. in Brookline, and if you followed Harvard St. in Brookline over the line into Boston (Allston), it became Harvard Ave.
One cabbie tried to drop my then-girlfriend at the same number on Harvard Street, Brookline, and another tried to drop my cousin at the same number, Harvard Ave, Boston.
(In fairness, even the Brookline Post Office screwed this up, we were constantly getting the electric bill for the business that had the same number as us on Harvard Street, Brookline).
I’d imagine that driving 8 hours a day to random places gets you acquainted with the city rather quick. I don’t imagine non-cabbies drive that much per day, and certainly not to places they don’t normally frequent.
Think about it. How often do you go to place you’ve never been to?
Well, the Knowledge has already been mentioned…OK, London’s pretty damn big, but it still takes people years to acquire enough knowledge. It’s not just streets, but individual locations, buildings, pubs, etc. that they’re expected to know.
I stayed in downtown Indianapolis once. I called a cab and they said they would be there in an hour or so. :dubious:
Re: Boston. I used to visit Boston quite often back in the 80s. I coined a phrase from there, when asking directions, you usually get a response something like this: “I know where it is, it’s not far from here, but I can’t tell you how to get there”. 
Of all the cabbies I have dealt with, I like Vegas cabbies the most. Get them talking, listen to their stories, the entertainment value is worth the price of the ride. 
As a point of interest, in Salt Lake City up until 5 or 6 years ago it was illegal to flag down a cab on a public street. If you wanted a cab you had to either call the cab company or go to a taxi stand, usually at the major hotels and at the airport.
This was changed because a lot of people who came to town for some of the major conventions held here got very frustrated and annoyed when they tried to hail a cab and the drivers just sailed on past.
I think the original reason for the law was for traffic safety to avoid the problems of vehicles stopping unexpectedly in traffic.