Does a driver get updated (either voluntarily or by obligation) on changes? Street names will always remain the same, but the former Hilton might be a Marriott now, and new landmarks may pop up.
Here is the web portal to apply for or renew a London cab driver’s licence (interestingly, the process is run by Transport for London, the same authority that also operates public transport there, including the underground and the red buses). As far as I can see it doesn’t require periodic retesting to update drivers’ knowledge of London. I would suppose they’d rely on word of mouth - a relocation of a major hotel is surely news that would quickly spread among the cabbie community.
It’s not unknown for new hotels to host cabbies at their opening and give them free tea/coffee/cake etc to ensure cabbies know where they are and who they are. I haven’t specifically heard of it in London but it wouldn’t surprise me.
You have to make it your business to thoroughly know the city to pass the Knowledge exam in the first place - and then you are on the streets of London all day, every day. I doubt much changes without escaping their attention.
We went to Italy last year, all of our cab drivers used GPS and Nav screen
Let’s see if this works. Offensive in many ways (probably NSFW, but funny). From the pages of Viz Comic, Cockney Wanker does The Knowledge - and The Ignorance.
You can click to increase size, but I don’t imagine that will help on a phone. (If the strip doesn’t show at all I’ll try to find another source).
Explainer: At least in the South of England, “Ignorant” is commonly used to mean rude, ill mannered, uncouth. Aside: in my memory, the second question in The Ignorance began with “How do you get from Hasn’t the Queen Mum got a lovely smile?” to “I’d...”
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That’s because they don’t do The Knowledge - it’s a London only thing
Also, Leslie Grantham was an actor on “Eastenders” who had previously served time in prison for robbing and murdering a German cab driver.
Although learning routes from anywhere to everywhere (in London) and knowing where the major hotels and tourist attractions are is a big part of “The Knowledge”, cabbies are also expected to know about clubs and pubs, many of which may not have a web presence.
There are several YouTube videos of London cabs available, and they are quite interesting. Here’s one to start with:
(Melbourne) In 1995, I could walk out of my (city) residence, and hail a cab on the street. If he was busy, he’d call it in, and somebody else would come and take the job. By 2005, that was gone, the only way I could get a cab was from a cab stand or by a phone booking.
The dispatch companies had gained control of the business, and they only got paid from phone bookings. Some of the drivers had mobile phones, and would call friends to let them know about things, but now even that seems to be gone. Drivers take their jobs from a digital display, and the radio is not used (if they even have one???)
Effectively, the cab system here had ceased to be a '“taxi” service even before uber. It was a monopoly, with monopoly costs to users, but without monopoly benefit to drivers or owners. People who’ve studied economics will understand that most of the monopoly benefit had gone to people who then sold-on the taxi license at market value.
TFU is suggesting that London Black Cabs could be gone in 20 years. The Knowledge is difficult, the vehicles are expensive, and other services are competing. They are losing about 1000 drivers every year.
I’ve hailed cabs in the street, in New York, Toronto, Chicago, London, Perth (Australia), and many other places. Even in Las Vegas, where technically, you’re not supposed to, unless it’s at a hotel, I’ve found drivers that are more hungry for the fare than they are for the rules. Either way, the trip is according to the meter.
In London, “black” (other colours are available) cabs are the only taxis that are allowed to pick passengers up without a booking.
Their first challenge was in the 1960s with the advent of so-called minicabs. They operated on a “private hire licence” and had to be pre-booked. The licensed taxi drivers tried to stop them, but they were far too popular – I drove one myself for a while.