This is kind of a poll, So I’m putting it here.
When did tipping cabdrivers become a tradition? I mean… Tipping your cab driver? Really?
I’ve googled it, and read a little bit about it, but let me know what your take is.
P. S. When are we going to start tipping or bus drivers? 
Always? I’m fifty five years old and you have always tipped your cab driver.
If we are talking about the United States, my cousin who picked me up from JFK when I first landed here 35 years ago, tipped the cabbie who took us to his apartment in Flushing.
So at least that long in NYC and any other place I’ve taken a cab in that time.
As long as I’ve been taking cabs in the Chicago area, and so, at least since 1989. It didn’t seem to be a “new thing” when I started taking cabs, either.
It’s been the norm for over a hundred years.
All my life.
And in EVERY city I’ve travelled in.
Where DON’T they tip cab drivers? I’m very curious now.
Yes, I’m curious about where the OP is from, and their experiences with hiring cabs.
In the US? My entire life and I’m 55. My first cab ride was in 1990 or so.
Heck, tips came up often in dialogue on the sitcom Taxi, which ran 1978-1983.
I’m curious where tipping is just now becoming a norm.
I’m in my 60s, and cab drivers have always been tipped. In the US. In Thailand, if you’re using a metered taxi, which are largely just in Bangkok but some upcountry too, it is customary to round up to the next 10 baht. Flag fall is 35 baht, which is just over a buck American, and the fare increases in two-baht increments. Most places in Bangkok you can get to for 60, maybe 70 baht tops, so you’re not talking a lot of money. If the fare is 43 baht, you give 50.
I’ve traveled to a lot of countries, and this approach of tipping by rounding up is common to many of them, probably more common than the percentage rate used in the US. That said, we were given guidance when we traveled, and I can’t think of a single country where we were told not to tip drivers at all.
Hansom Can drivers were tipped, so it was started no later than 1939 which is when the movie was made where I saw this.
I’m nearly 70, and cab drivers have been tipped for as long as I can remember. In the USA, anyway; I can’t speak for everywhere in the world.
– didn’t mean to direct that to Siam_Sam in particular, but to the thread as a whole.
Japan? I’ve not taken a cab in Japan, but tipping at all is considered so outrageous there that I could not imagine cabs being the sole exception.
In my personal experience (I’ve taken cabs in 17 countries if you count Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Cayman Islands as countries) the only places I have seen tipping cabs NOT being de rigueur are Japan (absolutely not done) and Mainland China (they will not refuse, but most people don’t).
Though recently (say last five years before COVID) almost all “cabs” I have taken were of the Uber type, not the meter type.
Mostly true, but I remember the cab driver who took the wife and me to our hotel from Beijing airport. He flat-out asked us for a tip. That was indeed very unusual for China though.
I drove for Uber and Lyft for 6 months and its appalling how many people don’t tip them. The companies had a policy of tips not required, which doesn’t mean you couldn’t tip which was very irritating. Not sure if that policy is still being pushed since just about all drivers complained.
Aha! I did not travel to Japan, so I didn’t get that particular bit of guidance.
Hijack I know, but I must say I tip every time I use Uber of Lyft, unless the ride was really unpleasant.
Even if tips are optional, the users of the service get rated just like the drivers, and if the rating gets too low, they’re not going to be able to get rides, so I always tip when I use Uber.
But Uber drivers had to rate riders before they saw if they were tipped or not. At least 3 years ago that was the case. And you could not revise your rating. I think this may have changed since then.