DECADES OF CHOICE AND EFFICIENCY: Black taxis have always been more than just street pick-ups
- Perry Richardson
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
While black cabs are widely recognised for their ability to pick up passengers from the street or a taxi rank, the industry’s link with pre-booked work stretches back decades. Long before apps and smartphones, corporate radio circuits offered an early model for pre-arranged taxi travel.
These radio circuits, most notably established in London during the mid-20th century, formed the backbone of corporate account work. Businesses could call a central dispatch and request a cab, with charges billed back to company accounts. It was an efficient system, offering reliable service to firms and guaranteed good income enjoyed by the drivers of that era. Large operators like Dial-a-Cab and Radio Taxis built reputations on this model, with fleets connected to dedicated control centres managing bookings through two-way radios.
Over time, these corporate-focused circuits began opening up to individual customers. House accounts were introduced for regular users. This allowed private passengers to book taxis by phone and pay monthly, mirroring corporate services. It marked the beginning of a wider acceptance that black cabs could provide a flexible service beyond the immediate street hail.
The introduction of apps brought further change. Hailo was the first to offer black cab bookings in London via a mobile platform, launching before Uber entered the UK market. It enabled licensed taxi drivers to accept nearby jobs at a tap of the screen. The taxi industry were at the forefront of the technology we see today.
Some within the industry have questioned whether drivers relying on app bookings are effectively doing private hire work. However, this overlooks a key distinction. Unlike private hire vehicles, black cabs remain legally entitled to pick up passengers without a booking. Drivers simply take the first job available to them, whether it comes from an app, a rank or a street hail. That choice gives the black cab trade a key USP… efficiency.
The ability to work across all these formats is what separates taxi drivers from private hire. This range of service has been in place for generations, long before technology reshaped how bookings are made via a mobile device. Apps have meant evolution but they have not altered the core of the taxi trade.
