Only one as a private car so far here in New York City. Fairly old rattle trap with the steering wheel on the right side. Basic sturdy-looking cars. I liked them.

This one you point to looks too much like a luxury car!

Radio with CD player? Air conditioner??? Automatic transmission???? WAAYYYY too fancy for me. [Linked Image]

Seriously though. I doubt a medallion (yellow) fleet in NYC would buy them. They seem too expensive. But then again, I did once see a medallion hack driving a Lexus 4x4 so I may be surprised yet again. Then there was a Mercedes Benz that I also saw (yes, New York).

The commonly used car for these fleets is a Crown Victoria and until the city demanded that the yellow fleets start buying new cars only, they were buying used police cars (Chevrolet Caprice and Ford Crown Victoria), painting them yellow and equipping them with the "taxi package" (roof light, partition, black vinyl bench seats, etc.) and squeezing a couple of years out of them until they became too banged up to continue using. These cars were held literally "by a string and a prayer."

The "re-painted police car" taxi is still allowed in a lot of cities. Others allow you to use whatever car you want. The New York Capital District (Albany, Schenectady, Troy) is notorious for this. Couple of years ago, I took a ride in a station wagon taxi up there that must have been about 20 years old. The seats were torn, the car squeaked and rattled as the guy drove it to the railroad station at around 40 mph in city traffic. It was fun! [Linked Image]

This new type of car would be IDEAL, however, for the more upscale "livery" taxi service, -- you know the ones that get radio dispatched and are not legally allowed to pick up fares off the street. Drivers do it anyway.

These guys commonly use somber-looking Cadillac and Lincolns. I wonder if one of these "London Taxis" would have the same amount of trunk space.

P.S.: Yellow taxi drivers do not "work" for the cab company in New York. You rent the car and (according to my ex-cabbie uncle), the first $100 you make that day go to paying the rent on the car. Then there's gas....and tickets (fines).

Livery taxis are usually co-operatives. You own your own car and the co-op issue you a number and a two-way radio (normally a "business band" radio and other times a "cooked" CB set).

My uncle drove for both types until in the mid 1980s he got a knife put to his throat and robbed up in some neighborhood in Bronx County. Thugs even stole the taxi meter right out of the car!! He still has the "cooked" CB radios from those days.

It's a hard job. You really have to drive like a maniac if you intend to cover your cost for the car rental and make some take-home money on top of that.

OK. Enough taxiing around... [Linked Image]