Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard J.[_3_]
True, but don't assume that it's always the taxi driver that has the
knowledge. In my last two cab journeys, both involving heavily
congested roads, the minicab driver (Monarch Radio Cars, W4) was superb,
both in driving skills and knowledge of the street network. By
contrast, the taxi driver with an all-London badge, hailed on the street
at Edgware Road H&C station, needed advice from me on 4 separate
occasions because he evidently had very poor knowledge of West London.
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Your experience is quite typical of many who hail a taxi in Central London
and want to go to the suburbs. Although most green badge taxi drivers
know Central London extremely well, many are out of their depth in the suburbs,
particularly the outer suburbs. It's one of the reasons taxi drivers sometimes
refuse to take passengers to the leafy suburbs. (The other main reason,
of course, is that they are unlikely to get a fare back into the middle)
Your other point is also valid. Many minicab drivers know their patch
very well indeed and have no difficulty finding alternative routes when
the main routes are congested.