Neil Williams wrote:
On 2016-12-10 10:48:19 +0000, Roland Perry said:

They are also useful for people who don't know London like the back of
their hand, in bad weather, and when public transport has shut for the
night. I rarely use black cabs myself, but the last one was to and from
an evening dinner (full dress), in the Winter rain, to a banqueting
location I'd not heard of before, but turned out to be near Horse
Guards Parade.

The weather aside, for which I'm sure you can carry an umbrella, may I
present to you https://maps.google.com/ and its public transport search
facility?

I hope that cake is tasty. Other reasons you might want a cab:

Too much luggage to carry
Valuables/confidential documents you need to keep safe
Work you want to do en route
Discussions you want to have in private
Personal safety
Easily-confused travellers
Not having to deal with the ticketing system
(it's fun watching the 'not a ticket office, honest' staff at KX trying to
ascertain what kinds of bank cards visitors might have and if they're usable
as a payment method)
Not having to deal with the steps at the majority of stations that aren't
step-free

As usual, it varies. Not everyone is a smartphone-toting Londoner with an
Oyster in their pocket.

Theo