London cabs have been voted the best taxis in the world, according to an annual global taxi survey conducted by Hotels.com, a US-based travel company and a part of the Expedia group,
Around 11 percent of global travellers who voted in the survey favoured London’s black cabs as the best in the world, followed by those in New York (6.4 percent), Tokyo (5.6 percent), Shanghai (4.8 percent) and Bangkok (4.3 percent).
Travellers voted for the cabs in seven categories, and London cabs took the lead in five of those categories; friendliness, knowledge of the area, cleanliness, safety and quality of driving. New York beat London as the best city for cab availability, and Bangkok topped the list for best value.
Alison Couper, the senior director of communications at Hotels.com, said, ‘It is great news for London to be the home of the best taxis for the fifth year running. London’s iconic black cabs are recognized around the world as being the highest quality and it’s due to the impressive expertise of London taxi drivers that they’re seen to have the best local knowledge compared to any other city in the world.’
The taxi survey also highlighted that around half of all respondents, 56 percent, have fallen asleep in a taxi, while around a fifth of the respondents, or 19 percent, have used the journey to touch up their hair and makeup. Around 26 percent of the people surveyed admitted to having kissed in the backseat of a cab.
Other facts revealed by the survey include that around 15 percent of respondents admitted not tipping their taxi driver, and 39 percent have often rounded the tip off to the next currency unit over the fare. Safety has been voted the most important quality in a cab driver, with their local knowledge and moral values coming next.
