Politics
The secrets of the Knowledge as Uber threatens the iconic black cab route test with extinction
BLACK cabs could be destined for the scrapyard if an influential think tank has its way.
The Adam Smith Institute wants The Knowledge — the London route test all cabbies must pass — to be ditched in the age of satnavs and Uber.
AlamyThe Adam Smith Institute wants The Knowledge — the London route test all cabbies must pass — to be ditched in the age of satnavs and Uber[/caption]
Drivers of black cabs say it would be a catastrophe for passengers.
And if The Knowledge does become another victim of the modern world, it will be the end of the ultimate memory test which has its roots in the days of horse-drawn transport.
It was created after The Great Exhibition in 1851, when drivers of hansom cabs could not find their way from Hyde Park, where the event was held, to the destinations of their fares.
Later on, a law stated that black cabs had to be tall enough to fit a passenger wearing a bowler hat.
READ MORE ON TAXIS
And in 1847, The Town Police Clauses Act allowed drivers to urinate on their taxi’s rear left wheel.
These days, mastering The Knowledge typically takes three to four years.
Students start with the Blue Book, which lists 320 runs within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross station.
They will eventually have to know more than 25,000 roads and 20,000 landmarks.
Most read in Motors
Some put in 70-hour weeks, puttering about by scooter learning routes.
And the learning process gives budding cabbies bigger brains.
In 2011, a University College of London study found that the hippocampus, the area associated with memory, had grown among those who had completed The Knowledge.
Many cabbies imagine a piece of string running along the route.
Examiners ask drivers to identify major landmarks within a quarter of a mile from the start and end points of each Blue Book run.
They may also want candidates to provide routes that avoid traffic lights.
One examiner is said to favour obscure points such as London’s smallest public sculpture — two mice nibbling cheese on Philpot Lane.
Read More on The Sun
But the rate of failure is high — with 70 per cent dropping out of learning The Knowledge.
Now only time will tell if the black cab has reached the end of the road.
Getty – ContributorCabbie Mitch Winehouse says daughter Amy loved to ride along with him and get him to recite all the roads[/caption]
by Mitch Winehouse, former cabbie
I WAS late to becoming a taxi driver.
I ran a successful window firm and sold out my share to my partner and was stuck wondering what to do.
At 48 I had enough to live on for a few years but my wife said: “Why not become a taxi driver?”
Most people do it in their spare time, but I could do The Knowledge full-time in my own car.
I am 71 now but I can still recall every route from the Blue Book.
Amy loved to ride along with me and get me to recite all the roads.
She was 14 or 15 at the time and she would check to make sure I was right.
When she became famous she loved being driven by me.
She was supposed to be incognito but she would wind down the window and shout hello to people on the street. She was such fun.
She was the most famous person I have ever driven, but there was one time I drove David Hasselhoff.
