Article - The Knowledge, London’s Legendary Taxi-Driver Test

[Pauline]

An amazing long and detailed article about the years of training to become a London Taxi driver.

New York Times - The Knowledge, London’s Legendary Taxi-Driver Test, Puts Up a Fight in the Age of GPS
Culture, By JODY ROSEN, November 10, 2014
The examination to become a London cabby is possibly the most difficult test in the world — demanding years of study to memorize the labyrinthine city’s 25,000 streets and any business or landmark on them. As GPS and Uber imperil this tradition, is there an argument for learning as an end in itself?

From the article: "From the time that London first began to spread beyond the walls surrounding the Roman city, it kept sprawling outward, absorbing villages, enlarging the spider-web snarl of little roads, multiplying the maze. Take a look sometime at a London street map. What a mess: It is a preposterously complex tangle of veins and capillaries, the cardiovascular system of a monster."

 

[Panda]

Seeing people studying for The Knowledge is still a common sight - on a moped or scooter, a clipboard fixed to the handlebars with an enlarged page of the A-Z of London on it as they drive and memorise the best routes.

 

[Pauline]

I mentioned this article to a friend here and she knew everything about it and said the same as you @Panda - that you see them in London on their motorbikes doing the routes. She said using a London Cab is very different from the mini-cabs, because the London Cabbies are so well trained.

 

[SusanSeattle]

I'll have to look out for the people on motorbikes studying the routes. I always consider a taxi ride in London as part of the vacation, just like going to tea. A ride in a cab using the little flip down seat was one of my kids favorite experiences on their first trip to London.