—Gwen Bardeen Gethner
Did you know these fun facts about the history of cabs and cabbies in New York?
The system of cab driving as we know it today started when a hansom driver overcharged a passenger in 1907, sparking the idea for a standardized taxi system.- Jazz Age cabbies were known for connecting their fares with prostitutes.
- Over 50,000 men held hack licenses for driving cabs in 1931.
- Significant numbers of women first started driving taxis during World War II, when the shortage of male labor provided openings.
- Mike Quill, one of the co-founders of the Transport Workers Union of America, referred to cabbies as “the limping proletariat” because they received little attention from union leaders.
- In the 1960s, the phrase “driving stick-up” meant disabling the meter and then negotiating a fare with the passenger—to the driver’s financial advantage!
Learn about all these and more in Taxi! A Social History of the New York City Cabdriver by Graham Russell Gao Hodges. (P.S.: The book is on sale for 30% off this holiday season, so grab your copy now!)
Gwen Bardeen Gethner is an editorial intern at NYU Press and a Master’s candidate in the History of Women and Gender at NYU.
