Difference Between Taxis and Cabs

Need a Taxi or Cab?

If you do not have your own transportation and you need to get to a
place in your locality in a hurry, you will mostly likely have to travel
to your destination in a taxi or a cab. Assuming that you are going
to hire a vehicle over the phone, do you say that you need a “taxi”
or a “cab”?

To most people, there is no difference between a taxi and a cab, and they are both vehicles that you can hire to bring you to a specific destination. If there is any distinction between a taxi and a cab, it is usually a perception that is only relevant in a specific geographical location, or a personal opinion.

In order to understand the terms “taxi” and “cab”, it is necessary to find out how they originated. The earliest type of horse-drawn vehicle that was available for hire was called “cabriolet”. This term was later shortened to “cab”. The term continued to be used when cab companies replaced their horse-drawn vehicles with motorized vehicles. Since the new vehicles were equipped with taximeters, which measured fares according to distances travelled, many people started referring to them as “taxicabs”. It seems that both “taxi” and “cab” are shortened versions of the term “taxicab”.

While “taxi” and “cab” are generally regarded as words of the same meaning in every English-speaking country in the world, certain people may have a way to differentiate between the two. Some British people reserve the term “taxis” for the iconic vehicles that are popularly known as “black cabs”. These diesel-engined vehicles are mostly black in color, and they have a high passenger compartment roof to provide more relaxed seating. The term “cabs” or “minicabs” is sometimes used to refer to ordinary saloon cars that are available for hire. These cars can be modern cars of various makes and models, and they are usually cheaper to ride with than black cabs. Some minicabs do not belong to any cab company, and they operate without a license. Make sure to only use licensed minicab companies.

You are allowed to hail a taxi from the street, but not a minicab. Minicabs must be booked in advance. Minicab fares are often considerable lower compared to the black taxis and they run on a fixed fare. Taxis on the other hand run on a taximeter, which consider traffic, distance and waiting time.

People in the UK may have a good reason to make a distinction between “taxis” and “cabs”, simply because they have many different types of such vehicles. Instead of saying that they took “an ordinary saloon-type taxicab” to their destination, they can just say that they took a “minicab”. It is a more convenient way to describe the type of vehicle they hired. Anyway, whether the distinction is consciously adopted or not, nobody in the UK will refer to a black cab as a “minicab”.

Having different terms for taxicabs can be useful in certain situations. For instance, on the island of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, passengers can choose between rank taxis and restricted cabs. Rank taxis are only available at taxi ranks at the airport and the harbor, as well as other fixed locations, and restricted cabs offer door-to-door pick-up. In this case, there is a clear advantage of having two separate terms to refer to different types of taxicabs.