The Best and Worst Places to Catch a Cab

You may have noticed that it can sometimes be much harder to get a taxi in certain places than others. This can be frustrating when you have somewhere that you need to be, which is why it is always worth knowing of where the best and worst places are so that you can plan your trip/destination accordingly

If you are in one of the better areas where taxis are more common, you will know that it should not be too challenging to hail down a cab. If you find yourself in one of the worst areas, or you have specific needs like a wheelchair accessible vehicle, you will find it best to book in advance or consider a different form of transportation that will accommodate and fit those needs

The Best

In 2017, the total number of licensed cabs and private vehicle increased by a whopping 16% to 281,000. Unsurprisingly, 39% of the number of licensed taxis and private hire vehicles were found in the capital. This means that if you need to get a cab in London, you should not have too much difficulty (although there may be more people waiting to get one than anywhere else). Other areas where cabs are easy to come by include major cities like Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool. These northern cities also have a good amount of wheelchair accessible taxis and have cars, to accommodate for small-large parties

The Worst

So, where are some of the worst places? Swansea has the worst ratio of people per taxi with a shocking 439 people per cab. Darlington in the North East has a ratio of 229 people per taxi, but if you require a wheelchair accessible vehicle then you are out of luck as there is just 1 per 11,694 people. The popular city of York may be inviting, but you could struggle to get around with a ratio of just 1 per 349. This is a surprise as it is such a popular tourist destination, so taxi firms looking to expand should seriously consider places like this with a poor ratio and expand and grow their fleet to accommodate this populous area. There are also some places too far out in the middle of nowhere, small villages and towns etc. That will struggle to get a taxi easily and will often have to book one well in advance, look for a cab from elsewhere for it to arrive on time.

There is nothing worse than standing around waiting for a taxi, so it is always worth knowing the worst places in the UK to find one. There are certainly openings for cab drivers in these areas as people rely very heavily on this form of transportation to get around – this is particularly true when it is a wheelchair user, yet there are very few wheelchair accessible cabs on the road.