London does it again as travellers rank iconic black cabs as best in the world

London taxis have been voted the best in the world for the fourth year running, according to the annual taxi report compiled by Hotels.com, the world’s leading hotel booking website.

London’s black cabs won nearly a third (28%) of the vote in a survey which asked almost 5,000* travellers from 23 countries around the world for their views on various aspects of travelling by taxi. London was placed top in five out of the seven categories including safety, friendliness, cleanliness, quality of driving and knowledge of the area.

Despite also being named the most expensive (with 20% of the vote), London’s taxis beat off competition from New York (favourite amongst 9% of travellers) and Hong Kong (third with 7% of the vote). Tokyo and Singapore completed the global top five receiving 7 % and 6% of the vote respectively, displacing the German city of Berlin and capital of Thailand, Bangkok from last year’s top five.

 The world’s best taxis:

 New York’s famous yellow taxi cabs won the best availability accolade with 32% of the vote, despite being perceived to have the worst knowledge of the area (11% voting them worst). Almost a third (30%), of travellers thought Bangkok’s infamous Tuk Tuk represented the best value for money; although it was also voted worst in the world for ‘Quality of Driving’ with 32% of the vote, along with having the worst cleanliness and safety, gaining an unimpressive 22% and 36% share of the vote respectively.

 Findings from India

 The Taxi survey revealed that 86 % Indians use taxis when on holiday abroad and it is the most preferred mode of transport for Indians travelling for business or pleasure. According to respondents in India, taxi service in Singapore scored highest on cleanliness (47 percent) but the capital city, New Delhi was at the bottom of the list (27 percent). Another finding of the survey was that cleanliness is given the least importance while on a taxi ride (33 percent)

Comparing value for money, Mumbai is the most economical (33 percent). Talking about the safety aspect of taxis, Singapore garnered maximum votes (27 percent) in their favour while majority respondents (47 percent) feel that in New Delhi the taxi rides are unsafe.

 The survey result shows Indians as generous passengers because many (47 percent) of them offer tip to the taxi driver. However, one habit of taxi drivers which irk them is smoking while driving (33.3 percent) while (20 percent) people think taxi drivers are too distracted.

 Other global findings include:

From the airport

The research found that taxis are still by far the most popular method of travel from airport to hotel, 54% of travellers choose a taxi over getting the train (16%), boarding a bus (16%) or walking (2%).

 Lost & found

Travellers around the globe reported a number of interesting items they’ve lost in taxis around the world. One Korean traveller reported losing a dried cuttle fish, a Norwegian unfortunately lost his/her wedding ring and an Italian even reported losing her bra! With Brits reported losing a number of items ranging from a hamster to a flute. Indian travellers found the strangest items found were socks.

 Tips

Argentinians are the worst tippers, 34% confessing to never tipping their taxi drivers. Hong Kong residents are the most generous, with almost half (48%) choosing to tip 20% of the fare or more. Brits were most likely to round up to the next round number (33%) or tip 10% (50%).

 Safety

All 23 countries put safety as the most important thing when taking a taxi ride, apart from Italians who deemed ‘cleanliness’ numero uno, ahead of safety that came in second place!

 Pet hates

Chinese pet hates include smelly drivers with 55% of the vote, while smoking at the wheel is frowned upon across the globe with 33% of Brits and 52% of the French naming it as a pet hate.

 Cut the chat

Koreans are the least appreciative of the famous London cabbie, with 37% admit to hating ‘chatty drivers.’ Germany also weren’t keen on making small talk, with 30% labelling chatty drivers as one of their biggest dislikes!

 Alison Couper, Director of Communications, Hotels.com, comments “Taxi drivers are often the first people a traveller will meet on entering a country and their experience can set the tone of their holiday. After four years at number one, London taxi drivers are clearly leading the way, providing travellers with a reliable and safe experience.”