The Knowledge

On our last visit, with a hotel out near Heathrow Airport, we had the front desk call us a cab so we could head downtown. Expecting a Knowledgeable driver in a black taxi, a minivan showed up instead with a driver resorting to a GPS navigation system. He even had trouble entering in the name of the street for the address we were requesting. I have to admire anyone who has The Knowledge.

Thanks Steven for the link. I enjoyed reading that article.

steven,

Thanks for posting the interesting article. It was very lengthy so I didn't read all of it, but "The Knowledge" is one reason I like to use the Cabs in London.

The Knowledge is one thing Uber users do not get the benefit of.

Interesting to ponder on whether the learnt skill of The Knowledge will eventually become redundant with the continuing advance of technology as so many other skills have done. It certainly used to amuse me as a kid asking my London taxi-driving uncle the way between two places in London as he would reel off the street names in the same way as given in the article.

I can't see, anytime soon, a sat nav (gps) which can reasonably replace the Knowledge, and the great experience earned by a proper Black Cab driver.

It is not only knowing where everything is, without taking the time to type it in correctly, but understanding the connections and most best route depending on all sorts of factors.

The well trained human brain is far superior at such things to a computer program.

There could well come a time when the driver is completely redundant. Already is on a number of underground trains around the world of course.

Thanks Steve. This article could have been written about the Parisian drivers also. They too sit for multiple exams, and not only have to memorize every street, but also even need to know delivery hours on the different streets in order to avoid them at those times.

Glad everyone liked the article , the film is on Youtube and it's a real treat , as is all of Jack Rosenthal's wonderful work .

Great article. Thanks for posting!

I really enjoyed the article, Thanks for posting