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" YELLOW " CABS FOR LONDON STREETS.

17th July 1923, Page 25
17th July 1923
Page 25
Page 25, 17th July 1923 — " YELLOW " CABS FOR LONDON STREETS.
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The Advent of an American Taxicab-operating Concern Foreshadowed.

THERE HAVE been in this journal already references, overt and covert, to the intention of the Yellow Cab Co., of Chicago, to establish . a service of taxicabsin London. Some little time ago we were shown details of the whole of the scheme and were able to pass comments upon it for the guidance of the originators, and there has since been formed the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Co., of England, Ltd., -with its registered offices at 173-175, Great Portland Street, London, W. 1, the directors being Brig.-Gen. E. L. Spears, M.P., Mr. Gordon Lee M. M. E. de Ja,rny, Mr. Louis Joseph, and M. 3i. Dueasse. Mr. E. H. Lancaster, so well known in connection with the automobile industry in this country, has been appointed engineer to the company.

The Yellow Cab Co., of Chicago, is an operating concern, and the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Co. of England, Ltd., will be both the operating and manufacturing concern for this country. The aim of the •directors is to provide an ideal taxicab service. Such a service has been organized in many of the cities or the United States and on the Continent with undqubted success, -for Ideas are incorporated in the working which are absent from the average cab service of London streets, although they are invariably to be found in private-hire services.

At the present moment the engineers of the company are working on the design of a cab which,'whilst meeting fully the requirements of the Metropolitan Police, will enable thorn to givetthe added comfort and general improvements which it is _their desire to introduce into cab service. There will be for instance, a considerable improvement in the meter system, and if the intention, which we havealready heard discussed, is carried out, of providing a receipted note for the amount due from the passenger, it seems to us that not only will the interest of the passenger be conserved, but also that of the cab proprietor, because the amount shown on such a note would necessarily include the charges for extras, such as additional passengers, luggage, etc. These items are nowadays rarely entered lip en the meter, going into the pockets of the drivers—not. dishonestly, let it be understood, because cab proprietors, being fully aware of the fact, have modified their arrangements with the cab drivers accordinply.

As we have already said, the operating concern has gained considerable experience in the course of the evolution of its standard cab. When the company was first organized, its directors followed the lead of the London General Omnibus Co. and purchased the best chassis and bodies to be found in England and America, and from its experience it selected the type of each component which stood up to its work the best. The work‘required of a cab chassis and body is far more exacting than one would imagine', for it is no uncommon thing for a cab to put in' 20 hours' continuous serVioe. ,a„ day—of course, with relays of drivers. The extreme care which is exercised in the construction of the cabs is regarded as a factor which has made the difference betw en profit and loss.


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