NEWS FROM HOTELS.COM

London Cabs First in Taxi Rank

Global travellers vote London taxis as top cabbies in the world

London taxis have been voted the best taxis in the world for the sixth year in a row, according to the annual global taxi survey from Hotels.com. London secured 22% of the votes, a clear runaway winner followed by New York with 10% and Tokyo with 9% in second and third place.

London's iconic black cabs won nearly a quarter of the vote in the survey*, which also saw Berlin reclaim it's position in the top five list, in fourth place with 5% and Madrid, Mexico City and Amsterdam in joint fifth with 4%.

The world’s best taxis:

Rank	City	% of votes
1	London	22%
2	New York	10%
3	Tokyo	9%
4	Berlin	5%
5=	Amsterdam	4%
5=	Madrid	4%
5=	Mexico City	4%

Of the 30 countries surveyed, London topped the list across five of the seven categories, including cleanliness (23%), knowledge of the area (27%) and quality of driving (30%). While London cabs were also voted top for friendliness (23%) it was this category that was deemed the least important to travellers, meaning London's friendly cabbies could be seen to put some punters off. Almost a quarter of respondents (23%) voted safety their number one priority when travelling by taxi, which London's cabs also ranked highest on.

New York and Bangkok taxis came joint first in terms of value for money (20%); interestingly the latter didn’t quite make the overall top five this year. New York's recognizable yellow taxis grabbed the top spot when it came to availability (23%).

Categories ranked in order of preference:

Rank	Category	% of votes
1	Safety	23%
2	Value	20%
3	Knowledge of Area	17%
4	Availability	14%
5	Quality of Driving	11%
6	Cleanliness	8%
7	Friendliness	7%

The global Hotels.com taxi survey also revealed the world's more obscure objects that travellers have admitted to leaving behind, which included:

·       A wig and a bird in a cage left behind in a US cab

·       A prosthetic leg and an ex-boyfriend in Australia

·       A trombone in Finland

·       A Rubik's cube in Italy

·       Dentures in Germany

Globally the survey found that people tend to text or email whilst in cab (19%), while sleeping was the second most popular activity (15%), followed by eating (10%) and kissing (9%). When asked which nation was the most amorous in the back of a cab Brits came out with 14% admitting to displaying passionate behaviour - 10% higher than the global average of 4%.

Other global findings include:

·       Over half of us (53%) would choose a taxi as our desired mode of transport from airport to hotel.

·       While the majority of people would round up to the nearest amount when tipping (38%), taxi passengers tend to choose to not tip over tipping more than 10% for the journey.

·       The most important feature in a taxi is WiFi (14%) beating both the radio and music.

·       The biggest pet hate for UK travellers is when taxi drivers take a longer route to the destination.

Alison Couper, Senior Director of Communications of the Hotels.com brand said, "Six years running and London cabs are still leading the pack when it comes to travel – it's great to see! Our iconic black  Hackney Carriages and their well informed cabbies can pride themselves on being globally recognised for their expert knowledge and quality of driving, maybe next year we can top the list for all categories!"

Steve McNamara, General Secretary of the LTDA, said: “Once again, the expertise, professionalism and in depth knowledge of our great city has seen London’s taxi drivers voted as the best in the world. Clearly, their friendliness, dedication and pride in the trade, helps visitors not only get to their destination quickly and safely, but enhances the whole experience of a visit to London.”