Simple question. Simple poll, but feel free to make the thread more entertaining.
Will GPS make The Knowledge redundant?
- Thread starter Stanley Edwards
- Start date
Not all versions of sat nav recognise all the local residential postcodes. This one is a case in point. Even the estate's peripheral road isn't recognised. Instead, unless the car/delivery van etc is fitted with one of the more expensive versions, I end up having to tell them to go to the crossroad on the brow of Tulse Hill and then direct them from there.
I wouldn't mind, but this estate has had all of its roads (including the pedestrianised ones) mapped in the A to Z for well over 10 years.
I wouldn't mind, but this estate has had all of its roads (including the pedestrianised ones) mapped in the A to Z for well over 10 years.
I was talking about this with a mate at work who drives a black cab on his days off. He had to do the knowledge to get his licence but there's no re-test so now he's got his licence he doesn't worry about it too much and just uses a sat nav most of the time instead. So yes and no. He got a 3 quid fare for going 200 yards up the road the other day so he's probably a dodgy fucker anyway.
But, he went the long way round and pointed out blue plaques?
I remember the last black cab I took in London was actually to get home from Brixton after an after offline thing. The guy was Greek and originally came to London working in the city. He had 8 children. 8!!! I still recall the conversation well. How the fuck do you pay for 8 children as a cab driver? We discussed The Knowledge and all that. Nice guy who had lived interestingly, and he only charged me 6 Quid when he dropped me at my door. Bit of a trek from Brixton at 3am, and few people knew how to find me from my address alone. I was fucking totally off my face. He could have taken me for 40 at least. He didn't. That was about 8 years ago.
That used to be entirely normal.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
no satnav is sketchy in london anyway cos of the smog
Ted Striker
Foot's on the other hand
I think app-booking taxis (with pre-stated prices and tracked drivers) will do most damage to black taxis.
I avoid them like the plague unless it's on company money.
I avoid them like the plague unless it's on company money.
TitanSound
Mr Beardy Drummer
After paying £10 from UCH to just past Camden Road station the other day, so do I. Fucking joke!
89 Til Infinity
Apparently a "Well-Known Member"
Depends on how many people are travelling. Wouldn't on my own but a fare split five ways can work out cheaper than a bus
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
I love black cabs, yeah they're expensive but there's still no better way to travel in London 
Meltingpot
Living in our pools we soon forget about the sea
I love black cabs, yeah they're expensive but there's still no better way to travel in London
So do I. Under different circumstances (e.g. if I had better eyesight) I'd quite like to be a London black cab driver.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Most cabbies these days couldn't find water if they fell out of a boat IME. You'd think after a few months of driving people about for a living, even using satnav for everything, you might come to learn a few things about where various places are and how to get from one place to another. Manchester's cabbies in particular seem to know absolutely fuck all about Manchester.
Boycey
juvenile rave slut
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
I avoid them. Majority refused to go to Brixton decades ago, so they can fuck off.
Too expensive anyway. However, I appreciate their knowledge of the streets.
I know a few that have second homes in Spain so they can't be doing too badly
Too expensive anyway. However, I appreciate their knowledge of the streets.
I know a few that have second homes in Spain so they can't be doing too badly
bi0boy
Power User
I love black cabs, yeah they're expensive but there's still no better way to travel in London
How about walking, or on the top deck of a bus, or in your own car, or a private hire vehicle, or by bike?
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
Walking - It rains a lot in this country
Bus - No. Just no.
Own car - Where do you park when you get to your destination?
Private hire - Can't flag them down in the street and half the drivers seemingly don't know where the fuck they're going
Bike - Fuck right off
Ted Striker
Foot's on the other hand
Reading the meter go up £1.20 at a set of traffic lights gives me an insight into what donating blood feels like...Just with no good cause at the end of it.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
Outstanding article about the Knowledge and its precarious situation with the rise of uber etc.
Srsly worth your time: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/london-taxi-test-knowledge/
Srsly worth your time: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/london-taxi-test-knowledge/
Idris2002
Christmas Eve, you know?
A few years back a brother of mine got an invite to a wedding in Donegal. He got a lift with several other people, and the guy doing the driving said 'it's OK lads, we don't need a map, I've got GPS'.
Sometime around midnight they found themselves somewhere halfway up a Donegal mountainside, with no wedding to be seen. . .
Sometime around midnight they found themselves somewhere halfway up a Donegal mountainside, with no wedding to be seen. . .
EastEnder
Brixton Barnacle
Since moving to Brixton I have lost all faith in black cab drivers. I always thought the whole deal was pretty simple: You accept their silly money prices in return for being driven exactly where you want to go by someone who knows London like the back of their hand. Based on my experiences, it would seem that "the knowledge" doesn't extend as far as Brixton - that little known hamlet miles from civilisation...
Black cab drivers seem to find Brixton's one way system more confusing than doing the Times crossword whilst blindfolded. Personally I can see it being a bit tricky to navigate, unless maybe you happen to be someone whose entire profession is driving around London...
I have yet to find a black cab driver who believes in the existence of Rushcroft Road. Seriously. Every fucking time it's the same. It's in the centre of bloody Brixton! Opposite the town hall! Adjacent to Cold Harbour lane! "So, is that on right or left then?".........
These days I don't even bother. If I get a black cab to Brixton I just have to tell them to drop me by the lights, it's simply too painful trying to get them to go the right way.
I wouldn't mind this sort of nonsense from minicab drivers - you get what you pay for, etc. But If I'm forking out over 30 quid to travel all of 4 miles from central London to Brixton, I expect the morons to know where the hell they're going!
/rant
Black cab drivers seem to find Brixton's one way system more confusing than doing the Times crossword whilst blindfolded. Personally I can see it being a bit tricky to navigate, unless maybe you happen to be someone whose entire profession is driving around London...
I have yet to find a black cab driver who believes in the existence of Rushcroft Road. Seriously. Every fucking time it's the same. It's in the centre of bloody Brixton! Opposite the town hall! Adjacent to Cold Harbour lane! "So, is that on right or left then?".........
These days I don't even bother. If I get a black cab to Brixton I just have to tell them to drop me by the lights, it's simply too painful trying to get them to go the right way.
I wouldn't mind this sort of nonsense from minicab drivers - you get what you pay for, etc. But If I'm forking out over 30 quid to travel all of 4 miles from central London to Brixton, I expect the morons to know where the hell they're going!
/rant
2hats
Dust.
No discussion of self-driving cars though?
PS To answer the original question - no, GPS won't. A combination of GNSS, computer vision based AI and inter-vehicle communication probably will.
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
One of the people due to give a speech at one of my bandmate's wedding ceremony didn't make it in time because the driver got some detail wrong with the address and the satnav took them somewhere about 30 miles away. The hasty stand-in did a good job. When the car load of people turned up about an hour later they looked exhausted, probably from panic and arguing.
Already has, maybe for short hops around the square mile at rush hour a black cab might win out. But I find minicabs with GPS just fine. I've had black cabs get lost or have to turn back when their shortcut hasn't worked out a few times over the years but can't remember having such problems in minicabs with gps.
Blacks cabs can find landmarks and major roads ok but I always have to explain how to get to smaller roads whereas the nice uber/addison lee bloke will know exactly where you're heading before you even get in.
Blacks cabs can find landmarks and major roads ok but I always have to explain how to get to smaller roads whereas the nice uber/addison lee bloke will know exactly where you're heading before you even get in.
trabuquera
Modesty Bag
Long discussion of this subject / and the NY Times article on Jalopnik (Gawker Media's tech/vehicle subforum) this week:http://jalopnik.com/watch-this-lond...ull+(Jalopnik)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
The 'debate' divides between a few trolls saying "pah, the Knowledge isn't that hard", or "it's an obsolete exercise in closed-shop protectionism for the pet candidates of existing cabbies", or "well British people are crazy by definition", to lots of other commentators saying GPS is generally patchy, useless, or often outright dangerous in London (or other places). Lots of talk about how poor mobile coverage can be and how relying only on the cloud is a recipe for disaster.
The 'debate' divides between a few trolls saying "pah, the Knowledge isn't that hard", or "it's an obsolete exercise in closed-shop protectionism for the pet candidates of existing cabbies", or "well British people are crazy by definition", to lots of other commentators saying GPS is generally patchy, useless, or often outright dangerous in London (or other places). Lots of talk about how poor mobile coverage can be and how relying only on the cloud is a recipe for disaster.
EastEnder
Brixton Barnacle
Courier firms have no trouble whatsoever finding my gaff, and I'm not even there in the van guiding them! Imagine that?! Yet a cabbie with "The Knowledge" can't find my zone 2, town centre address without me guiding them every step of the way...
If cabbies really were as good as their reputation claims then I'd have sympathy with them over all the upstarts like uber, but given how often they fail to do the one thing in the world they're supposed to excel at, I don't have any sympathy at all.
If cabbies really were as good as their reputation claims then I'd have sympathy with them over all the upstarts like uber, but given how often they fail to do the one thing in the world they're supposed to excel at, I don't have any sympathy at all.
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