For the majority of people, it’s likely that getting a taxi will be simple. Just hold out your arm and hail one down, or make a call to your local rank and have one come to you. Nowadays, courtesy of apps like Uber and Hailo, you can be chauffeured in minutes with the click of a few buttons on your phone.
However, for many people worldwide, getting a taxi is a far different affair, as shown by this infographic from The Taxi Centre. As you’ll see, Taxi fleets outside of the U.S.A and Great Britain are often composed of a surprising range of vehicles – or in some cases, animals.
To start, it’s a good idea to talk about the vehicles that many of us will be familiar with. If you’ve ever found yourself stranded in London or New York – as we’re sure you have – you might have taken a ride in a Hackney Carriage or an iconic yellow cab. Again, the process will have been easy. Just get in, tell your driver where you need to be, and pay the fare when you get there (plus tip, if you’re feeling generous).
However, once we start looking further afield we see a far different story. Take for example Russia, where many taxis aren’t actually taxis. In large cities like Moscow and St Petersburg, it’s common for ordinary people to stop and pick up passengers if flagged down in the street, something that in most other countries would be called hitchhiking.
If you’re looking to get somewhere quickly in Nigeria or Haiti, you might want to think again about getting a taxi. Many taxis here are what’s known as “share taxisâ€�, often being more in common with buses than cars. As the name suggests, a ride in a share taxi might mean a slight detour before you get to your destination, as the driver will stop and pick up any passengers until the vehicle is full.
Venice and the Maldives, meanwhile, have come up with taxi’s that are even further removed from what you’d expect. As Venice is surrounded by water, it can only be navigated by foot, bicycle, or boat, and there are no cars in the city. This means that if you need to go somewhere a little further than you’d like to walk, you can expect a ride in one of the city’s many speedboat taxis. The Maldives has come up with another travel solution, with tourists and locals alike using seaplane taxis to get across the disconnected islands that make up the nation.
Weird and wonderful travel isn’t just restricted to these areas, with the infographic going into detail about 15 different countries worldwide. Take a look below to see the full range of locations and taxis.
