[katpas]

You have cabs in NYC though - is it similar? In London the city controls the number of people that can operate black cabs, sets a standard tariff for fares and runs background and license checks. They can be hailed off the street (though also through some apps). And the drivers have to take "The knowledge"[1] a test which takes a few years to pass and means you can give the average cab driver any street name and they can get you there without a GPS.

[1]https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/taxis-and-private-hire/licensing...

[chimeracoder]

> You have cabs in NYC though - is it similar? In London the city controls the number of people that can operate black cabs, sets a standard tariff for fares and runs background and license checks. They can be hailed off the street (though also through some apps). And the drivers have to take "The knowledge"[1] a test which takes a few years to pass and means you can give the average cab driver any street name and they can get you there without a GPS.

In New York City, cabs that have medallions for street hails are referred to colloquially as "yellow cabs" and those which do not are referred to as "black cabs" (more properly: "livery cab"). Both yellow cabs and black cabs are regulated by the TLC, but black cabs are not allowed to pick people up off the street. Instead, you have to call the company to arrange a pickup (using a mobile app qualifies as "calling" for this purpose).

Uber, Lyft, Juno, etc. are all regulated in New York City as black cab services, which means they can't take street hails, but they operate otherwise identically to all other non-medallion black cab services, with TLC-licensed drivers.

[katpas]

Oh interesting. OK, so the comparable is London black cabs and new york yellow cabs.

[drfuchs]

Yes, but they aren't called "black cabs". An American wouldn't know what you meant; they'd understand "yellow cab" for that, depending on where they're from. And a "black car" service is something completely different, just to add to the confusion: they're limousines that you have to pre-arrange and can't simply hail on the street (though many of them try to cheat when they can).

[sandworm101]

In the US the title reads as "i am a black (cab driver)" rather than "i am a (black cab) driver". It is a race thing.

[zaphar]

I'm a white, U.S. born, citizen and I read it the first way not the second. The context of "Hello Londoners" makes it pretty clear.

[mikeash]

It will be clear to anyone who’s heard of London’s black cabs (which I’m sure is a lot of people) but it’s probably damn confusing for those who haven’t.

[parent5446]

I'm not so sure. I didn't know what London black cabs were and I still read it as (black cab) driver. I just assumed black cabs meant something like black car cabs, e.g., Uber SUV.

[coherentpony]

I'm confused. Do you think the OP is black?