Q 01/05

What device, first invented in the late 19th century, calculates taxi fares based on distance and time?

A) Odometer

B) Chronometer

C) Speedometer

D) Taximeter

Answer · why

D) Taximeter

The modern taximeter, which calculates fares based on distance traveled and waiting time, was invented by Wilhelm Bruhn in 1891, standardizing fare ca...

Q 02/05

Which founder of Chicago's Yellow Cab Company later gave his name to a car-rental giant?

A) Warren Avis

B) John Hertz

C) Walter Chrysler

D) Harvey Firestone

Answer · why

B) John Hertz

John Hertz put his first Yellow Cabs on Chicago's streets in 1915, then bought a car-rental firm and renamed it after himself; he sold his cab interes...

Q 03/05

One disputed etymology traces 'hackney' to the Old French 'haquenée', a word for what?

A) An ambling horse

B) A covered wagon

C) A stable boy

D) A toll road

Answer · why

A) An ambling horse

An ambling horse, a gentle nag for everyday riding, is what haquenée meant; one leading dictionary has the French borrowing the word from English, whe...

Q 04/05

New York made yellow compulsory for its taxis in 1967 to curb what?

A) Fare dodging

B) Unlicensed cabs

C) Cab thefts

D) Night-time crashes

Answer · why

B) Unlicensed cabs

Unlicensed cabs were the target: with one compulsory colour, a rider could tell at a glance that a taxi was official and regulated by the city.

Q 05/05

Who played Travis Bickle, the 'You talkin' to me?' cabbie of Martin Scorsese's 1976 Taxi Driver?

A) Al Pacino

B) Robert De Niro

C) Dustin Hoffman

D) Jack Nicholson

Answer · why

B) Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro improvised the mirror scene's 'You talkin' to me?', by the screenwriter's own account, and the line now ranks tenth on the American Fil...