Doing the Knowledge

Posts Tagged ‘Become a taxi driver’

Even before applying to operate a cab in London you should have a general understanding of which areas are the most populated versus the least populated concentrated areas with licensed cab drivers. This information will help you to better understand not only the amount of competing drivers you will be up against, but also the amount of potential customers you will have access to.

Doing the knowledge will all you to have a command of navigating the areas you will be working in, but you must know the best areas for a relatively inexperienced driver to work in. Many London cab drivers will work in less densely populated suburban areas to start off with, but many other drivers have the same idea. An area of metropolitan London may actually end up being a better fit for you individually if you do the proper research.

To become a London taxi driver you need to complete the “knowledge of London” or “The knowledge” as it’s known. The knowledge is designed to help you learn all the routes within a 6 mile radius of Charing Cross. You will need various aids to help you with this and one of the most important things are the blue book runs or “runs”.

There are 320 Runs in the blue book and you are expected to learn all of them. You will also need to learn as many points as possible and there over 30,000 points out there. You will learn all the points slowly as you progress through the knowledge and once you have completed the 320 blue book runs you can spend your time “pointing”.

If you get your set of runs from Here they will have points at the beginning and end of each run so you can spend a little while looking for these points. Once you are well into the runs you will start to see points naturally as you will be going over the same streets time and again.

A lot of people will find doing the knowledge very daunting but once you get into it you will find it gets easier and easier. Another way to help you is to get as many lists of points, buildings, clubs, theatres etc. as possible. The more information you have at hand the easier you will find doing the knowledge.

Click Here to get instant downloads of a variety of knowledge related products.

If you are planning on becoming a licensed London driver, you’ll have to first decide on which category of service you wish to provide. Basically, you will need to decide on whether you want to be a private hire driver or to operate a taxicab. Either way, doing the knowledge will be necessary to get familiar with the numerous routes you will be driving as well as to get approved for a license.

If you get overwhelmed at the sheer amount of area that needs to be covered, try first applying for a Suburban license. With a suburban license, you will be restricted to driving in one of the nine outer area boroughs, but you can test for more sectors one at a time. By contrast, an All-London license will allow you to drive all over London, but the test will be much more encompassing. Studying the knowledge, gaining familiarity with street names and borough will give you a greater chance of success.