History Main / TheTaxi

In RealLife, a common means of transportation in urban environments is to take a taxi. As a result the Taxi makes a cameo in many stories, is a plot point in several of them, and in some may be the whole point of the story. Especially likely to be seen in NewYorkCity or its [[BigApplesauce fictional equivalents]]. A Taxi in New York is likey to be old-fashioned '50s-style Checker models [[hottip:*:The last of which was retired from NYC taxi service in 1999]].

* ''TheAmazingRace'' uses taxis as the second most common form of transportation (after airplanes), and entire ''seasons'' have turned on teams getting good or bad cab drivers.

* ''TheFifthElement'': Dallas works as a taxi driver.
* The Ghost of Christmas Past drives one of these in ''Scrooged'', using it so he can pick up Frank Cross from a cab stand.

* This is the car you start with in ''VideoGame/ZombieDriver''.

* ''CashCab''

* {{Sega}}'s arcade, and later console, game ''CrazyTaxi''.

* Teleporting lower-level players for pay is a common practice in MMOs, but CityOfHeroes stands out for its players having formed pro-bono "Paragon Taxi" supergroups on several servers, specifically for the purpose of making life easier for lower-level players without access to travel powers.

* Vern Taxi from ''{{Cars}}'', and Chauncey Fares from the sequel.

* Classic WorkCom ''{{Taxi}}''

* ''Film/{{Taxi}}'', a 1998 French action-comedy film (written by LucBesson and followed by three sequels) about a cabdriver who teams up with a police inspector to solve a series of robberies. Loosely adapted as a 2004 American film by the same title, starring Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon.

* ''Film/{{Taxi}}'', a 1998 French action-comedy film (written by Luc Besson and followed by three sequels) about a cabdriver who teams up with a police inspector to solve a series of robberies. Loosely adapted as a 2004 American film by the same title, starring Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon.

* The cabs on the 25th FLoor of ''TowerOfGod'' are peculiar, to say the least. They consist of carriages on the base of a sled that being pulled by a seal that flies through the sky, since the residential areas tend to be [[FloatingContinent on the clouds.]]

-->''I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, to Harlem. I don't care. Don't make no difference to me.''
--> --'''TaxiDriver'''

* The later books of ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' see the orphans meet [[spoiler:Kit Snicket]] in a cab, and there is another cab which might have whisked them off to a different life.

* An episode of ''QuantumLeap'' had Sam jump into the body of a New York cabbie.

* The first episode of ''{{Sherlock}}''. [[spoiler: It's revealed that the murderer is a cabbie who uses his cab as a cover to pick up his victims.]]

* ''GrandTheftAuto'' has had taxi sidequests since [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII the third game]], as well as occasional missions involving carjacking a taxi and using it for some [[NotMyDriver nefarious purpose]]. In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'', you can buy a cab company, and get into a violent turf-war with the ''other'' cab companies in the city.

* ''GrandTheftAuto'' has had taxi sidequests since [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII the third game]], as well as occasional missions involving carjacking a taxi and using it for some [[NotMyDriver nefarious purpose]]. In Vice City, you can buy a cab company, and get into a violent turf-war with the ''other'' cab companies in the city.
* ''The'' Cab in ''VampireBloodlines'', which drives you to all your missions (unless you're Nosferatu). For some odd reason, it's [[YouAllLookTheSame always the same taxi and the same driver that takes you everywhere]]. [[spoiler:This becomes a genuine plot point later on when it turns out it's genuinely the same driver and cab, who has been looking out for you for the entire game. You get to have a conversation with him that determines your ending. It's implied that the driver is actually Caine, the father of all vampires.]]

* ''Night on Earth'' by Jim Jarmusch: Five people take five taxis in five different cities in the world, and the film is about how every one of them will interact with the driver.

[[AC:{{Music}}]]
* "Taxi" by Harry Chapin
* "Taxi Story" by Eros Ramazzotti

* ''{{Videogame/Quarantine}}''

* ''{{Collateral}}''

* Detective Logan from ''LawAndOrder'' used to be a cab driver in his younger days. More than once uses his knowledge to break a suspect's alibi since he knows what the realistic drive times between locations really are and all the tricks drivers use to "fudge" records and cover up mistakes.

[[AC:{{TabletopGames}}]]

* ''GrandTheftAuto'' has had taxi sidequests since [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII the third game]], as well as occasional missions involving carjacking a taxi and using it for some [[NotMyDriver nefarious purpose]]. In Vice City, you can buy a cab company, and get into a violent turf-war with the ''other'' cab companies in the city.

* Benny the Cab from ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit''.

* Bill Murray's character in ''Stripes'' is a cab driver as the film opens, after he's abused by one-too-many of his fares, he decides to join the army. [[JerkAss AFTER leaving his cab blocking traffic on a bridge and tossing the keys into the river below]].

* In ''The Pushcart War''(about a feud between the truckers and the pushcart-vendors in New York) it claims that the taxidrivers were among the few in the streets not intimidated by the truckers.

--->I thought about takin' a limousine, or at least a fancy car ...

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': Brooklyn tries hailing a taxi upon first awakening in New York after seeing humans do it. Naturally, the cab driver speeds off at the sight of him, making the other gargoyles wonder what they did wrong.

* One of the segments in ''Film/HeavyMetal'' details an eventful couple of days in the life of cabbie Harry Canyon in a UsedFuture version of NewYorkCity.

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* ''GrandTheftAuto'' has had taxi sidequests since [[GrandTheftAutoIII the third game]], as well as occasional missions involving carjacking a taxi and using it for some [[NotMyDriver nefarious purpose]]. In Vice City, you can buy a cab company, and get into a violent turf-war with the ''other'' cab companies in the city.

In RealLife, a common means of transportation in urban environments is to take a taxi. As a result the Taxi makes a cameo in many stories, is a plot point in several of them, and in some may be the whole point of the story. Especially likely to be seen in NewYorkCity or its [[BigApplesauce fictional equivalents]]. A Taxi in New York is likey to be old-fashioned '50s-style Checker models [[hottip:*:The last of which was retired from NYC taxi service around 2001]].

* {{Videogame/Quarantine}}

* ''The'' Cab in ''VampireBloodlines'', which drives you to all your missions (unless you're Nosferatu). For some odd reason, it's [[YouAllLookTheSame always the same taxi and the same driver that takes you everywhere]]. [[[[spoiler:This becomes a genuine plot point later on when it turns out it's [[SubvertedTrope not just]] YouAllLookTheSame but genuinely the same driver and cab, and you get to have a conversation with him that determines your ending. It's implied that the driver is actually Caine, the father of all vampires.]]

* ''The'' Cab in ''VampireBloodlines''. Late in the game the "Taxi Driver" becomes one of the precious few allies you can invariably trust. [[spoiler:It's implied that the driver is actually Caine, the father of all vampires.]]

* The first adventure of ''Benoit Brisefer'' by Peyo (of [[TheSmurfs Smurfs]] fame), "Les Taxis Rouges", was about a crime syndicate fronting as a cab company.