How to hail the quickest cab… Oli Scarff/Getty

London Bridge to Trafalgar Square. You take an Uber, I’ll take a black cab. Ready, set, go!

A group of researchers led by Anastasios Noulas at Lancaster University, UK, recently raced to settle the debate over which taxi service is fastest. They ran a three-day experiment taking 29 journeys from different locations around London. One researcher hailed a taxi from the Uber app while another took a traditional black cab to the same destination, with the route left up to the driver.

At the end of their trial, black cabs worked out faster, taking on average 88 per cent of the time an Uber did – although they were also around 35 per cent more expensive.


“Uber drivers rely on navigation apps, but in dense parts of the city these can be slower than a black cab driver to react to traffic build up,” says Noulas.

The researchers ran their experiment while developing a taxi price comparison app called OpenStreetCab, which is currently available in London and New York and aims to be like Skyscanner for taxis. Comparing prices for taxi services is more difficult than for flights, however, because Uber’s prices constantly change depending on demand. For both services, the final cost also depends on the route the driver takes.

Knowledge trumps tech

The team found that, particularly in the densest parts of London, the specialist knowledge of black cab drivers gave them the edge when it came to speed. They also had the advantage of being able to use bus lanes (which Ubers can’t), but they regularly took more complex routes, utilising side streets to save time.

“London’s a complicated, patchwork city. But I know if someone jumps in my cab I can use all of the intricate cabbie shortcuts to get there quickly,” says Peter Allen, director of Taxi Trade Promotions and a black cab driver. Uber would not comment for this story.

Navigation apps aim to give directions that drivers can follow without making mistakes, so can favour simple, easy-to-drive routes over more complicated but faster ones.

The researchers plan to include journey time as well as price comparisons in future versions of their app, so that passengers can make more informed decisions about which service to use.

“The introduction of Uber has made taxi prices less predictable. We’re hoping OpenStreetCab will make them more transparent,” says Noulas.

Read more: Why Uber’s human drivers aren’t out of a job just yet; Uber and Google race against car firms to map the world’s cities