Black Cab London Tours
Black Cab London Tours › Black Cab Tour or Hail a Taxi? How London's Licensed Taxis WorkUpdated 2026-09-08

Black Cab Tour or Hail a Taxi? How London's Licensed Taxis Work

Hours, prices and access verified by the Black Cab London Tours team — last checked 2026-09-08.

A dark blue traditional police box on a London pavement

You can walk into the street, put your hand out, and be in a black cab in under a minute. So why book one? The honest answer is that sometimes you should not — and knowing exactly where the line falls is worth more than any sales page.

Three different things that all look alike

London has three kinds of car with a driver in it, and they are not interchangeable.

  • A black cab is legally a hackney carriage. It can be hailed in the street, it runs on a meter, and its driver has passed the Knowledge of London.
  • A minicab is a private hire vehicle. It must be booked through a licensed operator in advance, it cannot be hailed, and its driver has not sat the Knowledge.
  • A booked cab tour is a black cab and its driver hired for a fixed block of hours at a fixed price, with the meter off and a route prepared.

Can you hail a cab and ask for a tour?

You can ask, and some drivers will do it. What you get is a metered journey with commentary, which is a different product in three ways that all cost you money.

The meter runs on time as well as distance, so every minute you spend photographing Buckingham Palace is charged. The driver has not planned a route, so you get their default one. And there is nothing to stop the fare climbing past what a booked tour would have cost, because nobody agreed a price at the start.

Useful Tip. If what you want is a lift across town with a bit of history thrown in, hail one and enjoy it. If what you want is a planned two hours with stops, book it — the fixed price is the point.

What the meter does, and why it matters here

A London taxi meter charges for distance and for time, and in slow traffic the time element dominates. Sightseeing is by definition slow: you stop, you wait, you double back. Those are the exact conditions a meter is least kind to.

A booked tour turns that off. The price is agreed before you start, the driver waits at each stop without the meter moving, and a traffic jam is their problem rather than yours. That is most of what you are paying for.

What does the Knowledge actually buy you?

More than a route. Transport for London sets a book of 320 routes and requires the streets and landmarks within a quarter-mile of each end of every one, across a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. It typically takes three to four years.

The practical result is a driver who can be redirected without losing the thread. Ask for the City churches, the Roman wall, or the street where a film was shot, and it happens — which is exactly what the reviews describe. The whole licence is set out on the black cab page.

Black cab, minicab, ride-hailing: what actually differs

Black cabMinicab or appBooked cab tour
Can be hailedYesNoBooked in advance
Driver has the KnowledgeYesNoYes
Price agreed up frontNo, meteredUsuallyYes
Waits at stops without chargingNoNoYes
Wheelchair accessibleAlwaysNot requiredAlways
Pays the Congestion ChargeNoYesNo
Route prepared for sightseeingNoNoYes

When doing it yourself is the right answer

Three situations, and none of them is a failure of the format.

You are alone and on a budget. A whole cab fare split one way is a lot. Buy a bus ticket, or walk Westminster and take the Underground east.

You want to go inside things. No fare here includes admission anywhere, and one tour says so in its own exclusions block. A day built around the Tower and Westminster Abbey is a day of tickets and queues, and a cab waiting outside is money standing still.

You have a week and no plan. Flexibility is worth real money, and a fixed three-hour block on a loose week is the wrong shape.

When a booked tour is worth the money

Also three, and they are the mirror image.

There are three or more of you. The fare hires the vehicle, so it divides. At four people a three-hour tour is about $108 each; at six it is $72.

Your time is short. Two hours in a cab covers what a day on foot manages, and it tells you which two places are worth going back to.

Somebody in the party cannot walk far. Every licensed London taxi has a ramp and a wheelchair bay, by Transport for London requirement, and the reviews describe drivers doing considerably more than the minimum.

What about a private car and driver?

It exists, it costs more, and it buys you less here. A private hire car cannot use bus lanes, pays the Congestion Charge and the Ultra Low Emission Zone charge, is not required to be wheelchair accessible, and its driver has not sat the Knowledge.

The one thing it does better is capacity: a people carrier takes more than six. If your party is larger than a cab, that is the reason to look at one, not the guiding.

What it costs to get this wrong

Not much, which is the reassuring part. Every tour listed here refunds in full if you cancel at least 24 hours before the start, so booking one and changing your mind costs nothing at all. Hailing a cab and finding the driver has no interest in guiding costs you one fare across town.

The expensive mistake is the third one: booking a private car and driver because it looked similar, and discovering it cannot use the bus lanes, pays both road charges, is not required to carry a wheelchair, and comes with a driver who has never sat the Knowledge. That is the version where you pay more for less, and it is the reason this page exists.

What a booked tour includes that a hailed cab never will

  • A price agreed before you get in, with free cancellation at 24 hours.
  • A driver who has thought about the route, and often carries photographs or film clips for the stops.
  • Pickup at your door and a drop-off wherever you name.
  • Fuel, parking and tolls inside the fare on several of these tours.
  • The waiting, at every stop, without the meter moving.

Is a driver-guide the same as a Blue Badge guide?

No, and the difference is worth understanding rather than worrying about. Passing the Knowledge of London makes somebody an expert in the streets and licenses them to carry you. A Blue Badge is a separate tourist-guiding qualification, awarded after its own training, and it is what a walking guide in a museum will hold.

Some drivers hold both. One tour listed here names the badges it employs — Blue Badge, City of London, City of Westminster, and Clerkenwell and Islington — and it is the Christmas lights run, where the guiding is most of the product. The rest guide as licensed cabbies, which is what the trade has done for centuries, and the reviews suggest the individual matters far more than the badge.

What the badge does change is depth on a themed route. If you are booking a Beatles or a film-location day and the commentary is the reason, ask what the driver's background is when the operator makes contact. The whole licensing picture is on the black cab page.

How to tell a licensed cab from everything else

A licensed London taxi carries a licence plate on the back, a lit sign on the roof when it is free, and a driver wearing a badge. If a car pulls up and offers you a ride you did not book, it is neither of the three things at the top of this page. What each of these tours provides is set out on the planning page.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a black cab and a minicab?
A black cab is a hackney carriage: it can be hailed on the street, it runs on a meter, and its driver has passed the Knowledge. A minicab has to be booked in advance through a licensed operator and its driver has not. Every tour listed here uses a licensed hackney carriage.
What is the Knowledge of London and does my driver have it?
It is the examination every London taxi driver has to pass, and yes. Transport for London sets 320 routes in a book that candidates must learn, along with the streets and landmarks within a quarter-mile of each end of every one, across a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. TfL says it typically takes three to four years.
Is the driver a qualified guide?
Every driver is a licensed London taxi driver, which means they have passed the Knowledge of London. Some hold a separate tourist-guiding badge on top of that, and one tour here names the badges it employs: Blue Badge, City of London, City of Westminster and Clerkenwell and Islington. The rest guide as licensed cabbies, which is what the trade has always done.
Are black cab tours wheelchair accessible?
Every licensed London taxi is. Transport for London requires it: "All taxis licensed by us are required to be wheelchair accessible." One operator goes further and publishes a hearing induction loop and a microphone system between the passenger compartment and the driver, and notes that a wheelchair aboard may reduce the number of other passengers.
Do I need to tip the driver?
It is not included and it is not expected. Gratuities are excluded on almost every tour here, and one of them adds that a tip is always at your discretion. If your driver has rearranged the route twice and taken your photographs, most travellers round the fare up.

If a booked tour is the answer, which tour to book sorts them by hours and theme, and the private black cab tours of London are all listed with their fares on Black Cab London Tours.

Tours where the booking is worth it