115 years ago, Prague became the first city of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy to introduce a taxi service
Thanks to the car company Laurin & Klement, Prague became the first city of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy to introduce a taxi service 115 years ago. It didn’t take long before taxi versions of the reliable laurines were also in service in Vienna and Paris.
The intention to establish a taxi service in Prague was announced by a company from Mladá Boleslav during the Easter holidays of 1907 at the International Automobile Exhibition in Prague. At the time, Epoch magazine wrote: “Of the Czech companies, the world-renowned Czech company Laurin & Klement was represented by a number of cars, and it can be said that its stand was the largest and most interesting variety of exhibited objects in the entire exhibition.” The editor also drew attention to “an automobile taxi meter cab with a 10/12 HP engine, which this company wants to introduce in Prague”.
The founders of the Laurin & Klement brand, mechanic Václav Laurin and bookseller Václav Klement, were aware of the importance of the availability of individual mobility to the wider public from the beginning of their business. After all, the first car Laurin & Klement Voiturette A it was one of the most affordable at the time. Within Austria-Hungary, Mladoboleslavský soon managed to dominate the market, in 1908 more than 90% of the sales of vehicles up to 10 horsepower accounted for Laurinky, facing competition from domestic and foreign manufacturers.
Due to the fact that the quality of the roads at that time did not include and provided greater comfort, which was heated by spacious railway carriages, members of the better-equipped strata also preferred to travel to big cities by train. They only let themselves be transported by car to or from the local station to the hotel or meeting place. But Václav Klement never suffered from provincial thinking, he was inspired by modern western metropolises with already dense car traffic, and he and his partner decided to give Prague the stamp of a world metropolis by introducing taxis.
Taxi L&K: a big city with a bang
That famous day in the history not only of Prague, but without exaggeration of the Central European taxi service, occurred on September 7, 1907. On the first day, the Laurin & Klement B2 car was delivered on a trial basis, followed by the C2 car models. From the following day, the people of Prague could treat themselves to a ride in the first four taxis.
In the words of the popular contemporary magazine Světozor se “Prague’s streetcars drove through squares and streets, giving them the feel of a big city. The cabs are certainly the safe operation of the future, because when transport makes them a little cheaper, any competition from ordinary cabs and cabs will be in vain. What seemed like a sensational novelty today, in a short time has become a daily necessity and an indispensable use by the public.” Let’s add that it was not a circus attraction, the “public” at that time meant the public as such.
The target groups of customers, i.e. wealthier citizens arriving in the metropolis by train, were met by the first taxi drivers by placing a “staff” in front of today’s Masaryk railway station, but also in Havlíčkova Street or Ferdinandova Street (today’s Národní) and in Prašná Bráná. The Laurin & Klement newspaper advertisement emphasized a comfortable and cheap ride, but the contemporary sources are silent about the rates. We further read that “the proceeds from the first day’s ride go to the city’s poor”, so it was donated to charity. Taxis – although not all – were already equipped with taximeters and the amount of the fare could be monitored on a mechanical counter. Before long, the term taximeter also began to be used as a nickname for taxi cabs, as evidenced by contemporary newspapers, magazines, films and memories of witnesses.
Luxury under monarchies and republics
Despite the optimism of contemporaries, the demand for taxi services did not exactly grow at a dizzying pace. Thirteen years (and one world war) later, in 1920, 40 taxi cars were registered in Prague. Venkov, the press organ of the influential agrarian party, wrote in June 1920: “During the days of the All-Sokol Gathering, buses from the Prague Autodopravní company drove through the city, attracting attention with their special arrangement. Four people can be comfortably placed inside the car – the seats are dark green, a wide door strip stretches in the middle, and at the back there is a winged automobile wheel with the AS monogram” Let’s add that in 1925 a total of 470 taxis criss-crossed Prague. Another eight years later, there were 1,156 taxis on the streets of the city, and only seven fiacres and 33 horse-drawn cabs. Before the Second World War, the number of taxis in Prague approached two thousand.
Of course, cars from Mladá Boleslav were still among the most popular brands among taxi drivers. And the popularity of the taxi service as such gradually grew. Let’s look again in Světozor, where we can find, for example, the article Driver. He confided to the journalists that the most beloved passengers for taxi drivers are couples in love. They can be taken to, for example, Jíloviště, a popular excursion destination outside of Prague. They pay the driver for dinner and he waits for them in the restaurant for an hour before taking them back to Prague. By the way, these romantic trips by taxi came to an end in the wartime spring of 1942, after that, due to fuel savings and for safety reasons, the autocoaches were supposed to transport passengers only within the boundaries of the Prague police district and to several nearby settlements.