115 years ago, the first cabs left Prague. Take a look at period photos from the history of the taxi service – AutoRevue.cz
At the beginning of the last century, automobiles, like in many other sectors, began to make their mark also in contractual passenger transport. How did it all start for us?
On September 7, 1907, the first car trams hit the streets of Prague. These were four Laurin & Klement cars of the B2 and C2 types, specially fitted with taximeters and stationed at Prašná brány, on Ferdinandová (from 1919 Národní) Street, Wenceslas Square and at Prague State Railway Station – later Masarykov. The launch of the service was preceded by an exhibition of the Mladá Boleslav brand at the Prague Motor Show, where, for example,ANDa taximeter car with a 10/12 HP engine, which this company wants to introduce in Prague right now.”
The open cab was powered by a water-cooled two-cylinder with a volume of 1595 cc3 and a power of 8.8 kW (12 hp), with which the eight-kilogram car managed up to 45 km/h. The C2, introduced later that year, had a 2281cc engine3 10.3 kW (14 hp). The first public test run of the Prague taxis took place in the presence of the deputy mayor dr. Stycha, they went into full service for the public a year later. Proceeds from the first day’s fares went to the urban poor. Already on October 9, 1907, Jan Pitlík, a Pilsen coachman, bought two more L&K C2 cars.
Laurin & Klement cars were later used in Vienna, Paris, Budapest or St. Petersburg. In 1919, there were already about forty autobuses in operation, and by 1925 the number had increased to more than tenfold. During the economic crisis of the 1930s, taxi drivers took advantage of hard times, according to the contemporary press, their services were then Prague Jews, mainly Germans, foreigners and traffickers. After the Second World War, during which this type of transport was limited, the Taxi cooperative was founded in 1947, and after February 1948, the Autoslužba of the capital city of Prague was established.
From January 1, 1962, city taxi services were included under the Transport Enterprise together with the car rental company. The headquarters of the taxi service was located in Trojická Street in the functionalist multi-storey garages of Pod Slovany, where taxi drivers had a service station, a car wash or even a canteen. In the second half of the twelfth century, radios were also introduced into taxis so that drivers did not have to rely on public payphones. In 1989, the state enterprise Taxi Praha was founded, which ended in 1991. After that, taxi services began to be operated exclusively by private companies and individuals.