Hansom Cab Company
The Hansom Cab Company was set up to provide transportation in New York City and Brooklyn, New York, in May 1869. The business was located at 133 Water Street (Manhattan), at the offices of Duncan, Sherman & Co., which served as bankers to the firm. The enterprise was organized by Ed W. Brandon who became its president. Two orders for a cargo of cabs were sent to carriage makers in New York City. A fare of thirty cents for a single person was designated for distances up to one mile, and forty cents for two people. A rate of seventy-five cents was determined for one or two persons for a length of time not exceeding one hour.
The cabs were widely used in the United Kingdom until 1908 when Taximeter Cars (petrol cabs) started to be introduced and were rapidly accepted; by the early 1920s horse drawn cabs had largely been superseded by motor vehicles. The last licence for a horse-drawn cab in London was relinquished in 1947.
A restored hansom cab once owned by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt is on display at the Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. There is another surviving example, owned and operated by the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London; in common with other horse-drawn vehicles it is not permitted to enter any of the Royal Parks.
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