A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or London taxi) is a carriage or automobile for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise.
In the United Kingdom, the name hackney carriage today refers to a taxicab licensed by the Public Carriage Office in Greater London or by the local authority (non-metropolitan district councils or unitary authorities) in other parts of Great Britain, or by the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland.
In the United States, the police department of the city of Boston has a Hackney Carriage Unit, analogous to taxicab regulators in other cities, that issues Hackney Carriage medallions to its taxi operators.
Read more about Hackney Carriage: Etymology, History, Black Cabs, Future, Digital Hailing
Famous quotes containing the words hackney and/or carriage:
“Now hardly here and there an hackney coach
Appearing, showed the ruddy morn’s approach.
Now Betty from her master’s bed had flown,
And softly stole to discompose her own;
The slipshod ‘prentice from his master’s door
Had pared the dirt, and sprinkled round the floor.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The Carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality.”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)