Cabs in the news

We all spend time in them.  Some of us spend more time in them than we would like. Taxi cabs.

The New York Times has a couple of interesting taxi-related stories this week. The first one is a look at the notoriously difficult London taxi-driver test, regarded in some circles as the most difficult exam of any kind in the world. The article includes some brain science – it discusses how London taxi drivers have a larger-than-normal posterior hippocampus (and other research not mentioned here suggests that part of the brain dwindles to a more normal size after a taxi driver retires).

The other article is more marketing-focused: it is a profile of SheRides, a taxi service aimed at women. A good example of finding an underserved niche (women who don’t want to ride in gross NYC taxis with creepy dudes behind the wheel) and meeting their emotional needs.