THE KNOWLEDGE AT 160: London’s black cab test speeds up as TfL reports surge in applicants
- Perry Richardson
- 32 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Transport for London (TfL) marked 160 years of the Knowledge of London, the qualifying process that has served the capital’s licensed taxi trade since 1865, as new figures show a revival in interest and a faster route through the system.
TfL said applications to start the Knowledge rose 68.6% from 440 in 2022 to 742 by the end of November 2025, putting the year on track to be the highest in a decade.
The anniversary milestone lands at a time when London’s black cab sector is trying to stabilise its pipeline of new drivers amid intense competition from app-based private hire and a wider transport workforce squeeze. In a separate Freedom of Information (FOI) disclosure, TfL reported 1,260 candidates in progress on the Knowledge as of September 2025, with registrations picking up from a pandemic low of 192 in 2020 and 174 in 2021.
The Knowledge began in the mid-Victorian era when London’s cab trade needed a consistent standard for navigating a rapidly expanding city. While the fundamentals remain the same, learning London’s streets and key destinations without relying on turn-by-turn navigation, the delivery has evolved into a structured programme built around set routes, detailed points of interest and oral examinations known as appearances. TfL has positioned the Knowledge as both a consumer protection tool and a professional standard that differentiates licensed taxis operationally, particularly in complex, high-congestion central London conditions.
Transport for London says applications to start the Knowledge of London have risen sharply in its anniversary year, as process changes cut average completion times to about three years
What has changed most recently is the time it takes to get through. TfL says the average time required to complete the Knowledge has fallen from 5.25 years in 2020 to around three years in 2025, reflecting steps to streamline the process while keeping its core demands. The FOI dataset provides the underlying timeline: average completion peaked at 63 months in 2020, stayed above five years through 2022, then fell to 53 months in 2024 and to 38 months for candidates completing in 2025 up to September.
Based on TfL figures the faster progression is linked to administrative changes that have reduced bottlenecks and made exams more predictable, including a defined list of 6,000 points of interest used in the assessment process. It also noted that reduced pressure on exam timetables, following a smaller cohort entering during the pandemic, may have helped candidates move through more quickly. TfL has separately said changes include reducing the time between appearances, a practical lever that can materially shorten the journey from registration to licence for candidates who can maintain momentum.
The Knowledge’s cultural status is often paired with a scientific claim that it changes the brain. That link traces to neuroimaging research led by the late Professor Eleanor Maguire, which found structural differences in the hippocampus, a region associated with memory and navigation, between London taxi drivers and control subjects.
A widely cited 2000 paper reported that taxi drivers had a larger posterior hippocampus relative to controls, and that hippocampal volume correlated with time spent as a taxi driver. A later study comparing taxi drivers with London bus drivers, who typically follow fixed routes, also found greater grey matter volume in mid-posterior hippocampi among taxi drivers. More recent academic reviews have assessed how this body of evidence fits together, including the role of training and long-term professional navigation.
For the trade and regulators, the operational question is how a qualification built on intensive memorisation fits in an era when GPS is ubiquitous and route choice is increasingly shaped by real-time traffic data. TfL’s stance, and the trade as a whole, is that the Knowledge still provides resilience and service quality, particularly when technology fails, when road layouts change suddenly, or when passengers need assistance beyond pure navigation. In 2025, TfL has framed modernisation as a way to keep the qualification relevant and to broaden access to the profession, rather than dilute standards.
The new entrant picture, however, remains mixed when measured by completions rather than starts. TfL’s FOI release shows annual completions falling from 775 in 2015 and 870 in 2016 to 110 in 2024 and 91 in 2025 as of September. That lag reflects the multi-year nature of the process, meaning the recent uptick in registrations is unlikely to translate into a large rise in newly licensed drivers until later in the decade, even with faster average completion times.
TfL has tied the Knowledge update to its wider Taxi and Private Hire Action Plan, which it says is designed to support services and address challenges over the next five years. For operators, manufacturers and fleet stakeholders, the trajectory of Knowledge registrations matters because it is an early indicator of future driver supply, which feeds into vehicle demand, finance and insurance volumes, and the capacity of the regulated taxi market to compete in busy segments such as airports, rail hubs and late-night city travel.
The 160th anniversary year, then, lands less as a nostalgia marker than as a live test of whether London’s most famous transport qualification can remain a workforce gateway in a technology-saturated market. TfL’s recent data points to renewed interest and quicker completion times, but the next measurable outcome for the industry will be whether that larger candidate pool converts into sustained increases in licensed taxi numbers and service availability in the years ahead.
