486 History of Inland Transport 



supplanted. " Growlers " and " crawlers " have had their 

 day, and the smarter-looking and quicker-moving taxis are 

 leaving them to share the fate of the stage-coach when it came 

 into competition with the better form of transport represented 

 by the railway. 



How far the substitution of motor-cabs for horsed cabs has 

 already gone in London will be gathered from the following 

 table, taken from the report (issued in July, 1911) of the Home 

 Office Departmental Committee on Taxicab Fares in the 

 London Cab Trade : 



MOTOR-CABS HORSE-CABS LICENSED. 



YEAR. LICENSED. Hansom. Four-wheel. Total. 



1906 96 6648 3844 10,492 



1907 723 5952 3866 9818 



1908 2805 4826 3649 8475 



1909 395 6 3299 3263 35 62 



1910 6397 2003 3721 47 2 4 

 I9H 1 7165 1803 2583 4386 



How the horse is steadily disappearing from the streets and 

 roads is indicated by the records of a traffic census carried out 

 by Mr. H. Hewitt Griffin on Putney Bridge, in Fleet Street, 

 E.G., and in the Edgware Road, and published in the issues 

 of " Motor Traction " for July 15, May 6, and October 7, 1911, 

 respectively. 



Mr Griffin has taken his Putney Bridge census for seven 

 years in succession, and, comparing 1905 with 1911, he gives 

 net results which may be summarised as follows : 



A TWELVE HOURS' CENSUS ON 



Sunday, Sunday, 



TYPE OF VEHICLE. June 25, 1905. July 2,191 1. 



Horse-drawn buses . 1613 .. 33 



Motor-buses . . nil . . 1529 



Horse cabs, carriages, etc. 715 .. 225 



Motor-cars, cabs, etc. . 361 . . 194 3 



The Fleet Street traffic census, taken for five successive 

 years, yielded the following results for 1907 and 1911 : 



1 Figures for March 31. On September 30, 1911, the number of taxi- 

 cabs in London was 7360. 



