Taxi Drivers

A Taxi in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Taxi Drivers are one of pedestrians found in the GTA series. As the name implies, they are employed to drive Taxi Cabs around the cities and pick up fares.

The Taxi Drivers

Over the years of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, the taxi and cabbie drivers have evolved considerably.

3D Universe

The Taxi drivers in GTA III and GTA Vice City are mostly immigrants and usually run away if you steal their Taxi. However, you may encounter a driver who will fight for his cab. He then tries running after the player driving the cab (usually wielding baseball bats or shovels), then if they manage to catch the player the driver will engage in a one on one brawl with the player for stealing their taxi. However, if the player points a gun at the driver, but does not shoot, the driver will throw his hands up, usually saying good things to the player to prevent the player from shooting, then walk away and forget about the taxi. You can usually hear the cab driver saying "Hey, my cab!" or "Give me my taxi, bitch!" in a Middle Eastern accent. Throughout GTA San Andreas, the taxi drivers have not really evolved, and are still immigrants, mainly Central or South American though. If the player hits the taxi vehicle in GTA San Andreas, the driver will most likely exit the vehicle and either stand there or come after the player and attack them. For unknown reasons, the taxis and cabbies are usually one of the most common vehicles that are chased by the police. In GTA Liberty City Stories, the drivers are also immigrants but most are usually Indians, as seen when the player enters a taxi and Radio Del Mundo will play. Most taxi drivers in GTA San Andreas may like talk shows as when the player enter their taxi, WCTR will play. In Vice City Stories, taxi drivers are usually Hispanics or South American.

HD Universe

The taxi drivers in GTA IV are even ruder and more ill-tempered. Most of the cabbies are Greek (in Cerveza Heights and Chinatown, they will be Chinese), as indicated by the "Malaka!" (Asshole in Greek) or "Stupid Malaka!" insult they shout when you crash into them (a Greek term for "wanker"). If this occurs when a police officer is nearby, or if they are near a Police Cruiser, they will take immediate action, arresting the driver and taking them away. A rare taxicab driver is a young Russian woman which can be found around Hove Beach and Firefly Island. However she will not speak at all. The same taxi driver can have many different voices like it was another character, it can be easily noted when hopping in and out of a taxi as a passenger. Just like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, some taxi drivers also like talk show radio stations, as sometimes when you enter the cab it will play Integrity 2.0, PLR or WKTT. Some taxi drivers may listen to The Beat 102.7 and/or San Juan Sounds or any other radio stations. In GTA V all taxi drivers appear to be Mexican, and listen to East Los FM 106.2 .

In the HD Universe, you are able to use taxis to get to your pre-determined location, and not having to drive there themselves, for of course, a fee. Where as in the 3D Universe, you could only steal taxis and drive yourself, or do the "taxi driver" side mission, for some money on the side.

The Taxi drivers in GTA IV and V don't care if you pull out a passenger and get in yourself, but run away if you shoot out the window. Note that the driver won't react if the player smashes the window by clicking the shoot button quickly.

If you call 911 and choose the police after you have fought with him, the driver will act like you have shot him and crawl away and not fight you anymore.

Taxi drivers in the HD Universe are exceptionally reckless drivers, when hailing a cab they often swerve violently onto the sidewalk, hitting parked cars, knocking over things on the sidewalk, downing streetlights and even hitting pedestrians.

Trivia

• In GTA IV, it is possible to get a free taxi ride by shooting out the window of the taxi when you are near your destination, though this requires waiting through the whole drive.
• After becoming more friendly with Roman Bellic, he will offer you a job driving taxis, or you can get a free ride from one of Roman's employees, Mohammed, earning you the "Driving Mr. Bellic" achievement, though Mohammed is short tempered and constantly hurls insults at Niko, calling him a freeloader. He can be killed and will reappear.
• The player can ask the taxi driver to change the radio station. The player can also change the destination but it may cost more.
• Getting a lift from one island to another without skipping gets you the "It'll Cost Ya" achievement.
• If you have a wanted level and are being chased by a cop on foot while you are in a vehicle, sometimes the cop enters a cab. If you then input the wanted down cheat, the cop will still be driving the cab, and will function as a normal cab driver.
• Very rarely in GTA IV, one of the taxi driver models may be a woman. This woman will never speak, however, meaning that female taxi drivers were originally going to be in the game, but were not completely cut from development. This has been more commonly seen in Hove Beach.
• In GTA IV, Taxi Drivers will usually attack the player if he/she attacks the taxi drivers' Taxi. However, in GTA V, taxi drivers will almost always run away.