Taxi Driver

Not to be confused with Taxi Drivers.

Starting a Taxi Driver session in GTA III.

Taxi Driver is a side mission in every 3D Universe game, Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and Grand Theft Auto V.

Overview

It requires the player to drive passengers to specific locations within a time limit for a cash reward. In the Grand Theft Auto III era, the side mission is triggered by entering a taxi and pressing the side mission button.

In Grand Theft Auto IV, the side mission is triggered by telephoning Roman about taking a fare (see Taxi Driver in GTA IV).

In Grand Theft Auto V, it is triggered by entering a taxi and activating the mission via pressing a button when a call on the radio comes up.

Description

You can make money when you are in a taxi in Grand Theft Auto 2, except that there will be no passenger destinations to go to. Peds just randomly hop in when you come at a stop, and hop back out when you stop again (Anywhere at all).

In the 3D Universe games and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the player can earn money by delivering pedestrians to their predetermined destination within a time limit. Starting the mission lights up the taxi's roof-mounted taxi sign encouraging nearby pedestrians to flag the player's taxi down. Once a pedestrian enters the vehicle, the destination is displayed on screen and is marked by a blip on the radar and a colored marker at the destination itself. The allotted time given is calculated roughly from the distance to the destination, and an additional 30 seconds (10 seconds for other GTA III Era games) is granted upon completing a fare to find another one. If the player runs out of time, exits the vehicle or damages their vehicle too badly, the passenger will flee, ending the mission. Although missing rear doors save disembark/embark time, spending the time detouring to a Pay 'n' Spray en-route can be a valuable restoration investment when the cab becomes difficult to control or before it begins to reject new fares.

From Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and onwards, the taxi side mission adds a "tip meter" which rewards players for delivering fares quickly and safely and punishes them for driving recklessly or taking too long.

In GTA: Chinatown Wars, once the mission is activated inside a taxi, the player can deliver as many fares as they want. The player will receive a different medal depending of how many customers are delivered in a row (all the customers delivered before quitting or failing in the mission). A bronze medal will be rewarded for 5 fares (required for 100% completion), silver medal for 10 fares, and 15 fares will reward players with a gold medal and make taxis bulletproof. An extra tip is also awarded for each 5 fares delivered in a row.

In Grand Theft Auto V, the taxi side mission returns. The player must get into a taxi and activate the mission via pressing the button for the horn which will then give you the location of a customer. When the player completes a fare, they will usually receive money based on distance and time, however the passenger may try to leave without paying. In this situation the player must "lock-on" to the escaping passenger to make them drop the money. The player can also purchase the Downtown Cab Co. to receive Private Taxi Fare missions. 

Rewards

Grand Theft Auto III

• The Borgnine cab spawns at the Borgnine Taxis company in Harwood (100 fares)

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

• All taxis gain hydraulic jump capability (100 fares)

Grand Theft Auto Advance

• The Borgnine cab spawns at the Portland Hideout (50 fares)

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

• All taxis gain unlimited nitrous and jump capability (50 fares)

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

• The Bickle'76 taxi spawns at the Mean Street Taxis company (100 fares)

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

• All taxis gain hydraulic jump capability (50 fares or $5000 cash made)

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

• All taxis are bulletproof. (15 fares in a row, gold medal)
• Completion of the taxi mission also counts towards 100% completion of the game (5 fares in a row, bronze medal)

Grand Theft Auto V

• Purchasing the Downtown Cab Co. and completing a Private Taxi Fare, unlocks the achievement/trophy All's Fare in Love and War.

Note

• In Grand Theft Auto Advance, the player gets the reward after 50 fares, however it needs to do 100 fares to count the mission completed.

Trivia

• The Taxi Driver mission in the 3D Universe and GTA V are inspired by the video game Crazy Taxi, in which the goal is to pick up customers waiting on the street and bring them to their destination in time. The ability to jump with the taxi is also inspired by this game.
• In Grand Theft Auto 2, if the player drives a taxi nearby pedestrians, one of them will sometimes get in, but no destination nor mission/time limit is given. As long as player is driving his taxi with a passenger inside, he'll get $1×multiplier every 1 second. The passenger will simply exit the vehicle randomly when the car is stopped or if the player crashes too much.
• In Grand Theft Auto III, if Claude is pulled out of a Taxi by a pedestrian at the same time that a fare gets into a taxi, the fare ped will stay seated in the backseat. The screen will say "Taxi Mission Ended" after a few seconds, even if Claude immediately gets back into the car. The ped, however, will never move from his seat unless the player activates another Taxi Mission, where the new fare will pull the ped out of the backseat and get in.
• Due to a glitch in GTA III, the player can transport people around in any car besides the standard Taxi, or Cabbie. To do this, the player must enter a Taxi cab and hold the sub-mission button. Keep holding the button and exit the cab. Then enter the car to whichever one the player desires. Once in the new car release the button and the mission will start.
• In 3D Universe, pedestrians as well as gang members can act as fares. Even after passing all the story missions where few gangs are hostile, they sometimes will get in your car as a fare and act like normal peds and won't even try to kill you.
• On the PC and Xbox version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a glitch occurs which prevents any fares to be available, making the mission impossible to complete. It happens if the player has crossed the maps boundary (e.g. flying too far away from San Andreas). It is therefore advised to do this mission very early to avoid this glitch.
• In GTA Liberty City Stories, fares may occasionally spawn in impossible-to-reach locations, such as the pedestrian mall in Chinatown. If this happens, simply leave the vicinity of the fare and another will spawn.
• In GTA Liberty City Stories and GTA Vice City Stories, if the taxi becomes too damaged while carrying a passenger, the passenger will leave the vehicle but the mission will not end in failure. Instead, the game will add some time to the clock which will, presumably, be enough to get to a Pay 'n' Spray, after which the mission resumes. Using the Pay 'n' Spray during the Taxi Driver mission costs $100 per use, as usual, which differs from GTA San Andreas in which the service is free of charge during the mission.
• The Taxi Driver mission in Vice City Stories is considerably more difficult than other GTA III-era permutations. In VCS, aside from the usual pick-up and drop-off missions, occasionally Victor will be required to take fares to more than one destination. On other occasions, he will be required to discreetly follow another vehicle (during which the countdown clock is deactivated). In yet other missions, he will be required to ferry a criminal between robbery jobs, resulting in a wanted level.
• In GTA IV and its downloadable episodes, sometimes, the player can act like a Taxi Driver. To do this, get a Taxi or a Cabby with passengers. Then jack the taxi by pulling out its driver and get in the taxi. Then, even ridiculously, you can drive to your pretended destination with its passenger. The passenger will stay in the taxi as long as the taxi doesn't come to a complete stop.
• In GTA V, if you have a dead passenger in your taxi and drive up to a fare, they will run away from you in terror.
• The Guiness Book of Video Game Records ranks taxi missions as the most lucrative legal job.
• Taxi Driver is also a 1976 film.

Vehicles

• Taxi
• Cabbie
• Borgnine
• Kaufman Cab
• Zebra Cab
• Bickle'76
• Cabby
• Roman's Taxi

See Also

• Taxi Xpress
• Taxi Driver in GTA IV