After complaints that their cabbies had "no idea where they were going," The Guardian reports, Melbourne instituted a new taxi driver test. 233 out of 234 people failed, and the only person who passed had a bit of a trick up her sleeve.
The one person to pass the new test is actually an instructor at a taxi driving school. She is Karen Downie, and I suggest you try and find her if you're traveling in the area.
The test is new, instituted as a response to "repeated passenger complaints that Melbourne taxi drivers didn't know where they were going," as the Guardian puts it.
And what exactly is this test about? Many cabbies struggled with questions about disabled passengers or using an onboard camera, but it seems like most of the test resembles the famously difficult street geography test for London cabbies. The Guardian explains:
Questions posed to Downie and the other applicants include a multiple choice of whether a customer asking to go to "the G" was referring to Geelong, the post office or the Melbourne cricket ground.
Other questions require drivers to know the right way to deal with someone with an intellectual or physical disability, the correct change for a certain fare and the circumstances in which a driver can refuse to take a passenger. A score of 85% or above is required to pass.
Honestly, I can't imagine that many other cities would have fared better.
Photo Credit: Jes via Flickr