Várnagy Zoltán: Urban Transportation - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1994)
Taxis The taxi, a descendant of the hansom cab, is regarded in a rather peculiar way in Budapest, and thus we have to treat it as a means of public transport. The first motor car appeared in the streets of Budapest in 1895, and the first organization to obtain a car for everyday purposes was the Royal Hungarian Post Soon after that cars became available for hire. To operate a taxi cab, one had to meet certain conditions, including passing a stiff exam and the stipulation that a fare indicator should be installed. Moreover, taxi cabs were not to “scare beasts of burden with their noise [...] or unreasonably annoy passers-by with their smoke or steam emission.” Possibly the greatest figure in the history of the taxi in Hungary was Samu Haltenberger, who started his career as an engineer with the Royal Hungarian Post. In 1912 he applied on behalf of MARTA (Hungarian Automobile Co.) to the city council for a permit to operate a fleet of two hundred taxis. In 1913 the council deemed that Budapest could support as many as 500 taxis, but that figure was eventually reduced to 350 in 1914, in recognition of the interests of MARTA. By that time the Kerepesi út garage had been erected, a facility which was later to become the central garage of the Autótaxi company. Droszts, i.e. taxi stands equipped with a telephone, One of the first taxis 38
