Várnagy Zoltán: Urban Transportation - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1994)

painted grey. As a result, until the end of World War 11, there were for all practical purposes two competing companies-the greys and the blues. The former had the advantage of owning the taxi ranks equipped with telephones, where the others were not allowed, but the latter were faster and more flexible.

During World War II, taxi drivers were initially hindered in their work by fuel shortages, and later by the lack of rubber. In 1942 Autótaxi began to convert its cabs so they could use propane-butane gas, but by the end of 1943 even that was in short supply. Then it began to equip cars with charcoal-gas generators, an invention of the Swiss Max Christen. A burner was fitted to the back of the car from which gas was conducted to the engine through a pipe. As tyres were repaired with steel plates, it is easy to imagine what a noise they made as these charcoal-gas-fuelled cabs rattled down the streets of Budapest.

After the war, the restoration of taxi traffic was quickly started. Samu Haltenberger sold the Autótaxi shares which remained in his possession to the National Hungarian Motorcar Services Co. (MOGÜRT) for a 1,000 forint annuity, something he was never to receive. MOGÜRT, which was founded in March 1947, had 122 vehicles in working order, a number that included the cabs which had belonged to BART and to the General Automobile Transport Company, firms that MOGÜRT had incorporated. It was then that the distinguishing checkered pattern, still visible on the sides of Főtaxi’s vehicles, was first introduced.

There were 1129 taxis running in 1948, but only 638 appeared in Autótaxi's 1949 statistics. The taxi-situation in Budapest kept deteriorating, in spite of the fact that the Skodas and the 300 Renaults which had been purchased in 1946 were being replaced by Pobedas in 1954 and, from 1958, by Moskviches and Warszavas. Since the sixties, the majority of the fleet has been made up of Fiats, Polish-made Polski Fiats and Soviet Zhigulis. As living standards improved, more and more people used taxis. In 1964, by the time the number of Budapest taxis had reached that of the grey cabs in 1938, the number of taxi riders was already 19.5 million. The first company to challenge Autótaxi’s monopoly was Volán, which entered the taxi business besides

40