January 25th, 2012
If you are doing the knowledge or thinking about doing it then you would have heard about the blue book runs. The blue book runs are what knowledge boys and girls use as a guide for learning the streets and routes around a six mile radius of Charing Cross. The P.C.O or public carriage office issue knowledge students with a blue book that lists all of the 320 runs they they are required to learn. Although the blue book contains the list of runs it doesn’t actually show you the run itself, all the blue book does is give you point A to point B. You are supposed to learn the runs by actually doing them or in the old days you would use a method known as “cotton on” where you would put a piece of string on point A and then take it to point B and then try to get there by sticking as close to the string or straight line as possible. obviously doing it like this can take a long time so the best way to do it is to buy runs that have already been worked out. CLICK HERE to get a full set of blue book runs.
What these blue book runs do is show you exactly how to get from pint A to point B and which roads you use and whether you turn right or left into those roads. This is how you are expected to “call” the runs. Calling the runs is just the method by which you tested on your knowledge of London and you need to be able to call runs as close to the straight line as you can. The first run in the blue book is Manor House to Gibson Square.
The old runs used to have 400 routes listed but the carriage office has reduced this down to 320 blue book runs. Although it is 80 runs less this does not mean it is easier to become a London taxi driver and it certainly doesn’t make doing the knowledge any easier. The blue book runs are just a guide you will need to learn the whole of the 6 mile radius so you will be covering more than 320 routes. When you go for your talk at the P.C.O you will be given the blue book that contains the runs, but you will only have the point to point. You will need to get a copy of the actual runs from places like www.taxi-knowledge.co.uk
Posted in Blue Book Runs | 60 Comments »
January 21st, 2012
When learning to become a London taxi driver you will get your blue book runs and you will have to learn these 320 runs, plus more. Another thing to remember are points. What are points?, well they are simply “points” of interest such as hotels, statues etc. Now obviously there are literally thousands of points in the six mild radius so learning them on their own would be a very big task. If however you look for points when doing the blue book runs it’s not so much of a chore. When you buy your runs most of them will have points at the beginning of the run and at the end of the run so what you need to do is have a quick look for those points and make a mental note of them. Once you are doing the blue book runs runs you will be going over the same street again and again so you will start to see points naturally.
What a lot of people once they have completed the 320 blue book runs is to go out purely pointing, this simply means you go out on your bike and spot as many points as you can handle. Obviously you don’t want to over do it or you will be cramming too much in and this won’t help you retain the information. A lot of the points are pretty obvious and you will already know lots and lots after completing the runs so when you go out “pointing” you will be looking for the less obvious and less easy to find points. You can download a list of over 30,000 points instantly from Here. The best way to have points is either the full address or at least have a post code, of course this is good for a lot of points but many will not have addresses or post codes and will be harder to find and many will require you to get off your bike and walk to find them. I suppose your wondering if this is all necessary, well in a word… yes!.
Posted in London Knowledge Points | 108 Comments »
January 17th, 2012
When you first see the full list of blue book runs it can seem a very daunting task to complete the full 320 runs in the book. What makes it even more daunting is the fact that you will have to learn more than those 320 runs before you can get your green badge and become a London Taxi Driver. The 320 runs are just the start and they are there to get you going but you need to learn every route within the 6 mile radius. Don’t forget you will also have to remember and find a lot of points, what are points?. Points are points of interest that you are expected to learn, so for example Nelsons Column, that is a point but so is the PC Blakelock Memorial as is the Savoy Hotel. these are simply places or sites that a customer may want to be taken to.
People often ask how long it takes to become a London taxi driver and also how easy is it to fail the knowledge. Well the time scale depends on you but you are looking at between 3 and 5 years to get your green badge. As for can you fail, well the only way you will not pass the knowledge is if you give up. If you stick with it and get the work done you will pass eventually, it just takes some longer than other.
Posted in Uncategorized | 45 Comments »
January 13th, 2012
There are many places that sell blue book runs to help you with the knowledge but which are the best?, well runs are runs so as for which runs are the best there is no real answer. The object of doing the runs is so you can learn the 6 mile radius you have to know to become a London taxi driver. Obviously everyone will tell you their runs are the best and if you want blue books runs that are up to date you should buy theirs. Well this is not really the case because as has been mentioned the bluebookruns are just routes from point A to point B. The idea is to be able to go from point A to point B in the shortest possible way, so you may find that some runs differ slightly but they are all doing the same thing and that is giving you a goal for when you are riding around London on your bike.
Another thing that will differ with runs are the points that are included at the front and the back of the run. Some will have different points to others but again this does not make one set of runs better or worse than others. Once you start doing the knowledge you will find your own way of doing the runs and also how to pick up and remember points. Although it is good to have points at the beginning and end of the run it is not that important. The main object when you start the knowledge of London is to get the runs done and be able to call them over successfully. A lot of places, well most actually will give you the blue book runs in paper or book form now this is fine but you will soon find that you have written and scribbled over them and they will end up a mess. So the best solution is to get the bluebook runs in digital form. If you are looking to save money then Click Here to get all of the runs plus 30,000 points, a list of over 4,000 restaurants, blue plaques, London squares and much much more for a really great price. If you buy now you will save yourself over 25% off the normal price and you will get all of that for less than half the price you will pay just for the runs elsewhere.
Posted in Blue Book Runs | 82 Comments »
January 9th, 2012
So you are thinking of doing the knowledge of London to become a London Black Taxi Driver and you have heard of the blue book runs but where do you buy them. There are many places that sell the actual runs, the Blue Book is issued to you by the P.C.O or Public Carriage Office when you go for your initial talk. As has been mentioned on here the blue book the P.C.O issue you with does not contain the actual runs it is just a list of all the runs. You could take the blue book and just o out and do the runs and try and find the best route but this would be pretty time consuming. So what do you do, well you simply buy a set of blue book runs that have already been done then you can follow the run instead of trying to work out the best route for each run.
Right so you know you will need some blue book runs but how do you buy them and from where, well as I mentioned there are a lot of places that sell them but it depends what you want, if you want them on paper, not recommended, then you can expect to pay around £70 – £80. Some places sell them in “Modules” with around 80 runs per module, now these cost about £20 per module and there are 4 modules. So although it seems cheaper you will in fact still be paying about £70 – £80.
The best thing to do is to get the runs in digital form so they are easily updated without ruining the run itself, also if you were out and some little herbert nicks them off you bike, you would need to replace them, if they nick them and you have them on your computer at home no big deal simply print out new runs. Also having them on your computer makes it easy to “update” them then next time you have a fresh updated run.
Ok so the best place to buy the Blue Book Runs is Here and for just £24.99 you will not only get the blue book runs for the knowledge you will also get a load of other essential stuff such as a list of over 30,000 points, over 30 blank maps, 4,000 restaurants, blue plaques, London squares plus much much more. They sell a complete pack and that is on special offer at the moment, the usual price is over £40 so hurry and get the complete pack at the discounted price above CLICK HERE NOW!
Posted in Blue Book Runs | 153 Comments »
January 5th, 2012
For many years now the blue book runs have only been available on paper in binders or tear out books. This is fine but can you imagine trying to find a particular run, you would have to thumb through the book until you found what you were looking for. Now you find two or three runs from the blue book that you feel you want to do. So you either tear out the page and take the runs with you or you have to write all the runs down before taking them out. Both of these methods are a pain and after a while of going out and making changes to the runs they will be very messy, unless of course you want to write out those runs again.
Now imagine being able to download the blue book runs and have them on your computer ready to go. You want to do a run, lets say List 11 run 9 Victoria Station to Liverpool Street Station now all you need to do is “find” list 11 run 9 and there it is. Ok so now you print it out and go out and do the run, you make notes and changes on the paper and it looks a mess. When you get home you simply call up the run again on your computer and type in the changes. Next time you want that run you print it out nice and clean and with all the updates. Download The Blue Book Runs and make your life on the knowledge much easier. It’s hard enough on the knowledge and doing the blue book runs so don’t make it any harder than it need be, time is money so don’t waste either.
Posted in Blue Book Runs | 96 Comments »
January 1st, 2012
If you are thinking of doing the knowledge of London and don’t want to mess about with the runs on paper or you don’t want to wait for a disc to be sent out to you then the simplest way is to download blue book runs and get them instantly on your computer. When you consider a lot of places will sell the blue book knowledge runs for well over £60 and thius is for a paper version and you will soon need a new set once you have been using them for any length of time. So if you buy the 320 runs for £60 and then in 6 months time you need to buy another set or even just one of the blue book run modules you are going to pay £20 – £30 so already you are up to almost £100.
The best way is to get them on your computer and then you can print them out as you need them and make any changes and update them once you get home. If you Click Here you can get all the 320 runs plus a lot more besides and all for far less than you will pay for the peper version. When you but the blue book runs Here you will also get a list over over 30,000 points, blue plaques, Londond embassies, police stations and memorials, London squares, theatres, museums, statues and over 30 blank maps. At the moment there is a sale on so you can get all of the above on the “Complete Pack” for less then you will just the blue book runs for from most places. It can be a struggle when you are on the knowledge so any help you can get financially is a bonus so don’t wait get the complete pack now and save yourself a bob or two.
Posted in Blue Book Runs on CD | 93 Comments »
December 28th, 2011
A lot of people ask where they can get that little blue book of knowledge runs, well the simple answer you can’t, well not unless you have applied to do the knowledge. The people who issue the blue book are the P.C.O and they only hand them out to applicants of the knowledge and this is done when you have your initial talk. The talk is just an introduction to the knowledge and what they expect from you and what you can expect from them. Now you don’t need to actually apply to learn the knowledge of London, anyone can get a list of the blue book runs and go out and learn the routes. You only need apply if you intend on becoming a London Taxi Driver and that means being examined by the P.C.O examiners and passing various tests along the way.
OK so you might be wondering how and where you can get a list of the 320 runs without applying to become a taxi driver, well you could Click Here and download a full list of the 320 runs plus a whole lot more. These are not just a list of the runs as they appear in the blue book, in the blue book you will just have point to point. What this list does it tells you exactly which roads you have to take, whether you need to turn right or left and where you would have to set down, or drop off your customer. The blue book just has 320 runs listed with point A to point B, so on their own they are not much use, but if you purchase the full list you have a great way to learn the runs without having to start from scratch.
OK so why not get the runs on paper or in book form, two reasons one they will be more expensive and two they will get easily ruined. If you buy the runs on paper you can expect to pay between £60 – £80, now that is a lot to pay out considering you will be wanting to make changes to the runs as you go so you will scribble notes all over them making them hard to read next time you go out. What if the runs get wet or are stolen off your bike while you get a cup of tea or look for a point, well you would have to go and buy another set. The great thing with downloading the blue book runs is you can use them time and time again. Just print out a fresh run each time with all the changes already updated from last time you were out.
If you want to get a full list of the 320 blue book runs simply Click Here and get them in an instant download, you will have them in front of you in minutes and the best thing is you will save yourself around £40.
Posted in List of 320 Runs | 96 Comments »