A vehicle for hire is a vehicle providing

private transport Private transport (as opposed to public transport) is the personal or individual use of transportation which are not available for use by the general public, where in theory the user can decide freely on the time and route of transit ('choice ...

or shared transport for a fee, in which

passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. Th ...

s are generally free to choose their points or approximate points of origin and destination, unlike

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

, and which they do not drive themselves, as in car rental and

carsharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pr ...

. They may be offered via a ridesharing company.

Vehicles

Vehicles for hire include

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choi ...

s pulled rickshaws, cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, motorcycle taxis,

Zémidjan A zémidjan (or zem) is a type of taxi found in Benin. The highest concentration is found in the largest city, Cotonou, where there are an estimated 72,000. Zémidjans are motorcycles that carry one to two passengers for short distances in towns. ...

okada Okada (written: 岡田 literally "hill rice-paddy") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the name include: * , Japanese painter * Doris Okada Matsui, American politician of the Democratic Party * , Japanese painter in the Edo period * , Japa ...

s, boda bodas,

sedan service A sedan service is a transportation service that offers taxi-like rides in vehicles. Sedan services exist in many places, though the exact definition, along with regulations, may vary in different places. In some places, the term refers to a more ...

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...

s, party buses,

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping ...

s (including hackney carriages, fiacres, and caleches), pet taxis,

water taxi A water taxi or a water bus is a watercraft used to provide public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a similar manner to a bus, or ...

s, and air charters. Share taxis,

paratransit Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...

, dollar vans, marshrutkas, dolmuş, nanny vans,

demand responsive transport Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

public light bus The public light bus or minibus is a public transport service in Hong Kong. It uses minibuses to serve areas that standard Hong Kong bus lines cannot reach efficiently. The vehicles are colloquially known by the code-switch ' (Van Jái) lite ...

es, and

airport bus An airport bus, or airport shuttle bus or airport shuttle is a bus used to transport people to and from, or within airports. These vehicles will usually be equipped with larger luggage space, and incorporate special branding. They are also com ...

es operate along fixed routes, but offer some flexibility in the point of origin and/or destination.

Notable companies

Some of the largest vehicle for hire companies include

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery ( Uber Eats and Postmates), pa ...

, Ola Cabs, Bolt, DiDi, and Grab.

References

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