For the GTA IV mission, see Roman's Taxi Driver. For the characters, see Taxi Drivers.
Starting a Taxi Driver session in GTA III.
Taxi Driver is a side mission implemented in Grand Theft Auto III, and has been present in every title except Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned and Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony.
Overview
Taxi Driver missions require the player to drive passengers to specific locations within a time limit for a cash reward. In the 3D Universe, the side mission is triggered by entering a Taxi and pressing the side mission button.
In Grand Theft Auto IV, the side mission is triggered by telephoning Roman about taking a fare (see Taxi Driver in GTA IV).
In Grand Theft Auto V, it is triggered by entering a taxi and activating the mission via pressing a button when a call on the radio comes up.
Description
The player can make money when they are in a taxi in Grand Theft Auto 2, though no destinations will be chosen. Pedestrians will simply enter Claude's taxi if he stops near them, and will alight when he stops again.
In the 3D Universe games and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the player can earn money by delivering pedestrians to their predetermined destination within a time limit. Starting the mission lights up the taxi's roof-mounted sign encouraging nearby pedestrians to flag the player's taxi down. Once a pedestrian enters the vehicle, the destination is displayed on screen and is marked by a blip on the radar and a colored marker at the destination itself. The allotted time given is calculated roughly from the distance to the destination, and an additional 30 seconds (10 seconds for other 3D Universe games) is granted upon completing a fare to find another one. If the player runs out of time, exits the vehicle, or damages their vehicle too badly, the passenger will flee, ending the mission. Although missing rear doors save disembark/embark time, spending the time detouring to a Pay 'n' Spray en-route can be a valuable restoration investment when the cab becomes difficult to control or before it begins to reject new fares.
From Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas onwards, the taxi side mission adds a "tip meter" which rewards players for delivering fares quickly and safely and punishes them for driving recklessly or taking too long.
In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, once the mission is activated inside a taxi, the player can deliver as many fares as they want. The player will receive a different medal depending of how many customers are delivered in a row (all the customers delivered before quitting or failing in the mission). A bronze medal will be rewarded for 5 fares (required for 100% completion), silver medal for 10 fares, and 15 fares will reward players with a gold medal and make taxis bulletproof. An extra tip is also awarded for each 5 fares delivered in a row.
In Grand Theft Auto V, the taxi side mission returns. The player must get into a taxi and activate the mission via pressing the button for the horn which will then give them the location of a customer. When the player completes a fare, they will usually receive money based on distance and time, however the passenger may try to leave without paying. In this situation the player must "lock-on" to the escaping passenger to make them drop the money. The player can also purchase the Downtown Cab Co. to receive Private Taxi Fare missions.
Tips
- In GTA III it is advised to do the Taxi Driver side-mission as soon as the player can, to get used to driving around the city without a map like in the following games, and learn the main points in Liberty. This will prove useful as a starting gateway to the rest of the side-missions like Paramedic and Vigilante.
- Also, try to do it early as over the course the game multiple gangs will become hostile and shoot once spotted.
- Arguably, doing the mission in GTA III is at its easiest in Staunton Island, as the island is flat, has a grid-like arrangement and has many broad avenues, all qualities which help to drive quickly from point A to point B.
- In GTA San Andreas, both taxi and cabbie can be equipped with Nitro at TransFender before starting the mission to give a slight boost. Completing the mission unlocks nitro in all taxis, a quality that proves useful through the full game as every taxi that spawns becomes a fast car.
Destinations
- Taxi Driver Destinations in Grand Theft Auto III
- Taxi Driver Destinations in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
- Taxi Driver Destinations in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- Taxi Driver Destinations in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
- Taxi Driver Destinations in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
- Taxi Driver Destinations in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
- Private Taxi Fares in Grand Theft Auto V
Rewards
- The Borgnine cab spawns at the Borgnine Taxis company in Harwood (100 fares)
- PlayStation 4: Unlocks the Silver Trophy Where To? (100 fares)
- All taxis gain boost jump ability (100 fares)
- PlayStation 4: Unlocks the Bronze Trophy Point A to Point B (25 fares)
- The Borgnine cab spawns at the Portland Hideout (50 fares)
- All taxis gain unlimited nitrous and boost jump ability (50 fares)
- Unlocks the Yes I Speak English achievement/trophy on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 (30 Gamerscore, Silver)
- The Bickle'76 taxi spawns at the Mean Street Taxis company (100 fares)
- All taxis gain boost jump ability (50 fares or $5,000 cash made)
- All taxis are bullet-proof. (15 fares in a row, gold medal)
- Purchasing the Downtown Cab Co. and completing a Private Taxi Fare, unlocks the achievement/trophy All's Fare in Love and War.
Completion of the taxi mission also counts towards 100% completion of the game where applicable in the above games.
Note
- In Grand Theft Auto Advance, the player gets the reward after 50 fares, however they need to do 100 fares to count the mission as completed.
Vehicles
Glitches
- In Grand Theft Auto III, if Claude is pulled out of a taxi by a pedestrian at the same time that a fare gets into a taxi, the fare ped will stay seated in the backseat. The screen will say "Taxi Mission Ended" after a few seconds, even if Claude immediately gets back into the car. The ped, however, will never move from his seat unless the player activates another Taxi Mission, where the new fare will pull the ped out of the backseat and get in.
- In Grand Theft Auto III, it's possible to double the fares. A video of this can be seen here.
- Due to a glitch in GTA III, the player can transport people around in any car besides the standard Taxi, or Cabbie. To do this, the player must enter a Taxi cab and hold the sub-mission button. Keep holding the button and exit the cab. Then enter the car to whichever one the player desires. Once in the new car release the button and the mission will start. A video of this can be seen here.
- There's a glitch in some versions of GTA III that renders the missions unplayable, as pressing R3 will not start the side-mission like it's supposed to. Most reports about the glitch are from the PS2 version, and it can also happen on the PS4 version. The cause of the glitch is unknown, but it's possible that using other vehicles via the above glitch might have something to do with it. There's no known fix to this problem, and thus it might make reaching 100% in the affected save file(s) impossible.
- On the PC and Xbox versions of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a glitch occurs which prevents any fares to be available, making the mission impossible to complete. It happens if the player has crossed the maps boundary (e.g. flying too far away from San Andreas). It is therefore advised to do this mission very early to avoid this glitch.
Videos
Trivia
- The Taxi Driver mission in the 3D Universe and GTA V are inspired by the video game Crazy Taxi, in which the goal is to pick up customers waiting on the street and bring them to their destination in time. The ability to jump with the taxi is also inspired by this game as well as possibly the arcade game Taxi Driver.
- In Grand Theft Auto 2, if the player drives a taxi near pedestrians, one of them will sometimes get in, but no destination nor mission/time limit is given. As long as player is driving his taxi with a passenger inside, he'll get $1×multiplier every 1 second. The passenger will simply exit the vehicle randomly when the car is stopped or if the player crashes too much.
- In 3D Universe, pedestrians as well as gang members can act as fares. Even after passing all the story missions where few gangs are hostile, they sometimes will get in the car as a fare and act like normal peds and won't even try to kill the player.
- In GTA Liberty City Stories, fares may occasionally spawn in impossible-to-reach locations, such as the pedestrian mall in Chinatown. If this happens, simply leave the vicinity of the fare and another will spawn.
- In GTA Vice City, GTA Liberty City Stories and GTA Vice City Stories, if the taxi becomes too damaged while carrying a passenger, the passenger will leave the vehicle but the mission will not end in failure. Instead, the game will add some time to the clock which will, presumably, be enough to get to a Pay 'n' Spray, after which the mission resumes.
- The Taxi Driver mission in GTA Vice City Stories is considerably more difficult than other 3D Universe permutations. In VCS, aside from the usual pick-up and drop-off missions, occasionally Victor will be required to take fares to more than one destination. On other occasions, he will be required to discreetly follow another vehicle (during which the countdown clock is deactivated). In yet other missions, he will be required to ferry a criminal between robbery jobs, resulting in a wanted level.
- In GTA V, if the player has had a deceased passenger in the taxi and drives up to a fare, the fare will run away in terror.