Independent in the sense that they have to buy their taxi from one manufacturer, get approval from one board, take an exam provided by one examiner, charge the

Independent in the sense that they have to buy their taxi from one manufacturer, get approval from one board, take an exam provided by one examiner, charge the same price, and - seemingly - all have the same funny anecdote about driving a drunk celebrity. Don't get me wrong - being able to hail a cab in central London is vastly quicker than working out which dodgy minicab app is working today. But they're hardly decentralised. They are fairly autonomous though.