That's a Handsome Hansom Trivia Quiz

Answer: Leicestershire

Developed in the town of Hinckley in the county of Leicestershire, the hansom cabriolet was created as a safe alternative to existing horse-drawn vehicles. Joseph Hansom, who developed the vehicle, subsequently had his inventions replicated and used the world over (albeit some with minor modifications) and by the time mechanized fare boxes were created, they were amongst the first formal, modern taxicabs.

The hansom cab is not the only interesting item to hail from Leicestershire. In the same area and at the same time you could have enjoyed stilton cheese, perhaps on a ride in front of St Mary's Church, Hinckley's oldest building.

Answer: London

Hansom cabs didn't need to go far to see major success in the nineteenth century. Heading from Leicestershire to London, hansom cabs were a helpful way to navigate city streets during a time when people were navigating on foot, horseback, and bulkier carriage.

It's no surprise that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made use of the hansom cab, featuring it in many "Sherlock Holmes" books as a main mode of transportation for the famous Baker St. detective. It would have been typical for a Londoner to see hansom cabs, but only until the early twentieth century; as soon as motorized vehicles started to gain prominence, modern taxis started to fill the streets and just after the end of World War II, there were no remaining hansom cabs operating professionally.

Answer: Paris

The cabriolet predated the hansom cab, being created as a horse-drawn vehicle in France (hence the French name, derived from 'cabriole') and having the ability to convert from a covered carriage to an open-top seat. It was a bulky vehicle used in the old Paris streets, and when Hansom made his modifications he streamlined the design and reduced the amount of horses needed to manage the cart. This being said, the cabriolet was used in Paris for more than a century, navigating the city streets around the Seine. It would be replaced by cars which, eventually, would also be considered cabriolets (or convertibles) once those advancements were made there.

Rue Saint-Jacques, home of the Sorbonne (or the University of Paris), would have been oft-visited by cabriolets since it was a relatively flat stretch of road south of the Seine; it was the main arterial road of Medieval Paris dating back to many more centuries before cabriolets.

Answer: Vienna

While hansom cabs faded out of popular use over the years, the fiaker (or the fiacre) had longevity in Vienna specifically, acting as a major horse-drawn carriage option not only in the pre-automobile days, but as a tourist offering. Even in modern days, fiaker can be hired to travel around the Hofburg. The fiaker holds such significance in Vienna that it's been incorporated in the art and works of numerous Austrian creators of the past-- Johann Strauss II featured it in operas, many of which were set in Vienna in the streets surrounding Weiner Staatsoper, a destination that the upper class audience would have headed to in their fiakers.

The original fiacres were from Hôtel de Saint Fiacre in Paris, France but the model for rentals of these carriages quickly spread around Europe.

Answer: Berlin

Faster than a normal coach due to its slightly different construction, the berlin is a carriage with an enclosed body that has two benches facing each other. Highly popular after its early voyages, it was originally made to transport the Elector of Brandenburg to travel from the region's capital, Berlin, all the way to Paris.

When car manufacturing commenced in the twentieth century, many manufacturers created vehicles that better reflected the 'berline' model (backseat passengers facing one another) before they were switched to consistent forward-facing seats.

Answer: St. Petersburg, Russia

You might have been thrown off by the Emperor namedrop if only because it may not be a role you would expect in Russian leadership; it is somewhat interchangeable with the term Tsar and it was a role in Russia for more than two centuries (ending with Nicholas II's murder in 1918). For many years, the Emperor of Russia was transported around in the droshky, a low carriage pulled by one or two horses; in the winter they would be pulled in a sledge.

In Russia, this carriage was a droshky; the same carriage would be a dorożka in Poland.

Answer: Brooklyn

Something as popular as the hansom cab couldn't stay in Europe alone especially since the convenience offered unique and lucrative opportunities for entrepreneurs. The Hansom Cab Company started operation in New York City during what would have been England's Victorian era, and it allowed people in Manhattan and Brooklyn, then the most populated areas of New York City, to pay a small fare to travel around the two (and across between them). Hansom cabs continued in two forms with the advent of the automobile; horse-drawn carriages persisted as an enjoyable way to experience Central Park while most hansom cabs were replaced by taxicabs.

It took next to no time before cars outnumbered horses in New York...and cab drivers outnumbered riders. It's because of this that New York created a specific city act to license its drivers and restrict said overcrowding in the workforce and it's why official New York taxis are yellow.

Answer: Boston

Ah yes, the city of the Boston Tea Party and Paul Revere's Midnight Ride (and a great fire!)...but none of those events really pertained to the hansom cab. A great number of unique landmarks and historical events happened in the city of Boston, Massachusetts since its settlement in the 17th century. Because of its importance it's always been amongst the most populated cities in the U.S. and it was an obvious choice to introduce hansom cabs there during their heyday.

The tradition continued due to the region's propensity towards celebrating history. Riding around Faneuil Hall and the original government buildings along the Freedom Trail is a typical tourist activity.

Answer: The French Quarter

The French Quarter was the first region of the city to be settled. Close to the water, it was built around the Old Square and what would become the world-famous Bourbon Street, considered the home of Mardi Gras and Cajun cuisine. When the city streets were unpaved, horses were the obvious solution, and horse-drawn carriages with multiple seats acted as early ride-shares in those days...but New Orleans' carriage-drivers instead use mules in the modern era due to their tendency to handle the humid weather with more aplomb than actual horses.

Due to New Orleans' unique history, modern carriage tours have a tendency to pass by historically preserved buildings and through massive cemeteries, of particular note because in New Orleans, the dead must be buried above the water table in above-ground tombs.

Answer: The Philippines

Brought in by the Spanish, the word kalesa is based on the word calesa; it's a carriage on two wheels pulled by a single horse through the streets of the Philippines. Larger versions which had four wheels (used for cargo) would be pulled by carabao, native animals similar to buffalo. Like in most other cities around the world, these carriages receded into the background as traffic components though quite a bit later than most other regions.

The Philippines had vehicles brought in en masse during World War II (by the Americans) and the larger ones, jeepneys, became the dominant mode of transport due to their size and reliability.