Friedrich Lutzmann
One mark for 15 kilometers: the first taxi drove 130 years ago
Taxis are part of the cityscape in Germany. However, hardly anyone remembers the man who founded the first company 130 years ago.
© Daniel Karmann/dpa
Angela Merkel has also sat in one: in an old “Lutzmann” from 1899. The Dessau inventor and locksmith Friedrich Lutzmann founded Germany’s first taxi company 130 years ago. Today only a few people know the pioneer.
In addition to requests for milk suppliers and representatives for rags, an advertisement in the “Anhaltisches Staats-Anzeiger” caused a stir in September 1893: “Motorwagen-Fahr-Verkehr” announced regular trips from Dessau to Wörlitz, around 15 km away. The fare back then: one mark. The first taxi company in Germany was born.
Taxi companies initially had to adhere to strict requirements
“Before, wagons or stagecoaches drove,” says the head of the Dessau city archives, Frank Kreißler. The authorities had many concerns. Friedrich Lutzmann, the Dessau locksmith, had to make a request to the police administration. The authorities responded with strict conditions: only Lutzmann himself or his partner were allowed to drive the car. He had to be liable for any damage that might be caused by his vehicle, two car lanterns had to be switched on when it got dark and the bell had to be rung when there was snow. The relevant documents can still be seen in the city archives.
Taxis are now part of the cityscape, especially in larger cities, although in recent years they have increasingly come into competition with private ride providers such as Uber. According to the Federal Statistical Office, there was a peak in the number of taxi companies in Germany in 2018: more than 25,200 companies were registered. However, the number subsequently fell significantly. In 2020, the statistics office recorded around 20,900 taxi companies, which is roughly the same as in 2014.
Discussion about a fixed price
130 years ago, Friedrich Lutzmann was the first taxi company in Dessau. He came up with the idea a few months earlier in April 1893, when the first car drove through Dessau, explains city archive director Kreißler. Lutzmann, who worked as a construction fitter, immediately got his own car. “He was an inventor, like many people back then,” says Kreißler. “The first motorized vehicles arrived and attempts were made to use them economically.” Lutzmann was very early in his development, but there were similar developments in other places too.
The motorized taxi company probably ended after just a few months. “The traffic wasn’t very successful,” says Kreißler. The trips were also too expensive. According to the Bundesbank’s conversion, one mark from 1893 is equivalent to just under eight euros today. As in the past, a fixed price is being discussed again today. A good two weeks ago, Munich became the first German city to offer the option of agreeing fixed prices for routes.
Opel buys the “Lutzmann”
Six years after the first trips in Dessau, the Opel brothers, who were still manufacturing sewing machines and bicycles at the time, recognized the potential of the car and bought the Dessau motor car factory from Lutzmann in 1899. The “Lutzmann” was ultimately the first car from Opel that was built in… Rüsselsheim was produced. Lutzmann is leaving the company after just two years at Opel. “He thought as a technician, not as a businessman,” explains historian Kreißler.
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Because he is no longer allowed to work with cars by contract, Lutzmann tries his hand at various areas, becomes impoverished, and lives temporarily in Brazil and Switzerland. Today a gravestone in his hometown of Dessau commemorates the “pioneer of German motor vehicle construction”. And while in 1893 there were only a few passengers, the Federal Association of Taxi Companies in Germany estimates that shortly before the Corona pandemic, around 445 million people in Germany took taxis every year.