Ride or Die: The Taxi Cab Theory
design: Gianna Lanfrank
Catch a cab, catch a heart.
by KENDALL LUTHER ★ JUNE 25, 2024
When I first saw the black diamond ring on Gabbriette Bechtel’s Instagram story announcing her engagement to our favorite ‘hot rodent boyfriend’ Matty Healy, I was shocked. The announcement came only two months after the release of Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Society, in which Healy is rumored to be the main character. The two were rumored to have split in June 2023.
One quote stuck in my head as I mindlessly scrolled through the TikTok discourse of the engagement: “Men are like cabs.” In the third season of the original Sex and the City series, Miranda Hobbes draws an enticing comparison between men and taxi cabs, citing timing over fate. When men decide they’re ready to settle down and get married, their “taxi light” will go on and they marry the next woman they see.
“They wake up one day and decide they’re ready to settle down, have babies, whatever, and they turn their light on. The next woman they pick up — boom! That’s the woman they marry. It’s not fate. It’s dumb luck,” Hobbes says. Despite this theory being introduced in the early 2000s, its message rings even louder today: Is dating about finding the right person? Or about finding a person at the right time?
The theory emphasizes social and gender stereotypes that characterize men as being scared of commitment until they change their minds. However, Hobbes’ words are quite extremist, assuming that all men do not believe in the beauty of true love or fate.
Obviously, there are some men actively searching for true love and a true match, while the theory strongly emphasizes settling in relationships and comfortability. In the case of Healy and Bechtel, I believe the taxi cab theory is applicable, but they also seem like a genuine match. Their grungy and alternative aesthetics make the two an obvious pair in my eyes.
Moreso, Swift and Healy reportedly only dated for about two to three months, while Healy and Bechtel dated previously from 2015 to 2019 and began their relationship again in late 2023. Some fans are viewing the engagement Instagram hard launch — which iconically came at a Charli xcx concert — as an eff you to Swift for TTPD. Healy was reportedly “blindsided” by her lyrics about their “brief” romance.
I hate to break it to the Swifties, but Blondie and Healy just simply may not have been a match.
It can be easy to believe the presence of the Taxi Cab theory in dating today as healthy relationships feel hard to come by. However, Hobbes does have a point in that feelings and attraction can only nourish a relationship for so long – you need to be ready for a relationship and the commitments that come alongside it.
Perhaps the timing wasn’t right for Healy and Swift. Now, Swift found the right timing with beau Travis Kelce. Both seem to be in very happy relationships, with all partners’ lights are on. So let that be a lesson. If someone turns their taxi cab light on and you’re ready to come along for the ride, make sure to communicate your priorities and expectations.
Beep beep!