WATERVILLE – A taxi driver was stabbed late Wednesday by passengers he reportedly drove from the city’s South End to its North End.

The driver, was hospitalized in stable condition Thursday afternoon, said Deputy Police Chief Charles Rumsey.

Police declined to name the victim.

The driver picked up three people in a parking lot beside 69 Water St. late Wednesday and drove them to Willow Street, where the man was attacked, Rumsey said. The driver was stabbed twice and suffered a cut to his left hand.

“Then he began honking the horn to try to alert anyone in the area, and when he started doing that, the three individuals in the cab gave up and ran off into the darkness,” Rumsey said.

No money was stolen. Police think the stabbing may have been an aborted robbery attempt, Rumsey said.

He described the weapons only as “sharp weapons,” saying police were not releasing more information because doing so could compromise the investigation.

The cab driver, who works for G’s Taxi, reported the stabbing at 11:27 p.m. Wednesday and drove to the Cumberland Farms convenience store on College Avenue to ask for help, Rumsey said.

The driver “reported that one of the male subjects grabbed him from behind, around the throat, and that the second male leaned forward and stabbed him on the right side of his chest area,” Rumsey said.

After the attack, the cab driver was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center’s Thayer Campus in Waterville.