Taxis or Limosines

A friend of mine came out of the airport in Montreal recently, only to find a long lineup of people waiting for a taxi.

Not liking to wait in line, he asked how much it would be for a limo ride. Surprisingly, it is pretty much the same price to use a limousine than a taxi. And there are no lines.

 The reason for this is that the limousine has a flat rate, whereas the taxi is metered. So if there is no traffic your cost may be approximately the same, but if you do get stuck in traffic it becomes more expensive to use a regular taxi.

 I have come across similar situations before. One time I was staying in New York city for a conference and when a co-worker and I came to hail a taxi to get to the airport, the doorman told us that the two people in front of us were going to the same airport and he could put all four of in a stretch limo for a price which was more total cost than the regular taxi, but much cheaper per person…

Another example of this I have seen is getting from the airport in Nice to Monaco. It is cheaper to take a helicopter than a taxi if you are alone- if you are more than one person than it is cheaper to split the taxi fare.

This may be something worth checking out the next time you are trying to get to or from the airport.