When is a taxi the smartest choice?
A taxi is not the default answer for every journey, and pretending otherwise is not much use to anyone. There are, however, clear patterns in which trips a taxi handles better than a train, a bus or your own car.
Strong reasons to take a taxi
- You must arrive at a fixed time: a flight, a hospital appointment, a wedding.
- You are travelling outside normal service hours.
- You have luggage that makes transfers unpleasant or impossible.
- You are two or more people, so the cost is shared.
- Your start or end point is poorly connected.
- Someone in the group has limited mobility.
- You would otherwise have to park an expensive car somewhere for days.
Reasons to choose something else
- A single traveller going centre to centre in daylight — take the train.
- A few tram stops in a city with hand luggage — take the tram.
- A day of many stops spread across a region — use your own car.
The decisive advantage: a price agreed in advance
When you do choose a taxi, the main risk is not the base fare but the uncertainty: a meter that keeps running in traffic, an unexpected detour, a surcharge you did not budget for. Agreeing the price beforehand removes that risk and makes the comparison with other options honest.