Rio de Janeiro: How to estimate taxi ride prices?

Question

Obviously the safest way from Galeão Airport in Rio de Janeiro to your Hotel in downtown (say) Copacabana should be a licensed taxi.

I read about the difference between yellow cabs and fixed-rate radio cabs in the Tripadvisor article.

I checked fares online and was dumbfounded to find, that for the token example given above, Numbeo estimates a yellow cab arround R$50 (€15), whereas radio cabs like Rio Airport Transfer will ask €60.

Is Numbeo wrong or why is there such a huge price range?

Answer 1

Source: Rio de Janeiro City Hall web site.

Convetional Taxis:

• Ride starts at R$ 4.80.

• Price 1 - R$1.95/km (from Monday to Saturday, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.)

• Price 2 - R$ 2.34/km (from Monday to Saturday, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., and, Sunday and Holidays all day)

• For each hour stationary - R$ 24.57 (this is a reference value).

Executive taxis:

• Ride starts at R$ 6,30

• For each km R$ 3,40

• For each hour stationary R$ 42,84 (this is a reference value).

If you are transporting volumes with dimensions bigger than 60 cm by 30 cm, R$1.95, by volume, if and only if is handled by the driver. (this value is valid for both types of taxis).

In Rio de Janeiro the licensed conventional taxis are always Yellow like this:

I strongly recommend that you always use this kind of taxis, is very common at airports in Rio de Janeiro unauthorized taxis that are not safe and very expensive.

In the picture above, the main display shows the price and the secondary and smaller display shows if you are running at the less or more expensive rates (price 1 or price 2).

Answer 2

I lived in Copacabana.

There are 3 options:

• Individual-operated cabs - yellow cabs which doesn't have a company name written on its side. Don't take those, they can be dangerous.
• Company-operated cabs - companies that are allowed to get people from the airport. The company name will be stamped in the car. There will probably be a line of people in the exit of the airport to get the cabs. This usually costs about R$60 to get you from Galeão to Copacabana.
• Company-operated cabs with cabinet inside the airport - in that exit area where people that is not from the flights aren't allowed to enter, just after you get your luggage, there will be a lot of cabinets with people calling you to get their taxis. This is also safe, but it's a bit more expensive than the second option. I'd expect about R$10 to R$20 more expensive.

Remember: when you enter the cab, always look for the id of the driver that should be in the front part of the car. If you can't find it, don't take it.

Answer 3

This website can give you an idea how much you will pay for a taxi ride:

http://www.tarifadetaxi.com/

It's in portuguese but, you don't have to know the language, just select the city, type point A and point B and have fun.

Honestly I used sometimes and the estimative was really close! Just keep in mind that if you are unlucky to face a traffic, the estimative price won't be close :)

Answer 4

I'm quite sure that at arrivals, you can only get prepaid taxis into town. The price is fixed based on your destination. Three weeks ago, the lowest price was about 50R$, the highest, I think, a bit more than double that (presumably for something like Copacobana).

That means that if you want a metered taxi, which, depending on the time of day, could be cheaper, your best bet is probably to go to departures, where regular taxis arrive whose drivers could be interested in picking up a ride.

If you arrive during the day, you can also get a bus to the main bus station, or to a few other destinations around town.