Everything You Need to Know about Tokyo Taxi

There is no doubt that taxi is the most expensive way for travelling in Tokyo. Although it is a pretty comfortable way in the city, it is costly very much compared with other public transport means.

Advantages VS Disadvantages

Advantages	Disadvantages
Convenient to get on No need to care about the transfers Have a great experience as taxi in Japan is usually luxury Excellent service: safety of the car & high requirements on the drivers	Expensive: taxi is considerably expensive in Tokyo with extra surcharges like night surcharge & expressway toll It’s likely to have a delay for traffic jams or other cases

Hail a Taxi

It’s easy to take a taxi at roadside. With a light board of red words “空車”, the taxi is available.

If there is a taxi stand, at a hotel, attraction, station, Narita Airport or Haneda Airport, the only thing you need to do is to find the taxi stand and queue for it.

Note: If there are other people waiting for a taxi at the taxi stand, please queue in the line on your arrival. This is a Japanese tradition in accordance with the principle of “first comes, first served”. When the previous person gets on the taxi and leaves, the next taxi would come in front of the queue.

In addition, you can also hail a taxi online via a Tokyo taxi app, such as S.Ride and Go. In this case, you may set the pick-up site that reasonably close.

What Types of Taxi Can Be Chosen

In Tokyo, you can find the standard taxies and the flat-rate taxies. The standard taxies are more common, as the fare is computed by the distance you travel. Flat-rate taxies often haunt around the airports in Tokyo; it has a fixed fare between a certain ward in Tokyo and the airport. Additionally, the expressway toll is charged separately, and night surcharge is required during 22:00/23:00-05:00 the next day.

It’s advised to ask the driver which charging mode is used before getting on if you go from the Haneda Airport or Narita Airport.

Taxi Fare in Tokyo

Flag-down fare: JPY 500 within the first 1,096 meters (1,199 yards)

Fare for the longer distance: JPY 100 for every 255 meters (279 yards)

Time-distance combined fare: JPY 100 per 1 minute 35 seconds

Surcharge: expressway toll, night surcharge, pick-up fare...

Note:

The fare is used in 23 wards, Musashino and Mitaka regions of Tokyo. There is little different in Tama area, the difference can be neglected.

Time-distance combined fare is added when the taxi runs lower than 10 km/h (6.2 mph). Traffic jams, stopovers for bathroom, convenience stores, or other things, and so on are included. That’s to say, if you get off the taxi momentarily for toilet or store, the fare is counted additionally in the standard of JPY 100 per 1min 35s.

Night surcharge is required during the time 22:00-05:00 in most areas, but 23:00-05:00 at a few places. It is usually 20% of the basic taxi fare.

If you make a reservation or call a taxi online/via the telephone, a pick-up fare may be needed, which perhaps is varied in different taxi companies. In the case, the reservation fare and the waiting fare at the pick-up site are probably charged by some companies. Please consult the details of taxi fare before booking.

For example, if you travel from Haneda Airport to Shinjuku, the fare is about JPY 10,100 or JPY 12,100 at night. For the fixed fare, it costs JPY 8,300 excluding the surcharges.

Tips

Don’t forget your belongings when you get off, meanwhile collect the receipt, with the information of the taxi and taxi company on.

Many taxi drivers can speak English to a certain extent, especially those have a sticker of “English Certified Driver” appeared at T3 of Haneda Airport frequently.

If the driver is not proficient in English, you may show the map, pictures, or the address written in Japanese.

Please fasten the seat belt on the taxi.

Cash is the most common way for the payment on a taxi in Tokyo. Credit card can also be utilized on taxies, as well as a Sucia card. As long as there are sticker of the corresponding logos of the cards, on the window of back car doors usually, the cards can be used.