the Price of a Taxi Ride to the Airport

I had to take a taxi from my house to the airport for a business meeting. Although there is a shuttle bus service, my company policy stated that employees needed to use taxi services whenever available. The cost of the taxi ride was $50 (priced by mile) and the company mandated a $5.00 tip for the driver as well. The total fare with tip was $55. The length of the trip was 30 miles and took forty-five minutes (driving to the airport on my own generally takes twenty to thirty minutes). Fifty dollars is a standard for most taxi companies in Tucson, so I could not have found one much cheaper. This amount has not changed for about five years (even with the increase in gas prices). The ride had to be arranged one week prior to the flight date and I had to call the night before and morning of to confirm as well.

Cab service is Tucson is generally not a pleasant experience when compared to the same service in other cities. The cab driver was twenty minutes late despite my having called to confirm twice. I had to call when he was late and was told to wait another twenty minutes and call back. I had scheduled the ride to get me to the airport three hours before my flight. In total, the driver was nearly 45 minutes late. Instead, I had only a little over an hour (luckily our airport lines aren't that long). The driver was very slow and took a different route that had more traffic as well.

The cab was dirty, the upholstery was torn, and I had to load and unload my own bags into and from the back seat. I would have much preferred the shuttle bus service (which I broke the rules and used to get home). They are cheaper ($35 one way), cleaner, more reliable, friendlier, and less hassle.

I tried calling other cab companies when they were first late, but none would have been able to come to my house (we are outside of city limits and it generally takes a while to get there from town) in time to get me to the airport.

Always check the taxi services policy for booking and confirming rides. Do not be afraid to call and "nag" if you have to. They have agreed to perform a service, they should be held to it. If you are travelling for your company, ask if you can use a different form of transportation if available if you can get better service or price. Always have a back-up plan if the service does not show up (my neighbor was on standby). If you recieve poor customer service (either from the driver or the dispatcher), call and let the manager know. You are paying them, they are not paying you. Ask them to estimate the trip fare and try to have cash for both the fare and tip. Not all taxi services accept debit, credit cards, or checks.