Canadian Taxis

[5waldos]

Do Canadian taxis take credit cards? And is it customary to tip the driver? Can you do it on the credit card? And what is a generally accepted tip amount? 

[em-sk]

3 hours ago, 5waldos said:

Do Canadian taxis take credit cards? And is it customary to tip the driver? Can you do it on the credit card? And what is a generally accepted tip amount? 

 

You may encounter some in very remote area that don't take credit cards however that is extremely rare these day.  Vast majority of taxi will take credit cards.  

 

Tipping is a person thing.  I would say normal rates would be 10-15%.  

 

Most major cities also have uber and lyft. 

[5waldos]

Thanks- and sorry- should have been a bit more specific- we will be in Vancouver. Not very remote- at least last time I was there! But never took a taxi- we lived close enough that we had a car. I am just trying to figure out how much Canadian money I should get. Sounds like not a lot. 

[em-sk]

9 minutes ago, 5waldos said:

Thanks- and sorry- should have been a bit more specific- we will be in Vancouver. Not very remote- at least last time I was there! But never took a taxi- we lived close enough that we had a car. I am just trying to figure out how much Canadian money I should get. Sounds like not a lot. 

 

Vancouver is quite urban.  No problem paying with credit card.

 

You do have multiple options.  Taxi, uber, etc.  Vancouver also has a great metro system (that takes credit cards). 

 

[dolfan1980]

Vancouver has a lot of taxis since Uber really has just started there, far later than everywhere else in Canada. A 15-20% tip is customary and yes all taxis in Vancouver will take credit.

[xlxo]

On 4/10/2022 at 8:10 AM, 5waldos said:

Do Canadian taxis take credit cards? And is it customary to tip the driver? Can you do it on the credit card?

Yes, the taxi's do take credit cards.  HOWEVER, I recommend you inquire if the credit card machine works before getting in.  If they say their machine is broken

• the driver may choose to refuse you service
• there is usually paper credit card slips and they can call in your credit card number to dispatch.

[Yehootu]

We plan on getting off the ship with the last group. Our flight home isn't till 1730 so we have time to burn. I've read horror stories about taxis back to the airport. From experience, does the lines for taxis get shorter later? I would assume so, but who knows. Otherwise it's schedule a private car.

[martincath]

15 hours ago, Yehootu said:

We plan on getting off the ship with the last group. Our flight home isn't till 1730 so we have time to burn. I've read horror stories about taxis back to the airport. From experience, does the lines for taxis get shorter later? I would assume so, but who knows. Otherwise it's schedule a private car.

Yes, but not in the timeframe you're talking about. If you're the last folks off on a day where demand exceeds the turnaround capacity at Canada Place for cabs the queue keeps building until after the pax stop leaving ships. Being the last folks off, you'd then see the cab queue at it's absolute worst - it will start dropping after that but that won't help you in the slightest... but without knowing how many ships are in port with you it's impossible to say whether there will be a problem or not.

 

Only ship? Chances are very good that enough cabs will rotate through to handle the demand without the queue ever building much. 2 ships? Probably fine also, unless they're both on the larger side/one is a megaship. Three ships? Problems almost certain at this level of throughput with more pax flowing in from the ships than cabs can move out - folks waiting up to three hours have happened in the past, and that's before Canada Place started taking 4 ship days after they closed Ballantyne pier.

 

But frankly with a flight at 5:30pm you're wasting your time going out to YVR before ~2pm at the absolute earliest - you cannot check luggage until 3 or at most 4 hours preflight. By all means enjoy a lesiurely last morning onboard, eat brekkie, get off in the last group - but then take the elevators up into the Pan Pacific hotel and ask them to hold your bags ($5per in past years - this might have changed, we should start getting reports soon as the first ships have already begun trickling in to start the season). There are various other services that will hold bags for the day in local stores, hotels, etc. too with prices varying up to $13 per (the official pier storage) and even a 'meet you to collect bags, then deliver them to the airport later' service from PorterGenie ($25 fixed fees, so very pricey for small number of bags but potentially of value to larger groups or those on a tight touring timescale).

 

If you're willing to drop the cash on a private car service, then the least-hassle option might be to spend even more on a bus tour - meet at the pier ~10am, get driven around, drop at YVR ~2pm is the typical pattern for those and that fits your flight time very conservatively, with Landsea the biggest local player in these Pre/Post-Cruise trips (YVR drop takes another 30mins, so end to end a 4 hour trip)

[Yehootu]

We stay at the Pan Pacific pre cruise, I'll ask then about leaving the bags.

Mahalo

[DougH]

What is rough taxi cost from the airport to downtown Vancouver? Specifically the Days Inn downtown

[martincath]

9 hours ago, DougH said:

What is rough taxi cost from the airport to downtown Vancouver? Specifically the Days Inn downtown

I can tell you to the penny (CAD at least - exchange rate will move a few cents here and there) as inbound cabs from the airport use fixed rate zones rather than the meter!

 

Days Inn is within the $34 Downtown Zone 8 - tip as you would in the US on that fare.

 

NB: like everywhere, some cabbies as a**holes who feel they can scam visitors - so the meter might get turned on 'by mistake' or they may try to pretend your hotel is inside the Canada Place $38 Zone 9 area. There is supposed to be a copy of the zone map in the cab (hanging on the back of the driver's seat is the usual spot if it's openly displayed) so if the meter is moving, ask about the zone map - this should fend of any secondary attempt to scam you about which zone. Ditto on credit card machines being 'broken' (if legit, they can get the office to process your card), in hopes that you might hand over the fare in USD at par costing yourself an extra ~30% - by all means negotiate to pay in USD if you don't like using credit cards, but while it's totally fair to pad the rate some (going to the bank to change currency is a hassle) don't just give them 1:1 unless the difference is also supposed to cover the tip!

 

Regardless, if they try to trick you tip zero and don't feel bad about it...

[Woody14]

On 4/29/2022 at 10:20 PM, DougH said:

What is rough taxi cost from the airport to downtown Vancouver? Specifically the Days Inn downtown

https://www.yvr.ca/en/passengers/transportation/taxis. there is a downloadable map of the zones and prices for the airport.

[5waldos]

Thanks- helpful link!

[DougH]

Very useful tips, thanks much 🙂