Vienna taxi guide: fares, taxi ranks and when a pre-booked car wins

A Vienna taxi taken from a rank or hailed in the street charges the official city tariff, and the City of Vienna publishes every figure. By day on working days, the meter starts at €3.80, adds €0.95 a kilometre for the first 5 km and €0.58 a kilometre after that, and at the same time adds €0.58 for every minute of the ride. At night, on Sundays and on public holidays, the base rises to €4.30 and the distance and time rates rise by 15%.

For a short ride across the old city, that makes a Vienna taxi good value: a daytime trip from Stephansplatz to Wien Hauptbahnhof works out at about €14 on a clear road. For a long evening, a group of six or a delegation that needs a car to wait, a pre-booked Elly8.net chauffeur, from US$85 an hour with a 3-hour minimum, is often the better choice. Here is how the tariff, the ranks and the rules work.

How much does a taxi cost in Vienna?

These are the binding rates on the City of Vienna's taxi tariff page. The city calls it a parallel tariff: distance and time are measured simultaneously, which makes it easy to estimate a fare before you travel.

Those two €2 supplements are the only ones allowed. If both apply, the charge is €4. The city states that no other supplement may be added, for example for help with loading luggage.

See Vienna prices and reserve

Worked examples: what the meter would show

The table applies the official tariff to routed distances and clear-road times from the Innere Stadt. It is arithmetic, not a quote. Traffic adds €0.58 for each extra minute by day, and ordering the taxi by phone or app adds €2.

The city's own worked example is a daytime ride of 4 km and 12 minutes from a rank: €3.80, plus €3.80 for the distance and €6.96 for the time, a total of €14.56. Ordered by phone, the same ride costs €16.56.

The conclusion is simple. Inside Vienna, a taxi is fairly priced, and nobody needs a chauffeur for a single hop to dinner. The economics change with the size of the party, the number of stops and how long the car must wait.

Estimating a fare yourself in three steps

The parallel tariff makes Vienna one of the easier cities in Europe to price a taxi ride before you take it. The city suggests a simple method.

1. Note when you travel. Working days between 06:00 and 23:00 use the day tariff; nights, Sundays and public holidays use the higher one.
2. Find the distance and the likely duration with a route planner, ignoring any time for finding a parking space.
3. Add it up. Base amount, plus the distance rate for the kilometres, plus the time rate for the minutes, plus €2 if you ordered by phone or app and €2 if more than four passengers travel in a large vehicle.

Because time is always counted, a slow ride costs more than a quick one over the same distance. A trip along the Ring at rush hour, or on a Christmas market evening, can cost noticeably more than the same route on a quiet Sunday morning, even with the Sunday surcharge.

Booked rides and the 20% price band

There is one more rule worth knowing. When a ride is ordered in advance by phone or online and a price is agreed at booking, it may differ from the meter, but only within a band from 20% below to 20% above the metered price for the same trip, including the booking supplement. In the city's example, the band for the 4 km ride runs from €13.25 to €19.87. App rides are discussed in more detail in our comparison of Uber in Vienna, taxis and private cars.

The binding tariff does not cover every trip. Among the exceptions the city lists are rides that go beyond the tariff area or the state border, which includes Vienna Airport in Schwechat, Lower Austria. That is why airport taxis are usually sold at fixed prices.

Taxi ranks, hailing and ordering

According to Vienna's official tourist board, you can wave a taxi down at the roadside, go to a taxi rank, or order one by phone or app to any address. Every rank in the city appears on the interactive map on the City of Vienna's taxi page.

• At a rank, you choose the car. Passengers may pick any vehicle at a rank, and an allocation by someone standing at the rank does not have to be accepted.
• Rank rides are always on the meter. If you get into a taxi directly at a rank, the regular Vienna tariff applies without exception.
• Fixed prices need a booking. A fixed price can be agreed when you pre-order with the destination address.
• Electric and hybrid taxis can be requested when you order.

For travellers using a wheelchair, the tourist board also lists operators offering transport in specially adapted minibuses for wheelchair users and their companions; ask for one when ordering.

How to recognise a licensed Vienna taxi

The tourist board's checklist is short and worth remembering:

• The roof sign. A black sign with yellow TAXI lettering on both sides, lit when the taxi is free and switched off when it is booked, occupied or off duty.
• The plate. Vienna taxis carry registration plates beginning with W and ending in TX, ATX, BTX, CTX or DTX. Spontaneous rides from the airport into the city are run by taxis whose plates begin with SW and end in TX.
• The meter. Every official taxi has one.
• The QR codes. Vienna taxis must display QR codes visible from every seat, which let you rate the ride and check that you are in a licensed Vienna taxi.
• The dashboard. The company's name and address, the plate number and the driver's ID must be visible.

Your rights as a passenger, and paying

Official taxis must carry an information card listing the main passenger rights, and the tourist board summarises them. You receive a receipt without having to ask. Card payment is always possible, and cash is accepted too. The taxi must take you to your destination unless you smoke in the car or behave aggressively. The driver takes the fastest route unless you agree another, uses a navigation device if you ask, and helps with loading and unloading luggage and, if needed, getting in and out. The seats, footwell and boot must be free for passengers. Smoking is banned in official taxis.

On tipping, the board is clear: there is no obligation, though tipping taxi drivers is customary in Austria. If something goes wrong, complaints go to the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, and it helps to have the driver's name, the plate or the receipt.

Stations and the airport

At Wien Hauptbahnhof and Wien Mitte, the ranks work like any other: choose your car and the meter runs. A daytime ride from the main station to a hotel inside the Ring is in the region of €14 on a clear road, as the table shows. If you are arriving by Railjet with heavy luggage or a group, a chauffeur who meets you on the platform side with a name board saves the walk to the rank; see train station transfers.

The airport is a separate case. Rides to and from Vienna Airport fall outside the binding city tariff, the airport asks arriving passengers to use only the rank in front of the arrivals hall or the City Transfer counters, and fixed prices are normally agreed in advance.

In fairness, a fixed-price airport taxi is good value: Vienna's tourist board lists fares of €37 and €42 for up to four passengers when booked in advance. A fixed Elly8.net transfer from VIE to the Innere Stadt costs more, from US$125 in a Business Sedan, and it buys a chauffeur waiting inside arrivals with a name board, flight tracking and complimentary waiting after a tracked landing.

Busy nights and waiting times

No public body publishes average waiting times at Vienna's ranks, so any number would be a guess. What can be said is when demand rises.

• Opera Ball night in February, when streets around the State Opera close for the red-carpet arrivals and the ball runs late into the night.
• The Christmas market season on Rathausplatz, from mid-November to late December, when evenings and weekends bring heavy traffic on the Ring.
• Concert and opera evenings at the Musikverein and the State Opera, which empty at the same moment.
• Congress weeks at the Austria Center Vienna, such as the European Congress of Radiology in March.

On those nights a car that is already waiting outside is worth more than any fare saving.

When a pre-booked car wins

Groups of five or more. A standard taxi seats four, and a large taxi adds a supplement. An Elly8.net Business SUV or Van carries six passengers and six bags, and an Executive Sprinter twelve and twelve, at one fixed price per vehicle.

A car that waits. Calling a new taxi at each stop works for one errand; it does not work for a day of meetings or a palace visit with timed tickets. Elly8.net's hourly service costs US$85 an hour in a Business Sedan, US$110 in a Business SUV, US$130 in a First Class SUV, US$140 in a First Class Sedan and US$170 in an Executive Sprinter, with a 3-hour minimum. See hourly chauffeur.

The big evening. The evening out and event night package, from US$425 in a Business Sedan to US$850 in an Executive Sprinter, covers the arrival and a car waiting for the end of the night. See event transportation.

Delegations. Daily runs between hotels and the Vienna International Centre, with monthly invoicing on a corporate account and NDAs on request. See government and diplomatic transportation.

Leaving the city. For a day out, a car beats a chain of trains and taxis; our guides to driving from Vienna to Salzburg and Prague to Vienna by car or train set out the options. See also chauffeur vs taxi.

How booking works

Rides in Vienna are operated by licensed, commercially insured local chauffeur partners vetted through the Limousine Worldwide network; Elly8.net takes the booking, fixes the price and runs the 24/7 desk. Enter the pickup and drop-off or the hours you need, choose the vehicle and add child seats, then press Reserve now and pay by card in US$, or use the web booker for any address. Confirmation arrives by email.

Prices include the chauffeur, vehicle, taxes and standard gratuity; parking and waiting beyond the included time are billed at cost. Cancellation is free more than 72 hours before pickup, 10% at 72 hours or less, 50% at 48 hours or less, and 100% at 24 hours or less or for a no-show. Every fare is on the Vienna chauffeur service page.

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