NEW DELHI: Landing into an unknown country after a long, grueling flight is hard enough, but the shock of ridiculously high cab fare only makes matters worse. To ensure there’s more clarity regarding taxi prices all over the world, a survey done by Taxi2Airport.com lists the most and least expensive countries for taxi fares.

They found that Switzerland had the most expensive taxi fare at €22.68 (Rs 1800) for 5km, and Egypt was the cheapest country to get a cab in—a 5km rise costs only 0.84 euro (Rs 66). In fact, the base fee for a taxi fare in Egypt is as low as 0.24 euro.

India was the second-cheapest country—with the fare coming to only €1.29 (Rs 102). After India, there’s Thailand and Indonesia that cost €1.41(Rs 111) and €1.68 (Rs 132). Malaysia , Mexico , Turkey and China all have affordable rates as well, the survey found.

They chose the distance of 5km as the average taxi ride distance because faced with a journey of this length, hailing a cab becomes necessary – especially if you have luggage or kids with you. Taxi2Airport analysed the data collated by Taxi-Calculator.com.

On the pricey end of the spectrum, Switzerland’s exorbitant fares are followed by Japan, where a 5km cab ride costs you €15.64 (Rs 1,230). The survey showed that European countries tend to have rather high fares—with Germany, Netherlands , Belgium and Austria being expensive to take taxis in.

In Britain, you can expect to pay €10.08 (Rs 800) for the privilege of a 5km ride. In fact, the base fee for a taxi fare in Britain is €2.96 (Rs 230) – one of the highest fees recorded. On the other side of the world, New Zealand has a fare only marginally higher than that of Britain.

David Else, the writer of several Lonely Plaet guidebooks spoke exclusively to Taxi2Airport to offer some tips on how to save commute costs. He recommends that one ask the cab driver what the fare would be before starting the journey, particularly in countries with no meters in their taxis. You can also ask a friendly local what they reckon it should be, if you suspect the driver may be likely to overcharge.

Else added: “In developed countries with good public transport networks (such as Holland), it pays to do a bit of research in advance on how to buy tickets. For example, if you buy from a ticket machine in advance it’s cheaper than buying the ticket on the service, or at a booking desk.” In fact, in some locations it’s less costly to buy public transport tickets in batches of 10 or 20.

