Cost of taking a Taxi Ride in Nigeria

If you are in Nigeria and are used to taking public transportation, you'd agree that one of the most convenient and comfortable means of public transport one can get is a taxi ride.

Taxis or cabs are commercial cars that are used by commercial transporters to take passengers to anywhere they choose to. In Nigeria, these taxis are normally painted in Yellow and have black stripes on top just like other commercial vehicles do.

A passenger wishing to take public transport from one city to another in Nigeria can either decide to take the mass transit buses that carry many passengers which can be a bit uncomfortable and cheaper or take a private taxi ride to his destination.

Taxis normally carry a single person or group of persons who hire it to their destination which in most cases is normally limited within a state. Local taxis in Nigeria don't normally travel outside of a particular state and locations like Lagos and Abuja are among the most popular markets for taxis.

How much does a taxi ride really cost to the passenger? Well, the prices are not really fixed in Nigeria as there is no legislation on prices nor are there any mileage/time calculators or meters installed in Nigerian taxis. So, the cost of taking a taxi is normally dependent on negotiation between the passenger(s) and the driver.

The cost of taking a taxi ride in Lagos for instance is a bit higher than other states that are not considered as rich and have good road network like Lagos.

When deciding on a price for his service, a taxi driver in Nigeria would normally consider a lot of things such as the distance to be covered, traffic level, time spent, local knowledge of the passenger, fares used by other commercial vehicles, availability of fuel at filling stations and so on.

The cost of a taxi ride on a passenger is normally higher than the fare of a commercial bus, motorcycle or motorized tricycle all of which are the other types of vehicles normally used in Nigeria for commercial transport.

The money one would spend in chartering a taxi from a town or local government like Surulere to another town like Ikeja would be much higher than if the taxi ride was within just Surulere or Ikeja.

As at the time of writing this post, it costs about N500 when going from one bus stop to another one closby and about N1000 to covert a particular Local govt but the fare increases to about N1500 or N2000 to go from one local government to another in Lagos state. You can however negotiate your How much you are willing to spend with the taxi driver according to your pocket.

As I said earlier, the amount of money you as a passenger would spend on a taxi ride would depend on a lot of factors and one of them includes your local knowledge of the taxi service. If you look like an alien or foreigner and the taxi driver notices that you are not deeply knowledgeable about their fares, they might jack up the prices and charger you more than another person who seems more Nigerian or more Lagosian. So, a white man might not be able to negotiate a taxi fare as low as a black Nigerian would. However, by the time one gets used to it, you can always negotiate better fares and hence reduce hoe much you spend on taxis.

Another factor that influences the price of a taxi ride in Nigeria is the fares charged by other commercial vehicles. As I said, a taxi fare is much higher than the other vehicles used within the state and so let's assume that it's going to cost you N100 to take a bus ride from one particular destination to another, chances are that it's going to take cost at least 5 times more if you were using a taxi ride for that same destination. So I think "5" is a considerable factor when calculating a taxi fare in relation to a bus fare.

Tips to reduce you Taxi Fare
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- Take rides from one park to another
- Negotiate from the rock bottom
- Have a fair knowledge of transportation costs.
- Share the taxi ride and fare with your friends