Toronto Pearson Taxi and Limo Tariffs: The Airport’s Official Flat Rates

Most airport fare questions come down to one thing: will the number change while I sit in traffic? At Toronto Pearson the answer is no. The Greater Toronto Airports Authority sets flat tariffs for the licensed taxis and limos that work the terminals, and publishes them in a tariff sheet with a zone map.

This guide explains how that system works, lists the published rates for the towns around the GTA, and covers what the airport’s own page says about pickup doors and extra charges.

How the airport’s tariff works

According to Toronto Pearson, licensed taxis and limos “charge flat rates — no surge pricing — to Toronto destinations, accept all major credit cards and meet safety requirements”. You can spot a licensed vehicle by the GTAA number plate on the bumper and the decal on the window.

Two things follow from a flat tariff:

• Traffic is not your problem. The fare for your destination is the fare, whether the 401 is moving or not.
• The class of vehicle sets the price. The airport describes limos as premium black cars that cost roughly 10% more than a taxi. The published sheet bears that out: almost every limo tariff is the taxi tariff plus about a tenth.

Published tariffs, town by town

These are the airport’s published out-of-town tariffs, in Canadian dollars, including taxes. They come from Toronto Pearson’s taxi and limo tariff sheet dated February 2024, so treat them as a guide and check the current sheet before you travel.

Source: Toronto Pearson taxi and limo tariff sheet, February 2024, published on torontopearson.com. Tariffs include taxes. The sheet also covers destinations as far as Ottawa, Montreal and Windsor.

Trips inside Toronto and the GTA

For destinations inside the city and the inner suburbs, the tariff sheet uses a zone map rather than a list of towns, so there is no single “downtown” number to quote. The airport provides a fare estimate tool on its taxis and limos page: enter your address, landmark or postal code and it returns the tariff for that trip. You can also ask for the flat rate before you get in, and the rate information is displayed in the vehicle.

The extra charges

The tariff sheet lists these additions, which apply on top of the flat rate:

• Highway 407 tolls. If you ask the driver to take the 407, the toll is added to your fare.
• Stops along the way. $10 for each 10 minutes, or part of it.
• Multiple drop-offs. $15 extra for each passenger dropped off en route.

Where each vehicle picks up

Licensed taxis and limos do not pick up inside the terminals or the parking garages. On the Arrivals level:

Drivers may refuse animals other than service or assistance animals. Passengers with mobility aids cannot be refused or charged extra for their equipment, and accessible vehicles are available on request at the limousine stands.

Airport queue or pre-booked car?

The tariff applies to the licensed vehicles waiting at the curb. Booking a car in advance is a different service, and it is worth being straight about the trade-off: for a long trip, the airport’s taxi tariff is often the cheaper number. What a pre-booked car adds is everything around the ride.

• Your flight is tracked. A delayed landing moves your pickup instead of leaving you to rejoin a queue.
• You are met inside. Your chauffeur waits in the arrivals hall with a name sign, not at the curb.
• The vehicle is known before you book. A sedan, an SUV or a Cadillac Escalade, rather than whatever is next in line.
• The price is quoted before the trip. Ours is flat too: downtown Toronto to Pearson is $125 in a sedan, $161 in an SUV and $202 in the Executive SUV.
• Free waiting is built in. 60 minutes from touchdown on international arrivals, 30 on domestic.

For our own rates from every part of the GTA, see the Pearson airport limo and taxi service page, or the Pearson to Niagara Falls and Hamilton to Pearson pages for the longer runs.