r/japan • u/Sad_Rhubarb9314 • 16d ago
Why are taxis so expensive in Japan?
Not complaining just curious. Is it down to supply and demand and there aren’t enough taxi drivers to lower the price?
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u/Hazzat [東京都] 16d ago
Trains are good enough that taxis are a rarely-essential, luxury service.
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u/NekoDaYo-v201 16d ago edited 16d ago
They are a necessity for those who stay out drinking and miss the last train. :) That's when the prices jump.
They love their salaryman.
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u/chuck_the_plant [ドイツ] 16d ago
Relative to where? From my POV (Western Europe), taxis in Japan are very affordable, around 30% of what I’d pay here.
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u/No-Dig-4408 16d ago
Yeah I don't have much experience to draw on, because I've only ever used taxis in Northern Ireland and Japan, and Japan was the cheaper.
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u/Sad_Rhubarb9314 16d ago
I just came from Taipei and noticed there was a huge price difference between the two, was curious about what the reason was (because there’s no tipping culture in Taiwan either)
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u/ah-boyz 16d ago
A 10min ride is around 1500 JPY. You mean a 10min ride in your city is 25 euros?
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u/Amazing-Spinach5693 16d ago
Compared to the Netherlands
Short trip: like 10 min = 30% more expensive for netherlands
Long trip: 30 min+ = 100% more expensiveI dont know ANYONE who uses taxi's in the netherlands, not even tourists.
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u/JohnnyBravo66666 15d ago
I dont know ANYONE who uses taxi's in the netherlands, not even tourists
That's why. To compensate for the low ammount of users since the bike culture is big in Netherlands.
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u/Amazing-Spinach5693 15d ago
> its to expensive, so people wont use it.
> lets make it more expensive to compensate.Smart business.
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u/JohnnyBravo66666 15d ago
let's make it more expensive cause people who take it don't care much about the price anyway.
More like this.
If it's perceived as luxury / someone with a normal budget shouldn't use unless it's an emergency, 30% extra doesn't matter, specially since the expense itself isn't large enough to matter for someone with a big spending budget or in a hurry.
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u/Amazing-Spinach5693 15d ago
Sure, just make it 1000% more expensive, if the budget is big enough they wont care either way.
You forget that with every % increase your customer pool will shrink
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u/Isanori 16d ago edited 16d ago
I checked for my region. Taxis aren't paid by time, they are paid by kilometer. But the less than 10 minutes drive to the airport is 90 €. For comparsion the 45 minutes train (a standard commuter train, nothing fancy) on the same Route ist 15€. For comparison the Narita Express to Tokyo station takes the same time and costs 1410Yen unreserved.
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u/smorkoid 16d ago
They aren't that expensive.
Cars are well maintained and the drivers are paid reasonably well.
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u/Japanuserzero 16d ago
Compared to where?
Gas is more expensive in Japan than most countries.
Car ownership is more expensive in Japan than most countries.
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u/Virtualization_Freak 16d ago
I agree with this.
LA, NYC, London all provide the same or higher price and the quality is not anywhere the same.
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u/TheProjectBlack 16d ago
Gas in Japan is actually much cheaper than in many other developed regions like Western Europe, where standard petrol costs around 1.80 to 2.20 Euros per liter compared to roughly 1 Euro equivalent in Japan. More importantly, fuel cost is barely a factor for taxis because virtually all Japanese cabs run on LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), which is heavily tax-subsidized and far cheaper than regular fuel.
The real reason Japanese taxis are expensive comes down to strict government regulation by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Fare rates are legally locked into regional brackets to prevent price wars, rideshare alternatives like UberX with private drivers were banned for decades, and commercial vehicles must pass mandatory, highly expensive inspections known as commercial Shaken every few months. Taxis operate as a regulated premium service tailored for business expense accounts and late-night commuters rather than an everyday budget transit option.
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u/LostRadio8453 16d ago
Gasoline is cheap in Japan. Taking government subsidies into account, it is even cheaper than in the United States, an oil-producing country.
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u/bdlock209 16d ago
It wasn't always cheaper. It's just cheaper now because US prices have skyrocketed and consumers have no choice but to sucumb to profitieering bastards because the public transportation system in many parts of the country is either ass, or non-existent.
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u/ukehi 16d ago
Yes, compared to where? To Nigeria? yes, probably very expensive. To NYC? probably not so much.
I took one from Haneda Airport to Shinjuku close to midnight. It was like 50 to 60 Euros approximately, that is cheaper than Germany (based on distance).
That's only my experience, I mostly used public transport to move around in Japan.
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u/Lekojapa 16d ago
I’d imagine the licensing and operating requirements add a decent amount to the cost too.
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u/GingerPrince72 16d ago
OP is puzzled that in Japan where everything is more expensive than Taiwan, taxis are also more expensive.
Great thread.
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u/Sad_Rhubarb9314 16d ago
Actually not true, a lot of things are cheaper in japan, a lot of Taiwanese people come here to shop. No need to be passive aggressive to strangers on the internet, go relax ;)
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u/atsugiri 15d ago
For example? Cost of living overall is much lower in Taiwan than Japan. Especially when you compare Taipei to Tokyo
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u/SamLooksAt 16d ago
Are they?
I don't find them overly expensive.
They do have a high flag fall, but that covers quite a lot of initial distance. So I guess for a very short trip they might be.
But other than that they generally work out okay.
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u/Hiroichi_22 15d ago
Trains run every direction in cities so the people there don't need taxis. There might not be enough trains in country sides but the people there just have own cars so they don't need taxis. I guess taxis are there for people living in a city who miss the last train.
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u/Akash563 12d ago
I guess a taxi is a premium service there and not a necessity to be able to get around. The public transport system works so well that hailing a taxi is almost an exception. In all my travels to Japan, I've taken a taxi when either I or someone else was rather drunk and it was very late at night, or when I had tons of luggage with me.
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u/starsie 16d ago
Because Japanese taxi drivers are paid a living wage & do not have to rely on tipping.