London Taxi Fare Calculator — Black-Cab Meter Estimates vs Our Fixed Fares
This calculator does two things at once: it estimates what a black cab (hackney carriage) would charge on the meter using TfL's published Tariffs 1, 2 and 3, and it shows a bookable fixed fare for the same journey right beside it. Two numbers, one screen, no interpretation needed.
One honest distinction up front: we are Stansted Airport Taxi, a TfL-licensed private-hire operator, not a black-cab firm. The black-cab figure is always an estimate — a range the meter will decide — while our fixed fare is a real price from our published rate card, confirmed at booking and unchanged by traffic, tariff or time of night. Every TfL figure below comes from the official fare card effective 25 April 2026.
Estimate Your London Taxi Fare
No email gate, no disguised booking form — the estimate appears on the page. Enter a journey, get two numbers side by side.
Enter your journey · get both prices instantly
Type or slide the distance, pick a date and time, choose a vehicle — the meter estimate and our fixed fare update as you go.
0.5 to 150 miles · driving route, not straight line
Drives the Tariff 1 / 2 / 3 selection
Black-cab estimate ignores this (one size); fixed fare tracks it
Tariff resolver · TfL bands
Night 22:00-05:00 (also public holidays) · Tariff 3
Output A · Black-cab estimate
TfL meter · Tariff 3
£74 – £114
Interpolated from TfL typical fares · 15 mi
The meter charges for distance and time together, so real cabs can run higher in traffic. Every source figure is from TfL's card effective 25 April 2026.
Output B · Our fixed fare
Saloon · 4 pax / 3 cases
£43.00
Bookable — confirmed at booking
Formula: £30.00 minimum (first 5 mi) + 10 mi × £1.30 = £43.00. No tariff clock. Day equals night. Both directions match.
What each number means. The left panel is a range the meter will decide, not a quoted price; the right panel is our published fixed fare, held at booking. The "Lock in" button carries pickup, drop-off, vehicle and time straight to the quote form — online booking confirms the exact figure by postcode. Prefer a spoken quote? +44 20 3617 7825 is answered 24/7.
How This Calculator Works Out a Black-Cab Fare
No estimate on the internet is worth anything unless you can see the maths behind it. Here is ours, plainly, so you can redo it by hand and get the same answer.
A London taximeter starts at the minimum fare of £4.40 (current TfL card — verify current), then adds charges in fixed increments as the cab covers distance or time, whichever accrues faster. In free-flowing traffic you are effectively paying per mile at the rate for the tariff in force; in a jam, the meter keeps ticking on time even while the wheels are still. Once a journey passes roughly six miles, the per-mile rate steps up again — the long-journey rate known as Tariff 4.
Meter maths · a version you can redo by hand
£4.40 start + 6 mi × ~£5.50–£7.00 ≈ £33 – £42
£4.40 minimum fare kicks the meter off · ~£5.50–£7.00 per mile on Tariff 1 derived from TfL's own typical figures · six miles typically £33–£42. Nudge upwards for Tariff 2 (evenings, weekends) or Tariff 3 (nights, holidays), and you'll land inside the same range this calculator returns.
Why we show a range, not a number
Because the meter charges for time as well as distance, two identical routes can meter differently on the same day — one clear run, one stuck behind roadworks on the A4. A calculator that returns a single confident number for a black cab is guessing and hiding it. We show the honest spread instead, and we say which tariff we assumed.
Where the rates come from · when last verified
Every black-cab figure on this page is taken from Transport for London's official taxi fare card, effective 25 April 2026, under which the minimum fare rose to £4.40 and Tariffs 1–3 increased by 2.88%. TfL reviews tariffs annually, usually each April; we re-verify at every revision. Figures last verified July 2026 — always cross-check the live TfL page before relying on any third-party number, including ours.
TfL Black-Cab Tariffs 1, 2 & 3 — Plus the Tariff 4 Long-Journey Rate
London black-cab meters don't have one price — they have time bands, set by TfL, and the band your journey falls into changes what each mile costs.
The band your journey lands in changes what each mile costs
Weekday daytime is Tariff 1. Weekday evenings and the whole weekend are Tariff 2. Every night and every public holiday is Tariff 3. Any journey beyond ~6 miles steps up onto Tariff 4 — the long-journey rate. Below: the same 24 hours drawn in bands.
24-hour tariff timeline
Weekdays (Mon–Fri)
Weekends (Sat & Sun) & public holidays
TfL typical 6-mile journey £33 – £42. Roughly £5.50 – £7.00 per mile, minimum fare included.
Weekday 20:00–22:00 and Sat–Sun 05:00–22:00. TfL typical 6-mile £41 – £45. Every mile a little dearer.
Every night 22:00–05:00 and public holidays. TfL typical 6-mile £41 – £45. Christmas/New Year festive metering runs higher again.
Applies on top of whichever band above is in force. Almost every airport run from central London is beyond 6 mi — so almost every metered airport journey spends most of its distance on Tariff 4. Rate aligned with Tariff 2 from 25 April 2026.
Source: TfL taxi fare card effective 25 April 2026 (tfl.gov.uk/modes/taxis-and-minicabs/taxi-fares). Minimum fare £4.40 at all times. Verify current — TfL reviews tariffs annually. These tariffs are TfL's rates for black cabs only — our fixed fares, further down, don't use tariffs at all: the price is the price, at 4 a.m. or 4 p.m.
Sample Black-Cab Fares by Distance
Rather than invent numbers, we reproduce TfL's own typical fares — then extend them with the airport context TfL's page doesn't give you.
TfL's typical fares for London taxi journeys at 1, 2, 4 and 6 miles, plus the Heathrow-to-Central-London band TfL publishes for context. Ranges reflect traffic — the meter charges for time as well as distance — and the tariff column reads with the colour swatches from the timeline above.
| Distance | Journey time | Tariff 1 | Tariff 2 | Tariff 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 mile | 6–13 min | £8.40 – £13.00 | £8.40 – £13.20 | £9.00 – £13.20 |
| 2 miles | 10–20 min | £12.60 – £20.20 | £13.40 – £20.40 | £13.60 – £20.40 |
| 4 miles | 16–30 min | £21.00 – £31.00 | £23.00 – £32.00 | £23.00 – £35.00 |
| 6 miles | 28–40 min | £33.00 – £42.00 | £41.00 – £45.00 | £41.00 – £45.00 |
| Heathrow ↔ Central London | 30–60 min | £70 – £120 · any tariff (TfL published band) | ||
Source: Transport for London taxi fare card, effective 25 April 2026 — verify current before travelling. Ranges reflect traffic: the meter charges for time as well as distance. For Heathrow-side detail see the Heathrow airport taxi page.
What the meter does on airport runs. Heathrow is the only airport TfL publishes a typical metered range for. For Stansted, Gatwick and Luton there is no published TfL range at all — they sit outside the metropolitan area, drivers aren't obliged to run the meter for the whole trip, and fares are often negotiated before departure. Expect a substantial premium over the Heathrow figures, cab by cab. That scatter is exactly what a pre-agreed fixed fare removes — which is where the next sections come in.
Meter Extras · What Else Can Land on a Black-Cab Fare
The tariff table is not quite the whole bill. A handful of extras can be added to a metered fare, and no distance-based estimate — ours included — can see them coming.
Each figure below sits on the current TfL card (verify current at tfl.gov.uk). Where a charge is £0.00, TfL doesn't permit it — card fees and luggage extras are prohibited by regulation.
| Extra | Amount on the current card | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow rank pickup extra | £1.60 (verify current) | Journeys starting from Heathrow's airport taxi ranks |
| Heathrow terminal drop-off | £6.00 added to the fare | Cab drops you inside a Heathrow terminal drop-off zone |
| Phone / app / online booking fee | Up to £2.00 | Pre-booked black-cab jobs, where the operator charges it |
| Festive-period metering | Higher metered fares (no flat fee) | 20:00 24 Dec – 06:00 27 Dec · 20:00 31 Dec – 06:00 2 Jan |
| Soiling charge | Up to £60.00 | Soiling that takes the taxi out of service |
| Card payment / luggage / extra passengers | £0.00 | No charge — card fees and luggage extras are not permitted |
The extra no table shows: time in traffic
The biggest "extra" on any metered journey never appears on a fare card. A 20-minute crawl on the A40 keeps the meter ticking the whole way, quietly adding pounds no calculator predicted. Our fixed fare has no extras table to publish — meet & greet with a name board, flight tracking and 60 minutes of complimentary Arrivals waiting are included in the quoted price.
For metered-versus-fixed detail on the Heathrow run specifically, see the Heathrow airport taxi page; for Stansted, how much is a taxi to Stansted; for Gatwick, how much is a taxi to Gatwick.
Black Cab vs Our Fixed Fare — The Honest Answer
Most operator pages tell you their option always wins. It doesn't, and pretending otherwise would poison every other number on this page.
When to take the black cab
The trade's real advantages · we say so plainly
-
near_me
Short central hops
Under roughly five miles, the meter usually beats us: a three-mile Tariff 1 journey typically meters ~£16–£26, comfortably below our £30.00 saloon minimum. Take the cab.
-
pan_tool
Right-now immediacy
A black cab is hailed off the kerb with your arm; we're a pre-book service. Ninety seconds to wheels on Shaftesbury Avenue — the cab wins by definition.
-
accessible
Step-free certainty
Every licensed London black cab is wheelchair-accessible with a built-in ramp — a genuinely brilliant feature of the trade. We provide wheelchair-accessible vehicles on request, pre-booked; the cab fleet's 100% coverage deserves the credit it gets.
When the fixed fare wins
Where the meter's structure hurts you
-
flight_takeoff
Airport & long-distance runs
No Tariff 4 step-up, no night uplift, no meter anxiety on the M11 — a £43.00 Paddington–Heathrow saloon against a £70–£120 metered range speaks for itself.
-
groups
Groups & luggage
A hackney carriage seats five; our MPVs and minibuses carry 5–16 passengers with their cases in one vehicle, one price. See the MPV fleet and minibus fleet.
-
nights_stay
Anti-social hours
A 4 a.m. flight costs the same as a 4 p.m. one with us. On the meter it lands on Tariff 3, the dearest band, and beyond 6 mi it also runs on Tariff 4.
The side-by-side · same journey, both prices
| Journey | Black-cab meter (TfL-derived) | Our fixed fare (saloon) | Honest verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canary Wharf → London City Airport (~3 mi) | ~£16 – £26 | £30.00 (min. fare) | Black cab usually wins this hop — we say so |
| Paddington → Heathrow (~15 mi) | £70 – £120 | £43.00 fixed | Fixed fare wins, day or night |
Canary Wharf → LCY meter figure interpolated from TfL typicals on Tariff 1; Paddington → Heathrow meter figure is TfL's published typical range. Our fares are indicative from the published rate card and confirmed at booking. For the meter vs fixed picture at Heathrow specifically, see the Heathrow airport taxi page and Paddington to Heathrow guide.
Fixed Fares to Every London Airport
These are computed examples from our published rate card, not "from £" teasers. The basis is stated under the table so you can check each row yourself.
| Journey (approx. distance) | Vehicle | Indicative fixed fare* | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paddington → Heathrow (~15 mi) | Saloon | £43.00 | Meter typically £70–£120 for Heathrow-central (Heathrow taxi) |
| Paddington → Heathrow (~15 mi) | Executive | £54.00 | Business-class alternative to the rank queue |
| King's Cross → Heathrow (~18 mi) | Saloon | £46.90 | Same fixed price day or night — no Tariff 3 uplift |
| Liverpool Street → Stansted (~38 mi) | Saloon | £72.90 | Long runs are where the meter hurts most (Stansted prices) |
| Liverpool Street → Stansted (~38 mi) | MPV6 | £84.00 | 6 passengers + 5 bags, one vehicle, one price |
| Victoria → Gatwick (~28 mi) | Saloon | £59.90 | Black cabs rarely quote fixed for Gatwick — we always do (Gatwick prices) |
| King's Cross → Luton (~34 mi) | Saloon | £67.70 | Flight tracking + free waiting on the return leg (Luton taxi) |
| Canary Wharf → London City (~3 mi) | Saloon | £30.00 | Honestly: the meter usually beats us here (London City taxi) |
* Indicative fixed fares from Stansted Airport Taxi's published rate card; your exact fixed fare is confirmed at booking by pickup postcode, vehicle, date/time and requirements.
How the fixed price is built · 5-mile minimum + per-mile
Each vehicle class has a minimum fare that covers the first five miles, then a per-mile rate for every mile after that. Paddington to Heathrow at ~15 miles in a saloon is £30.00 + (10 × £1.30) = £43.00. No tariff clock, no time metering, no night rate — the number you agree is the number you pay. Each airport row above feeds its dedicated hub page rather than replacing it; the route-level detail lives there.
Fare by Vehicle — Saloon to Executive MPV
Vehicle choice changes the fixed-fare calculation, so here is the whole rate card in one compact table.
| Vehicle | Minimum fare (first 5 mi) | Per mile after 5 mi | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saloon | £30.00 | £1.30 | Up to 4 passengers / 3 cases |
| Estate | £31.20 | £1.35 | Up to 5 passengers / 4 cases |
| MPV5 | £33.00 | £1.43 | Up to 5 passengers |
| MPV6 | £34.50 | £1.50 | Up to 6 passengers / 5 bags |
| MPV7 | £37.50 | £1.63 | Up to 7 passengers |
| MPV8 | £39.00 | £1.69 | Up to 8 passengers |
| Executive (Mercedes E-Class) | £36.00 | £1.80 | Up to 3–4 passengers |
| Executive MPV / Minibus | £42.00 | £2.10 | 6–16 passengers · quoted per group |
Indicative rate-card figures, confirmed at booking. Child and booster seats available on request at no extra charge. Wheelchair-accessible vehicles on request. Larger 12- and 16-seat minibuses are quoted per group — see the minibus fleet.
Groups of 6+ · one vehicle, one price
A black cab seats a maximum of five, and the meter reads the same whether one person rides or five — there's no group economy beyond that fifth seat. From six people upwards, one MPV or minibus fare split across the group is the practical option, and everyone travels together with the luggage. See the MPV fleet, 7-seater guide and 10-seater minibus.
Executive travel without executive metering
The Mercedes E-Class and Executive MPV tiers use the same transparent formula — a higher minimum and per-mile rate, published above — not a mystery "premium quote". Corporate accounts available. See the executive fleet.
Why Your Real Meter Fare Will Differ From Any Estimate
"The real fare wasn't what the tool said." Here is exactly why — because pretending otherwise would be dishonest.
Traffic time
The meter charges for time when speed drops, so congestion inflates the fare beyond any distance-based prediction.
Route choice
Two knowledgeable drivers can legitimately take different roads; a mile of difference moves the fare.
Tariff boundaries
Leave at 19:55 on a Friday and part of your journey meters on Tariff 2. The clock, not the booking time, decides.
Roadworks & diversions
A closed junction adds distance and time at once — the meter collects on both.
This applies to every fare calculator on the internet, including this one. Any tool that promises meter-exact certainty is selling confidence it cannot have.
The one price that does not move
There is exactly one London taxi price immune to all four variables: a fixed fare agreed before the wheels turn. Traffic, diversions and the tariff clock become our problem, not yours — the quote we confirm is the amount you pay.
Black Cab, Uber, or Fixed-Fare Private Hire
The question behind many calculator searches is really a three-way comparison. Each model genuinely suits different journeys.
Model 1
Black cab
A regulated meter under TfL tariffs. No surge, ever — but the night and weekend bands charge more, and the fare is unknowable until you arrive.
Suits
Short spontaneous hops in zone 1: hail the cab.
Model 2
App rides (Uber, Bolt & similar)
Dynamic pricing. Often keen off-peak, but quotes can spike in rain, at closing time, during tube strikes and around big events — the same journey can double in an evening.
Suits
Cheap quiet-hour crosstown rides with flexibility on timing.
Model 3 · this service
Pre-booked fixed fare (us)
One number agreed in advance, from a published rate card, identical at any hour. No meter to watch, no surge to dodge.
Suits
Airport runs, group travel, meetings you cannot be late for, and anything at 4 a.m.
Which suits which journey. Short spontaneous hops in zone 1: hail the cab. Cheap quiet-hour crosstown rides with flexibility on timing: the apps price keenly. Airport runs, group travel, meetings you cannot be late for, and anything at 4 a.m.: a pre-agreed fixed price with a tracked flight and a name board is what the model was built for. We publish no invented percentage savings — the pricing logic above is enough to choose with.
From Estimate to Booked — Locking In Your Fixed Fare
When the calculator shows a fixed fare you like, booking it takes under two minutes — the tool passes your journey straight through, so nothing is typed twice.
Option 1
Online
The calculator pre-fills the quote form with your pickup, drop-off, vehicle and travel time. Written confirmation with the fixed figure.
Book Online →Option 2
Send the journey, get the confirmed fare back in writing. Same number as our phone line.
WhatsApp Now →Option 3
Phone — 24/7
Speak to a dispatcher directly on +44 20 3617 7825. Best for corporate accounts, group bookings and accessibility needs.
Call Now →What we confirm before you ride
London Taxi Fare Questions — Answered Straight
Nine questions this calculator's users actually ask, answered in full — each one written to stand alone:
How do I calculate a London taxi fare?
Start from the £4.40 minimum fare, then add distance at the per-mile rate for the tariff in force — Tariff 1 weekday daytime, Tariff 2 evenings and weekends, Tariff 3 nights and public holidays. The meter also charges for time in traffic, so treat any hand calculation as an estimate. Our calculator does this maths for you and shows a bookable fixed fare beside it.
How much is a black cab per mile in London?
Working from TfL's current typical fares (card effective 25 April 2026), a six-mile Tariff 1 journey costs £33–£42 — roughly £5.50–£7.00 a mile — rising on evening, weekend and night tariffs. TfL resets rates annually. Journeys beyond six miles step up again on Tariff 4.
Is the black-cab figure this calculator shows exact?
No — and no honest calculator's is. A taximeter charges for distance and time together, so congestion, a diversion or a slow crawl through roadworks changes the final figure. That is why our tool shows the black-cab number as a range, while the fixed private-hire fare beside it is the exact price you would pay us.
What are London taxi Tariffs 1, 2 and 3?
TfL's time bands for black-cab meters: Tariff 1 Mon–Fri 05:00–20:00, Tariff 2 weekday 20:00–22:00 + weekends, Tariff 3 every night 22:00–05:00 and public holidays — each band charges more per mile than the last. Tariff 4 adds a higher rate once any journey passes about six miles. Current figures: tfl.gov.uk.
How much is a taxi from central London to Heathrow?
On the black-cab meter, TfL's current card indicates £70–£120 between Heathrow and central London (verify current), because route, traffic and time all move the figure. Our fixed fares start from £43.00 for a Paddington saloon — confirmed before you travel and identical at any hour, with meet & greet included.
Is a black cab or a private-hire taxi cheaper in London?
Honestly: it depends on the journey. For short central hops under about five miles, a metered black cab usually beats our £30.00 saloon minimum — we say so plainly on this page. For airport and longer runs, a pre-booked fixed fare is typically the cheaper option, and it cannot rise in traffic.
Does London have yellow taxis?
No — yellow cabs belong to New York. London has two licensed trades: black cabs (hackney carriages, metered under TfL tariffs, hailable on the street) and private-hire vehicles like ours, which must be pre-booked and quote fixed prices in advance. This calculator estimates the black-cab meter and shows our fixed fare for the same London journey.
Do black cabs cost more at night in London?
Yes. From 22:00 every night the meter runs on Tariff 3, the most expensive band, which also applies on public holidays; weekend daytimes use Tariff 2, and higher festive-period metering applies over Christmas and New Year. Our fixed fares do not change with the clock: a 4 a.m. airport run costs the same as a 2 p.m. one.
Can I book a black cab through this page?
No, and we say so plainly: we are a TfL-licensed private hire operator, not a black-cab firm, and we never dispatch hackney carriages. The calculator estimates the meter from TfL's published tariffs purely for comparison. What you can book here is a fixed-fare car — saloon to 16-seat minibus — anywhere in London, England.
Get Your London Taxi Fare — Fixed Before You Travel
You now have both halves of the answer: what the meter would probably charge, and what we will definitely charge. Stansted Airport Taxi (QMH Technologies Ltd) is a TfL-licensed private hire operator rated 4.9/5 from 247 verified reviews — fixed fares with no meter and no surge, all six London airports, saloons to 16-seat minibuses, 24/7.
TfL tariff figures on this page last verified July 2026 against the TfL fare card effective 25 April 2026; TfL reviews taxi tariffs annually. Also see the UK taxi fare estimator. Page by the Stansted Airport Taxi operations team.
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