Taxi Services (Washington: rent, how much, limo) - Washington, DC (DC) - City-Data Forum

gmsale · 03-29-2009, 04:00 PM

My husband has been offered a role in downtown DC and we were looking at visiting schools in VA and MD before deciding where to settle.

As neither of us drive - coming from Singapore where two door little car costs $70K!! - we will be relying on taxis to take us to our destinations.

Are the taxi services are like NY, where you can just hail one off the road with little trouble? Or we would have to book in advance? We are moving from school to school within Fairfax county and looking at a school in Herndon, which is about 15 miles away from Vienna.

We emailed some limo services to see how much it would cost to have a driver all day and our eyes nearly fell out of our heads, $750 per day!!! So that is not an option for us.

I would be grateful for any suggestions on how we can move about without being able to drive ourselves.

Thank you!

Rayma · 03-29-2009, 09:55 PM

Taxi service in the Washington area isn't generally comparable to NYC. If you're D.C. proper, you'd have little trouble hailing a cab off any main road or downtown, but I doubt you'd want to press your luck in Virginia ... especially Herndon. You should call a cab company and book in advance. That said, I have trouble gauging what you're willing to spend on transportation ... because you could always check and see if the places you intend to visit are all metro accessible and save money that way.

gmsale · 03-30-2009, 07:30 AM

Thanks for that.

ceejamon · 03-30-2009, 08:30 AM

It's not a cab city like NYC. The Metro/Bus system is excellent in the area - leaps and bounds cleaner and safer than it is in NYC. I would suggest looking into an area just outside of DC like Silver Spring, MD or Arlington, VA. That way you can take advantage of the good schools, but just be a metro ride away from work and anything else you want to do.

akorosdc · 03-30-2009, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmsale

My husband has been offered a role in downtown DC and we were looking at visiting schools in VA and MD before deciding where to settle.

As neither of us drive - coming from Singapore where two door little car costs $70K!! - we will be relying on taxis to take us to our destinations.

Can you drive? If so, you could just rent a car. Hailing a cab in DC isn't too bad in most areas, but out in Herndon or Fairfax it'll be a lot harder. Look up taxi companies in these areas online and write down the numbers to call for a cab.

rlchurch · 03-30-2009, 01:22 PM

Live close to a Metrorail station. Look up zip cars for hourly rental. Live in DC or close in Virginia.

lokahi · 03-30-2009, 03:00 PM

I agree with rlchurch - if you live close enough to a metro stop, you won't really need a car, and when you need to go to IKEA (which is about 20 miles outside of the city), you can get a zipcar or flexcar for the day.

I have family living in Shanghai and taxis are very common and cheap. DC cabs are not cheap, and they can be hard to find if you're in suburban areas. I would take a look at a metro map here: Metro - Rail - Maps - Rail/Google Map and then pick an area that is close to the metro, either by bus / walking.

I'm a fan of Northern VA and most anything on the Orange / Blue / Yellow metro lines that crosses through VA. Northern VA schools are pretty decent (compared to DC schools, unless you go private).

I would really advise against living way out in Herdon without a car. You need a car to get around in the more suburban areas of DC, otherwise you'll go crazy waiting on the bus systems. If you don't know how to drive, then that's another situation entirely, although there are lots of driver's ed courses in NOVA with all of the folks moving in from other areas.

Best of luck