The price of public transport can vary significantly from one city to another in Spain. Taking a bus or a taxi in different locations in the country can be a quite diverse experience in terms of costs, depending on multiple factors that are beyond the consumer’s control. With regard to taxis, a study by Facua-Consumidores en Acción reveals that the differences between the most expensive and the cheapest city is 66.8% and that, in some concepts, such as the daytime flag drop, the differences between cities they reach 328%.
To establish the ranking of the most expensive and cheapest cities in Spain to take a taxi, Facua has carried out an analysis of the rates of 57 locations. These include all provincial capitals, the two autonomous cities, the capitals of autonomous communities that are not provincial capitals and cities that have a larger population than the capitals of their provinces, such as Gijón, Jerez de la Frontera and Vigo.
Once the collected data has been analyzed, Facua reveals that San Sebastián, Vitoria and Lleida are the cities with the most expensive taxi rates in Spain in 2024. The San Sebastián municipality repeats its first position, Lleida falls to third place and Vitoria returns to the top 3 after being out of it since 2021, highlights the consumer defense association.
At the opposite pole, Ceuta, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Cádiz and Huelva are the cities that have the cheapest rates. The capital of Cadiz repeats the position of the city with the most affordable rates, although this time tied with Huelva.
The study compares complex and different tariff systems with each other. For example, San Sebastián, the most expensive city, has one of the lowest rates per kilometer (€0.84), surpassed only by Cádiz, Ceuta and Huelva, traditionally cheap municipalities. Facua has simulated nine different routes in each city with official data from 2024, assigning scores according to the current rates for races of one, five and ten kilometers, at different times.
According to this study, San Sebastián is the city, with 78 points (out of a total of 90), where the taxi is most expensive, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Ceuta (both with 7 points) where it is cheapest. In that classification, the San Sebastian municipality is followed by Ourense, Vitoria (63), Lleida (60), Pamplona (58), Gijón (57), Tarragona, Madrid and Oviedo (all three of them 56 points), Toledo (55) and Castellón (54). ).
Tarragona’s fall to sixth position is surprising, since in previous years it always entered the top 3, but it is because it has maintained the same prices in recent years, while many of the cities that have overtaken it have been increasing their rates progressively.
At the opposite extreme, after Ceuta and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Cádiz and Huelva (11 points), Melilla (13), Jerez de la Frontera (17), Almería appear as cities with the cheapest taxi rates in the top ten positions. (20), Guadalajara (21), Zaragoza (22), Jaén and Cuenca (23), Palma de Mallorca (24) and Huesca (26).
The differences in taxi fares between cities can be astonishing, reaching up to 328% in the daytime barrier reduction and 244.8% in the nighttime barrier, according to data collected by Facua. For example, in the case of the day, prices range from 1.10 euros in Ceuta to 4.71 euros in San Sebastián. Meanwhile, for the flag drop at night, rates vary from 1.45 euros in Castellón to 5 euros in Girona.
San Sebastián (5.96 euros), Lleida (5.18 euros) and Teruel (5.00 euros) repeat for another year as the cities where the minimum race during daytime is more expensive. At night, San Sebastián remains in first place (6.91 euros), but Valencia takes second place (6.50 euros) and León takes third place (6.14 euros). On average, the minimum run on weekdays during the day costs 3.87 euros, and at night, 4.90.
On the other hand, the cheapest cities in this category are, during daylight hours: Zaragoza (2 euros), Ciudad Real (2.40 euros), Murcia (2.45 euros), Madrid (2.50 euros) and Pamplona (2 .55 euros). At night, these are Barcelona (2.60 euros), Zaragoza (2.65 euros), Murcia (3.05 euros), Madrid (3.15 euros) and Huesca (3.32 euros). Once again, Barcelona remains the municipality of those analyzed with the cheapest night race.