Logo courtesy of GO Rentals

Logo courtesy of GO Rentals

After flying into your destination, which is the most cost-effective way to travel once you step off the airplane? Choices include a rental car, an Uber (or car-hailing service), or a traditional metered taxi.

New Zealand-based GO Rentals has researched Uber prices, taxi prices, and worldwide rental car rates to come up with the answer, depending on where you are in the world.

“There are multiple variables which must be considered when choosing how to get around and which will influence the final cost and convenience,” said James Dalglish, general manager of GO Rentals. “And more than that, the absolute cost also depends quite strongly on just precisely where in the world you are.”

For example, if you are traveling on your own and only need to go from one place to another (and you know between which two places you will travel), then an Uber or a taxi are the first choices. If you need transport, but aren’t sure of the times, places, or areas to which you will travel, a rental car can be a better option. Uber vehicles and taxis tend to operate in densely populated areas.

Aside from those considerations, other considerations include traveling with small children or large families or carrying bulky luggage like sports equipment.

“We’ve analyzed 85 cities around the world from Adelaide to Zurich and everywhere in between to work out whether it’s cheaper to rent a car, get an Uber, or jump in a taxi to the city center from the airport,” said Dalglish. “And we’ve sorted the comparison in Kiwi dollars to make it easy to see for yourself which option is best before embarking on that overseas jaunt.”

In New Zealand dollars, Milan is the best place to rent a car, as a return taxi ride will set you back $243.50 (151.32 euros) compared to a rental car which costs $40.74 (25.31 euros) for a day, according to the research. For U.S. dollars, it costs $29.19 for a one-day car rental and $87.25 to get a return taxi ride.

Auckland is ranked second on the list, with that taxi journey costing $89.70 compared with a daily rental at $37. This figure has climbed since GO Rentals first conducted the same research three years ago.

Then there’s Uber and other car-hailing services such as Lyft or BlaBlaCar. While only Uber was analyzed for this research, it has proven a cost-effective alternative to a taxi — or in some cases a car rental, depending on your travel needs.

Uber is cheaper than taxis in most cities around the world, according to the research. For example, it costs 163% more to take a taxi from the airport to the city in Birmingham in the U.K. than it is to take an Uber — $78.31 in a taxi versus $29.76 in an Uber one way, according to the report.

Unless traveling solely from the airport to the city, a rental car is generally cheaper than either Uber or metered taxi, according to the research. For the ranking, the cost of renting a car considers only the cheapest, basic per-day cost and doesn’t include factors such as fuel and insurance.

GO Rental’s table looks at various cities around the world in the cost of getting from the airport to the city center. The table also shows the costs in various types of currencies.

Click here for the table in New Zealand dollars.

Click here for the table in U.S. dollars.

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