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Taxis & ride-hailing

Prepaid counters, black-and-yellow meters, Cool Cabs, autos and app cabs — what each one costs and where to find it.

Prepaid taxi

Fixed fare paid at a counter before you leave the building. The safest option if you do not know Mumbai.

Uber & Ola

Cheaper off-peak, and often more expensive than prepaid when surge pricing bites late at night.

Cool Cab

Mumbai's licensed air-conditioned taxi class, on its own higher meter. Sold at the prepaid counter too.

Auto rickshaw

Cheapest by far for short hops — but legally cannot take you into South Mumbai.

The default choice

Prepaid taxi counters

Both terminals have a prepaid counter operated under airport authority. You pay a fixed, RTO-approved fare up front and receive a slip showing the driver's name and vehicle registration. Hand the slip to the driver at the rank; nothing further should be payable beyond genuine tolls.

Terminal 2
Bay P4, Level 1, Ground Transportation (inside the car park)
Terminal 1
At the arrival exit, city side
Vehicles
Black & yellow ("kaali-peeli") and air-conditioned Cool Cabs
Payment
Cash, card or UPI — all accepted at the counter
Expect a small booking fee A convenience charge of around ₹40 per booking has been reported on top of the fare since the airport operator took the counter over. Ask for a receipt that itemises it.
  1. Collect your bags first

    The counters are past baggage reclaim, before you step outside.

  2. Name your destination

    The clerk quotes from a printed, destination-by-destination fare chart. This chart is not published online — it exists at the counter.

  3. Pay and take the slip

    It carries the driver's name and the vehicle number. Keep it until you arrive.

  4. Go to the rank

    Hand the slip over. Pay tolls if the route uses the Sea Link or Atal Setu; nothing else.

Regulated rates

Official Mumbai taxi and auto tariffs

Set by the Maharashtra transport department and applying across the metropolitan region, including airport pickups. These are the rates in force from 1 February 2025.

VehicleMinimum fare (first 1.5 km)Per km after that
Black & yellow taxi (CNG)₹31₹20.66
Cool Cab (air-conditioned)₹48₹37.20
Auto rickshaw (CNG)₹26₹17.14
Source: Maharashtra State Transport Department tariff card, effective 1 February 2025.

Night surcharge

+25% on the fare between midnight and 05:00.

Luggage

₹6 per package larger than 60×40 cm. Handbags and briefcases are exempt.

Waiting

10% of the basic per-km fare for every minute waited. AC black-and-yellow taxis charge 10% above the base rate.

What it actually costs

Indicative fares into the city

The airport does not publish its destination fare chart online. The figures below are compiled from independent operators and travel guides and should be treated as a range, not a quotation.

DestinationTypical fareJourney time
Andheri (East / West)₹120–37015–30 min
Juhu₹200–37020–35 min
Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC)₹200–45020–40 min
Bandra West₹200–45015–45 min
Colaba / CSMT / South Mumbai₹620–95045–85 min
Vashi, Navi Mumbai₹800–1,00060–75 min
Thane₹650–95045–90 min
Panvel₹1,000–1,50060–90 min
Pune (outstation, via Expressway)₹3,500–4,5003.5–4.5 hrs
Indicative ranges for a sedan. Tolls are extra. Peak hours in Mumbai run roughly 08:00–11:00 and 18:00–21:00.
Why prepaid costs more than the meter suggests A 25 km run on the plain black-and-yellow meter works out around ₹520. Prepaid quotes to Vashi run ₹800–1,000 because they usually price an air-conditioned vehicle, add the convenience fee, and load for the empty return leg.
Tolls you may meet Bandra–Worli Sea Link roughly ₹100 each way; Atal Setu to Navi Mumbai around ₹250 one-way; Mumbai–Pune Expressway about ₹336. All are revised periodically and are paid by the passenger.
Ride-hailing

Uber, Ola and Rapido pickup zones

App cabs do not collect from the kerb outside arrivals. Every service has an assigned bay inside the Terminal 2 multi-level car park.

ServiceTerminal 2 pickupTerminal 1 pickup
Uber (Go, Premier, UberX)MLCP bay P7 WestGround transportation, city side
Uber Black & Uber XLBay P6, Level 2, Arrivals WestGround transportation, city side
Uber GreenBay P6Ground transportation, city side
OlaArrivals P4, Level 1Ground transportation, city side
RapidoArrivals levelArrivals level
Uber Black and XL moved to P6 in August 2025. Bays are occasionally reassigned — follow the app's in-terminal directions.

Book from inside

Connect to the free airport Wi-Fi and request the car before you start walking. The route to P6 and P7 is entirely inside the covered car park.

Airport access fee

Expect roughly ₹100–150 added within the app for the airport's commercial-vehicle pickup charge. It should never be demanded in cash by the driver.

Surge is real

Multipliers of 2–3× are common at 08:00–11:00, 18:00–22:00 and around the late-night long-haul bank. Between 21:30 and 03:00 the prepaid counter is often cheaper.

The cheapest option

Auto rickshaws — with one big limitation

Autos wait at P5 in T2 arrivals and on the city side at T1. They run on the meter, and drivers carry a fare conversion chart; the airport's own advice is to pay by the meter and chart rather than negotiate.

Autos cannot enter South Mumbai Licensing restricts them to roughly Borivali–Bandra in the west and as far as Sion in the centre. For Colaba, Fort, Churchgate or Nariman Point you need a taxi, an app cab or Metro Line 3. Do not let a driver agree to take you and then abandon you at the boundary.

Where they excel: Andheri, Vile Parle, Santacruz, Juhu, Marol and anywhere within a few kilometres of the terminals — typically ₹50–150 and quicker through traffic than a car.

Choosing between them

First visit, night arrival, lots of luggage
Prepaid counter. Fixed price, traceable vehicle.
Daytime, off-peak, going north or east
Uber or Ola will usually undercut prepaid.
Short hop within the suburbs
Auto rickshaw, on the meter.
Peak hour, heading to South Mumbai
Metro Line 3. Nothing on the road will beat it.
Metro fares & times
Practical

Six things worth knowing

Carry small notes
Drivers rarely hold change for ₹2,000 notes. ATMs are on the arrivals level at both terminals.
Ignore touts
Anyone approaching you inside the hall offering a taxi is not the official service. The counters are signed.
Build in traffic
A 25 km airport run can take 40 minutes at 06:00 and 100 minutes at 19:00.
Install apps before landing
Uber, Ola and Chalo all need a working data connection or airport Wi-Fi to register.
Know your bay letter
P4, P5, P6, P7 are different services. Reading the bay sign saves ten minutes of walking.
Monsoon changes everything
June to September, road journeys can double. The metro does not flood.