Starting rates by zone
| Where the ride starts or ends | Usual time on the road | One way, from |
|---|---|---|
| Canton, Fells Point, Harbor East, Inner Harbor | 18 to 26 minutes | $58 and up |
| Federal Hill, Locust Point, Riverside | 16 to 24 minutes | $54 and up |
| Mount Vernon, Bolton Hill, Station North | 22 to 30 minutes | $62 and up |
| Hampden, Remington, Woodberry, Charles Village | 26 to 36 minutes | $68 and up |
| Highlandtown, Brewers Hill, Greektown, Dundalk | 24 to 34 minutes | $66 and up |
| Towson, Lutherville, Timonium | 34 to 48 minutes | $84 and up |
| Columbia, Ellicott City, Elkridge | 22 to 34 minutes | $72 and up |
| Annapolis and the Broadneck side | 34 to 46 minutes | $92 and up |
Read those as the lowest daytime figure in US dollars that we see for a one way run to BWI Thurgood Marshall in a sedan, before tolls and before tax. They are not a promise about your morning, and this page would rather be dull about that than clever.
Why there is no single promised number
Somebody always asks why this page will not just print one figure and stand behind it. The answer is on the road. A ride from Canton at 7:15 on a Tuesday and the same ride at 4:40 on a Sunday take different routes, different tunnels and different amounts of the driver's day. A page that promised one number would be contradicted by its own list of additions three paragraphs later.
So the desk quotes. You get a starting rate for your zone, then every addition that could apply, then the total that follows if nothing changes. If something does change on the day, you were told in advance what it would cost.
What the starting rate covers
What a starting rate covers
- One vehicle, sized for the people and bags on the request.
- The driver present at the agreed pickup time.
- Watching your flight number, on arrivals, at no charge.
- One agreed pickup address and one agreed drop.
- The booking work itself, placed with the operator by this desk.
What is added on top, by name
- The tunnel toll, at whatever the operator's pass is charged at that day.
- Waiting past the operator's free window, on their clock, named in the quote.
- A night hour pickup between 10:00 pm and 5:00 am.
- A second stop, an added passenger pickup, or a changed address after the run sheet is out.
- A van instead of a sedan, when the group or the bags need one.
- Maryland and local taxes, collected by the operator.
- A gratuity, entirely yours to decide, never added by this desk.
The hour bands
The same zone costs differently depending on when the vehicle has to be there. This is the operators' pricing rather than ours, and it is consistent enough across them to print.
| Hour band | What it means for the rate | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Before 5:00 am | Usually a night hour addition | The driver's shift starts in the dark and the vehicle repositions empty. |
| 5:00 am to 9:30 am | Starting rate, sometimes a peak addition on weekdays | The heaviest departure bank of the day at the field, and the commute is in the tunnels. |
| 9:30 am to 3:00 pm | Starting rate | The quiet middle. If your flight lets you travel then, this is the least expensive hour to be on the road. |
| 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm | Often a peak addition on weekdays | The evening commute sits on both crossings at once. |
| After 10:00 pm | Night hour addition | Same reason as before dawn, and fewer vehicles are out. |
What you actually hear on the callback
A free quote here means one telephone call, and the call runs in the same order every time.
- The zone your address falls in, and the starting figure against it.
- Which additions apply to your particular run, said out loud one by one.
- The total those come to if the day goes normally.
- The vehicle size the operator would send, and the pickup time on offer.
- A pause, because the next word is yours.
After that call, silence. No follow up sequence, no reminder the following week, no second attempt to talk you round. Most sites promise a free quote and then treat your number as an opening; the difference is easy to state and easy to check, so it is stated here.
Ask through the request form or the check on the front page. Nothing is reserved until you agree, and this site has no payment step anywhere in it.
Three promises this page refuses to make
- That one number will hold whatever happens. Tolls, waiting and a second stop move the total, and this page names each of them. A promise the same page goes on to contradict is exactly what gets a landing page rejected, and rightly.
- A slogan about charges instead of a list of them. Everything that can be added is written above by name, which is the useful version. Slogans of that shape belong to a business with a running billing operation behind it, and this desk does not bill you at all.
- That nobody in the region is ever less expensive. We have not surveyed every operator in Maryland, and neither has anybody who claims that spot.
If you want the shortest honest summary of this page: a starting figure, a named list of additions, and a telephone call that turns those into one number for your date.