Opinion: Aruba’s official taxi fares raise questions about price proportionality. Part 1

Author’s name known to the editorial staff

A review of Aruba’s official taxi fares raises questions about the relationship between the distance traveled and the price a passenger pays, particularly for short trips.

Taxi.aw is the official source for taxi fares in Aruba and, according to the website itself, the rates are established and regulated by the Government of Aruba. The current fare schedule has been in effect since May 20, 2026, and the online calculator is regarded as the most up-to-date source for determining the price of a trip. The official minimum fare is US$10, equivalent to Afl. 18.

A trip of only 1.5 kilometers costing US$25, for example, represents an effective cost of approximately US$16.67 per kilometer. Naturally, Aruba’s taxi fares are not literally calculated on a per-kilometer basis, but the calculation is useful in showing how much a passenger ultimately pays in relation to the distance traveled.

To put that figure into perspective, a special transportation service in the Netherlands costing US$287 for a 118-kilometer trip works out to approximately US$2.43 per kilometer. These are not identical services, and operating costs in Aruba and the Netherlands are not the same. Still, the difference is large enough to raise the question of whether Aruba’s fixed-fare system produces disproportionately high prices for short trips.

I also reviewed other officially published fares. According to information from the Aruba Tourism Authority based on Taxi.aw’s official rates, a taxi from the airport to Oranjestad costs US$26, to the low-rise hotel area US$37, to High-Rise South US$40, and to High-Rise North US$41, excluding any applicable surcharges.

To compare fares with distance, transportation source Rome2Rio estimates the distance between Queen Beatrix International Airport and Oranjestad at approximately 5.7 to 6 kilometers. A fare of US$26 for roughly 6 kilometers works out to about US$4.33 per kilometer.

For Eagle Beach, which falls within the low-rise area, the driving distance from the airport is approximately 9.2 kilometers according to the same source. At an official fare of US$37, that is equivalent to approximately US$4.02 per kilometer.

For Palm Beach, the driving distance is around 9.4 kilometers according to Rome2Rio. Compared with a US$40 fare to High-Rise South, the effective cost is approximately US$4.26 per kilometer. The calculation is indicative, since the exact fare may vary depending on the hotel or final destination within the zone.

The figures reveal an interesting pattern. On trips of roughly 6 to 10 kilometers, the effective rate may be around US$4 per kilometer. But when a trip is only 1.5 kilometers and costs US$25, the effective rate jumps to more than US$16 per kilometer. This illustrates the effect that a fixed-fare or zone-based system can have on short journeys. Part 2 follows tomorrow.