Late night arrival at YVR, will there be taxis?

[sbt518]

Our flight doesn’t land at YVR until 1am, then we have to get our bags, go through customs. It’s a major airport in a major city so I assume although it won’t be as crowded as during the day, it will still be fully operational in the wee hours and there will taxis waiting. 

 

Can anyone local confirm? Or anyone who has arrived that late?

 

Thanks!

[japlanet]

Yes there will be cabs at that hour. The skytrain doesn’t run between 1 and 5am so that’s pretty much the only way to leave the airport overnight. 

[sbt518]

Thanks Japlanet! We’re considering the sky train back to the airport after the cruise but at 1am which will be 3am for us, we won’t be sad the train is shut down overnight.

[martincath]

Accurate info above - but if you feel the queue for cabs is taking too long you can throw more money at the problem and use the walkup limo queue instead. We've done that on a few occasions, usually very late flights where we just want to get home and collapse into bed ASAP - and never had to wait at all, walked right up to a towncar and off we went. Rates are roughly double the cab price, ~$60-70 cf $32-35 depending where in downtown your hotel is, but considering how much you likely pay for cabs to airports in NYC it'll still seem a bargain 😉

[sbt518]

Yes, we are used to most things being a bargain compared to home prices! 😂

 

This is good to know about the town car line, I’m sure patience will be short after our flight.

 

Do the town cars take credit cards? 

[japlanet]

If you really want to solve the problem with money, there are plenty of car services you can prebook to have someone waiting for you with a sign etc. You can also prebook cabs with varying levels of success. 

[sbt518]

I don’t want to spend my whale watching, glacier viewing dollars on a ride from the airport to downtown so I think we’ll draw the line at something we can get once we’re at the airport.

[geoherb]

I just booked my flight to YVR and it arrives at 12:05 a.m. I was hoping for a hotel near the airport with a free shuttle. Do any of them run that late?

[japlanet]

YVR is literally on an island unto itself. Your best bet is the hotel attached to the airport. There’s a hotel attached to the casino on the island but I don’t think they have a shuttle. 

[martincath]

On 5/25/2019 at 5:28 PM, sbt518 said:

Yes, we are used to most things being a bargain compared to home prices! 😂

This is good to know about the town car line, I’m sure patience will be short after our flight.

Do the town cars take credit cards? 

Yes, both cabs and limos of all sizes take Visa & MasterCards (AmEx has more limited acceptance up here, and Discovery and Diners are both extremely rarely accepted). They'll also take USD cash, but at a poor exchange rate.

 

23 hours ago, geoherb said:

I just booked my flight to YVR and it arrives at 12:05 a.m. I was hoping for a hotel near the airport with a free shuttle. Do any of them run that late?

I'm going to disagree with the other local poster - the Fairmont attached to the airport is not the only hotel on Sea Island, and literally every airport hotel except the Fairmont does have a free shuttle running 24hrs (NB: that the casino hotel, River Rock, is not an airport hotel despite being close by - since it's right on SkyTrain they have no shuttle). Fairmont is so expensive that a less-swanky downtown hotel plus a limo would be cheaper - so unless you feel that you need 4* or better trappings, spend a little time getting to another hotel to save a bucket of cash.

 

Depending how much you value your time though, there are some airport hotels that are a ridiculous distance away and all of them as far as I know have only a single shuttle. At busy times the shuttle may just circle around co0nstantly between hotel an airport, but late at night when it's quieter the shuttles usually come on request - so they have to get the staff member responsible for driving it from wherever they are in the hotel doing something else and then send it out. If you check Google driving directions for the hotel you're considering to YVR you can estimate the timing - I'd add 10-15 mins to the drive time to ballpark the likely delay for a shuttle in the wee small hours. Just jumping in a cab and driving downtown can be as quick as waiting for a shuttle - and if you just want a comfy, clean, safe bed for the night the YWCA Hotel downtown has unbeatable value (cheaper than any remotely-convenient airport hotel but in a much better location).

 

If you are thinking to just hop in a cab to your airport hotel instead of waiting for a shuttle, be aware the the new fixed fare zones totally screw anyone who takes a cab to most airport hotels - what used to be a <$10 cab ride now has a minimum charge of at least $20 (this compensates drivers - who wait up to 45 mins in a long cab queue at YVR before they get to the front for the next fare, so they used to detest getting a fare to a nearby hotel!)

 

 

[LF23]

On 5/26/2019 at 8:48 PM, martincath said:

the new fixed fare zones totally screw anyone who takes a cab to most airport hotel

 

Is this true the other way around- airport hotel to YVR?  Google driving shows 5 minute drive from Hampton Inn to YVR departures and according to Hampton there’s a shuttle scheduled every half hour. But if we need for some reason to hop in a taxi instead... Thanks. 

[martincath]

Nope - fixed rates only apply when leaving YVR, not going there. By law all other rides must turn on the meter!