Originally Posted by Kate_Canuck
At the airport, there are easy-to-find lines outside the arrivals area for "limos" and "taxis". Both are served by town cars (the regular metered taxis aren't allowed to pick people up in this area). You'll get charged a flat rate if you take a car from either the taxi or limo line-up, but you'll get charged about $10 more if you pick up one from the limo line-up. I have no idea why. (I've only taken a limo a few times - by accident or because there was a long line of people in the taxi line with no taxis and no one in the limo line-up). Stand in the taxi line-up, wait for a town car (probably no more than a few minutes' wait) and ask them the fare when you get in. It should be in the range of $40-45. They take credit cards, but there are a few bank machines in the public part of the arrivals hall.
Well actually there is a difference between limos and taxis. Unlike taxis in the city the airport taxis are generally full size cars, sometimes town cars but more often a Crown Vic or a Marquis or simillar. The taxis are, as a rule, older and the standards are not as strictly enforced, you may (or more realisticallly will) get a dirty cab or one in not great condition (I've had one with a cracked windsheild for example). The limos are always late model Lincolns or Cadillacs with leather seats a uniformed driver and more likely a radio and cell phone free ride. It's a matter of taste if you think this is worth 10 bucks.
The other thing to be aware of is that in bad weather, and especially later at night the wait for a taxi or a limo at the airport can at times be very long indeed, I've had to wait in excess of an hour on more than one occassion although granted this has not been recent and I think things have improved.
Originally Posted by Kate_Canuck
When you leave to go back to the airport, call Maple Leaf Taxi (a regular metered taxi service, but generally the most clean and professional of the bunch IMO) at 416 465 5555. Ask the dispatcher to quote you a flat rate to go to the airport. It should be in the range of $30-40 (I'm not sure exactly what zone the Sheraton is in; I used to pay about $34 from a spot a little further north, but I think the rates might have increased a little in the last few months). You can order a car service for pick-up, but Maple Leaf is decent and probably $10-15 cheaper.
Not always the most practical advice for someone staying at a big hotel but good advice for a residence or other small location (and keep in mind that Maple Leaf is essentially an east end company, if you are much west of University Ave they will usually have a longer wait for them as you will only have drivers on fares available rather than someone waiting at a nearby stand) yes you can call a specific cab company to a big hotel but it's a bit like swimming upriver, especially if the drivers waiting at the hotel don't take kindly to it (and generally they won't). Maple Leaf is the company I use too, they went through a bad patch a few years ago where Beck was a much better company but they seem to have fixed that. The only company I avoid specifically is co-op because almost all of their cabs are natural gas powered and therefore allowed to be on the road for 7 years instead of 4 for the regular cabs, it's now been 5 years since the new rules came in force and the co-op cabs are falling apart where everyone else has newer cabs. Just ask the bellman to get you a cab with a flat rate to the airport.