For three weeks this autumn, Prague taxis had no maximum fares at all, and it took some drivers no time to notice. Between 1 and 20 October 2026 the city’s price cap was not in force, and Prague City Hall has now confirmed it received 70 complaints about overpriced rides from that short window. Almost every complaint came from a foreign visitor.
The worst case on the list: 320 euros, about 8,100 CZK, for a 3.2-kilometre night ride from the Duplex club on Wenceslas Square to Na Františku Hospital in the Old Town. One passenger paid 9,955 CZK and could not even say where the ride started or ended.
How Prague ended up without a price cap
City Hall cancelled the maximum taxi prices on 30 September, with effect from 1 October. Deputy Mayor for Transport Jaromír Beránek said it was not a political decision of the city leadership but a step taken by officials, and that he had asked the department to prepare a proper discussion about price regulation.
The experiment did not last. After the wave of complaints, the cap was brought back on 21 October. City Hall spokesman Vít Hofman described the return as a justified measure in the public interest that had to be adopted without delay, adding that market forces alone do not protect customers well enough from excessive prices. For the period without the cap, he said, the market was the only regulator.
Since 21 October 2026 a taxi with a taximeter may charge at most 70 CZK to board, 42 CZK per kilometre and 7 CZK per minute of waiting, VAT included. You will find the details in our guide to official Prague taxi fares.
What passengers paid, and what the same ride may cost today
The Chamber of Taxi Service Operators asked City Hall for the complaints and its representative Štěpán Hradečný published the list on Facebook. City Hall confirmed to the Czech daily Blesk that the list is genuine. We took the 13 rides where the list gives the route, the distance and the price, and worked out the most the same distance may cost under the cap in force today (70 CZK boarding plus 42 CZK per kilometre, before any waiting time).
| From | To | Distance | Paid | Today’s cap | Times more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duplex club, Wenceslas Square | Na Františku Hospital | 3.2 km | 320 EUR (about 8,096 CZK) | 204 CZK | 40× |
| Nebe cocktail bar | Hotel Olympik | 3.4 km | 205.64 EUR (about 5,203 CZK) | 213 CZK | 24× |
| Old Town Square | U Glaubiců restaurant | 2.3 km | 100 EUR (about 2,530 CZK) | 167 CZK | 15× |
| Innside Prague Old Town hotel | Opletalova Street | 2.0 km | 2,300 CZK | 154 CZK | 15× |
| Main train station | Hotel Clarion Congress | 6.6 km | 4,973 CZK | 347 CZK | 14× |
| Duplex club, Wenceslas Square | Hotel Metropol | 1.3 km | 1,500 CZK | 125 CZK | 12× |
| City centre | Václav Havel Airport | 15.0 km | 7,560 CZK | 700 CZK | 11× |
| Smetanovo nábřeží (riverside) | Václav Havel Airport | 15.0 km | 7,554 CZK | 700 CZK | 11× |
| Wenceslas Square | Kurta Konráda Street | 7.3 km | 3,440 CZK | 377 CZK | 9× |
| Václav Havel Airport | Hotel Grandior | 17.1 km | 6,994 CZK | 788 CZK | 9× |
| Malostranské náměstí (Lesser Town) | Václav Havel Airport | 14.5 km | 5,469 CZK | 679 CZK | 8× |
| Karlova Street | Opletalova Street | 3.0 km | 1,486 CZK | 196 CZK | 8× |
| Main train station | Bethlehem Chapel | 2.9 km | 916 CZK | 192 CZK | 5× |
Together these 13 passengers paid 58,021 CZK. At today’s maximum rates the same distances come to about 4,840 CZK, so roughly twelve times less. Waiting time in traffic adds 7 CZK a minute, but even a quarter of an hour stuck at red lights adds only 105 CZK, which does not come close to explaining these prices. Novinky.cz also reported a ride from the airport to Hotel Diplomat for almost 1,700 CZK, about three times what that roughly 11-kilometre trip may cost under the cap.
The pattern is the one we have described for years in our article on taxi risk locations: short rides from nightclubs, bars and the Old Town late at night, rides from the main train station, and airport trips with tourists who do not know the normal price. Seven of the 13 rides were shorter than three and a half kilometres, the kind of distance many visitors could walk in 40 minutes.
Drivers, the industry and the police react
Not everyone in the trade was pleased. Štěpán Hradečný announced that he was suspending all his work for the Chamber of Taxi Service Operators until the drivers who charged these prices sign a declaration promising reasonable fares in future. Tomáš Prouza, president of the Czech Trade and Tourism Association, had been sceptical about deregulation from the start and said it was only a matter of time before rides costing tens of thousands of crowns appeared.
Police dealt with some of the rides in which a few kilometres cost thousands of crowns, and some cases will continue as administrative proceedings. Under the rules that apply again, a driver who overcharges can be fined tens of thousands of crowns, the car can be held until a deposit is paid, and the driver can lose the taxi licence.
How to avoid paying a fortune for a Prague taxi
The cap is back, but a cap only helps if the meter is honest and the passenger knows the rules. Our advice has not changed:
- Do not take a taxi waiting outside a club, a bar or a tourist sight. Order a car by phone or through an app instead. In an app such as Uber, Bolt or Liftago you see the price before you get in; see our comparison of Uber, Bolt and Liftago.
- Know the maximum. A ride within Prague may cost at most 70 CZK plus 42 CZK per kilometre plus 7 CZK per minute of waiting. A 3-kilometre ride should cost around 200 CZK, not 2,000.
- Agree on the currency. Several of the worst rides were charged in euros. The meter counts in crowns; if a driver names a price in euros, ask for the meter amount in CZK.
- From the airport, use the official service. Uber Airport is the official taxi service at Václav Havel Airport, with a price agreed before the ride. Our guide to taxi transport from Prague Airport explains the options, including fixed-price transfers booked in advance.
- Always ask for a receipt from the taximeter. It is your evidence. Note the car’s registration number and the driver’s licence number shown inside the car.
- Complain. These 70 complaints are the reason the cap came back so quickly. If you have been overcharged, report it to the police on 158 straight away, or afterwards to Prague City Hall with the receipt, the date, the time and the route.
More warning signs are in our guides on how to avoid Prague taxi scams and Prague taxi safety tips.
Sources: list of complaints published by Štěpán Hradečný of the Chamber of Taxi Service Operators and reported by Blesk.cz (Tomáš Koníček, 7 November 2026) and Novinky.cz (Jan Šponar, 7 November 2026). Euro amounts converted as in the published list. The “today’s cap” column is our own calculation from the maximum fares in force since 21 October 2026, without waiting time.
