I have written several times before about being open about the different options you have for getting from many US and world airports into the city’s downtowns. I’ve written guides on the best and cheapest way to get from LGA airport to Manhattan, the Best and Cheapest Way to get from Downtown Boston to BOS and the best and cheapest way to get from CPH airport to Copenhagen city.
(SEE ALSO: Cheapest and best way to get from Downtown Chicago to Midway Airport (MDW))
(SEE ALSO: The best and cheapest way to get from SFO airport to Downtown San Francisco)
There are a lot of different options for getting from the airport to where you need to go, and my point in writing these articles is to explore the different options as well as explain them to out-of-towners who might not be familiar with the city. In many cases, I propose public transportation as an ideal way to get from many airports to downtown as the cheapest and most cost-effective way to do so.
How I Saved 97% On My Airport Ride
I flew into Austin on a Friday with some time to kill. I was meeting some friends for a weekend and wasn’t planning on renting a car. Most of my in-town friends were at work or also traveling on that Friday morning, so I didn’t have a guaranteed way to get from the airport to my hotel room downtown. I pulled up the Uber app to check on prices. I checked Austin airport Uber prices throughout the weekend and this was representative of the prices throughout the weekend for a ride from the airport to the Holiday Inn Express Austin Downtown. I did also see the prices go as low as $20 or so.
Instead, I pulled up the Austin CapMetro app for the bus system and bought a $1.25 ticket to Bus 20.
Bus 20 goes from the airport to Downtown Austin (and then continues up near the State Capitol and the University of Texas. It also intersects with several other high-capacity and high-frequency bus routes that allow you to get anywhere you want pretty easily. If you do have to make a transfer, you’ll either need to buy another ticket (so $2.50 total), or get a daily or monthly pass.
It runs every 15 minutes but it just so happens that my flight arrived just in time for me to catch the bus just before it left the airport.
The Tradeoffs Of Time
“But Dan! My time is worth more than <whatever random amount> dollars per hour!”
Sure, I can understand that argument. And if you have someone that is willing to pay you for that time, or if you have pressing commitments. In my case, I literally had nothing to do for most of the day, so the time I “saved” would have just been spent reading a book or doing nothing productive (things I could easily do on my bus ride). If you’re traveling with kids or with a lot of luggage, then that might be another reason to pay extra for the convenience of a direct journey via Uber, Lyft or taxi.
Another thing to consider is waiting time – as I mentioned above, Bus 20 runs every 15 minutes. I just happened to catch it, so I basically walked right onto the bus and it took off, but if you had just missed it, you’d have to spend another 15 minutes waiting for the next one. On the other hand, at AUS, the rideshare pickup is all the way through the parking garage as compared to the bus pickup right out front, so there’s a few more minutes of time savings. An Uber ride might have taken ~20 minutes and cost $25, as compared to a $1.25 bus ride that took 35 minutes. That’s around a $70 / hour wage, which is probably higher than most people’s…
The Bottom Line
I know it’s not for everyone, but don’t sleep on taking public transportation to get to/from the airport. It’s unfortunate that the public transportation system in the United States isn’t quite what it is in other countries, but even in pretty car-heavy cities like Austin, taking the bus is not unreasonable.
What about you? Do you ever take public transportation to where you need to go? Leave your experiences in the comments below
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I regularly take light rail from SEA to downtown Seattle. Not quite as inexpensive as a bus or as frequent as the one you caught, but the downtown stops are convenient to where I’m going.
For Toronto it’s also not worth taking a taxi. It’s also not worthwhile taking the UP Express unless you’re staying right around Union Station.
Just use the TTC buses that serve the airport and then it’s just a standard TTC fare.
Also the biggest ripoff ever is the “Niagara Airbus”. $314 CAD round trip for 2 – for a shared vehicle.
On weekends and holidays it costs just $10 CAD to take GO Transit there (plus $3 each way for the 104/204 bus between the bus or train station and Clifton Hill – AVOID the “WEGO” during peak periods) but there are also sometimes some deals available on weekdays too. Granted this can be a slow way of getting there’s but there’s immense savings, and there’s only a single connection en route from YYZ.
Blogger discovers mode of transport that’s been in existence for over a century longer than Uber, labels it a “hack” and shares epiphany with equally-lazy readership. (Not The Onion)
Carlitos – Maybe not everyone is all knowing like you present yourself to be. There are others to whom this might be new information – so shut your smug mouth and find another place to shit on postings.
No
Bangkok is a good one for PT. Although Taxi’s are relatively cheap anyway. most of them will do a set fee of THB 500, but if they put the meter on it comes to THB250-300, but the traffic, night & day is a killer. So the MRT and the BTS, 45THB to go virtually anywhere. It’s fast and safe and clean. Most major hotels are within walking distance of an MRT or BTS Station.
Yeah. Despite what others in the comments have said, I think in a lot of cases people are unaware of (or afraid to use) public transportation, so it’s a good reminder.
I mean, on my bus from the airport, I would say there was only 1 other group (of 3) that was taking the bus to their destination from the airport. Compare that to all the people that took Ubers, Lyfts or taxis…
Geez, if you had all day you could have really hacked it and walked.
I know you’re just messing with me, but like all things, it’s a tradeoff of time and money. Is paying $25 for a 20 minute ride better than paying $1.25 for a 40 minute ride? Sometimes yes, but if you have the time (like I did), then maybe not. Is a 4 hour walk (in Texas temperatures!) going to be worth it to save $1.25? Almost certainly never.
I used to do this all of the time in AUS. The airfares are usually cheaper than my home base of SAT. I would pay $5 and take the MegaBus to Austin from San Antonio, walk the quarter of a mile or so to where this bus picks up and take it to AUS. Even with the hassles, I saved enough money to make it worthwhile. I would do the same in reverse after I returned. However, after COVID, MegaBus cut back to only twice a day, so it is not really feasible anymore.