Tourist Taxis :
This particular type of taxi is coloured green with a white diamond sign on the sides
and bonnet as well as their unique tourist number on the sides. They
are regulated by the GTA (Gambia Tourism Authority) and are
fully insured. They are to be found usually in a rank near to the major
hotels or parked near the front of Banjul Airport. The fares are fixed
and are calculated for the majority of distances & can be found on
boards posted at the rank. If you use one for an excursion the waiting
time prices are also fixed. Always confirm fares with the
taxi driver before your departure. Lots of these taxis can be found in
Senegambia and make regular routes up to Kairaba Avenue as well as
towards the airport.
Standard Bush Taxi:
 These
cars use regular routes have set prices and thus are the cheapest
method of taxi transport, widely used by Gambians from all walks of
life. Flag one down from anywhere along their route—you may also be
dropped whenever you please along this route. You can get to
practically any town in The Gambia using this type of
transport—anywhere as close as Serekunda or further than Basse
up-country.
 From Kairaba Avenue, you can take taxis to Serekunda
(usually vans) or Westfield (usually yellow cars), from whence you can
join taxis to other towns. You can also catch taxis going the other
way, towards Bakau. To get to Banjul, stand on Sait Matty Road at the
junction of the log pile (number 42)—though given the often crowded
taxis, it is usually wise to stand on the opposite side of the street
and ride it into Bakau and then back to Banjul. On a bush taxi, pay
your fare (“pas”) a few minutes before you plan to get off, giving
more time for bills requiring massive change (which you should by all
means avoid). It is courteous to tell the apprentice (the boy who
opens the door and collects money) where you wish to get out when you
are getting close to your destination. In Wolof, “Meyima fii” means
“Let me down here”; for other useful phrases, see the Language
section. To catch the driver’s attention, either to hand him your fare
or request a drop off, you can simply call out “Driver!” Common fares
for local trips are as follows, though note that they have been
increasing at exponential rates in the recent years due to inflation
and rises in fuel prices.
These are standard 4 door cars which are coloured yellow with a green stripe running along the
sides and bonnet. These are the ones that the majority of Gambians use
and offer a cheaper alternative than the tourist taxis above and can
be found on most main roads. However they are kept away from the
entrances of the hotel resorts by the authorities to prevent the
drivers from
hassling tourists. Such transport is usually shared and the cost for
short trips when shared is D5 about 10 pence.
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Mini Vans
 These are also known as Bush Taxis and such vans come in all colours and sizes but have yellow number plates
and some operate mainly between the resorts connecting up to the urban
areas while the majority of the routes make connections between the major urban centres
and between Serrekunda to Banjul and Bakau to Banjul. This mode of transport are shared and the typical
fare is D5
about 10 pence for urban trips except to Banjul where the fare is D10
or 20 pence. It is possible to rent the van on an exclusive basis if
you are part of a large group but yet again negotiate prices and
confirm before your departure. They can often be hired for the whole
day for tours around the country. Please note that many bush taxis are
in a terrible state of repair. If you are a seat belt user you will
find that the seat belts are often dusty due to lack of use by
passengers so take along a small damp cloth with which to wipe it
down.
Town trip:
However you can hire
them on what is called a "town trip" which means you get exclusive use
of it but expect to pay for example D150 about £3 for trips of about 5
kilometres. If you want a “town trip,” you want a taxi that is hailed
for your services alone. When you hire a taxi for a town trip, the
taxi will take you directly to your destination without stopping for
anyone else. The catch is, you must bargain for your ride. Ask a
Gambian for advice on what a town trip should cost for a specific
destination before hailing a cab—the cab driver try to charge you an
exorbitant price for being a tubaab. If a driver reuses to reduce to a
reasonable fare, you can always try another. The price will be per
trip rather than per person, so the more the merrier and cheaper.
Watch out for the green tourist taxis however, as during the tourist
season they have set meters for high prices you should never pay.
In the off-season, they sometimes operate as regular taxis. Such fares
are negotiable so confirm the price with the driver before departing.
One idea to save money is to note down what
the official green tourist taxis are charging then negotiate with one
of the yellow taxis for a fare of about 1/3 of this sum.
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