Estimate taxi fares by distance.
A metered fare has three parts: the flagfall charged the moment the meter starts, a distance rate while the vehicle is moving above a threshold speed, and a waiting rate while it is not. Congestion moves cost from the distance term to the waiting term rather than removing it, which is why a short city trip in traffic can cost more than a longer suburban one. The all-in cost per mile folds the flagfall back in, and it is the figure that makes short taxi trips look as expensive as they are.
Metered fare
Fare = flagfall + miles x rate per mile + waiting minutes x waiting rate
Unit cost
All-in cost per mile = total fare / trip miles
Because the driver's time is the real cost. Meters switch from distance to time below a changeover speed of roughly 10 mph, so stop-start traffic bills continuously.
Only loosely. Ride-hail apps quote an up-front price built from predicted time and distance plus surge, so they carry the traffic risk instead of you. In free-flowing conditions the metered fare is often lower.