@HFCAMPO. You ever see the taxi lane when it's not summer? They sit around for hours.
@AlPage48. That's really hard to fathom. The East bus station is still far out from the airport.

@alexkmg
Not that far. I suspect the drivers from the bus station take the long way around to boost the fares.

@AlPage48. It's 18km distance between the airport and east coach station. There is a toll inbetween also.

The taxis at the east coach station have to pick up on the backside, which probably means they have to take siwa rd instead of the more direct main thoroughfare.

There is a large number of taxis at the East Bus Station, very very seldom will they use the meter, quote a sensible price or be the official driver who's licence is displayed. There was a big crackdown on them about a month or two back, but they've all returned now.

If you're at the east bus station and you need to get to the airport or vice versa, take the subway to the east bus station.

From there you can go all the way to Xi Shan for around 40-45 tops, city centre will cost around 20 yuan or take bus 237 or 50 which will run right through to the west of the city. Make sure you walk to the main road and get a taxi and not one waiting outside the station, as those are the metered prices I'm quoting.

I used to go to both the airport and the east bus station by taxi often. The prices are no where near the same. It would be somewhere between 30-40 for the bus station and 80-100 depending on traffic for the airport. Like Alex said, these places are 18 km apart.

If you aren't short on time though, the cheapest way to get to the airport before 6pm is to take a public bus to the east bus station (like 22 or 29) for 1 to 2 RMB then take the line 6 subway from the east bus station to the airport for 5 RMB.