Getting to and from DAY: taxi, rideshare, transit & the cell-phone lot

The quickest way to Dayton airport is usually a taxi or a rideshare: a metered taxi gets you to Downtown Dayton, and Uber & Lyft pick up at TNC Commercial Ground Transportation pick-up Zone. Picking someone up instead? Wait free at the Cell Phone Lot. Below: every way to and from the airport, what it costs, whether to park or grab a ride, and how to fold the drive into your Leave-By Time so you reach security with room to get through the line. Check DAY TSA wait times today before you decide when to leave.

Picking someone up? Wait free at Cell Phone Lot. Free short-term waiting area on the airport access road, with free WiFi and a flight information screen. Wait there until your traveler texts that they're at the curb, then loop in once. Follow signs from the terminal access road to the Cell Phone Lot; wait there and proceed to the curb when your party lands.

Leaving a car for the trip instead of getting dropped off? It's worth checking the lots: compare DAYparking by price & distance.

Rideshare pickups at DAY run through TNC Commercial Ground Transportation pick-up Zone. Uber and Lyft pick up in the marked TNC Commercial Ground Transportation zone at the first crosswalk entrance to the terminal. Rideshare pickup is separate from the taxi curb; watch for the TNC zone signs at the first terminal crosswalk rather than the valet area.

Dropping off? Drop departing passengers at the terminal curb front. Daytonhas a single terminal, so there's no wrong-curb risk — any door gets you to check-in and security.

DAY sits about 12 miles from Downtown Dayton, a drive of roughly 16–25 minutes via I-75 to I-70; the airport is at Exit 32 off I-75 near the I-70/I-75 interchange in Vandalia — closer to the high end at rush hour. That drive time is the first input into your Leave-By Time, so the calculator counts it backward from your flight along with today's security wait and the walk to your gate.

RTA Route 43 links the airport with downtown Dayton's Wright Stop Plaza in roughly 45 minutes.

Fare: Single-ride fixed-route fare is about $2, rising under RTA's phased 2025-2026 schedule; confirm the current fare with RTA.

Complimentary DAYrider courtesy shuttles run daily 4:30am-midnight (or the last arriving flight); some hotels, including Crowne Plaza and Hampton Inn & Suites, also run shuttles. If a shuttle is part of your plan, add its ride time to your Leave-By Time — it's easy to forget the 15–20 minutes between the curb and the terminal.

The rule of thumb: a round-trip ride is one fixed cost, while parking adds up by the day. For a quick 1–2 day trip, parking usually costs less; for a longer trip, a round-trip taxi or rideshare often comes out ahead.

Want the exact trade-off for your dates? compare DAYparking by price & distance — the closest lot isn't always the one that costs the least.

Wheelchair-accessible vehicles are available for taxis, DAYrider shuttles, and hotel shuttles on request.

Late or overnight arrival? Taxi service runs until midnight or 30 minutes past the last arriving flight; rideshare and the Cell Phone Lot cover late arrivals, but Route 43 does not run overnight.

Returning a rental on the way out? Return at the rental car facility adjacent to the parking garage (Alamo, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz, National, Thrifty). (We cover where to return a car, not where to book one.)

If a fare or a schedule points you elsewhere, the closest airport we cover is CVG (Cincinnati), about 64 miles from DAY in a straight line. The same math on this page — drive time, ride cost, security wait — decides whether the extra distance is worth it.