Question Are You Tired of the Taxi Ripoff?

[living4experiences]

I've just arrived in Cozumel and have been ripped off four times by taxi drivers! I thought I did enough due diligence to be informed about what I should be paying from point A to point B, but the taxi Mafia has little care about adhering to their rules. The first three drivers refused to provide me the rate card. The fare should have been 260 pesos from Casa Mexicana to Iberostar. The first two drivers quoted 350 pesos to which I countered with the correct fare. The price was lowered to 300 pesos. Once I mentioned I wanted to see the rate card, they all of a sudden didn't understand what I was talking about. I walked away and headed down the road on foot to catch another taxi. Driver number three said 300 pesos and also refused to provide the rate card. Now I was running out of time to get to my destination, so I paid the $300 pesos.

Coming back from iberostar, with no option, I was forced to pay the $300 pesos from Iberostar to Casa Mexicana. Once we arrived, I waited till my stuff was out of the van and then I asked the driver for his rate card, to which he did not know what I was talking about. I then typed the question into Google Translate and showed it to him. He looked dumbfounded and wouldn't answer, even seeing the question in his own language. I then went to the front of the van and took a picture of his license plate. He conveniently found a rate card. This rate card was in USD for cruise ship passengers only, for transportation from the International and Punta Langosta Piers. It occurred to me now that the drivers are charging regular tourists the cruise ship passenger rates all the time. This was not a zone rate card and it was not in Spanish or Pesos. When I asked to take a photo of the rate card, he refused. Now I'm angry and telling him that by law he needs to show it to me. He finally let me get a photo, but he didn't make it easy and wouldn't let me touch it. He says that Casa Mexicana is at Punta Langosta Pier. So somehow that means I'm a cruise ship passenger?

I would be interested to know what the community here does in these situations in Cozumel. Besides taking a picture of the license plate, what other photos should one gather in the event of filing a formal complaint? I'm not saying I would take time from my vacation to do so, but this might be enough of an intimidation to the driver that I'm not a customer that will be taken advantage of.

I'm thinking that Maybe I should just get in the cab, knowing the price, and pay it at the destination. If he has a problem with it, then that would be another issue.

 

[ggunn]

Wrong . Less then full can you pay for 4 people

So, let me see if I have got this straight... Everything you have posted in these two threads indicates to me that you have limited experience with Cozumel, maybe having been there only once (correct me if that is incorrect), and yet, you are "right" about how the shuttle system works while we are all "wrong". After all, I have only been to the island some 45 or 50 times since 1978, and I am myself a Cozumel neophyte compared to mstevens who has lived there for 12 years.

Once again, the shuttle tickets are sold inside the airport, the price per passenger is fixed and published, and the people who sell the tickets do not know or care how many passengers are on a given shuttle. The price per person is the same. Of course, this is for the public shuttle service; if you are talking about a private shuttle, where only you and your party are allowed aboard (that's not really a shuttle, is it?), then yes, it's expensive to get to a southern resort. So what?

 

[mstevens]

That’s exactly the opposite of what I was told by someone on the island. That person said that the shuttle drivers will attack people not in the mafia with violence who are giving people rides. Are you bribing them?

You were misinformed. I and family members have done this a hundred times. My friends and neighbors have collectively done it thousands of times. There is no problem with private vehicles picking up passengers at the airport, and that is simply a fact. What’s banned is businesses picking up passengers. That includes dive shops, hotels private rentals (such as AirBnB), or car rental agencies that don’t have an airport concession.

I’ve never even been spoken to by a shuttle driver, let alone attacked. Are you being bribed to attack reality? Not everyone who disagrees with you is being bribed to do so. Sometimes you’re just wrong. So wrong.

Why does this matter enough for me to try to keep correcting your misinformation in the face increasing ad hominem attacks? Not everyone travels the way you do. Some people have parts of their party arriving or departing on different days. Some of those people rent cars. It’s perfectly fine (and much cheaper) to go to the airport in your rental car to pick someone up or drop them off.

 

[mstevens]

I am myself a Cozumel neophyte compared to mstevens who has lived there for 12 years.

Not really. I’ve learned a lot from you over time. There are quite a few regular posters here who live on the island, own dive shops, etc. who know tons more than I probably ever will. How about Dave Dillehay, who built a pier downtown that’s still named after his business after it was swiped from him? Or, as a recent example, El Graduado, who probably knows more real Cozumel info than everyone else combined and decided not to put up with vehement, uninformed disagreements to his calmly-presented facts?

loady meets all the criteria for being a troll. Thankfully, Scubaboard has an “ignore” function of which loady and I can each make use.

 

[mstevens]

Here is more recent shuttle price (Dec 23)

Thanks. For reference, El Gradudo (Ric Hajovsky) has the current rates at his website Everything Cozumel.

 

[mstevens]

I reckon that nearly anything that can be said about Cozumel taxis has been said here. It’s happened before, and it’ll happen again. Like restaurants, dive shops, and places to stay, it’s a perennial topic on this board.

I’m sure someone will disagree, but I think I’m in a pretty large majority when I say that the arrival of true ride-hailing apps like Uber (Eiby Taxi really doesn’t count) can’t come soon enough for most Cozumel taxi users, whether one-time visitors or lifelong residents.

 

[Zman96]

You were misinformed. I and family members have done this a hundred times. My friends and neighbors have collectively done it thousands of times. There is no problem with private vehicles picking up passengers at the airport, and that is simply a fact. What’s banned is businesses picking up passengers. That includes dive shops, hotels private rentals (such as AirBnB), or car rental agencies that don’t have an airport concession.

I’ve never even been spoken to by a shuttle driver, let alone attacked. Are you being bribed to attack reality? Not everyone who disagrees with you is being bribed to do so. Sometimes you’re just wrong. So wrong.

Why does this matter enough for me to try to keep correcting your misinformation in the face increasing ad hominem attacks? Not everyone travels the way you do. Some people have parts of their party arriving or departing on different days. Some of those people rent cars. It’s perfectly fine (and much cheaper) to go to the airport in your rental car to pick someone up or drop them off.

I am with you, every trip I get picked up by one of a couple of friends on the island. My one buddy, before the reconfiguration of the arrivals area, would be waiting for us right outside of customs by the automatic door and he always had a very cold beer for us! Over the course of my stays I usually have to go the airport to pickup friends who joins us for part of the trip as well. We have never had anybody notice nor care. Of course I am not nearly as experienced as others here, I am a neophyte compared to many here with only 30 trips in the last 15 years.

 

[ggunn]

Only if you want a private van, which I don't think you ever mentioned here. But since you were quoted $80 USD, that would fit 1285 MXN I guess with changing exchange rates.

View attachment 855543

Bingo. The US$80 is for a party of 5-8 going to the south end of the island. I would imagine that someone traveling alone who wanted a private shuttle (if that is what happened) would have to pay the entire 1285 pesos. Why anyone would want to do that, I dunno, but it's 6.5X what a shared ride to the same place would be, and it's posted there in plain view.

 

[TMurrr]

Its a scam, they hate Uber cause they can inflate prices, they see tourists and charge 10x. It is what it is.

 

[ggunn]

Its a scam, they hate Uber cause they can inflate prices, they see tourists and charge 10x. It is what it is.

What's a scam? If it's the taxi drivers you mean, they may charge tourists more but it's nowhere remotely near ten times as much. It's not even twice as much. Hyperbole does not help your point.