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.

 

[ReefHound]

What I like most about rideshare is the app features. I was using Eiby (unfortunately, not working recently) in Cozumel every chance I could, even though it calls the same Cozumel taxistas, because of the app features. I can summon a Coz taxi in Messenger to my location and they will tell me the taxi number and approximate wait but the app is much better with having all the driver and vehicle details, when they will arrive, and real time location map showing where they are and the route they are taking.

 

[ggunn]

What I like most about rideshare is the app features. I was using Eiby (unfortunately, not working recently) in Cozumel every chance I could, even though it calls the same Cozumel taxistas, because of the app features. I can summon a Coz taxi in Messenger to my location and they will tell me the taxi number and approximate wait but the app is much better with having all the driver and vehicle details, when they will arrive, and real time location map showing where they are and the route they are taking.

We have a favorite Cozumel cab driver and we have his cell phone number. He usually is at our hotel in 5-10 minutes. He treats us well and we reciprocate.

 

[NDL_Diver]

So far this week we have been paying 100 pesos from the condo that is around Norte Marina to Centro to as far as 30ave and 5st. Also from Mega to condo. 10 trips to town and back so far and all same. Now they wanted $10 USD the 1st day but we said cien peso and he said Si.

The rate card is 75 peso and we always just gave 100. So no change to us.

 

[Dan G]

Sure, the NYC cab medallion scheme is unethical and created artificial scarcity and poor quality, high prices. Thats what lyft uber solved. Taxi Medallions were like investing in anything else. They took a risk and some lost. The city should have tripled the number of medallion cab licenses 50 years ago. In a huge city like NYC there will always be a demand for cabs that riders can hail. They will have to go to the places the passengers are. Uber and Lyft do surge pricing that raises their prices HIGHER than cabs in some cases.

I don't really see this as a story where the free market solved a problem. One group was required to pay a huge fee to run a business and another group was able to run the same business without paying any fee. It's not as if the cab drivers invested in a stock and the stock didn't payout. Keeping with the analogy, it's as if the government required them to buy a specific stock also owned by the government and then the government purposely devalued the stock in favor of a different group of investors.

 

[ReefHound]

The free market solved the problem of tyrannical authorities requiring exorbitant fees of certain businesses to control an industry and generate big revenue streams for itself.

 

[ggunn]

The free market solved the problem of tyrannical authorities requiring exorbitant fees of certain businesses to control an industry and generate big revenue streams for itself.

There is no such thing as a free market.

 

[mcohen1021]

I was in cozumel last month and the cab fares were ridiculous.

I ended up paying a guy who worked at a local restaurant to get me to a few places.

They're even trying to charge you 30 pesos pp to drive into Caleta now. I told the guy I had no cash on me and went in anyways

 

[DandyDon]

I ended up paying a guy who worked at a local restaurant to get me to a few places.

He'll get his car burned one night.

 

[ggunn]

I was in cozumel last month and the cab fares were ridiculous.

What do you consider ridiculous?

 

[mcohen1021]

What do you consider ridiculous?

Adding $40 in cabs to go round trip to town from the landmark into town for dinner seemed a little ridiculous to me anyway