mediumone
Contributor
No. Know the price before you get in. Pay the correct fare when you've reached your destination. Say "Gracias". Walk.
Agreed, pay in any currency other than MXN, and you deserve whatever you get, imho.
Good News On Taxi Exchange Rates
- Thread starter lionfish-eater
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
No. Know the price before you get in. Pay the correct fare when you've reached your destination. Say "Gracias". Walk.
Agreed, pay in any currency other than MXN, and you deserve whatever you get, imho.
Yea, know the fare.
Memorize the borders of all the taxi areas. Memorize the special areas where you need to cross the street to get the cheaper fare. Keep that all in your head at all times and you will be fine. As long as you never make a mistake, what can the taxi do about it?
If you are wrong, they probably we just shake their heads and think you are an -:nono:-. (censored). Or maybe :whacky:.
Easy? I don't know why it took Christi so long to get a taxi chart up. Surely she could have just done it from memory.....
Apparently my memory isn't good. Since we have a car, we seldom taxi, but when we do we use the shoulder method:
Hail cab, inquire on rate to destination, consider answer. If it causes us to shrug our shoulders and go, "meh," we get in the taxi and go. If our shoulders pull back and eyes go wide, we don't.
Memorize the borders of all the taxi areas. Memorize the special areas where you need to cross the street to get the cheaper fare. Keep that all in your head at all times and you will be fine. As long as you never make a mistake, what can the taxi do about it?
If you are wrong, they probably we just shake their heads and think you are an -:nono:-. (censored). Or maybe :whacky:.Easy? I don't know why it took Christi so long to get a taxi chart up. Surely she could have just done it from memory.....
Apparently my memory isn't good. Since we have a car, we seldom taxi, but when we do we use the shoulder method:
Hail cab, inquire on rate to destination, consider answer. If it causes us to shrug our shoulders and go, "meh," we get in the taxi and go. If our shoulders pull back and eyes go wide, we don't.
Irrelevant.
The United States is not Mexico, Mexican tourist zones are unofficially dollarized. The United States is nowhere unofficially pesorized, the term doesn't even exist.
Unoffical Dollarization - is a situation where the citizens of a country unofficially use a foreign country's currency as legal tender for conducting transactions. The main reason for dollarization is because of greater stability in the value of the foreign currency over domestic currency.
Quite true. I'd like to see what grounds a taxi driver would have to stand on if you were told the fare was 160 pesos, you asked him what the fare was in dollars and he tells you $16, you hand him a $10 and get out.
Call the cops, what grounds is he going to stand on? The exchange rate is 18:1 you gave him 16:1, the cop is not going to see it the taxi driver's way.You aren't paying them in barter chickens, you're paying them in a readily accepted currency with a published exchange rate. How far do they think they have the right to push the rip off? pay me 160 pesos or $30 US? Anybody think they have the right to set any exchange rate they want? Why stop at 10:1, why not 5:1? or 2:1? Pay me 160 pesos or pay me $160 US. No difference between a cab driver for a 160 peso fare trying to get you to pay $16 or $160 US both are a rip off and neither would stand up legally.
mediumone
Contributor
Yea, know the fare.
Memorize the borders of all the taxi areas. Memorize the special areas where you need to cross the street to get the cheaper fare. Keep that all in your head at all times and you will be fine. As long as you never make a mistake, what can the taxi do about it?
Easy? I don't know why it took Christi so long to get a taxi chart up. Surely she could have just done it from memory.....
Apparently my memory isn't good. Since we have a car, we seldom taxi, but when we do we use the shoulder method:
Hail cab, inquire on rate to destination, consider answer. If it causes us to shrug our shoulders and go, "meh," we get in the taxi and go. If our shoulders pull back and eyes go wide, we don't.
I read your post a couple of hours ago, but after considering the effort that you enumerated, I had to go take a nap.
Additionally, as a less than sharpest tool in the shed, I could not possibly commit to memory a bunch of zone boundaries.
So I create a cheat sheet with most of my likely destinations and corresponding fares, then take a picture of it with my phone.
All that said, I do like your shoulder method.
kmurray719
Contributor
Go ahead, try that and see how it works out for you
I think you underestimate how much "power" the taxi drivers would have in that situation, or what rights you would have "legally."The fares are regulated, the taxi drivers (if they're being honest, and in my experience most are) aren't pulling them out of their ass, and the exchange rate is set for all taxis, each driver isn't making it up as they go along. I really don't understand the big ruckus about this, or in the restaurant thread either. Yes, the exchange rate they're using is terrible. That's a fact. But it's like any business, if you don't like the price they're asking, don't use their business. Rent a car, rent a bike, walk, swim, GO BUY SOME PESOS, whatever gets you where you're going. You could argue all day that something isn't "fair" and it doesn't matter one iota, it will still be what it is, no matter how much time anyone wastes ranting about it.
When I am on the island I tend to take the same taxi ride many times - from the hotel to town and back. It was 70 pesos last trip, I believe. When I flag a taxi I lean in and say "70 pesos, si?".
Seriously, all the heartburn in here over a few pesos seems pretty silly to me, especially when the situation is so easily avoided. The last thing I want to do on with my precious vacation time is to get into a fight with a cab driver, or anyone else for that matter, and I do all I can to avoid such conflicts. For example, my wife is no longer "allowed" to mix caffeine and tequila while we are on holiday.
Something you seem to be forgetting is that you are a gringo and the cab driver is Mexican, the cop is Mexican, and you are in Mexico. If you get into an adversarial situation with a cab driver, who is it again that you think the cop will side with?
Seriously, all the heartburn in here over a few pesos seems pretty silly to me, especially when the situation is so easily avoided. The last thing I want to do on with my precious vacation time is to get into a fight with a cab driver, or anyone else for that matter, and I do all I can to avoid such conflicts. For example, my wife is no longer "allowed" to mix caffeine and tequila while we are on holiday.
judydivescoz
Contributor
I have never understood some folks obsession with using USD in Cozumel then getting nasty when they find the exchange rate is not favorable. It's just so easy to get and then pay in Pesos. Mexicos Unofficial Dollarization allows vendors to make a profit on an exchange. They are under no obligation to pay the going exchange rate. I found this great article explaining the practice. Must have been written a few years ago given the numbers! Dollarization in Mexico - Daily Reckoning
FWIW....I would never just hand a dollar amount to a cab driver that was less than he expected because you were not happy with the exchange rate.....might not work out the way you expect.
FWIW....I would never just hand a dollar amount to a cab driver that was less than he expected because you were not happy with the exchange rate.....might not work out the way you expect.
The few times I have had to use US$ to pay a cabbie in the last few years I asked for the price in pesos, did a quick ballpark calculation in my head with the going exchange rate to the nearest dollar, and said, "That's X dollars, right?" The cabbies never pushed back. Not once.
Well, once, but that's because my math was wrong. His was correct.
Budgets are tight all around and no one likes being cheated. It can be very upsetting if you're expecting one exchange rate and are then blindsided with another. I get it. No need to vilify those who feel victimized. I've been in a number of areas where the dollar was worth far more than the exchange rate. I have a wonderful Mink Shabka from Russia. The exchange put it way over $400 and I got it for $60 American. No, I wasn't in a tourist area either and we both felt we made out.
Similar threads
