JFS
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Taxi union trying to get a head start with the app game before UBER arrives to the island and also the taxi meters.
New Taxi App?
- Thread starter lionfish-eater
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Downloaded the app and entered my phone number on the authentication screen and waited to receive a code via text. No code and when I retry, I get an error message that states I have tried to authenticate too many times. Wonder if I'll start getting an abundance of spam calls now.
Matt B
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JFS
Contributor
loady
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loady
Contributor
Eiby Taxi is, specifically, an app for certain parts of México (8 or 10 cities including CDMX) and Barcelona. Android use is almost certainly higher in México than in the US. There is an Android app. The app isn't really aimed at gabachos. Not everything in Cozumel, or even México, is aimed at foreigners.
For those who think it's always easy to hail a taxi "in town", you must start by defining what you mean by "in town". I live a few blocks from the "downtown" Chedrauí (on Melgar). There are exactly zero restaurants, shops, or hotels on my street and only one business that caters to gabachos. That's a real estate company across the street, but people hardly ever get there by taxi. If I stood outside my house for an hour on a Sunday afternoon I might not see a taxi go by. My son lives well past the gas station on 11, and although lots of his neighbors are taxistas, he has never been able to hail a taxi on the street.
Just phone the syndicate, you say? Well, for one thing, they're trying to phase out phone hailing in favor of Eiby Taxi. For another, they never seem to be able to hear me or to understand me (in any language) and don't always answer their phones. Times when it seemed as if everything went smoothly and clearly have not necessarily lead to a taxi's ever appearing.
If it's bucketing down rain, I'd prefer to stay inside, or at least on my covered porch, until my ride arrives. Same if it's 37º C. I'd prefer not to be out on the sidewalk peering up and down the street.
There's also the well-known fact that Cozumel taxistas seem never even to have heard of change, let alone have the ability to make any. Paying through an app is really convenient.
As noted above, this is an attempt to keep taxis relevant as ride-hailing services inevitably encroach. Uber's footprint in México grows daily.
Think of the amazing convenience of Fasty or Rappi (or Correcaminos, etc.) as opposed to knowing what's open and what's on their menu, phoning a restaurant to arrange delivery, and having correct change when they arrive. So, the Uber Eats model.
The bad? They're not kidding about the price differential. This is not likely to catch on with locals until that differential drops to no more than MXN$20-30. Right now, the ride I'm most likely to make (to my son's house 3.7 Km away if our car is with him) is MXN$38 by taxi chart and MXN$80 on Eiby Taxi. From his house to the Chedrauí at Plaza Cozumel 3 Km away (and with far fewer stop signs and other delays, plus way more chance of getting a fare there), Eiby Taxi wants MXN$70. I suspect there's probably a MXN$50 service fee, but they don't specify anywhere.
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