Proposed Water Taxi

[halocline]

It's just bad for the island to have taxi-only transport up and down Melgar; much more pollution, traffic, noise, etc. Not sure how I feel about the water taxi as proposed, but I'd sure like to see some alternative transportation available. The oddball thing is that it's very much against the norm in Mexico to not have buses and/or colectivos on a main drag.

 

[cvchief]

It's just bad for the island to have taxi-only transport up and down Melgar; much more pollution, traffic, noise, etc. Not sure how I feel about the water taxi as proposed, but I'd sure like to see some alternative transportation available. The oddball thing is that it's very much against the norm in Mexico to not have buses and/or colectivos on a main drag.

Oh a TAXI discussion!! I'm in!

It depends upon your definition of bad, I guess. The taxi union sucks off a good bit of cash from visitors, which supports those drivers in ,more or less, the middle class. Some might say that is good for the island and keeps the money circulating on the local economy.

---------- Post added November 29th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ----------

I'd have to disagree about the morality of it. It may be common, and it may be legal, but I don't think it's moral. Neither there, nor in the United States.

Interesting. Morality vs. Government regulation. Is the logical conclusion then that government by it nature is immoral?

This is a much better taxi thread than the last one......

 

[loudives]

I have seen the Ultramar boats running up and down the coast as well, but I would just as soon those huge boats didn't stop at Blue Angel. Just my two peso's worth. Also, if water taxis became the norm, the increased boat traffic might make snorkeling off the shore a bit more hazardous; I doubt there are that many snorkelers in Lake Michigan.

I can understand why the taxi union would be against the idea, although I think it is silly and short sighted of them for them to harass citizens for occasionally giving a tourist a ride somewhere.

Just a bit of info:
Water taxi in Chicago is on the Chicago river, trust me there are no people in that river! The service is great bypassing all the traffic while taking in all the architecture.
Also it is illegal to dive off the shore of Chicago beaches in Lake Michigan, there are underwater breakwater structures out there made of rusting steel with sharp edge baffle holes and concrete ruble.

 

[cvchief]

Water taxi in Chicago is on the Chicago river, trust me there are no people in that river! .

I thought they dumped someone in the river about every day?

 

[deeper thoughts]

Oh a TAXI discussion!! I'm in!

It depends upon your definition of bad, I guess. The taxi union sucks off a good bit of cash from visitors, which supports those drivers in ,more or less, the middle class. Some might say that is good for the island and keeps the money circulating on the local economy.

---------- Post added November 29th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ----------



Interesting. Morality vs. Government regulation. Is the logical conclusion then that government by it nature is immoral?

This is a much better taxi thread than the last one......

Give it time

 

[ggunn]

it is not a crime, and, as a matter of fact, in the United States it is Constitutionally protected. And you are right, it is very common, both in Mexico and the United States. It is called "rent seeking" - attempting to obtain monetary or business advantages through the government by lobbying for political action. And, while not immoral or illegal, it is most definitely harmful to the economy. Yes, the taxi union and its members obtain benefits by maintaining the monopoly over transporting tourists, the resulting higher prices paid by tourists most definitely reduce the amount spent by tourists in other venues in Cozumel -- less money spent on souvenirs, less money spent on tshirts, less money spent in restaurants. And, if one is to believe the experience from the deregulation of airlines in the United States, less tourists overall. Rent-seeking is endemic whenever Governments exercise control over economic transactions. The only real cure is to rein in the scope of permissible government action. It's one reason I'm a libertarian.

A complete laissez-faire attitude toward business by government is just as bad, IMO. People being what they are, they are always looking for means of leverage to tilt the economic table in their own direction; those with money are always more successful at doing that than are people without money, and the more money they have the more successful they are, irrespective of whether government is involved or not. There is no such thing as a free market.

Begin the countdown to thread cancellation…

 

[Skittl1321]

It does seem like the island businesses would benefit greatly if there was a service that took the cruise passengers to downtown. If the taxi union is so against a water taxi because it eats their profits, why do they not just find a way to run and control it themselves?

From a cruisers point of view- the Cozumel taxi's were efficiently loaded at the port and extremely reasonably priced compared to other ports. A water taxi would have to be efficient, reliable, and inexpensive to grab cruisers. There would need to be good marketing to make it the option cruisers choose- to go downtown. Sadly the cruiselines have set up the piers to be destinations of themselves- not so bad in Cozumel, where I think most passengers leave to go to something like Mr. Sanchos, but Carnival has Roatan set up so that most cruisers never leave Carnival property, and you know they would do that everywhere if they could. The Cozumel pier is already huge.

 

[flots am]

From a cruisers point of view- the Cozumel taxi's were efficiently loaded at the port and extremely reasonably priced compared to other ports.

From the cruiser's point of view the taxis were randomly available and usually not when you wanted one, the drivers tend to not give any sort of confirmation that they actually understand where you want to go, even if you give them the correct location/name and pronounce it correctly, and the rates tend to be "imaginative" unless you already know what it's supposed to cost.

A water taxi with a clearly posted sign that says "Downtown: $x.xx USD or $x.xx Pesos" and a useful schedule like "Leaves here every 15 minutes" would be a huge step forward.

If the taxis want more passengers, they should act more like businesses and less like random guys just trying to make what they can from tourists.

flots.

 

[loudives]

I thought they dumped someone in the river about every day?

No the dumping stopped with the new CSI & DNA testing, too many getting caught. Now they just Rat on the politicians and they go to jail. 6 out of last nine Governors gone to jail.

 

[Skittl1321]

From the cruiser's point of view the taxis were randomly available and usually not when you wanted one, the drivers tend to not give any sort of confirmation that they actually understand where you want to go, even if you give them the correct location/name and pronounce it correctly, and the rates tend to be "imaginative" unless you already know what it's supposed to cost.

Interesting- that is exactly the opposite experience I had in Cozumel with taxi's as a cruiser. Of the 12 ports I've been to, Cozumel was the easiest to deal with taxi's (Tortola was easy to deal with, but insanely expensive). The rates were clearly posted in front of where the taxi's load at the port, so it was one of the least likely ports to get ripped off at, both time we just handed the driver money, and he didn't even look to see how much we gave him. I also liked that the sign clearly showed how many people the rate covered and that it wasn't charged per person. I can only give my view as -a- cruiser, but I talked to many people on the ship who thought Cozumel taxi system was better than other islands they had been to.

I do think a water taxi would be beneficial, I'm not arguing against that. And it would definitely get more people to downtown. Because I don't think most people take cabs there since they can just shop in port.