Taxi service near the airport

[ggunn]

Can someone explain why the "TAXI" union won't allow their own "TAXIs" to pick up customers at the airport, but still allow them to be dropped off at the airport.
Why would they be so customer-UNfriendly & force them to be jammed into a big van & wait for it to be filled up before leaving.

Because the airport infrastructure is so limited that getting enough taxis in and out of there to unload a plane (not to mention 3 or 4 at once, which happens) would be a much worse situation. Dropping off is much less of a problem because folks trickle in over a couple of hours for a flight. It really is better this way and it's not nearly as inconvenient for the traveler as you make it sound. The vans are part of the taxi union, too.

 

[1KWIK_69]

Can someone explain why the "TAXI" union won't allow their own "TAXIs" to pick up customers at the airport, but still allow them to be dropped off at the airport.
Why would they be so customer-UNfriendly & force them to be jammed into a big van & wait for it to be filled up before leaving.

From my understanding, the local businesses have sliced up the tourism pie and Lomas or whatever the hotel transfers company is called has been given that piece of the pie so they can make gobs of money on over priced, crowded van rides.

 

[charlesml3]

Because the airport infrastructure is so limited that getting enough taxis in and out of there to unload a plane (not to mention 3 or 4 at once, which happens) would be a much worse situation.

And yet dozens of airports of similar size all over the world somehow make this work every day. I just don't buy this point.

Everybody knows how it works in Mexico. The politicians and bureaucrats are paid-off to enforce certain rules. The van companies want their money and don't want to compete with the taxis so they take some of their profit and pay someone to enforce a rule for them.

This is just a prime example of that.

-Charles

 

[ggunn]

From my understanding, the local businesses have sliced up the tourism pie and Lomas or whatever the hotel transfers company is called has been given that piece of the pie so they can make gobs of money on over priced, crowded van rides.

The van service is run by the taxi union. Really, guys, if taxis were the way to leave the airport it would be bedlam out there. It would tie up cabs for long periods of time waiting in line to get into that tiny parking lot. If three or four planes landed at once (which happens) it would take you an hour or more to get a cab. I couldn't get my wife and myself and all our equipaje into a normal sized Cozumel cab, anyway.

As for the price, you've really got to be cheap (IMO) to gripe about spending eight bucks to get to your hotel after you've spent $600 on plane fare. If you can't stand taking the shuttle, be my guest; walk on out the hundred yards to the street in the sun hauling all your stuff. I won't be doing that. Maybe you'll get to the hotel a few minutes before me, maybe not, but what's your freakin' hurry? I'm on Island Time from the minute I sit down on the plane in Houston.

 

[1KWIK_69]

The van service is run by the taxi union. Really, guys, if taxis were the way to leave the airport it would be bedlam out there. It would tie up cabs for long periods of time waiting in line to get into that tiny parking lot. If three or four planes landed at once (which happens) it would take you an hour or more to get a cab. I couldn't get my wife and myself and all our equipaje into a normal sized Cozumel cab, anyway.

As for the price, you've really got to be cheap (IMO) to gripe about spending eight bucks to get to your hotel after you've spent $600 on plane fare. If you can't stand taking the shuttle, be my guest; walk on out the hundred yards to the street in the sun hauling all your stuff. I won't be doing that. Maybe you'll get to the hotel a few minutes before me, maybe not, but what's your freakin' hurry? I'm on Island Time from the minute I sit down on the plane in Houston.

Gordon,
I have to agree with Charles. Small airports all over the world allow taxis. There's nothing unusual about the Cozumel airport that would explain this restriction where others don't have it.

If you and your wife couldn't fit all of your luggage into a normal cab, you're obviously bringing more with you than we do. We prefer to bring one checked and one carry on bag each so we don't have to pay the extra $120 round trip for two second checked bags between us. If you're willing to pay the high cost to the airlines to bring extra luggage, I guess paying an extra $15 or $20 to get it to the hotel doesn't seem that bad.

Last point. After being packed into the plane for hours like sardins, I prefer to get in my own rental car, or if I'm not doing that, to at least have a private cab that will bring me right to where I'm going, and save a little money while I'm at it.

 

[1erCRU]

Over the years my wife and I have become strickly carry-on divers. We have made the equipment choices and packing decisions that allow us to get our gear into carry-ons. Nothing like having your bags in-hand to roll through immigration and customs while most "weight" (sic) for their gear to show-up, with crossed fingers.

So waiting 20-30 minites for the happy-van to fill up is not for us. A 90 second walk to the street usually produces a nearly instant taxi and will have us sipping a cold one (after a quick stop at a tienda) while many are still shuffling and grunting through customs, waiting for a van, then stopping at every OTHER hotel in their zone, and hopefully not losing a bag in the process. Take a taxi: personal service, lower price, give your business to someone who has to work for it.

 

[ggunn]

Over the years my wife and I have become strickly carry-on divers. We have made the equipment choices and packing decisions that allow us to get our gear into carry-ons. Nothing like having your bags in-hand to roll through immigration and customs while most "weight" (sic) for their gear to show-up, with crossed fingers.

So waiting 20-30 minites for the happy-van to fill up is not for us. A 90 second walk to the street usually produces a nearly instant taxi and will have us sipping a cold one (after a quick stop at a tienda) while many are still shuffling and grunting through customs, waiting for a van, then stopping at every OTHER hotel in their zone, and hopefully not losing a bag in the process. Take a taxi: personal service, lower price, give your business to someone who has to work for it.

And if everyone follows your advice, you won't be able to do it any more.

To each his own. Like I have said, the shuttle doesn't bother me a bit.

 

[ggunn]

Gordon,
I have to agree with Charles. Small airports all over the world allow taxis. There's nothing unusual about the Cozumel airport that would explain this restriction where others don't have it.

We are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. Do the math; if four full planes come in in rapid succession, like what happened when I arrived last year (on plane #3), that's a lot of people. A 737 holds over 200, so if that's what come in, that's 800+ people. If there are an average of 2 people per cab, that's over 400 cabs. The vans hold 15, so that's just over 50 trips. That's a much more efficient way to move a lot of folks out of a small area.

But it's all beside the point, isn't it? The situation is what it is. You can go with the flow or buck it. I've made my choice and hold no animosity for anyone who makes a different one. I just don't see the vans as anything nefarious or imposing. Sitting in close quarters with a bunch of happy excited people at the start of their vacations doesn't bother me one bit, I don't see getting to the hotel as a race, and eight bucks is not going to break me.

YMMV.

 

[1KWIK_69]

And if everyone follows your advice, you won't be able to do it any more.

To each his own. Like I have said, the shuttle doesn't bother me a bit.

I didn't really say my opinion as advice. It's just my personal preference backed up with the reasons taking a cab or renting a car is better for me.

But if as you said, everyone took my advice and started taking cabs, yes that would be a problem too. It's just a good thing that lots of people do what I normally do and rent a car, while many countless others are first or second timers to CZM that haven't had the good fortune to locate Scubaboard, so they don't know there are alternatives to accepting the very expensive hotel transfers that are sneeked in to their total bill when they book.

 

[ggunn]

I didn't really say my opinion as advice. It's just my personal preference backed up with the reasons taking a cab or renting a car is better for me.

But if as you said, everyone took my advice and started taking cabs, yes that would be a problem too. It's just a good thing that lots of people do what I normally do and rent a car, while many countless others are first or second timers to CZM that haven't had the good fortune to locate Scubaboard, so they don't know there are alternatives to accepting the very expensive hotel transfers that are sneeked in to their total bill when they book.

You are right about prebooked transfers, of course, but I hope you are not classifying me as a "first or second timer". I've been going to Cozumel since 1978.