Taxi Strike?

[ReefHound]

Locals have been begging for this for YEARS! The taxis are worse to locals than they are to tourists. Try living here and getting a taxi when you need one. Try being an employee of one of the southern hotels and you miss the employee bus because you had a sick child that morning that took some extra time to manage. Then you have to pay a taxi $200+ pesos to get to work and you might not even make that in a day.

That is the part that I didn't fully realize, mainly because I never really thought about it. They cater to the tourists because they are flush with money and ready to spend. Does that extend to other areas? Do waiters snub local diners and cater to the toruists to get better tips?

 

[JamesBon92007]

It was a protest (not a strike) over the law that passed allowing other transportation services such as UBER into Q.Roo.

Locals have been begging for this for YEARS! The taxis are worse to locals than they are to tourists. Try living here and getting a taxi when you need one. Try being an employee of one of the southern hotels and you miss the employee bus because you had a sick child that morning that took some extra time to manage. Then you have to pay a taxi $200+ pesos to get to work and you might not even make that in a day.

For the tourist, what about when you need to catch the 6am ferry so you can catch your flight to Cancun. Do you know how difficult it is to get a taxi at 5:30am?

There are of course some very honest taxi drivers who don’t meet this following description, but they are getting fewer and farther between.

If the taxis would get out of their own way and put their EGOs aside they would realize they have brought this on themselves. They do nothing to motivate people to use a taxi. People will rent cars before they step foot in a taxi here out of principle.

If they would pay attention to their market and remember who pays their wages they wouldnt have the reputation they have and they would not have the citizens begging for UBER, etc. This is greed nothing more. They want the whole pie without earning it.

If the taxis want to keep tourism because that’s where they think the money is, fine - clean up your act and let UBER in for the locals - you don’t want to service them anyway.

What can we, as visitors (tourists?) to the island, do to help the situation? Should we boycott taxis? From what I've read in this thread Uber is not yet available there so there doesn't seem to be a lot of choices. We never rent a car on Cozumel because it has always been so much cheaper to just take a taxi if we don't feel like walking. Uber is available in Puerto Vallarta and many people say they are very happy with the service they get but the Uber drivers like to keep a low profile for fear of being beat up by taxi drivers. If our dive op drops us off after the dives he is very careful to not let the taxi drivers see him giving us a ride.

 

[Dogbowl]

I am afraid of the taxi guys. I’ve heard so many horror stories. I try not to need their services. In fact, I bend over backwards to try to not use them. But on the few occasions I’ve used taxis on Coz, I did not have a problem. But I’m still scared of them.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Quick story:

I posted a pair of fins on the coz buy/sell site.
A guy came by to look at them and said he would be back in an hour as he needed to get the cash to buy them.
When he returned he was driving a taxi.
I assumed he just had a fare and earned the cash.
He handed me a $50 bill for a $40.00 purchase.
I was about to reach into my wallet and hand him $10 back.
Then I realized the opportunity before me.
I held it up to the light.
I examined it for a few seconds.
I asked if he had any smaller bills.
He said no.
I said "sorry amigo I have no cambio Americano."
I waited for him to say it's ok, but he just stood there.
I started to hand him the bill back, but he really wanted the fins.
I said "I might have some pesos".
I looked in the loose change bowl and grabbed a handful of coins.
I counted out 100 pesos and handed them to him.
He stood there for a few seconds and then said " it should be 180 pesos at 18 to one".
I said " but you are a taxi driver, so it is ten to one."
We both laughed and he left with the fins.

 

[ggunn]

I am afraid of the taxi guys. I’ve heard so many horror stories. I try not to need their services. In fact, I bend over backwards to try to not use them. But on the few occasions I’ve used taxis on Coz, I did not have a problem. But I’m still scared of them.

I don't think your fear is rational. The typical visitor to the island is a source of revenue for them, not a threat.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I am afraid of the taxi guys. I’ve heard so many horror stories. I try not to need their services. In fact, I bend over backwards to try to not use them. But on the few occasions I’ve used taxis on Coz, I did not have a problem. But I’m still scared of them.

I went to Tia Juana often when I was a little kid so I got an early start with the bartering. I don't recall ever feeling the need to barter with the taxi drivers on Cozumel--the fare they told me was always fair. We were in front of MEGA one time and three young, American women asked a taxi driver how much it would be to the airport and he obviously was trying to take advantage of them. I'm guessing if I had asked it would have been about one fourth the price. I recall one time in Puerto Vallarta where the guy wanted some absurd amount of money to take us a few blocks and we told him we would just walk. That is the only time I recall that the driver would not compromise. Other times in PV I bartered with them and settled on what I considered to be the standard fare, based upon other trips, but much of the time some bartering is necessary so I can understand why someone might be reluctant to hail a taxi if they are not feeling up to the challenge. We were at Puerto Juarez and the taxi drivers actually lied to us about how much the fare was for the ADO bus from Cancun to the airport. We ended up taking the taxi to the airport but paid about half of what they originally asked. What surprised me the most is that they take advantage of the workers on Cozumel. It seems like the more Spanish I learn the better I am treated by the taxi drivers so I'm surprised that a gringo who speaks a little Spanish would be treated better than a Mexican citizen who is fluent. The only bad thing I'm worried about when I get into a taxi is possibly being charged too much. Actually, I sometimes feel a bit like I'm taking advantage of them when I talk them down on a fairly long trip which ends up being something like about $7 US for a half hour ride.

 

[BRT]

It was a protest (not a strike) over the law that passed allowing other transportation services such as UBER into Q.Roo.

Locals have been begging for this for YEARS! The taxis are worse to locals than they are to tourists. Try living here and getting a taxi when you need one. Try being an employee of one of the southern hotels and you miss the employee bus because you had a sick child that morning that took some extra time to manage. Then you have to pay a taxi $200+ pesos to get to work and you might not even make that in a day.

For the tourist, what about when you need to catch the 6am ferry so you can catch your flight to Cancun. Do you know how difficult it is to get a taxi at 5:30am?

There are of course some very honest taxi drivers who don’t meet this following description, but they are getting fewer and farther between.

If the taxis would get out of their own way and put their EGOs aside they would realize they have brought this on themselves. They do nothing to motivate people to use a taxi. People will rent cars before they step foot in a taxi here out of principle.

If they would pay attention to their market and remember who pays their wages they wouldnt have the reputation they have and they would not have the citizens begging for UBER, etc. This is greed nothing more. They want the whole pie without earning it.

If the taxis want to keep tourism because that’s where they think the money is, fine - clean up your act and let UBER in for the locals - you don’t want to service them anyway.

The taxi cartels are what happens when any qualified person is not allowed to compete in business. Any time you limit competition by limiting available permits to operate this will be the ultimate result.

 

[Dogbowl]

I have heard from different dive operators:

On the mainland, a mob of taxis surrounded a dive guide who had just picked up his customer in his truck to go on a cenote dive. Everyone got out of their cars. Threats of violence erupted. Not sure if anyone got beat up but it was a big scary scene.

On Coz, a passenger wanted to pay the rate stated on the rate card. The driver wanted more. Both parties got out of the taxi and a big scene resulted. The passenger tries to pay the driver and leave. The driver took the money and threw it in the passenger’s face.

That’s the kind of conflict I do not want to be a part of.

 

[mediumone]

On the mainland, a mob of taxis surrounded a dive guide who had just picked up his customer in his truck to go on a cenote dive. Everyone got out of their cars. Threats of violence erupted. Not sure if anyone got beat up but it was a big scary scene.

Whoever told you that was feeding you baloney.

 

[Dogbowl]

Whoever told you that was feeding you baloney.

I believe the story, based on the fact that I was told a similar story by another dive guide from a different shop just a year before. And the guides took great lengths to avoid being obvious when picking us up.

Same with on Coz. We were told to “hurry up” when getting out of dive shop transportation, and not because the shop driver was in a hurry. It was to avoid confrontation.