Uber Approved in Quintana Roo
- Thread starter JFS
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For that to work, you have to be absolutely certain your calculation of the fare is correct. I'm not familiar with Coz rates (I've skimmed those complicated charts when posted, before my eyes glazed over), but in many places I have traveled there have been surcharges for things like late-night hours, phoned-in pickup, etc. They're often posted in the taxi, but perhaps not always.
A couple of things...
For a taxi ride into and back from town by myself or with one other person to/from my hotel I find out very quickly what that should cost, and that ride is one I will take many times (B double E double R U N) in a two week stay. I hand the driver that amount and get out. Once or twice a driver may want 5-10 pesos more, but I am not going to get into an argument over a quarter. A couple of times that I can remember a driver has asked for much more (but it still is not a whole lot of money); when that has happened I make a point of looking at the number on his cab and telling him that I will not be riding with him again. It still isn't worth an argument.
We usually have a group of 8 or 10 going to dinner in the evenings; we have an arrangement with a driver we know who has a large taxi van. We let him know in advance when we are going to be on the island, and he handles most or all of our group transportation needs while we are there, including an all day excursion around the island and a ride to the airport when we are departing. He is a good guy; he treats us well and we reciprocate. I can PM his contact information if you like.
rmssetc
Contributor
Cozumel has zones for taxi rides. Why bother negotiating upfront?
In my experience, in the rare cases where a driver asks for an elevated fare, once you show that you know the correct fare for the trip to that zone, they accept it without a fuss. Those drivers don't get a tip from me.
The few times this has happened to me have always involved "clueless tourist' routes, such as getting a cab outside Casa Mexicana down to Chakannab Beach club. Personally, I've never had an issue with cab rides to/from less touristy destinations (for example, La Conchita del Caribe).
Just like traveling anywhere in the world...fewer hassles if you know what you are doing.
Rob9876
Contributor
You guys can travel however you want. Personally, I follow the advice widely given to taxi riders everywhere: don't get into a cab until there's clear agreement on what the price will be (or a standard meter).
@ggunn Always glad to get info on a good service provider. We don't need van taxis often, but when we need one it's usually to catch an early morning ferry, so reliability is critical.
@ggunn Always glad to get info on a good service provider. We don't need van taxis often, but when we need one it's usually to catch an early morning ferry, so reliability is critical.
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I see a lot of talk about this sort of thing in here, but it almost never has happened to me. Maybe I just look to the taxistas like someone who is not to be trifled with.
A story I have told before but it's been a while:
Many years ago I lived and worked in Peru for a a year or so. Lima is pretty cosmopolitan with a lot of English speakers but the jungle town we worked out of (Iquitos), not so much in those days. One day a new guy came into the group we worked with; he flew into Lima, got some Peruvian currency from the company agent in the airport, and immediately flew out to Iquitos. He didn't speak a word of Spanish and had no clue about the exchange rate between US$ and Peruvian soles.
He landed in Iquitos in the middle of the night and took a cab into town; the fare was 200 soles which was about US$4. When he got to the hotel the non English speaking driver told him the fare, which our hero didn't understand, so he just pulled out this wad of currency he didn't know anything about, peeled off a 1000 sole note, and gave it to the driver. The driver told him that he didn't have change (he probably really didn't) in Spanish, of course, so our guy thought he was saying it wasn't enough, so he peeled off another 1000 sole note and gave it to the driver. The driver got a little agitated, and tried to explain in slow and loud Spanish that he couldn't break a 1000 sole note.
Our hero was even more confused by this point, so he thought he would just throw more money at the problem, so he peeled off another 1000 sole note and handed it to the driver and asked him (in English, of course) if that was enough. The driver finally just shrugged, took the money, and drove off. When our hero found out that he had paid over 20 bucks for a $4 cab ride, he was not happy.
I dunno; different country, different culture, mega-urban vs nowhere near that...? One size does not necessarily fit all. I think Uber coming to Cozumel has a good chance of doing more harm than good, but that's just my opinion. Time will tell. I don't plan on helping it happen, though.
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