What do you do when the cab driver lies?

[waterone]

My sense is that the friendliness is fake--an act. Prompted by the tip.

I haven't run into too many asshats right from the get-go.

Honestly, I'd rather have a bartender who sees me as just another customer, serves me when he gets around to it, and gives me the same pour as everyone else.

I like larger pours, but I am not tipping to get in front of other customers. Though sometimes it has had other unintended perks.

Now, if I happen to befriend a bartender--or a cab driver--that's a wonderful thing. Friendship is valuable, not material things. High rollers can't buy it with any amount of money, and most who try just come off as fools.

Sure, friendship can be valuable or quite costly, or both. Choose wisely. But we were talking about tipping and overcharging, not high rollers or friendship.

 

[tridacna]

How many tourists even know about the mystical rate card? Seriously? You get into a cab and they give you a price. Unless you're a local or DD, you have no idea what the official price should be. You make a mental assessment of whether you think they're ripping you off and based on that, either you agree, argue or decline. Absence of meters is the issue. Not all this malarkey about honesty and ripping off gringos.

 

[wnissen]

I have a related question. In Merida (inland Yucatan), the Uber base fare is MXN8, plus MXN3.8 per kilometer, subject to a minimum of MXN21. So most rides in town are just 21 pesos. I admit to getting pretty used to this deal, we didn't even think about hopping in an Uber or taxi to go places. When we got to Tulum (coastal), the price was 80 pesos to go half a kilometer. Was I getting ripped off? There's no official rates, so officially, no. Is that any better than a Cozumeleno driver quoting above the official rate? I would say no. A ripoff is paying more than you're willing to pay.

 

[El Graduado]

When we got to Tulum (coastal), the price was 80 pesos to go half a kilometer. Was I getting ripped off? There's no official rates, so officially, no.

Tulum taxis do have an official rate. It was approved by SINTRA, otherwise, they could not operate. All taxi unions operate at SINTRA's discretion, as does Uber. Do the taxi drivers show the rate sheet voluntarily to tourists? Not likely. The locals know the prices, though.

 

[deepsea21]

I speak some Spanish and over the 20 +/- years I've been visiting the island I know the latest published rates for the various zones. I just get in the cab with my wife (I sit in the front passenger seat by the driver while my wife sits in the back seat so he is not my servant and we are equal) and I'll tell him how we've been visiting the island for 20 years and were married here in Spanish. We get where we need to go throughout Zona 1 generally and I'll give him $4 which is BIG fare when the going rate in that zone is about 30 Pesos. I used to say "Es en Zona Uno" when I'd tell them where we wanted to go to make it known that I know where we are and where we are going but I don't do that anymore. We get where we need to go, he gets a big fare and everyone is happy. I think as soon as you ask "How much?" they know you don't know crap about the zones and fares and will certainly take advantage.

You're on vacation for God's sake... Does an extra dollar here or there really matter in the whole scheme of your trip? Some people leave nothing for their housekeeping. I leave $5 a day and write a little note in Spanish on our first day that we need more towels because we are divers. We have more clean towels stocked every day after that than we can use and our room must be at the top of the list to be cleaned is seems... Housekeeping probably fights over who gets to ready our room as soon as it get's out that it's a non-stop $5 room.

I'll say this, as much as some may detest the Taxi Mafia (including myself to some extent) when I broke my foot 36 hours before a 3-week trip to Coz last year and went anyway I was very, very happy to see Taxi's running around and at cab stands everywhere.

 

[wnissen]

Tulum taxis do have an official rate. It was approved by SINTRA, otherwise, they could not operate. All taxi unions operate at SINTRA's discretion, as does Uber. Do the taxi drivers show the rate sheet voluntarily to tourists? Not likely. The locals know the prices, though.

Interesting, you are right, Tulum taxistas are just better at hiding it. LISTAS NUEVAS TARIFAS DE TAXI EN QROO

 

[Karloss]

I don't know if this has been said yet or not because I have not read the whole 9 pages, with that being said, we usually ask the price before we get in the taxi. If we like the price we go, if not we try another one. If it is the same, well that must be their price.

 

[ggunn]

Yes, you get the bartender (or waiter or whatever) to pretend they are your new friend for a few minutes.

As someone who had a couple of bartending and tablewaiting jobs I can say that I was equally friendly to everyone irrespective of their tipping practices until they did something that changed my attitude.

BTW I think everyone should have to have a job like that; once you have you will likely treat people who have those jobs better.

 

[mediumone]

No, the taxi union does not set the taxi fares. SINTRA (Secretary of Infrastructure and Transport) sets the rates. The taxi union can only ask for a rate increase (which they have) but SINTRA must approve it (which they have not, since 2016).

Many things in Mexico have price controls: gasoline, electricity, tortillas, etc. The prices of these commodities and services are set for the lowest common denominator (the Mexican poor) even though tourists and the Mexican upper-classes can also buy the same commodities or services at that low, government-controlled price.

However, there is a problem created when tourists overpay when the taxi drivers charge them more than the published rate (which is still very high for a poor family who needs the service to carry old people to the hospital or doctor, go for groceries, take the family to church when it is raining, etc.) The problem is that it makes the taxi drivers loath to work for the published rates for the folks that live in the poorer colonias. Long ago, this wasn’t a problem, nowadays, taxi drivers would rather wait in line at the piers or malecon to get a chance to pick up a tourist and make double, triple, or even ten times the published fare than they would if they made a 26 or 27 peso trip in town for a resident. This situation got so bad, that SINTRA now makes the taxi union dedicate a small (very small) portion of the taxis to take a daily rotation serving only in town so the residents can at least have some kind of service, even if sporadic and hard to find.

The SINTRA car is a red car with SINTRA printed on it. It is constantly pulling taxis out of line because it was supposed to be that taxi’s day in town, but the drivers would rather ditch the town beat and go for the over-paying tourist. It just gets worse and worse every year, because so many tourists take the attitude “It’s only a seventy-cents or a dollar more, I can afford it and the taxi driver is poor.” OK, maybe it will make you feel good like you are giving to a charity when you over-tip and over-pay a taxi driver, or knowingly let him overcharge you, but it is really hurting a lot of other poor people you don’t see. You are helping deprive them of the taxi service they need.

We used to stay in Playa. The taxi drivers there are infinitely more unscrupulous than on the island.
We'd often stand on 10th just north of Juarez waiting for a taxi to take us to 38th, (CTM). We'd stand back as there were often tourists and locals waiting for a taxi. The drivers would repeatedly drive past the locals, or otherwise ignore them to pick up the tourists. We would wait as long as it took for the locals to secure a ride.

There were several times that we were thrown out of a taxi, (the driver stopped the car suddenly and screamed at us to GET OUT), because we knew what the correct fare was, and when the driver asked us how much we were going to pay him, we simply quoted the correct price. (At the time, the correct fare was 35 pesos, and the drivers assumed that we'd be happy paying north of 100 pesos).

So yes, the difference between paying 35 or 100 pesos in my example, isn't going to effect my lifestyle one iota, my overpayment doesn't just stop with that transaction.

 

[cozcharlie]

Not really looking to get into a debate, but for people who are looking real hard at the zone to zone matrix, please don't forget about these add-ons (I stole from @El Graduado 's [Taxis & City Buses - EverythingCozumel]

Surcharges to add on to regular posted fares:

* Taxi called by phone: add $8 pesos
* Taxi pick-up from downtown ferry pier, supermarket, or taxi stand: add $8 pesos
* Night service charge (midnight to 6AM): add $12 pesos
* Pick up from a bar: add $12 pesos
* Wait time in town: $140 pesos/hour
*Taxi by the hour (IN TOWN) $200 pesos