8 ms·

Of any country I've visisted, Uber is the least necessary in Colombia. The taxi system is extremely fair and safe, albeit cash only right now. It's highly reg

by fierro 7y ago

Of any country I've visisted, Uber is the least necessary in Colombia. The taxi system is extremely fair and safe, albeit cash only right now. It's highly regulated and you can count on predictable, transparent, fair rates. When I took an Uber at the Medellin airport, a guy saw me waiting at the curb and called my name, explaining that he would drive me to my actual Uber. I hopped in, and he drove me a mile or two outside the airport to a lot where all the real Ubers were waiting. We switched cars, and presumably he got some small kickback, then returned to the airport to smuggle people to their Uber. It was a pretty interesting experience; the police at the airport readily fine Ubers that pick up passengers and know the cars by license plate.

remote_phone 7y ago
The posted article directly contradicts you. It says most Colombians are afraid to take taxis because of how unsafe they were.
- FloresHernandez 7y ago
  I've visited Colombia several times on several cities and unless you're taking illegal cabs you never feel unsafe. The legal cabs are pretty clearly marked. Uber could give you an extra layer of safeness as you're basically recording your ride, but that does not mean the cabs are unsafe there. Having said that, if I had to take a taxi to take me to my Uber, I will really feel unsafe.
  - Jeff_Brown 7y ago
    How do you distinguish legal cabs? I live here, and locals tell me half of Bogotá's 40,000 taxis have fake taxi licenses. Nobody's ever told me you can tell them apart. Even the police and politicians here use Uber.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- woah 7y ago
  The posted article has no source for that claim.
- smoe 7y ago
  Bogota alone has ~50'000 registered taxis. That's one per 160 people living here. Still during rush hour it is quite hard to get one without waiting tens of minutes. Doesn't seem to me like something the majority is completely afraid of using. There are plenty people worried about hailing a taxi from the street especially at night. Instead they use one of the multiple available apps that track driver, registration number and route to order one. Almost all the people I know that exclusively use Uber are upper class and or expats.
- davnicwil 7y ago
  In my experience (lived in Bogotá for over a year, visit regularly) the taxis there are completely safe. I hailed taxis on the street all the time, never with any issues. I've also personally never met anyone in Bogotá who has been afraid to take taxis. That said, I'm going to Bogotá at the end of the month and it is annoying to see there won't be Uber available. It is pretty convenient, just for ordering with the app, the cashless aspect etc, and was a great extra option.
  - privateSFacct 7y ago
    1) Will the taxis always take you to your destination in Columbia? In the US at least, if they didn't want to go where you were going they wouldn't pick you up or would make you get out. That's not a problem with Uber. I've done 1hr long uber drives without complaint to out of the way places. Very impressive that Columbia is so far ahead here. 2) Will the credit card machine in the taxi always be working? In the US at least, they always say the credit card machine is "broken". I would explain I didn't have cash or access to cash and since the machine was broken I wouldn't be paying the fare. They would then "fix" the machine. What a joke. Very impressive that Columbia is so far ahead here! 3) The taxi commission did not enforce behavior for drivers Talking on the phone, driving unsafely, smoking etc were all common. Does Columbia have great enforcement in all these areas based on rider complaints? Very impressive that Columbia is so far ahead here! 4) If paying in cash the driver doesn't have change (which makes no sense since he gets lots of cash).
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - Shorel 7y ago
      "2) Will the credit card machine in the taxi always be working?" I have never seen a taxi with a credit card machine in Bogotá.
- Shorel 7y ago
  I am afraid to take taxis in Parque de la 93 or Zona Rosa, where the high class dancing clubs are in Bogotá, but using an app or taking a taxi in other parts of the city is not that dangerous. Being a taxi driver is also dangerous and driving the taxi to certain neighborhoods can be a very bad idea.
baristaGeek 7y ago
Actually, you can order taxis via Rappi if you want to pay digitally
- fierro 7y ago
  True. There's also Picapp, with which you can hail a car or a moto, which is actually crazy and fun, and sometimes faster.
  - Jeff_Brown 7y ago
    The traffic in at least Bogotá does make riding a motorcycle extremely appealing here. Someone told me Bogotá (population 7.5 million) sees 8 motorcycle deaths per day.
- Shorel 7y ago
  So many of my friends have been victims of bogus Credit Card transactions after installing Rappi that I don't want to take that risk yet.
whoisjuan 7y ago
As a Colombian (I haven't lived there in a while, but I visit my family and friends often) I disagree. Taxis in Colombia are shit and definitely not fair or safe. They drive horribly, behave violently and getting them on the street is not safe at all (some criminals use taxis to rob people). Also, I don't know how things have changed but I remember using taxi-hailing apps or calling to the taxi call-center in rush-hour and it was always a fruitless effort. It's impossible to get a taxi in rush hour. They also do whatever they want to do. When you hail them on the street, they ask you "where are you going?" and if that destination is not convenient to them they deny the service to you.
hdtang 7y ago
I have visited Colombia numerous times and have a lot of friends there. Colombia taxi is very dangerous. Crime is common place. Almost all the taxi drivers refuse to use gps and get really angry if you are using gps and showing that they are taking a much longer route. Airports, hotels ... get kickback from taxis but not from Uber. My experience is limited mainly to Bogota, Medellin and Cartegena. Maybe the taxis in much smaller city are fair and safe. But that is definitely not the case in bigger cities.
- smoe 7y ago
  How many taxis have you actually taken in those cities? How much of it is hearsay? I take multiple taxi rides per week in Bogota since years. In almost all cases the drivers ask me which route I'd prefer for longer distances. The only ones I had ever some degree of annoyances (trying to get overcharged) with are taxis from and to the very touristy places.
- Shorel 7y ago
  " Almost all the taxi drivers refuse to use gps and get really angry if you are using gps and showing that they are taking a much longer route." Totally true some years ago. Last week they asked me: "which route do you prefer?"
dasc24 7y ago
Uber's main selling point here was transparency. Getting a cab here feels like playing dice. You either get a honest taxi driver that takes you on the shortest route or another one who chooses the route with the most traffic lights possible. Not mentioning that the device used to calculate the total fee is not regulated and may be altered. That is what i liked about Uber, i got to choose the route, or if i didn't know the area most drivers just used Google's Waze (which computes a good enough route) and i knew what the price was gonna be as long as there where no traffic jams.
- hombre_fatal 7y ago
  No need to take a dishonest route when the taxista knows you'll pay $50+ because it's late at night, you just want to go home, and the next taxista you see if you want to wait 15min longer is colluding to also charge you $50+. It's in their best interest to just gouge you and then rush you to your destination so they can pick up the next person. This is a fundamental competitive advantage of Uber and co: I see the price upfront. And I don't need cash. Taxistas acting like they have no change to guilt you, the tourist, into just handing over the whole bill is all too common. Gets pretty old always ensuring you have small enough bills to pay for a taxi when you're just trying to stay out late and have a good time. I can't really take anyone seriously saying they prefer taxistas here in latam just because it somehow went off without a hitch on their one week visit.
nbardy 7y ago
I've been to Colombia pre and post and Uber and this doesn't line up at all with my experience. 90% of the cases of friends I know getting robbed in South America was from a taxi.
desiderantes 7y ago
The taxi system is not fair nor safe. They prey in your inability to properly judge the fares for your ride. I can 100% guarantee you were scammed, it's just that the low value of the colombian peso made you feel it was pretty cheap. And hell no it's not safe, double the danger if you're a woman.
Shorel 7y ago
"Of any country I've visisted[sic], Uber is the least necessary in Colombia. The taxi system is extremely fair and safe, albeit cash only right now. It's highly regulated and you can count on predictable, transparent, fair rates." This is only because of Uber. They were terrible before Uber appeared. This is the problem I see. Now taxis have no reason to be fair and safe anymore. A common trick is a button behind the wheel, that can be activated without the passenger noticing, and it just makes the meter jump up. Well timed use can make the rate double of what it should be, without suspicion. Very interesting anecdote about Uber drivers in Medellin. I guess it is the right strategy to avoid another Uber car burned by angry taxi owners.

by fierro 7y ago

remote_phone 7y ago

The posted article directly contradicts you. It says most Colombians are afraid to take taxis because of how unsafe they were.

FloresHernandez 7y ago
I've visited Colombia several times on several cities and unless you're taking illegal cabs you never feel unsafe. The legal cabs are pretty clearly marked. Uber could give you an extra layer of safeness as you're basically recording your ride, but that does not mean the cabs are unsafe there. Having said that, if I had to take a taxi to take me to my Uber, I will really feel unsafe.
- Jeff_Brown 7y ago
  How do you distinguish legal cabs? I live here, and locals tell me half of Bogotá's 40,000 taxis have fake taxi licenses. Nobody's ever told me you can tell them apart. Even the police and politicians here use Uber.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
woah 7y ago
The posted article has no source for that claim.
smoe 7y ago
Bogota alone has ~50'000 registered taxis. That's one per 160 people living here. Still during rush hour it is quite hard to get one without waiting tens of minutes. Doesn't seem to me like something the majority is completely afraid of using. There are plenty people worried about hailing a taxi from the street especially at night. Instead they use one of the multiple available apps that track driver, registration number and route to order one. Almost all the people I know that exclusively use Uber are upper class and or expats.
davnicwil 7y ago
In my experience (lived in Bogotá for over a year, visit regularly) the taxis there are completely safe. I hailed taxis on the street all the time, never with any issues. I've also personally never met anyone in Bogotá who has been afraid to take taxis. That said, I'm going to Bogotá at the end of the month and it is annoying to see there won't be Uber available. It is pretty convenient, just for ordering with the app, the cashless aspect etc, and was a great extra option.
- privateSFacct 7y ago
  1) Will the taxis always take you to your destination in Columbia? In the US at least, if they didn't want to go where you were going they wouldn't pick you up or would make you get out. That's not a problem with Uber. I've done 1hr long uber drives without complaint to out of the way places. Very impressive that Columbia is so far ahead here. 2) Will the credit card machine in the taxi always be working? In the US at least, they always say the credit card machine is "broken". I would explain I didn't have cash or access to cash and since the machine was broken I wouldn't be paying the fare. They would then "fix" the machine. What a joke. Very impressive that Columbia is so far ahead here! 3) The taxi commission did not enforce behavior for drivers Talking on the phone, driving unsafely, smoking etc were all common. Does Columbia have great enforcement in all these areas based on rider complaints? Very impressive that Columbia is so far ahead here! 4) If paying in cash the driver doesn't have change (which makes no sense since he gets lots of cash).
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - Shorel 7y ago
    "2) Will the credit card machine in the taxi always be working?" I have never seen a taxi with a credit card machine in Bogotá.
Shorel 7y ago
I am afraid to take taxis in Parque de la 93 or Zona Rosa, where the high class dancing clubs are in Bogotá, but using an app or taking a taxi in other parts of the city is not that dangerous. Being a taxi driver is also dangerous and driving the taxi to certain neighborhoods can be a very bad idea.

baristaGeek 7y ago

Actually, you can order taxis via Rappi if you want to pay digitally

fierro 7y ago
True. There's also Picapp, with which you can hail a car or a moto, which is actually crazy and fun, and sometimes faster.
- Jeff_Brown 7y ago
  The traffic in at least Bogotá does make riding a motorcycle extremely appealing here. Someone told me Bogotá (population 7.5 million) sees 8 motorcycle deaths per day.
Shorel 7y ago
So many of my friends have been victims of bogus Credit Card transactions after installing Rappi that I don't want to take that risk yet.

whoisjuan 7y ago

As a Colombian (I haven't lived there in a while, but I visit my family and friends often) I disagree. Taxis in Colombia are shit and definitely not fair or safe. They drive horribly, behave violently and getting them on the street is not safe at all (some criminals use taxis to rob people). Also, I don't know how things have changed but I remember using taxi-hailing apps or calling to the taxi call-center in rush-hour and it was always a fruitless effort. It's impossible to get a taxi in rush hour. They also do whatever they want to do. When you hail them on the street, they ask you "where are you going?" and if that destination is not convenient to them they deny the service to you.

hdtang 7y ago

I have visited Colombia numerous times and have a lot of friends there. Colombia taxi is very dangerous. Crime is common place. Almost all the taxi drivers refuse to use gps and get really angry if you are using gps and showing that they are taking a much longer route. Airports, hotels ... get kickback from taxis but not from Uber. My experience is limited mainly to Bogota, Medellin and Cartegena. Maybe the taxis in much smaller city are fair and safe. But that is definitely not the case in bigger cities.

smoe 7y ago
How many taxis have you actually taken in those cities? How much of it is hearsay? I take multiple taxi rides per week in Bogota since years. In almost all cases the drivers ask me which route I'd prefer for longer distances. The only ones I had ever some degree of annoyances (trying to get overcharged) with are taxis from and to the very touristy places.
Shorel 7y ago
" Almost all the taxi drivers refuse to use gps and get really angry if you are using gps and showing that they are taking a much longer route." Totally true some years ago. Last week they asked me: "which route do you prefer?"

dasc24 7y ago

Uber's main selling point here was transparency. Getting a cab here feels like playing dice. You either get a honest taxi driver that takes you on the shortest route or another one who chooses the route with the most traffic lights possible. Not mentioning that the device used to calculate the total fee is not regulated and may be altered. That is what i liked about Uber, i got to choose the route, or if i didn't know the area most drivers just used Google's Waze (which computes a good enough route) and i knew what the price was gonna be as long as there where no traffic jams.

hombre_fatal 7y ago
No need to take a dishonest route when the taxista knows you'll pay $50+ because it's late at night, you just want to go home, and the next taxista you see if you want to wait 15min longer is colluding to also charge you $50+. It's in their best interest to just gouge you and then rush you to your destination so they can pick up the next person. This is a fundamental competitive advantage of Uber and co: I see the price upfront. And I don't need cash. Taxistas acting like they have no change to guilt you, the tourist, into just handing over the whole bill is all too common. Gets pretty old always ensuring you have small enough bills to pay for a taxi when you're just trying to stay out late and have a good time. I can't really take anyone seriously saying they prefer taxistas here in latam just because it somehow went off without a hitch on their one week visit.

nbardy 7y ago

I've been to Colombia pre and post and Uber and this doesn't line up at all with my experience. 90% of the cases of friends I know getting robbed in South America was from a taxi.

desiderantes 7y ago

The taxi system is not fair nor safe. They prey in your inability to properly judge the fares for your ride. I can 100% guarantee you were scammed, it's just that the low value of the colombian peso made you feel it was pretty cheap. And hell no it's not safe, double the danger if you're a woman.

Shorel 7y ago

"Of any country I've visisted[sic], Uber is the least necessary in Colombia. The taxi system is extremely fair and safe, albeit cash only right now. It's highly regulated and you can count on predictable, transparent, fair rates." This is only because of Uber. They were terrible before Uber appeared. This is the problem I see. Now taxis have no reason to be fair and safe anymore. A common trick is a button behind the wheel, that can be activated without the passenger noticing, and it just makes the meter jump up. Well timed use can make the rate double of what it should be, without suspicion. Very interesting anecdote about Uber drivers in Medellin. I guess it is the right strategy to avoid another Uber car burned by angry taxi owners.