3 ms·
As someone whose business is based in Colombia and has lived here for two years, this article and the comments section are totally out of touch. In Colombia, t
by cowpig 7y ago
As someone whose business is based in Colombia and has lived here for two years, this article and the comments section are totally out of touch.
In Colombia, the ride-sharing app market is competitive. I personally prefer EasyTaxi and Beat over Uber here.
The former works with the existing taxi system, and the latter is similar to Uber, except that the cars aren't universally 30 years old and also it's legal.
It's as if the world outside of Silicon Valley startups just doesn't exist in the minds of ~~Uber PR~~ Bloomberg and Hacker News commenters.
Maybe it's a broader part of American media messaging to imply that the world will suffer badly if a US corporation were to fall. But in an ideal, healthy economy companies should be exiting markets regularly.
- Shorel 7y agoI disagree with you. The article says the truth about taxis in Colombia. “Millionaire ride” has been a thing for decades, and it still happens. The competition from Uber made taxis improve so much, that I fear a return to the norm, before Uber, where taxis would ask 50k COP for a ride that should only cost 20k COP and so on. Also, Beat are next in line for these lawsuits.
- cowpig 7y agoI've been ripped off by taxis twice in Bogota, though never in any other city and never one of these boogeyman "millionaire rides" The first time was my very first taxi in Colombia: I arrived at the airport and naively thought the guy asking me if I needed a taxi was being helpful. Little did I know, that was code for "are you new around here" and then he not only charged me 70k for a 23k ride, but also stole my harmonica and then came back 15 mins later having "found" it and asking for a reward. I was blindsighted. The second time, the guy took me from the airport though some ridiculous route around the city and when he arrived asked me for about 3x the actual cost. I gave him what the ride should have cost, he followed me into where I was going and I just ignored him; he left. I've had bad taxi experiences in other countries, but I concede Colombia, or at least Bogota (I lived in Medellin over a year and never had a problem) has some very unethical drivers. OTOH, I have never had, nor heard of, any problem with a driver that came via EasyTaxi, Beat, or any of the other apps that compete with Uber. I also think it's in the country's best interests to push foreign rent-seeking companies out of the country. If Beat gets hit with these lawsuits my opinion will change.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]