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Friday, January 29th, 2016  |  USD: Buy 531.29 / Sell 543.92
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Uber to charge less than half of Costa Rica’s licensed taxi drivers

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(Uber)

(Uber)

August 17th, 2015 (ICR News) Uber, the controversial “driver-for-hire” smartphone app, will charge less than half the fares charged by licensed Costa Rica taxi rivers (“red” taxis), the company said on Saturday.

 

Uber said that its service would cost ¢300 per kilometer, versus the ¢610 per kilometer passengers pay for a licensed taxi.

 

Uber began registering drivers for the service last week, but those who are considering using the service as drivers to make some extra money (and don’t have the necessary government permits to offer public transport) face having their vehicle’s license plates seized by traffic police if their passenger admits to having paid for the ride, in exactly the same manner as any other “pirate” taxi driver, deputy transport minister Sebastian Urbina told the radio program Nuestra Voz last week.

 

Urbina warned drivers that any vehicle that offers public transportation, through the Uber app or any other means requires the proper permissions from the Public Transport Council (CTP), adding that in Costa Rica “the law is very clear.”

 

Urbina has repeatedly stated that Uber is obligated to comply with the country’s public transport laws and to be regulated by the Public Transport Council, but a Uber spokesperson told La Nacion last week that the company plans to begin operating without the approval of transport officials.

 

Backlash from licensed taxi drivers expected

 

Costa Rica’s largest union of licensed taxi drivers, known as the National Taxi Drivers Forum, said late last month that they were “declaring war” against Uber.

 

The union said it has established alliances with other groups in opposition to the service in Colombia, Panama, and Mexico with the singular goal of keeping the service out of Costa Rica.

 

Late last month, some one hundred taxi drivers gathered outside the Colombian embassy in San Jose to express their solidarity with taxi drivers in Colombia, who were protesting in Bogota.

 

Opposition to San Francisco-based Uber has been strong in other parts of the world, including other Latin America countries where strikes and demonstrations have ensued.

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  • Ben

    Stop the red mafia Taxi´s that hold people hostage. Bring on UBER ASAP.

  • Aitor Xaranga

    Not surprised! I paíd CRC 20K from London Heathrow to High Street Kensington! same as I pay between SJO and Juan Santamaria!!!
    So??? What gives?

  • Derryl Hermanutz

    So if any Uber driver declares the income they earn from operating a pirate taxi, the CR government will know whose placas to seize; and the Caja will know who to charge for self-employment contributions. If the drivers don’t declare their income and don’t pay income tax or Caja tax, then Uber is openly operating in what is supposed to be the informal “underground” cash economy. Most transnational corporations operate “above ground” — try to be good corporate citizens — and do not blatantly violate or evade national laws when they move into a country. So when Uber drivers need roads and road maintenance and medical care and old age pensions and other government services, does Uber plan to pay for those? Or is the era of “nations” and “tax-funded public services” over, and the world is now owned and operated as the private property of transnational corporations like Uber, where the only law is “every man for himself and devil take the hindmost”?

  • Ken Morris

    I’m still trying to figure out this Uber issue, and this article appears to introduce an important new wrinkle.

    Evidently many Uber drivers will use Uber to supplement their incomes, rather than as a main source of income, and therefore be willing to charge lower fares than taxistas who need to live off their earnings.

    If I’m getting this right, an Uber driver who needs to go across town anyway will pick up a fare or two along the way to earn a few bucks, but since the driver is going across town anyway and has another source of income, he doesn’t care if he makes a profit. He’s just cutting his losses and picking up some spending money.

    Again, if I’m getting this right, wouldn’t this be like a bar that needs to hire two bartenders only hiring one while letting some of the regulars help out serving the customers in exchange for free drinks and tips? If so, sure, prices might be a little lower for the customers while a few regulars might like their free drinks and tips, but it would create unemployment among bartenders while inviting the problems likely to result from unsupervised volunteer bartenders, who as Derryl notes would become part of the informal cash economy.

    Anyway, I’m still trying to make up my own mind about Uber, but am leery about using up front cost savings to the customer as the sole criterion for evaluating it.

  • Jefe

    Better get a locking gas cap. At half the rate of normal taxis, they will have to reduce their operating expenses somewhere.

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