(QCOSTARICA) Hailing a taxi in the area of downtown San José may become difficult in the very near future, as many taxi operators facing losses of up 50% due to congestion, may choose not to provide service.
Gilberth Ureña, head of the National Forum of Taxi Drivers (Foro Nacional de Taxistas), speaking on the radio program Nuestra Voz, called on the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes – MOPT) to resolve the problems of road congestion, especially in the downtown area of San José.
Ureña said that many users (of taxis) are preferring alternative (and cheaper) transportation methods such as buses, in contrast to the high cost of a taxi due to bottlenecks.
Besides the volume of traffic in the downtown area, the Foro chief points out that illegally parked vehicles adds to the congestion. Also, the greed of municipalities allowing (legal) parking is unbearable. “All roads four meters wide or more have a double road of paid parking,” said Ureña.
“Transito (traffic police) says it cannot do anything if the driver is not in the vehicle. Let us reform the law (…) we have to stop using San José as a huge parking lot,” he added.
A typical ride, without congestion (that is a night and with little traffic), from La Sabana to the Teatro Nacional costs about ¢2.500 colones. However, the same ride, during the day and on weekends, when Paseo Colon is converted into a giant parking lot, the cost is ¢4.000 or more.
True, but I fail to see the policy problem.
According to the article, a cab ride in congestion costs 4000 compared to 2500 without the congestion, so the taxistas aren’t taking a loss. And if people are choosing buses over taxis because of the costs, and taxis want to stop servicing San José during peak traffic, what’s the loss?
I agree that parking in the road (or on the sidewalk) ought to be banned and the ban enforced, but as a market thing I don’t understand the complaint by the taxistas.
The loss, as I understand it from several taxistas I spoke to, is the added fuel consumption and time sitting in traffic no reflected in the rate. Taxi meters run faster as the vehicle moves, but down to the mininum, as if waiting, while idling or stalled in traffic. So, the extra 1.500 in my example, is not compensated for the time and gas it takes to run up the extra charge.