Mexico City Taxis

In every city I’ve ever been to, taxis are your saviour. Tired of walking? Get a taxi. Out late at night? Get a taxi. Not in Mexico City. This is the only city I know where the tourist information people actively dissuade you from getting into a taxi, but why?

The problems began in the currency crisis of the 1990s. Taxi drivers went from picking up passengers to robbing them. After all, tourists have lots of money. They’re already in your cab, why settle for just the taxi fare, why not get ALL their money.

The end result, is that all taxis are treated with suspicion. Taxi crime was so rampant that even the locals stopped using them. The worst offenders were the traditional green VW beetle cars. Getting into one of these cabs was the equivalent of playing Russian roulette. Apparently, the situation these days is a lot better, but people are still advised not to pick up a taxi off the street.

This was a real pain for me. Generally speaking, I’m lazy. After I’ve been walking around for hours, there’s nothing better than jumping a taxi to get back to the hotel in as short a time as possible. This lead me using the Metro a lot, which was probably not a bad thing, but it was still a complete pain to be walking the long way home and see heaps of empty taxis wizzing past.

Apparently, the way to get a taxi is to get a radio taxi. You call a number and are then assigned a numbered taxi. But do you think my Spanish was good enough to do that?

If taxis are out, how about the buses? No way! The buses in Mexico are a complete nightmare. They look like bits will fall off at any moment and they are jammed tighter than sardines. Nasty stuff.

For better or worse, the Metro is the way to go in Mexico City. Get used to it. If you come to Mexico City, you’ll be using it a lot.