The Banning of Uber Service in Bogota
Yesterday, Uber was declared as an illegal service in Bogota. This angered me a lot (la gramática está bien aquí pero algo un poco más natural sería: This really made me angry) because the service provided by Uber is very good. Obviously, it's much more expensive than taking a taxi, but there must be a strong reason for people to be willing to pay more money for the same service that taxis provide.
Indeed, regarding the service in Bogota, there are several reasons. First of all, in Bogota taxi drivers refuse to take passengers almost all the time. If you are not heading to the place they want to go they will make you get out of the taxi. Once, a taxi driver threatened me with a machete because I refused to get out of his taxi and asked him to work.
Secondly, in Bogota taking a taxi is very dangerous. Express kidnappings are very common in Bogota. When getting in a taxi, you are kidnapped for a few hours while the thieves withdraw money from your bank accounts and credit cards. Then they steal your phone, watch, wallet, jewelry and laptop, and then they abandon you on an empty street. Last year, DEA agent Terry Watson was murdered in an express kidnapping. The thieves did not expect to be trying to rob a DEA agent and they decided to kill him. Fortunately, now these thugs are now in an American prison. On the other hand, if a Colombian citizen had been murdered by those criminals nothing would have happened to them. Finally, most taxis in Bogota are always filthy and most taxi drivers are very rude, quite dishonest and very intimidating.
All in all, if you ever come to Bogota, please be very careful when it comes to taking a taxi on the street. The economic interests of the taxi mafias prevail over user rights, so we have to get used to their poor service and to being disrepected as consumers.
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I have read a little about this topic, but I didn't know it was all that common. On the contrary, I've read that Colombia, in general, is a much safer place than it was 20 years ago.
The Banning of Uber Service in Bogota
Yesterday, Uber was declared as an illegal service in Bogota. This angered me a lot because the service provided by Uber is very good. Obviously, it's much more expensive than taking a taxi, but there must be a strong reason for people to be willing to pay more money for the same service as taxis provide.
Indeed, regarding the service in Bogota there are several reasons. First of all, in Bogota taxi drivers refuse to take passengers almost all the time; if you are not to heading the place they want to go, they would make you get off the taxi. Once, a taxi driver threatened me with a machete because I refused to get off his taxi and asked him to work.
Secondly, in Bogota taking a taxi is very dangerous. Express kidnappings are very common in Bogota. When getting in a taxi, you are kidnapped for some hours while the thieves withdraw money from your bank accounts and credit cards, they steal your phone, watch, wallet, jewerly and laptop, and then they abandon you in an empty street. Last year, CIA agent Terry Watson was murdered in an express kidnaping. The thieves did not expect to be trying to rob a CIA agent and they decided to kill him. Fortunately, now these thugs are in an American prison. On the other hand if a Colombian citizen had been murdered by those criminals, nothing would have happened to them. Finally, most taxis in Bogota are always filthy and most taxi drivers are very rude, quite dishonest and very intimidating.
All in all, if you ever come to Bogota, please be very careful when it comes to taking a taxi on the street. The economic interests of the taxi mafias prevail over user rights, so we have to get used to their poor service and to being disrepected as users.
The Banning of Uber Service in Bogota
Yesterday, Uber was declared as an illegal service in Bogota. This angered me a lot because the service provided by Uber is very good. Obviously, it's much more expensive than taking a taxi, but there must be a strong reason for people to be willing to pay more money for the same service as taxis provide.
Indeed, regarding the service in Bogota there are several reasons. First of all, in Bogota taxi drivers refuse to take passengers almost all the time- if you are not heading the place they want to go, they would make you get off out of the taxi. Once, a taxi driver threatened me with a machete because I refused to get off out of his taxi and asked him to work.
Secondly, in Bogota taking a taxi is very dangerous. Express kidnappings are very common in Bogota. When getting in a taxi, you are kidnapped for some hours while the thieves withdraw money from your bank accounts and credit cards; they steal your phone, watch, wallet, jewerly and laptop, and then they abandon you in an empty street. Last year, CIA agent Terry Watson was murdered in an express kidnaping. The thieves did not expect to be trying to rob a CIA agent and they decided to kill him. Fortunately, now these thugs are in an American prison. On the other hand, if a Colombian citizen had been murdered by those criminals, nothing would have happened to them. Finally, most taxis in Bogota are always filthy and most taxi drivers are very rude , quite dishonest and very intimidating.
All in all, if you ever come to Bogota, please be very careful when it comes to taking a taxi on the street. The economic interests of the taxi mafias prevail over user rights, so we have to get used to their poor service and to being disrepected as users.
Interesting article, Camilo. This sounds like an anti-competitive move by the government. So much for the free-market! Cheers!
