Taxis in Bogota are tiny little Korean cars, and they crawl around the city like ants. But, just try to get one on a Friday between 6:00 and 8:00. Taxis are cheap in the city (way cheaper in other cities), and usually plentiful. There are a lot of ins and outs though.
Most people will tell you not to take taxis off the street, and instead to call them. I would say the same thing, and then turn around and take one off the street. Lots of times you just have to. But if you’re home or in a restaurant, it’s just as easy, and definitely safer, to call one. There was a time when taking a taxi off the street was an invitation to get kidnapped or robbed, and while that’s mostly not the case anymore, it still happens.
How Taxis Operate in Bogota
The price of a taxi ride is based on distance (and a little bit on time, when stuck in traffic), with a few surcharges. Every taxi should have a meter, that starts with 25 and ticks off as you ride, and the meter number corresponds to a price on a chart that should be hanging on the back of the seat inside. Some drivers have their charts other places, but there should always be one. The chart should also have the driver’s foto, name, and identification information. Then, at the end of the ride, you look up the number from the meter and pay the corresponding fare. There could be an extra charge if it’s at night, or if you called the taxi from your house, or it’s a Sunday or holiday. There is NOT an extra charge for more people, or for several stops.
If you go to the airport, the fare is set, and it will tell you on the rate card. It’s a good idea to know a ballpark fare, though, by asking someone in the neighborhood you are leaving from.
Etiquette in the Taxi
Taxi drivers in Bogota seem to care more about their doors than anything else in their lives. The taxis are mostly little tin boxes, and if you are American, you have a tendency to want to shut the door pretty firmly when you get out, because we are used to more substantial cars. This might lead the driver to have a nervous breakdown. In Bogota, the driver wants you to shut the door as gently as possible. Once when I was in a taxi with a friend who was new to Bogota, and he pulled the door shut firmly, the driver actually put his head in his hands and and shook his head like he was crying.
It’s also your right to tell the driver which way to go, but chances are he is more up on where the heavy traffic is. Occasionally they’ll take a circuitous route to get a little more from you, so you have to act a little confident about where you are, even if you’re not.
Getting Ripped Off by a Taxi Driver
Just like in any big city I have ever heard of, there are lots of taxi drivers who try to take advantage of tourists. It’s even easier if you don’t know the language. When you finish your ride, make sure to look up the fare on the chart, and if it’s not right there for you to grab, ask for it. Lots of times the driver will wait to see if you know the system, and if you don’t, he’ll pad the fare a bit.
If you dispute the fare, the driver might try to tell you there’s an extra charge for some reason, like multiple stops, or multiple people, or whatever. He will call it “recargo.” You might not be sure, so if you ask for an explanation and it is going to take a while, he will probably just give in and charge you the correct fare.
I, of course, was ripped off quite a bit when I first came to Bogota. Many of them still try it just because I am obviously gringo, by my looks and my accent, even though I now speak Spanish and know my way around the city. I actually have a little note I wrote up that I had to a taxi driver that tries to rip me off. I explain that, as a gringo, I am normally a very big tipper, and that if he hadn’t tried to cheat me, he would have had soem extra cash. Instead, I sit in the taxi till I get every peso of change I am entitled to. Yesterday I came home and dropped off a friend along the way, and the driver tried to charge me $15,000 pesos when I knew the fare should be less. So, I asked to see the card, and it was $11,700. He tried to tell me there was a surcharge for having two stops, so I told him I needed to call the police (I was in a bad mood anyway, so not wanting to take his shit). We settled on a fare of $10,000, even less than I should have paid. But, I wanted to get a little revenge for the countless gringos he has ripped off in the past and will rip off in the future.
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May 7th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
So true about the doors. Once the other passanger with me slammed the door and the driver refused to take us and told us to get back out. But when you consider how tiny those cars are its understandable.
I’ve never had a problem with taxis but then I’ve never travelled without a Colombian and I’m naturally quite tanned and don’t seem like a grino (unless I open my mouth!)