Taxi rates. Am I being scammed?

[wineguy999]

A lot of the taxi drivers I get are also socialist hippies. We compare our favorite ramones songs. But then, I talk to a lot of them, and they are always interesting. I have gotten poets, retired professors, moonlighting emergency room physicians, shrinks, housewives, gofers for rock nacional stars, and many more.

Since when do hippies listen to the Ramones!?

 

[Ries]

Since when do hippies listen to the Ramones!?

Since they got old. In the sixties, I listened to zappa and the bonzos and the VU, in the seventies I saw the ramones and patti and the clash on their first US tours, in the 80 s I saw and listened to the first wave of rap and hip hop, in the 90 s I got deep into early edm, techno and house, and since then it includes digital cumbia, chinese post punk, middle eastern hip hop, and yet, thru it all, I still own probably 40 Grateful Dead albums. I am without doubt a hippie and a punk. And many aging long haired cab drivers I have met are equally fervent about charly, the ramones, and prog rock. Argentines reject strict categorization.

 

[LuckyLuke]

It’s too bad, and honestly it has tainted my experience in Argentina altogether. My impression of this country is now that the people are scammers obviously my naivety plays a big part here, but it’s a damn shame one even has to consider this sort of thing at all.

Take a deep breath VFL, it's not so much that you are a target, but part of being in a new country involves a lot of second guessing, which can be mentally exhausting until you "learn the ropes".

I too have been frustrated...a lot...by the wild price variances down here. For example, in Texas you might save 10% on some products by shopping at a different grocery store, which makes shopping around at competing stores sort of a waste of time. That's not the case down here. I've seen products easily double the price from a verduleria on one block to the next block. Many times I've purchased items only to find them much cheaper elsewhere. I too felt ripped off but it's a matter of learning the right places and the right times.

 

[jbeas176]

How can you get scammed if it’s on the meter?
Top tip, make sure it’s on the meter…

they have fast meters. pay attention. i had 1 in 20 years of flagging down cabs on las heras.

 

[vfl]

Take a deep breath VFL, it's not so much that you are a target, but part of being in a new country involves a lot of second guessing, which can be mentally exhausting until you "learn the ropes".

I too have been frustrated...a lot...by the wild price variances down here. For example, in Texas you might save 10% on some products by shopping at a different grocery store, which makes shopping around at competing stores sort of a waste of time. That's not the case down here. I've seen products easily double the price from a verduleria on one block to the next block. Many times I've purchased items only to find them much cheaper elsewhere. I too felt ripped off but it's a matter of learning the right places and the right times.

Yeah, you’re totally right. I was frustrated, but ultimately it’s easy to work around it now that I’m aware, and I definitely shouldn’t let that experience taint all the other great aspects of this country and the other beautiful kind people here.

I went for some nice long walks yesterday and had such a nice time enjoying the beautiful parks and eating amazing food, it more than made up for the bad experience.

Sometimes a deep breath of fresh air and a nice walk is all you need to recalibrate.

 

[VincentKMcMahon]

Yeah, you’re totally right. I was frustrated, but ultimately it’s easy to work around it now that I’m aware, and I definitely shouldn’t let that experience taint all the other great aspects of this country and the other beautiful kind people here.

I went for some nice long walks yesterday and had such a nice time enjoying the beautiful parks and eating amazing food, it more than made up for the bad experience.

Sometimes a deep breath of fresh air and a nice walk is all you need to recalibrate.

I understand how bad you feel, I had a USA friend who arrived in Argentina on her first ever overseas trip at 18. The taxi took her to her hotel, she got out to get her bags out of the trunk, and the taxi driver sped off and stole the lot. She was traumatkzed against Argentina forever

 

[Silvie]

Even as a person born in Buenos Aires, living abroad during so many years changed my accent and whenever I returned, people realized I had a different accent and they used to ask me where I was from. For this reason, when taking cabs, I tried to speak as least as possible, also because I didn't feel like getting into conversations starting with "where are you from?" and I always knew that local people like taxi drivers liked taking advantage of outsiders. Now with Uber, Didi, Cabify it's not even necessary to speak and things are much clear. There is even a kind of Uber ride where you can expressely request not to talk, among other things. Try to use those apps. To schedule a remis or transport in advance towards the airport or Buquebus, I call to make a reservation even a few days in advance and arrange the fee trips with my local remis company or "taxi Ezeiza" which is the cheapest company I found to go from my home to that airport

 

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Even as a person born in Buenos Aires, living abroad during so many years changed my accent and whenever I returned, people realized I had a different accent and they used to ask me where I was from. For this reason, when taking cabs, I tried to speak as least as possible, also because I didn't feel like getting into conversations starting with "where are you from?" and I always knew that local people like taxi drivers liked taking advantage of outsiders. Now with Uber, Didi, Cabify it's not even necessary to speak and things are much clear. There is even a kind of Uber ride where you can expressely request not to talk, among other things. Try to use those apps. To schedule a remis or transport in advance towards the airport or Buquebus, I call to make a reservation even a few days in advance and arrange the fee trips with my local remis company or "taxi Ezeiza" which is the cheapest company I found to go from my home to that airport

You sound like my wife who always gives me instructions prior to getting in a Taxi not to speak and not to give away any information.

Most of the time I think taxi drivers are just curious and are interested in having a conversation, or at least have been in my experience.

 

[SinPulgas]

How do tips work with Uber, Didi, Cabify and remises? I've always just used taxis if necessary (most of the time without problems, but with a few big exceptions), but I'm interested in getting into the 21 century with my transportation.

 

[Silvie]

You sound like my wife who always gives me instructions prior to getting in a Taxi not to speak and not to give away any information.

Most of the time I think taxi drivers are just curious and are interested in having a conversation, or at least have been in my experience.

I've been taking taxis here since the 1970's and there were generations of taxi drivers who used to be very curious and extremely intrusive, used to ask too many personal questions, wanted to know everything; this was my own experience. Luckily with time they got much better. Trying to charge foreigners more than locals in every day situation of life always took place here.