Expanish Volunteer Blog

One of the safest ways to travel in any big city is to take a taxi. In Buenos Aires, taxi’s are an especially good way to travel as they are convenient (thousands of taxi’s line the streets in the city), they are fast (taxis manoeuvre the city like no other vehicle on the road), and they are inexpensive (for most foreign currencies, taxi’s are one/third of the prices compared to other cities around the world).

If you are a volunteer in Buenos Aires, it is recommendable to take a taxi when you are unsure of your destination, it is late at night, or when you just don’t have the energy for public transportation!  Here are a few tips on how to take a taxi, safely, in Buenos Aires:

1. Call a radio taxi!  Radio taxi’s are registered taxis and the securest type of taxi in the city. There have been noted events of unregistered taxi’s taking advantage of passengers and its best to avoid this at all cost.
2. Make sure the taxi driver is charging you with the meter (cheaper than a quoted price), unless you are going to the international airport or a destination similar whereas then you should have a quote from the person on the phone reserving the taxi.
3. Tell the taxi driver where you are going, and if you can, tell them which route you would like to take. Although most taxi drivers are hardworking honest people, sometime you will run into a driver that will take you around the block 5 times before letting you off at your destination, making the trip long and costly!
4. If at anytime you feel uncomfortable in a taxi, if they are going to fast, or for any reason, ask politely for the taxi to stop at the next corner, pay your meter price, and leave the car.

Ask the Expanish staff for the number’s of Radio taxi’s in the city!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 8:34 am and is filed under Transport in Buenos Aires.
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