Although most people will read this and think, oh more shenanigans from UBER, the reality is (and as a Colombian I know), that the government has failed for years to regulate this industry, which is regarded by all consumers as incredibly positive, and continuously has fought against this platforms in an effort to keep the taxi mafia content.
Yet, taxis in Colombia are incredibly dangerous. As a passenger you are exposed to express kidnappings, drivers that are aggressive, adultered fares systems and drive unsafely in cars that don't meet any security guidelines (a large number of passengers have died on rear-collisions given that the most common Bogota taxi has no rear-reinforcement). For decades the taxi mafia's have provided an unsafe & horrible service, when Uber & other platforms arrived, users flocked, yet by means of aggressive protests where they pretty much block the city, the taxi's have forced some parts of the government to try to curve Uber.
Uber however has fought to continue providing the service that the consumers demand, and has otherwise tried to complied with every law. This fine comes from the industry of commerce regulators, who have tried to convince the technology ministry to shut Uber down, with them refusing. I hope Uber continues to operate in Colombia and use their legal means to fight this regulators who are not operating from a consumer benefit standpoint, but rather a political fight to protect a mafia that needs to be dismantled.
It's anecdotal however, this doesn't correlate to my experience(s) there at all. I lived in Colombia from 2013-2015, and return various times per year. For what it's worth, I am not hispanic, and very much look like someone from the US
I've taken yellow taxis in Colombia (in all the major cities) more times than I can count(both by myself and with others) and have never once felt in any danger, nor been ripped off (which has happened to me in other countries I have visited)
Of course there are news reports about taxi rides gone wrong, but in my experience 99.9% of yellow taxi drivers in Colombia are honest people just trying to do their job.
More than happy to answer questions about living in Colombia if anyone's interested.
I never use Uber in my country of residence but it was a boon in Colombia (and other countries where taxis have a questionable reputation).
One correction though: Based on what I’ve read, express kidnappings might have happened more often in the past but hardly anymore today. It’s more likely to be robbed at gunpoint from guys on a motorbike, and they like to target taxis (although other cars as well).
The one thing that I found positive about Colombian taxis is that they are very cheap. In this regard, I don't see how Uber could compete.
On the other hand, the cars are falling to bits and the drivers are rather aggressive (although it seemed to me that drivers were careless in general).
Can you back your second paragraph up with recent numbers?
I have taken a lot of yellow taxis all across the country, but mostly in Bogotá, Medellin and Cali over the last couple of years (about 2-3 rides per week) and have yet to have a single bad experience. The handful of Uber rides I had in the time weren't better or worse, besides being in better cars.
>Yet, taxis in Colombia are incredibly dangerous...drive unsafely in cars that don't meet any security guidelines (a large number of passengers have died on rear-collisions given that the most common Bogota taxi has no rear-reinforcement).
This doesn't follow for me. Most Uber drivers drive their own cars, no? That means the cars are the same as are sold in the country, which given the regulated taxi companies are using supposedly less safe version of fleet vehicles sounds a lot to me like a country specific problem with lax regulations on fleet vehicle specifications.
Unless Uber is also making available U.S. market/road legal cars available to drivers in Colombia too.
I don't know squat about the regulatory framework in Colombia though. So I could be totally wrong based on the flawed assumption on how extensive this "taxi mafia's" regulatory capture purportedly is.
When I was in Colombia every time I took an Uber the driver asked me to sit in the front seat. I thought it was a bit odd but figured it was a local thing. It wasn’t until my way to the airport that my last Uber driver told me the app was illegal in the country so they ask passengers to sit up front to look like they’re just driving a friend.
It really ticked me off that Uber let me open the app and order a car, knowing full well I would be breaking the law, and gave me no warning or indication of the risk I would be taking whatsoever. As a young woman with only the most basic of Spanish skills traveling alone, breaking Colombian law isn’t a risk I would have been willing to take.
Hmm; not sure about legality aspect, but in many places where Uber is perfectly legal and common, the drivers have nevertheless asked me to sit in front due to fear of violent reaction by Taxi drivers.
In the city I'm currently in, Taxi drivers and unions have used various means to create political pressure - from peaceful protests; to aggressive protests; to attacking Uber drivers; to attacking their offices (they also apply the same tactics between each other when a different taxi company wins an airport license, etc.
(Oh, the city is Ottawa, the capital of Canada).
Note as well, Uber was "illegal", in the sense that there's no framework or license under which it operates, pretty much everywhere it started, and in many popular places still is. It entrenches, and then fights to become legal. You probably used Uber "illegally" (as in, operating outside of framework of existing law and regulation framework) before, without being so explicitly told or aware.
(and while this is not a message likely to be received well, and I genuinely mean it with best of intents - if you are a person with limited local language skills or awareness traveling alone, and if you are not willing to take risks, this is a good lesson to do research before landing. Much of the world is NOT equally tourist friendly, and nowhere is Ignorance of Law a permissible defense :( )
Same thing in Chile. Some drivers even make sure all the passengers agree on a story to tell the cops if they stop you.
Unlike Colombia, it's not dangerous for passengers -- at least the law-breaking aspect isn't. What's dangerous is how everyone drives. Also, it's a gamble whether you'll get a normal, sane driver, or someone weird or downright crazy. But that's not limited to Uber, you can get crazy cabbies too.
I think the worst experience I had there -- before Uber, this was a taxi driver -- was a guy who: 1) was speeding so much, regardless of potholes, I thought my teeth would fall out; 2) stopped to take a piss in the middle of the ride, without pausing the meter; 3) ended up confessing he wasn't sure where my address was, so I asked him to let me off a few blocks from my place.
Is there a moral to this story? Not really, I just thought I would share something funny ;)
I don't believe there are laws against taking it in Colombia. The law seems to be against driving one and the consequence for the driver is getting the car confiscated and having to pay a fine and losing their license if caught multiple times. Uber is liable for providing the platform for this unauthorized service.
Uber isn't the only black market ride-hailing app that's been competing at scale in Colombia either. There's also Didi Chuxing and some others. However, I don't understand how the legal department in a company like Uber permits such a brazen disregard of local laws. Yes, this is a case of regulatory capture and there is hardly any subtlety in the way the Transportation Minister has worked to maintain a monopoly on legal taxi services for Taxis Libres, but I don't understand how you just ignore the fact that your service in entire countries is illegal when you are a large multinational publicly traded company.
Similar experience here. It wasn't as much as a problem in Bogotá as it was in the more touristy Cartagena or Medellín.
Cartagena was the worst with Ubers. I hailed an Uber in a touristy area, and immediately my driver messaged me (in Spanish of course) to get in the front seat, and if anyone asked, he's my friend. Once the Uber arrived, a taxista saw me get in the Uber and started yelling "es un Uber!" and my driver looked over at me and yelled at me to hurry up, before speeding away.
That seems like a pretty clear violation of local laws. I'm not saying I'm in support of the law (quite the opposite, actually, let the competition rise, even if it's something I dislike e.g. Uber) but it's kind of scummy to just let users take the heat. It should be easy enough for them to block the app via geolocation or at least issue warnings when you open it in Colombia.
You aren't breaking any law by sitting in an Uber, since it isn't your responsibility to make sure that they are following regulations. At worst the company will get fined or the driver will get their license suspended.
> The country has not specifically regulated transport services like Uber, but has said it will suspend for 25 years the licenses of drivers caught working for the platform.
> The fine from the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce says Uber urges employees not to give information to regulators and to block access to company computers.
Call me crazy, but I wonder if they were trying to get a list of drivers, for the purposes of pulling licenses.
Probably just as easy to have a team in Colombia (edit: typo corrected) request Uber rides and have regulators pull licenses on the spot of whomever shows up.
Amazing, Uber urges employees to not comply with regulators? Wow what an attitude. Hope they get their asses handed to them and that the house of cards that is Uber comes crashing down spectacularly, and soon.
> The country has not specifically regulated transport services like Uber, but has said it will suspend for 25 years the licenses of drivers caught working for the platform.
I really wish things defaulted to "legal if not specifically prohibited", not "illegal unless specifically allowed" like this implies. (probably just a case of overly broad taxi legislation, though)
God I hope never. And I say this as a business owner. Businesses should be required to register as legal entities and carry the right insurances, and be held accountable through the legal system.
for those outside Colombia: there are periodic taxi strikes, some severe and lasting for hours (blocking important highways that everyone uses etc.), so for those wondering about the small fine or whatever, it could just be to placate taxi drivers in order reduce the frequency of striking across the country
I've always wondered in situations like this: Is this a fine uber will actually pay? Does the US have any treaties with Colombia which put teeth in this fine inside US jurisdiction? Or would they pay it simply out of a desire to, possibly, one day, operate legally in the country and not want to start out on the wrong foot?
And more specifically, the three people who were fined directly; are they really going to get out their checkbooks (or would Uber just cover it)?
I've always wondered this; you hear about these multi-billion dollar fines Google/Facebook get from the EU, and obviously they want to continue doing legal business there, plus the EU is a great friend of the US, so they pay them. But with smaller countries that are, traditionally, not on a great political footing with the first world, what do businesses do? Especially in this case where they are operating illegally anyway? Pay up? Throw the letter in the trash and laugh over an $800 bottle of bourbon like a supervillain?
Keep in mind that Colombia can reapply the fine with arbitrary periodicity for continued non-compliance.
As a one time fine it isn't much, but it isn't chump change either, and it will make the company increasingly unattractive to investors/contractors/employees.
This is where economies of scale can start to bite you in the arse. Yeah, the world is your oyster. But when you have the entire world treating you as a target, things can pile up real fast.
[+] [-] danielpal|6 years ago|reply
Yet, taxis in Colombia are incredibly dangerous. As a passenger you are exposed to express kidnappings, drivers that are aggressive, adultered fares systems and drive unsafely in cars that don't meet any security guidelines (a large number of passengers have died on rear-collisions given that the most common Bogota taxi has no rear-reinforcement). For decades the taxi mafia's have provided an unsafe & horrible service, when Uber & other platforms arrived, users flocked, yet by means of aggressive protests where they pretty much block the city, the taxi's have forced some parts of the government to try to curve Uber.
Uber however has fought to continue providing the service that the consumers demand, and has otherwise tried to complied with every law. This fine comes from the industry of commerce regulators, who have tried to convince the technology ministry to shut Uber down, with them refusing. I hope Uber continues to operate in Colombia and use their legal means to fight this regulators who are not operating from a consumer benefit standpoint, but rather a political fight to protect a mafia that needs to be dismantled.
[+] [-] jc_811|6 years ago|reply
It's anecdotal however, this doesn't correlate to my experience(s) there at all. I lived in Colombia from 2013-2015, and return various times per year. For what it's worth, I am not hispanic, and very much look like someone from the US
I've taken yellow taxis in Colombia (in all the major cities) more times than I can count(both by myself and with others) and have never once felt in any danger, nor been ripped off (which has happened to me in other countries I have visited)
Of course there are news reports about taxi rides gone wrong, but in my experience 99.9% of yellow taxi drivers in Colombia are honest people just trying to do their job.
More than happy to answer questions about living in Colombia if anyone's interested.
[+] [-] imartin2k|6 years ago|reply
One correction though: Based on what I’ve read, express kidnappings might have happened more often in the past but hardly anymore today. It’s more likely to be robbed at gunpoint from guys on a motorbike, and they like to target taxis (although other cars as well).
[+] [-] forinti|6 years ago|reply
On the other hand, the cars are falling to bits and the drivers are rather aggressive (although it seemed to me that drivers were careless in general).
[+] [-] smoe|6 years ago|reply
I have taken a lot of yellow taxis all across the country, but mostly in Bogotá, Medellin and Cali over the last couple of years (about 2-3 rides per week) and have yet to have a single bad experience. The handful of Uber rides I had in the time weren't better or worse, besides being in better cars.
[+] [-] salawat|6 years ago|reply
This doesn't follow for me. Most Uber drivers drive their own cars, no? That means the cars are the same as are sold in the country, which given the regulated taxi companies are using supposedly less safe version of fleet vehicles sounds a lot to me like a country specific problem with lax regulations on fleet vehicle specifications.
Unless Uber is also making available U.S. market/road legal cars available to drivers in Colombia too.
I don't know squat about the regulatory framework in Colombia though. So I could be totally wrong based on the flawed assumption on how extensive this "taxi mafia's" regulatory capture purportedly is.
[+] [-] elliekelly|6 years ago|reply
It really ticked me off that Uber let me open the app and order a car, knowing full well I would be breaking the law, and gave me no warning or indication of the risk I would be taking whatsoever. As a young woman with only the most basic of Spanish skills traveling alone, breaking Colombian law isn’t a risk I would have been willing to take.
[+] [-] NikolaNovak|6 years ago|reply
In the city I'm currently in, Taxi drivers and unions have used various means to create political pressure - from peaceful protests; to aggressive protests; to attacking Uber drivers; to attacking their offices (they also apply the same tactics between each other when a different taxi company wins an airport license, etc.
(Oh, the city is Ottawa, the capital of Canada).
Note as well, Uber was "illegal", in the sense that there's no framework or license under which it operates, pretty much everywhere it started, and in many popular places still is. It entrenches, and then fights to become legal. You probably used Uber "illegally" (as in, operating outside of framework of existing law and regulation framework) before, without being so explicitly told or aware.
(and while this is not a message likely to be received well, and I genuinely mean it with best of intents - if you are a person with limited local language skills or awareness traveling alone, and if you are not willing to take risks, this is a good lesson to do research before landing. Much of the world is NOT equally tourist friendly, and nowhere is Ignorance of Law a permissible defense :( )
[+] [-] CodeMage|6 years ago|reply
Unlike Colombia, it's not dangerous for passengers -- at least the law-breaking aspect isn't. What's dangerous is how everyone drives. Also, it's a gamble whether you'll get a normal, sane driver, or someone weird or downright crazy. But that's not limited to Uber, you can get crazy cabbies too.
I think the worst experience I had there -- before Uber, this was a taxi driver -- was a guy who: 1) was speeding so much, regardless of potholes, I thought my teeth would fall out; 2) stopped to take a piss in the middle of the ride, without pausing the meter; 3) ended up confessing he wasn't sure where my address was, so I asked him to let me off a few blocks from my place.
Is there a moral to this story? Not really, I just thought I would share something funny ;)
[+] [-] 0xfffafaCrash|6 years ago|reply
Uber isn't the only black market ride-hailing app that's been competing at scale in Colombia either. There's also Didi Chuxing and some others. However, I don't understand how the legal department in a company like Uber permits such a brazen disregard of local laws. Yes, this is a case of regulatory capture and there is hardly any subtlety in the way the Transportation Minister has worked to maintain a monopoly on legal taxi services for Taxis Libres, but I don't understand how you just ignore the fact that your service in entire countries is illegal when you are a large multinational publicly traded company.
[+] [-] laken|6 years ago|reply
Cartagena was the worst with Ubers. I hailed an Uber in a touristy area, and immediately my driver messaged me (in Spanish of course) to get in the front seat, and if anyone asked, he's my friend. Once the Uber arrived, a taxista saw me get in the Uber and started yelling "es un Uber!" and my driver looked over at me and yelled at me to hurry up, before speeding away.
[+] [-] WilTimSon|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paxys|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] romaaeterna|6 years ago|reply
> The fine from the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce says Uber urges employees not to give information to regulators and to block access to company computers.
Call me crazy, but I wonder if they were trying to get a list of drivers, for the purposes of pulling licenses.
[+] [-] toomuchtodo|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] atonse|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DuskStar|6 years ago|reply
I really wish things defaulted to "legal if not specifically prohibited", not "illegal unless specifically allowed" like this implies. (probably just a case of overly broad taxi legislation, though)
[+] [-] atonse|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maximente|6 years ago|reply
Uber isn't a registered company in Colombia, which means it's operating illegally.
[+] [-] pbreit|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] megaremote|6 years ago|reply
Yeah, I look forward to new forms of pollution just being dumped everywhere, new weapons that are automatically allowed.
[+] [-] inetknght|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maximente|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 013a|6 years ago|reply
And more specifically, the three people who were fined directly; are they really going to get out their checkbooks (or would Uber just cover it)?
I've always wondered this; you hear about these multi-billion dollar fines Google/Facebook get from the EU, and obviously they want to continue doing legal business there, plus the EU is a great friend of the US, so they pay them. But with smaller countries that are, traditionally, not on a great political footing with the first world, what do businesses do? Especially in this case where they are operating illegally anyway? Pay up? Throw the letter in the trash and laugh over an $800 bottle of bourbon like a supervillain?
[+] [-] bogwog|6 years ago|reply
Those numbers are so specific that it seems like they're the actual fines. At that point why even omit the third one?
[+] [-] laken|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tingletech|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonny_eh|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deuslovult|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] salawat|6 years ago|reply
As a one time fine it isn't much, but it isn't chump change either, and it will make the company increasingly unattractive to investors/contractors/employees.
This is where economies of scale can start to bite you in the arse. Yeah, the world is your oyster. But when you have the entire world treating you as a target, things can pile up real fast.
[+] [-] Ensorceled|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] leongrado|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] whoevercares|6 years ago|reply