percysmith

Leaving airports on taxis makes me such a sucker, especially with luggage.

No biggie leaving EZE the first time, it was a fixed fare. Only we have to wait 50 minutes for it.

Second time I was leaving AEP I caught the first taxi that called for my attention. Bad move - although it looked like an official taxi it was not a Radio Taxi - therefore it was less regulated (a bit like HK Red Minibus) and this one had a fxcked meter that ran three times as fast as it should. I had too little time to protest anyway, I was trying to make a lunch between transits.

Third time I still got fxcked - even taking the time to locate a taxi rank and taking the care to board a radio taxi, I still got taken for a ride. Mrs Percysmith called out after the first missed turn and I sighed as we were entering a pier area, when the cabbie made another missed turn I immediately called for a stop at the nearest pavement and stormed off.

The guy only got a bit more than what he would've got to get us to our destination in a straight line, but I had to pay another cabbie to actually get us there.

I filed a complaint with the taxi administration of the Buenos Aires City Government. Mrs Percysmith had the state of mind to photo the third cabbie's medallion. They started an inquiry but I haven't had the results back.

Gaucho100K

Very sorry to hear about your troubles. I commend you on having filed a complaint with the City Government. Sadly, only very very few visitors file complaints and this helps the few rotten apples that operate Taxis get away with their mischief.

If you hear back from the Government, please report back. Don't know if you are fluent in Spanish but in case the city does get back to you in Spanish, please let me know and I will translate it all for you and assist you in further communications with them. I can be reached via PM or email. I also want to Congratulate you on the way you seem to have taken these situations. Many visitors let these things "ruin" their trip and sometimes their entire vacation... Im sure that feeling your $$$ being "taken" is not a pleasant thing, but I get the feeling (reading between the lines and from the overall "tone" or your posts) that you and your Wife know how to take this all into perspective.... Kudos to you both !!! ^ ^ ^

In closing, let me say that next time you are in EZE, please let me know... you and your wife are invited to a wine tasting, courtesy of ArgEnology Wine Merchants - as a thank you for your Goodwill with these mishaps and hoping that you give EZE a second chance to come and enjoy this city.... and if you are still in town, let me know and lets try to do this before you leave !!!

Cheers,
Alex / Gaucho100K

HIDDY

Sorry to hear about it as well. Hard to really judge as you didn't state prices.

One thing I will say in defence of BA cabbies is, their routings are not always as direct as you might think they should be for several reasons. It can be down to the one way system, not fully understanding you, not being allowed to do u-turns, avoiding roads which have regular traffic snarl ups and the protests that can force traffic into taking detours. Even my Argentine wife who knows BA well has been known to question a driver as to why he has not taken the most obvious routing. The drivers are always happy to explain, the reason behind it is actually to save the passenger time and money. So it's not just tourists who think they're being taken for a ride.

Taxi fares have taken quite a price hike over the years here so any returning visitor might get a shock at todays prices if they haven't been here for a while.

percysmith

Well the taxi trips were:

1) EZE-Palo Santo Hotel in Palermo (first time leaving airport)
2) Palo Santo Hotel-AEP
3) AEP-Fierro Hotel in Palermo (quite close to Palo Santo, just for lunch)
4) Fierro Hotel-AEP
5) AEP-Palo Santo Hotel
6) Palo Santo Hotel-EZE

No problems leaving from restaurant/hotel to airport. We were charged about 90-odd pesos for (2) and 89 pesos for (4), so we have some rough idea what we should be charged even allowing for possible detours heading into AEP vs coming out.

The second time I left an airport (which was (3)) above I was charged 250 pesos. But at least that non-radio cabbie drove in a relatively direct route - from AEP down Avenue Sarmiento, round the Santa Fe roundabout down Thames than onto Soler. Even though the fare was excessive at least we got there on time.

The third time I left an airport (which was (5)) the routing was (when I started feeling a detour was taking place I started tracking his route on a map and wrote this up for the taxi administration):

(From AEP)
Avenida Presidente Ramon San Castillo down to the dockside warehouse area (when seeing the warehouses Mrs. Percysmith raised the alarm and we started tracking his route)
Retiro Station
Avenida del Libertador flowing into Avenida Pres. Figueroa Alcorta.
Pass Avenue Sarmiento without turning left
I didn't know how much further Avenida Pres. Figueroa Alcorta he wanted to go, so we got off at Plazoleta Enrique García Velloso and took another taxi to Palo Santo Hotel

No idea why the cabbie in (5) avoided Avenue Sarmiento so much he had to drive down to Retiro station, Google Maps showed slightly slow (yellow) traffic all along the road. Or having detoured to Retiro Station to avoid Avenue Sarmiento, why he didn't take the Avenida Gral. las Heras route.

The fare was 114.5 pesos at this point, and I had to pay about 40-odd pesos to get to Palo Santo Hotel.

percysmith

Thanks Gaucho100K. I'm not so attentive to HK tourists with grievances, but I don't read about many fortunately. It was majuki's idea to file a hoja de reclamaciones.

It's not a huge amount of money so time delay (5) was much more annoying than overcharging (3).

We suffered taxi scams in Bangkok (departing BKK whilst failing to turn on the meter - when I noticed I demanded to be dropped right off the side of the road), Hanoi (fxcked meter again) and Danang (passing off a 20,000 VND note as a 200,000 VND).

sfvoyage

Are these cambios open on Saturday (morning and/or afternoon)? I'll be in Montevideo tomorrow (a Saturday) and will try to find one to convert some USD into ARS.

getmethere

My dozen or so taxi experience in BA is just the opposite. From/to EZE, within city, hailed by myself or by hotels are all positive. The cars are clean, the drivers are courteous, often friendly, and sometimes funny. Never over charge, and thankful for a 10% tip. Heads and shoulder over those in other big cities like Beijing, NYC, etc. Last but not least, the rides are terrific bargains: ~5 to 10USD across town! Where else can you find these?

My complaint is trying t o get one during rush hours.

Another is the fixed 450 peso ride from EZE into the city. Unlike other big cities, there are no shuttles to the hotels. Why not?

percysmith

Getmethere I agree with you for the rest of the city outside airports. Or even eze with its fixed charges. It's just AEP.

HIDDY

Most big cities I've been in have only had shuttle buses to the airport hotels not city centre ones. So for me at least it's nothing unusual.

Eastbay1K

(S)he might mean something like a Supershuttle where you pay the shuttle, but it makes multiple stops.

At EZE, I believe you can pay an add-on to the MTL bus service to get to your hotel.

og

I've been reading this thread with interest and appreciate everyone's comments.

I just did the EZE - Palermo trip by Tienda Leon bus & free connecting shuttle cab. All up it was a 60 min trip. Half of that was in the Leon bus and the rest for a 10 min wait and then the drive to my hotel. But it was late on Saturday afternoon of a holiday weekend, so everyone was rejoicing with "no traffic at all". It cost AR$410 for the 2 of us and paid by cc.

brooding

I'll be travelling to BsAs in March 2016 for the first time. Can anyone pls point me to which cab companies are reputable for airport transfers and also for travel within the city (e.g. between restaurant and hotel). Surely there are apps now that will hail the cab in BsAs?

Alex_voyager

Hi brooding. I´ve been to Buenos Aires this month and I would recommend the services of Kangoo Tours, since they have big vehicles "kangoo renault type". You save an extra taxi if you have more than 4 big bags, and for the same price (u$d 40 from Ezeiza to Buenos Aires downtown, tolls and parking included). The drivers speak perfect English. www.kangootours.wix.com/tours

SoFlyOn

From EZE I can recommend WorldCar (a remise service). They have a booth just before you exit the sterile area after customs (also accessible on the non-sterile side). Last week the fare to BsAs CF was $500 (that's pesos).

For taxis in general, hailing one on the street is no problem, or you could have your hotel/restaurant call for one. Finding taxis in the areas where tourists usually frequent has never been a problem for me - even in the early hours of the morning.

If you're staying at other than a major hotel, I'd print out a small map of where it's located since some taxis don't have GPS, and the driver might not speak any English ...

Flying Machine

Welcome to FT and Thanks for your first post.