Authorized taxis at LIM? Hmm. LAP (LIM Airport Partners) is paid by Taxi Verde to “authorize” them to have a counter inside the airport (only a counter, not to wander the airport harassing pax). Otherwise Taxi Verde is no different, and no safer, than any other licenced taxi company in Lima. They just pay to be inside the airport (and hence cost more). Equally, the taxi drivers in brown shirts just outside waving their placard in your face are “authorized” to be there as well. They are authorized by District of Callao. They are supposed to stay on the other side of the first road (which is Callao, not LIM), but often do not. Taxi Verde wants its monopoly inside the airport, Callao taxis want their monopoly just outside the airport doors. Beyond these two rings are more taxi drivers, they may well be part of a legitimate licenced taxi company, but just not “authorized” to be inside or close to the door, maybe they just dropped off a pax and want a return fare. Here also you will find the pirate drivers, but they are pushed back some imaginary distance so as not to compete with Callao drivers. This distance is about 8 metres at domestic arrivals and the other side of the internal road at international arrivals.

Taxi Verde will say use them because they are safe, which is not demonstratively true, they only pay to be authorized to harass you inside the airport. LIM makes no guarantees of safety by authorizing them. They are no safer than the Callao taxis who are authorized to harass you outside the airport doors and who will tell you they are safer then taxis on the street. But, of course, they are no safer than any licenced taxi company on the street.

On the street outside the airport, any and all taxi drivers can be found, but the police try to enforce a no stopping zone on Av Faucett. They do this by ensuring taxi drivers have a Callao licence (Callao forces any taxi driver using Callao streets to attend a special training course and have papers to prove it.)

To get to the airport you will find some drivers refuse because they do not have the Callao papers mentioned above. Some will take you to outside the airport because they do not have the correct papers and know that when entering the airport there is a police stop checking papers.

Little did you know the complexities of the pecking order of taxis at LIM and the microcosm it represents! But none of the above is enforceable. More like a gentleman's agreement. Although the police wander around blowing their whistles and driving the taxi drivers back to the pecking order, the drivers just ignore them if there is even a semi-interested prey nearby. This is because most of the drivers work for someone else who owns the taxi. The police know that giving a ticket to the driver who is not the owner will not be enforceable, but the drivers showing respect will move back a few steps when the police whistle at them, then move forward when he wanders away. The only exception is when the police boss arrives, then everyone immediately moves to the correct spot. I think again in respect to the poor schmuck foot patrol policeman with whom they interact with daily and who allows them some latitude – they don't want him into get into trouble with the boss.

Regardless, taxi drivers in Peru believe they have a divine right to harass thousands of people anytime anywhere daily. They will claim they are just offering a service or, if pushed deeper, just trying to feed their families. Peruvians seem to grudgingly accept this, but, if pushed deeper, they too will admit they do not like being harassed by taxi drivers.