The penultimate battle in the conflict between taxi drivers and apps like Uber or Didi is now being fought within the grounds of Mexico City International Airport, the AICM. Users of travel platforms have flooded social media with complaints about a new measure that forces them to travel between 200 and 300 meters to board rides, but the problem goes much further and is crossed by a dispute that has lasted more than a decade. The basic taxis accuse unfair competition and fight to have the exclusivity of transport services, while technology companies defend the freedom of users to choose the option they prefer.
Amid threats of protests and blockades that would paralyze the movements of thousands of users, sowing chaos, the authorities are trying to implement the provision, which was actually promoted in 2022, and are looking for an agreement that satisfies all parties involved. While this is happening, thousands of confused tourists and travelers land in the capital and are faced with the information that the taxi boarding area has been moved outside the airport perimeter, causing discomfort for many. Many others decide to use the airport taxis, which are often overwhelmed by the enormous demand from the public.
“It’s very inconvenient to go out here,” says Eduardo Cruz, a 61-year-old tourist from El Salvador. He and his wife have just landed in Mexico City for the first time. “Uber is an important service and there should be an option to take it inside the airport,” adds Sulma Figueroa, 58. “It kind of ruins the magic of the tourist trip,” says her husband, annoyed, holding his cell phone. Next to them, other travelers drag their suitcases along the side of Boulevard Puerto Aéreo, a fast road where trucks and vehicles pass at full speed. Under a bridge, outside the airport grounds, a strong smell of urine greets travelers with an unfriendly face of the country’s capital.
Sergio Félix, from Sinaloa, is another person waiting patiently in line. “I wouldn’t stand here at night. Even less if I have suitcases, I don’t want to be assaulted,” he says firmly. Ainara, a Spanish tourist in her 30s, has the same opinion. “I’m scared, I don’t like waiting here,” she says. “If we had arrived at night, we would have had to pay the fee imposed on us at the airport. The taxi drivers are a mafia in collusion with the authorities,” says Mr. Félix angrily. Sources close to the airport share with this newspaper that a bay is planned to be built at that point in the coming months to allow passengers to board more comfortably.
The arrival of app-based taxis in Mexico 10 years ago forever changed people’s concept of transportation and modified user behavior. These changes, driven by technology, pushed the rules of the game and put the taxi sector on the ropes, which in a very short time fell behind in the service. However, the reality is more complex than it initially seems. Mexican law is explicit about the requirements necessary to be an airport taxi, since it is a federal zone. Requirements that Uber does not meet at this time. “To start, you need to apply for a federal license, a federal medical exam, insurance for the passenger, you have to pass an exam from the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) and pay a fee to the airport for each car,” says Carlos Maya Muñoz, from the taxi group Sitio 300.
This compensation, of about 2,300 pesos per month per car, is a fee that each taxi driver must pay to the airport for the use of land. “If the apps want to enter, they should do so in accordance with the law, they should hold a business competition and work on equal terms. If they want to enter by force, it will be difficult,” says the taxi driver. On September 10, the SICT suspended the reform of the law that was going to regulate the operations of platforms such as Uber, Cabify or Didi in airports due to threats of nationwide blockades in the country’s airports. The platforms denounce the interference with their way of operating and say they are open to a negotiation between the parties. “We have been in constant dialogue for months with the federal government to promote a reform to the regulation of federal auto transport and auxiliary services. “We believe that with inclusive and thoroughly discussed regulations we can encourage tourism and present Mexico in its best light abroad, particularly in the run-up to the World Cup that we will host in 2026,” says Juan Pablo Eiroa, General Manager of Uber Mexico.
Currently, Uber moves eight million people a week in Mexico City alone. In terminals 1 and 2 of the airport alone, these platforms are used by more than 4,000 people a day. For their part, taxi drivers complain that their trips have been reduced by 50% since the competition came in. “Look, I agree with the applications, my children and I use them. But you have to define the work area of each person. When the taxis from the street come here, they drop off passengers but they can’t pick up passengers; the same as if I take someone to a hotel, I can’t pick up passengers there. Only at the airport. The applications want everything, they are exploiting the city and they also want the federal zones and that’s not fair,” says Maya Muñoz.
Last week, after failing to reach an agreement between the parties, the federal government decreed that no platform can operate within the airport, due to current legislation, and forced these companies to pick up travelers outside the airport perimeter. “We have to, on the one hand, worry about giving the best service we can to the passenger. And, on the other hand, we must comply with the regulation. The best thing is that they come to an agreement, well, the authority listens to the union,” explains Admiral José Ramón Rivera Parga, director of the Mexico City Airport. “The ideal is to reach a regulation where both services can coexist legally for the benefit of the passenger. All the authorities are looking and we are in the process,” he adds.
The government’s proposal sought to regulate the taxi service through applications with a series of requirements such as a medical exam and a permit for the platforms to be able to pick up passengers. However, the taxi unions rejected the agreement because they consider that they comply with stricter requirements and high fees. For its part, Uber assures that it has a suspension of the ban, granted in October of last year by a federal judge that allows them to continue operating in the same way as before. “The suspension protects driver partners who make trips exclusively with the Uber application. Therefore, they can make trips to and from the country’s airports with the peace of mind that no authority can prevent them from doing so. We want to reiterate to driver partners and users of the application that everything remains exactly the same and the points to take trips remain exactly the same as before,” says the director of Uber Mexico.
In 2015, Mexico City became the first city in Latin America to regulate Uber. The agreement included a 1.5% payment for each trip to the capital’s government, annual permits for drivers, and rules on car conditions. However, this is not the first time that regulation has been the subject of public debate. In December 2021, the Mexico City government proposed revising the rule following complaints from citizens about the sharp increase in fares and the so-called dynamic rate.
At Terminal 2, which receives the most flights per day, passengers form long queues in the passenger loading and unloading bay. While some wait to be picked up by an authorised taxi next to Gate 4, others compulsively check their Uber app, waiting for the driver to arrive. No enforcement checks the origin of the vehicles. No authority seems to have changed its way of proceeding and organising traffic. Despite the bans and recent events, things seem to continue more or less as they have been.
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