Monterrey, Nuevo León.- “If I take a taxi from here I feel like I’m being robbed,” said Leonardo Morales a few days ago, who arrived at the Monterrey International Airport from CDMX.
But both Morales and the rest of the users have no choice, at least legally.
Eight companies hold a monopoly in the air terminal and impose tariffs that double the cost of traveling by Uber, Didi or conventional taxi.
Although the federal strategy was to grant more than one concession to encourage competition and balance prices, the companies Ejecutivo, Contaxi, Golden, Suburban, TPA, Totsa, Ecofy, Timovil have practically the same rates.
And while these companies pretend to compete with each other on price, the Law of Roads, Bridges and Federal Motor Transport prohibits conventional taxis and transport apps from providing their services in the vicinity of air terminals.
In an exercise carried out by EL NORTE, two journalists made trips from different parts of the City to the Airport and back to compare the service rates at similar times, and verified that the prices of the concessionary companies are 100 percent more expensive.
For example, from Terminal A, in Apodaca, to Gómez Morín and Alfonso Reyes, in Colonia Jerónimo Siller, in San Pedro, a TPA taxi charged 700 pesos.
But from that same point to the airport, the fare for an Uber was 350 pesos for the same 34.66 kilometers traveled.
Another trip was from the airport to Paseo de los Leones and Pedro Infante, in Colonia Cumbres Las Palmas Residencial, in Monterey.
The Totsa taxi charged 700 pesos, while with Uber the rate was 430 pesos for 40 kilometers of travel.
frequent travelers criticized the high costs of airport taxissince they consider that companies take advantage of the regulation to control rates at will and without restriction.
“It’s an abuse,” said Claudia Gómez, “the costs are very high compared to other airports.
“We come from Guadalajara and I can assure you that the prices here are double,” he added.
“What we are going to do is walk to take an Uber.”
In turn, Morales said that he looks for options before taking a taxi from the airport.
“I prefer to look for an option, but sometimes, like today, I’m in a hurry and I have to use them,” he said.
Despite not having permission to operate in the vicinity of the air terminal, Uber drivers decide to risk heavy fines, knowing that users seek lower prices.
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“I can drop off passengers, but not go through them, although you always find a way to take the trip,” said Arturo, an Uber driver.
“Sometimes the National Guard is there,” he says, “if they see me, it’s a 48,000-peso fine, but right now they haven’t carried out operations, that’s why we’re taking risks.”
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