Taxis in Lima, Peru
This is great. Unlike the author I actually have driven in Lima and, well, let’s just say it was one of the scariest experiences of my life and will almost certainly never happen again. There are millions of taxis in this city and the vast majority are driven by lunatics. I’m not kidding. Some Peruvian university students took a survey of Lima taxi drivers recently and found that something like 80% of them can be categorized as psychopathic. Why? Because they said that they have little or no remorse about hitting a person with their car. And I know for a fact that they have no remorse at all about charging gringos 3 time as much as a ride is worth!
Update: OK, I’ve been notified by a concerned Peruvian that “only” 40% of the taxi drivers in the above-mentioned survey were classified as psychopathic. Now I feel much better…
Travis Smith: Taxis in Lima, Peru
July 14th, 2005 at 6:41 pm
Speaking as a gringa living in Lima, the rule I that was passed along to me upon my arrival is whatever they offer, say half. This was followed by La Segunda Regla: Never take a tico cab and Tercera Regla: Always, always sit behind the driver.
I come from New York, and I think when I go home for Christmas, I’ll find Manhattan’s yellow cabs a real treat.
July 25th, 2005 at 1:36 pm
[…] , 2005 @ 14:35 EDT Americas Peru Global Roundups Live from Lima has little faith in the capabilities of taxi drivers in Peru’s largest city. […]