TAXI Heaven!!!
Taxis Everywhere..............
but here. Actually, turn around, walk 30 yards and there is a large taxi stand in front of Exito Poblado. This can be said just about anywhere in Medellin.
There are 84,000 metered cabs in the Medellin metropolitan area. This means no waiting rain or shine, at all hours day and night. It's like having a private chauffeur.
How inexpensive are they?***
The flag drops at 2300 COP. (divide by two thousand and get $1.15 US.) Minimum fare is 4400 COP or two dollars and ten cents American.
The meter turns 89 COP for each 70 meters traveled.
What this means is that crossing town costs about $6 maximum or 12,000 COP.
Pile friends in the cab, up to four avg sized and it's about the same as the bus /metro and it's door to door.
AND THERE IS NO TIPPING!!!!! did you hear that??? NO tipping. I round up, but my Colombian friends do not. If the fare comes to 7100 COP and I give 8000 COP that means I've given a forty-five cent tip. (900/2000=$0 .45 US.). You are not gonna be cheated by rounding up!!!
A tip is called una propina... for a pineapple (?). I love it!
The worst thing that's happened to me at the hands of a cabbie is one that took a long way around. When he looked at my expression he knew that this gringo turista wasn't gonna tip him. I think this practice had him beating me out of fifty cents.
Now as a tourist I would want to take the Metro and the integrated bus system for the experience, or if I happen to be in Sabaneta way down south and want to go to Bello way up north I would take the Metro. Quick, clean, efficient, safe, scenic. A Metro ticket is 1700COP. ( This is about 87 cents).
The average Paisa will take the bus and /or metro because it is astoundingly cheap. And convenient and almost door to door.
At most of the metro stations are bus lines (GREEN BUSES) to all of the nooks and crannies of the surrounding neighborhoods. The cost for a bus ride is also 1700 COP. There are no zones like in Paris. One fare gets you along the entire route. If you are taking a bus to the metro then a 2200 COP transfer will get you both rides. That's about $1.10. Or you can transfer from the Metro to a bus. Same cost. Almost nothing. Also the transfer to the Metrocable is included in your ride on the Metro proper. Let's hear it for the social contract!!!.
Note... the Metrocable from downtown to Parque Arvi is in two stages and you have to pay again at Santo Domingo...another 1700 COP. Close to nothing for a gringo.
A separate Express bus system with designated lanes and covered stations is the Metroplus. The arrangement of fares and transfers is the same as above.
***AS of today there are about 1900 COP per dollar, close enough to use 2000 COP per dollar for our calculations.
There are 84,000 metered cabs in the Medellin metropolitan area. This means no waiting rain or shine, at all hours day and night. It's like having a private chauffeur.
How inexpensive are they?***
The flag drops at 2300 COP. (divide by two thousand and get $1.15 US.) Minimum fare is 4400 COP or two dollars and ten cents American.
What this means is that crossing town costs about $6 maximum or 12,000 COP.
Pile friends in the cab, up to four avg sized and it's about the same as the bus /metro and it's door to door.
AND THERE IS NO TIPPING!!!!! did you hear that??? NO tipping. I round up, but my Colombian friends do not. If the fare comes to 7100 COP and I give 8000 COP that means I've given a forty-five cent tip. (900/2000=$0 .45 US.). You are not gonna be cheated by rounding up!!!
A tip is called una propina... for a pineapple (?). I love it!
The worst thing that's happened to me at the hands of a cabbie is one that took a long way around. When he looked at my expression he knew that this gringo turista wasn't gonna tip him. I think this practice had him beating me out of fifty cents.
Now as a tourist I would want to take the Metro and the integrated bus system for the experience, or if I happen to be in Sabaneta way down south and want to go to Bello way up north I would take the Metro. Quick, clean, efficient, safe, scenic. A Metro ticket is 1700COP. ( This is about 87 cents).
The average Paisa will take the bus and /or metro because it is astoundingly cheap. And convenient and almost door to door.
At most of the metro stations are bus lines (GREEN BUSES) to all of the nooks and crannies of the surrounding neighborhoods. The cost for a bus ride is also 1700 COP. There are no zones like in Paris. One fare gets you along the entire route. If you are taking a bus to the metro then a 2200 COP transfer will get you both rides. That's about $1.10. Or you can transfer from the Metro to a bus. Same cost. Almost nothing. Also the transfer to the Metrocable is included in your ride on the Metro proper. Let's hear it for the social contract!!!.
Note... the Metrocable from downtown to Parque Arvi is in two stages and you have to pay again at Santo Domingo...another 1700 COP. Close to nothing for a gringo.
A separate Express bus system with designated lanes and covered stations is the Metroplus. The arrangement of fares and transfers is the same as above.
***AS of today there are about 1900 COP per dollar, close enough to use 2000 COP per dollar for our calculations.
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