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While the app could be discovered in additional than 10,000 cities around the globe, the State Department stated it discouraged vacationers from utilizing Uber in Cancun, which has seen an uptick in hostility in the direction of rideshare drivers.
Here’s the State Department’s warning:
In the wake of current incidents involving taxi and Uber drivers in Quintana Roo, U.S. residents are reminded of steerage offered on Travel.State.gov, particularly about the usage of application-based transportation companies in Mexico, which states: Application-based automotive companies similar to Uber and Cabify can be found in lots of Mexican cities, and usually provide one other secure different to taxis. Official complaints towards Uber and different drivers do happen, nonetheless, and previous disputes between these companies and native taxi unions have often turned violent, leading to accidents to U.S. residents in some cases.
Why has this warning been despatched now? There has been brewing stress between native taxicab unions, who’ve protested that rideshares needs to be topic to the identical guidelines they’re and needs to be ordered to have enterprise licenses, thus giving rideshare apps an unfair benefit over taxi drivers. Such stress has spilled out from the airport to widespread vacationer sights such because the Kukulcán boulevard within the resort district.
Travelers who’ve visited Cancun prior to now might do not forget that rideshare choices weren’t available from Cancun Airport. Rideshares had been blocked from working in Cancun till not too long ago when a judge’s court docket order allowed rideshare apps like Uber and Cabify to operate legally in the area. Uber responded favorably to the ruling, saying that the corporate maintained that it didn’t require a public transport concession to function within the space, according to a report from the Cancun Sun, a neighborhood media outlet.
High prices, coupled with aggressive ways by drivers on the airport, have prompted some vacationers to forgo medallion taxicabs in favor of much-cheaper rideshare apps.
Uber, for its half, hasn’t made point out of any turmoil on its Cancun web page, as a substitute offering a map of the place Uber operates within the Quintana Roo area and providing worth estimates for fares within the space. For occasion, an Uber X from Cancun International Airport to the favored Hotel Zone (Zona Hotelera) has a minimal fare of simply 35 Mexican Pesos (roughly $2).
In sharp distinction, charges on the Cancun Airport’s web site record fares starting from $25 (if booked on-line) to $45 (if booked on the airport). These fares are in U.S. {dollars}.
Local experiences say the army has been deployed at seashores and to the Hotel Zone–the place many all-inclusive resorts are positioned–to keep away from violence between taxicab drivers and rideshare drivers from spilling over to vacationers.
Is It Safe To Use Uber In Cancun?
In current weeks, in keeping with the Associated Press, drivers and riders have been accosted by protesters–and a few vacationers hitched rides to the airport in police vehicles because of the protests. Late final month, taxi drivers have been accused of pelting Uber drivers with rocks.
Whether you intend to take a neighborhood taxi, Uber, or one other rideshare choice, there are methods to be proactive about your security. The Uber app provides a function that enables mates or household to observe your location. Additionally, many smartphones, such because the iPhone, provide a “discover my” choice, that enables mates or family members to have entry to your real-time location.
Relatively current problems with violent crime in Quintana Roo have garnered worldwide consideration and unnerved vacationers, who had been assured that Cancun was comparatively secure. The State Department encourages vacationers headed to Quintana Roo to train warning within the area as a result of threat of crime and kidnapping.
In November 2021, two individuals have been killed throughout a shootout on the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun, a 5-star resort. That assault, during which armed gunman reportedly arrived by boat and stormed the resort, was stated to be drug-related. And in January 2022, a gunfight at a resort close to Playa del Carmen killed a Canadian citizen and injured two others.
Still, the chance of violent crime in vacationer hotspots stays comparatively remoted.
