New Van Service

[lionfish-eater]

There is a new operator. It appears that they are contract vans for prearranged services, but not clear.

Concern about a confrontation between transporters



COZUMEL, January 18 - It would be worrying if the taxi drivers and the operators of the new tourism company "Mobili Trip" fell into confrontations because that would leave a bad image for the tourism sector, says Isela Valenzuela, manager of the Hotels Association Of Cozumel.
In this regard, the interviewee said that if the union of taxi drivers of the union "Adolfo López Mateos" fell in confrontation with the new company, "they would not be affected themselves, but hotels, transport companies and tour operators, To give bad image with blockades, with brawls and fights, that although, that is a reaction that I do not consider is the most adequate, because the reality is that if the true social affection would be created. "
He added "there is confidence, that if all the parties involved talk, and see what commitment can be made, to collaborate with each other, one would not have to think about a general inconvenience and if it would be worrisome that this would not happen after The reaction that would occur when not wanting to attend to this situation with a real dialogue, to generate an image that is not expected, because this could become viral, affecting the national tourism.
In his opinion, "the families of the taxi drivers could not be affected, because they would have to come to Cozumel, one or many companies and at the same time there would be an exclusivity, but the exclusivity has the tourist, with the freedom to choose the type of Service, type of vehicle and pay the price you want with the conditions of service that the transport has.
He added: "It is clear to me that because there is a great demand for work, as a hotel association, I can say that when there are more cruises, we need units to attend to tourists, competitiveness comes to give a quality to the destination, and when One or several companies like this one with a single van, that complies with all the legal framework, permits, with the security to tourists and that is required in this turn, in this sense we see it as better efficiency, for when the visitor is in the Insula has a better alternative of transfer ".
That is why, he said, that a self-demand is born for the business, to give something very differential, so that based on that the client decides, in addition to being detonated to many destinations and successful business schemes, when competition causes The product is of higher quality, and in the end the customer decides.
He concluded by saying "hopefully those involved can take the positive direction to pursue a controversial issue that the parties must clarify with the controlled means, not to remove the approach to the national tourist and foreigner that reaches the destination, after all The efforts and changes are focused on the best service that is offered to the visitor, as there is great competition with the Riviera Maya, Tulum, Playa and Cancun, in the case of Cozumel has always had an important commercial climate.


Airport transporters will also be affected


COZUMEL, January 18 .- The operation of the units of Mobili Trip will affect the carriers of the airport, because their reach will reach the airport terminals.
What has had repercussion the entrance of the transport company of tourism mentioned, is not for less being a direct affectation to local taxi drivers and members of the Ground Transportation Union of the "Andrés Quintana Roo" Airport.These two guilds operate separately but with stability. The first pass freely on the island with the only limitation of being able to take passage to the airport terminal but not to take passage of there. In contrast, those of the union that work at the airport could only take passage to hotels but not make it a taxi in the city, based on a verbal agreement to "spread the cake" as they say.
Notwithstanding the arrival of the new company with federal license plates, these new pickup trucks will have the opportunity of free transit by any route in federal territory, including of course the entrances to the airport, maritime terminals, and Cozumel is no exception.
Ivone Opalín, president of the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies (Amav) in Cozumel, confirmed the transfer of tourists from some hotels to the airport through the new carrier, thus breaking the hegemony that existed.
Just the fourth day of operations of this company, and from the point of view of a partner of the union "Andrés Quintana Roo", he maintained that "for now does not affect us but when they enter the airport it will affect us because there are interests behind All this".
With the federal license plates, those of Mobili Trip will have the ability to increase passage from the airport terminal and take passage there, which will be detrimental to the almost 40 transporters working in that airport area.
So far there has not been a statement from the leadership of the union "Andrés Quintana Roo", only the taxi drivers.

 

[Ron Lee]

Would they be similar to the various private transfer services available at the Cancun airport?

 

[El Graduado]

I am always kind of frustrated when I see these posts of garbled, machine-translated bad newspaper reporting. It is just as if one had a middle-school student in an eighth grade Spanish class translate a story about politics that appeared in the National Enquirer. No, wait… from a newspaper not quite as good as the National Enquirer.

The real skinny is that the company that fielded the van went to the extreme of getting a Mexican federal permit to haul passengers from the airport and piers in Cozumel. When the taxi union got wind of the operation, they mobilized and blocked the van after it had picked up a load of passengers at a cruise ship pier to take them to a tour destination. When the driver showed them his valid permits, the taxistas said they weren’t good on Cozumel (not true) and called SINTRA (Secretary of infrastructure and transport) to come and help stop the van from proceeding. Next, they called in a tilt-bed tow-truck, and while the passengers were still aboard the van, loaded it up. The van operator called the police and told them to come quickly because they were being kidnapped. The police showed up, but said they were only there to make sure there was not a street fight going on, as that is what they were told was happening. So, the tow-truck hauled the van off to the municipal impound lot. Later, the taxistas asked the operator to come and meet with them and when he did (along with a group of his supporters, all businessmen on Cozumel) the meeting turned out to be an ambush, with a large group of hostile taxistas simply haranguing the van owner and his allies until they got fed up and left.

This is probably the opening salvo of the first real effort to break the taxistas’ monopoly on Cozumel. Some very serious business people have had enough and are throwing their weight behind this effort.

 

[Ron Lee]

I am shocked. Is a takeaway from the post above mine that the Cozumel taxi drivers may act in a hostile and threatening manner to protect a monopoly?

 

[ggunn]

I am always kind of frustrated when I see these posts of garbled, machine-translated bad newspaper reporting. It is just as if one had a middle-school student in an eighth grade Spanish class translate a story about politics that appeared in the National Enquirer. No, wait… from a newspaper not quite as good as the National Enquirer.

The real skinny is that the company that fielded the van went to the extreme of getting a Mexican federal permit to haul passengers from the airport and piers in Cozumel. When the taxi union got wind of the operation, they mobilized and blocked the van after it had picked up a load of passengers at a cruise ship pier to take them to a tour destination. When the driver showed them his valid permits, the taxistas said they weren’t good on Cozumel (not true) and called SINTRA (Secretary of infrastructure and transport) to come and help stop the van from proceeding. Next, they called in a tilt-bed tow-truck, and while the passengers were still aboard the van, loaded it up. The van operator called the police and told them to come quickly because they were being kidnapped. The police showed up, but said they were only there to make sure there was not a street fight going on, as that is what they were told was happening. So, the tow-truck hauled the van off to the municipal impound lot. Later, the taxistas asked the operator to come and meet with them and when he did (along with a group of his supporters, all businessmen on Cozumel) the meeting turned out to be an ambush, with a large group of hostile taxistas simply haranguing the van owner and his allies until they got fed up and left.

This is probably the opening salvo of the first real effort to break the taxistas’ monopoly on Cozumel. Some very serious business people have had enough and are throwing their weight behind this effort.

Didn't all this happen a few years ago?

 

[gopbroek]

El Graduado correct me if I am wrong as my understanding on this limited but is this not related the political upheaval of last fall? I was under the impression that the 'serious business men' of Cozumel had broke with the PRI and transfered to PAN at the municipal and state level. The Taxi union remained as PRI stalwarts and now have a reduced level of political influence which now makes their monopoly less secure.

 

[El Graduado]

Didn't all this happen a few years ago?

No, the incident I related happened this week.

El Graduado correct me if I am wrong as my understanding on this limited but is this not related the political upheaval of last fall?

This new initiative was instigated when several businesses simultaneously reached their boiling point over the treatment and pricing they were getting from the Taxi unions. It seems that they are rallying together in a loose confederation to challenge the status quo.

 

[ggunn]

No, the incident I related happened this week.

Well, something more or less the same happened a couple of years ago. Same tactic by the taxi union against a busload of tourists.

 

[El Graduado]

Well, something more or less the same happened a couple of years ago. Same tactic by the taxi union against a busload of tourists.

Yes, that was UNIPER bus hired by a southern hotel to take a group of their guests into town for the evening. The hotel had asked for bids from the taxi union, but didn't like the price, so they hired a UNIER bus. The union took offense and blocked the bus and made the passengers pay for taxi rides back to the hotel. But on that occasion, it was only one business acting unilaterally on one evening that pissed of the union. This one is more of an organized effort to break the monopoly by several businesses.