By Wendy Anders

Official (red) taxi representatives cancelled a meeting last Tuesday that they had requested with the Public Services Regulatory Agency (Aresep) during the national taxi protest they held Tuesday,  August 9.

When Roberto Jiménez Gómez, Costa Rica’s general regulator, called the cancellation “unfortunate,” Rubén Vargas, president of the Costa Rican Taxi Union (UTC) responded with an 8-page document calling for Aresep to immediately dismantle Uber’s platform and deactivate their apps in Costa Rica, saying the agency had full legal power to do so. The document is posted on the UTC’s Facebook page.

This Saturday, UTC leaders held a closed-door meeting, as reported by Costa Rica’s Columbia Radio this weekend, in which they called for support from bus companies, tourist transport companies, and truckers to help in their continued protest of Uber’s operation in the country using surprise protests in unannounced places.

Vargas went on to state in an interview with Columbia Radio that official taxis were planning to launch a new platform to be used by official taxis that is similar to Uber’s platform.

Meanwhile the United Taxi Drivers of Desamparados (Coopetade R.L) have a proactive campaign on their Facebook page to encourage better service by their members in order to regain consumer’s confidence and patronage. A list of rules of etiquette for official taxis they have published includes having change on hand, always using the meter, always using the shortest route possible, not smoking or playing loud music while driving, among other things.