Los Cabos Tourists Urged To Beware Of Unregistered Transportation Providers

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Last Updated 1 year ago

Tourists arriving at the Los Cabos International Airport ready for a vacation getaway to the beach resort destination have a wide variety of transportation options available to whisk them away to the resort corridor.

Along the terminal exit, vehicles queue ready for tourists – ride shares, taxis, hotel vans even tourist shuttles.

However, tourists need to now beware of unregistered transportation providers lurking to take advantage by ripping off unsuspecting visitors to the beach resort destination.

Unregistered Transportation Providers

The State Transportation Department of Baja California Sur recently took steps to improve the transportation service for Los Cabos tourists by eliminating the stamp registration system and increasing competition among the local providers.

Ultimately, the idea was that the increased tourist transportation competition would decrease the overall fares for tourists, especially between Los Cabos International Airport and the tourist zone.

It was also supposed to help better standardize operations among the different transportation providers by charging a standardized fare structure, guaranteeing routes, increasing supervision, and creating service schedule standards.

Improving the overall customer experience of the tourist transportation experience, which is one of the first impressions visitors have when arriving in Los Cabos, was also a key mission of eliminating the old stamp program.

However, the Baja California Sur Transportation Department neglected to put a new program in place before ending the old one.

That’s resulted in tourist transportation being unregulated for the first time since 2016 and drivers charging whatever they please to unknowing visitors without regulation.

Tourists can’t even verify the permit of transportation drivers to make sure they will be treated fairly because they don’t exist.

The Wild West of Los Cabos Tourist Transportation

The President of the Association of Tourist Transport Companies of Los Cabos Miguel Ángel Mena González admits the program is an unregulated mess and a real threat to tourists which could end up getting scammed or ripped off in the process.

Mena González is not even sure how the new program will eventually work, where drivers need to apply and what the regulations will ultimately be to control the transportation of travelers to Los Cabos.

The plan was to improve the service for Los Cabos visitors, and instead, it has really confused the process, turning transportation for travelers into the wild wild west.

The result has been a dramatic increase in drivers providing service to Los Cabos visitors without the regulatory authority that used to exist that allowed them to provide the service.

Even private vehicles, similar to rideshares, have become involved in the process without the proper regulatory controls to protect riders.

How Tourists Can Protect Themselves

What should tourists do to protect themselves until the regulated system gets put in place by the Baja California Sur Department of Transportation?

Tourists should either secure their transportation using a rideshare app, such as Uber, or stick to using standard transportation vehicles, such as taxis, hotel shuttles, and other airport transport vehicles, as opposed to private vehicles.

It is always a good idea to ensure that travelers select a vehicle with a meter or set the rate with the driver in advance of leaving for the destination.

Official taxis and tourist vehicles will have logos, phone numbers, taxi signs on the top, and other fare information available on demand for tourists. They will not be private vehicles.

Rideshare vehicles will be secured by using the app and will provide driver details, license plate numbers, vehicle descriptions, and a fixed price for transportation to the destination.

These formerly regulated options will provide the best bet for travelers to Los Cabos to ensure they have a quality experience and don’t get taken advantage of by some of the vehicles taking advantage of the lack of rules to potentially rip off visitors.