Taxi drivers get tiny raise based on low exchange rate

http://www.amcostarica.com/morenews.htm By the A.M. Costa Rica staff: “Taxi drivers are getting a 10-colon a kilometer raise, about 2.24 percent, the nation’s regulating agency said Thursday.

The one exception is the firm that supplies taxi service at Juan Santamaría airport. The agency said that the firm, Taxis Unidos Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Santamaría S.A., still has not made its concession payment for 2006, 2007 and 2008, so the rate will remain as it has been since 2012.

Taxi rates are reviewed twice a year, in February and August. The taxi drivers miss out because the quickly strengthened dollar has not been considered. The Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos used an exchange rate of 519.63 colons to the dollar for the computation of the new 615-colon-a-kilometer fee.

In fact the exchange rate Thursday was 564 colons to the dollar.”