Aerial view of Buenos Aires and the Obelisco

Nota

Uber Buenos Aires

ACTUALIZACIÓN (12/4/16): Uber ha comenzado hoy a operar en Buenos Aires en medio de una fuerte oposición por parte de los taxistas.

El verano pasado, tuvimos la oportunidad de utilizar [Uber](https://www.uber.com/ «Uber») (y [Lyft](https://www.lyft.com/ «Lyft»)) mientras viajábamos por Boston y Nueva York, y enseguida quedó claro por qué a todo el mundo le encanta este servicio. Por menos de lo que cuesta un taxi (en muchos casos), dispones de un coche privado que viene directamente a donde estés y te lleva a donde quieras ir. Todo se carga a la tarjeta de credito que tienes guardada, así que ni siquiera tienes que preocuparte por llevar dinero en efectivo, y mucho menos una cartera.

Así que, lo primero es lo primero: antes de que te hagas ilusiones, no, Uber no va a lanzarse en Buenos Aires.

Aunque se han ganado una clientela fiel en muchas ciudades de todo el mundo, Buenos Aires va a ser un mercado casi imposible de conquistar para ellos. ¡Fíjate en lo que les espera!

Burocracia: La burocracia aquí es horrible. Conseguir que se apruebe cualquier cosa en esta ciudad llevará años.
Escaso uso de tarjetas de credito: El uso de tarjetas de credito en Buenos Aires es mínimo. La gente no quiere que el Gobierno sepa en qué gasta su dinero y no le gusta la idea de que la rastreen. ¿Sabes cuánta gente no tiene lectores inalámbricos para peajes y prefiere esperar y pagar en efectivo precisamente por esta razón? Que vinculen su tarjeta de credito a una aplicación de transporte parece muy poco probable.
Mala cobertura de datos móviles: La cobertura de datos móviles es pésima en Buenos Aires. ¿Tienes conexión 3G? Qué suerte. ¿Que la mantengas durante todo el viaje? No es probable.
Baja penetración de los smartphones: Aunque los smartphones Android están en auge, los productos de Apple son casi imposibles de conseguir aquí. ¿Tiene Uber una aplicación para BlackBerry? Por supuesto que no. Aunque quizá tengan que hacerla para Buenos Aires.
Sindicatos de taxis y remis muy poderosos: Los sindicatos de taxis de la ciudad son bastante poderosos y tienen muchos vínculos políticos. Cualquier cosa que les quite negocio se encontrará con una feroz oposición.
Seguridad/delincuencia: Si le dices a un argentino que te vas a subir al coche particular de alguien que no conoces, pensará que estás completamente loco. A mi mujer argentina le costó un poco acostumbrarse a esta idea con Uber y Lyft, ¡y eso fue en Nueva York y Boston!
Seguros: El tema de los seguros aquí es complicado (como todo lo demás). Es muy dudoso que Uber pueda conseguir pólizas de seguro que cubran a sus conductores como lo hacen en muchas otras ciudades del mundo.
Inestabilidad financiera: Uber existe para ganar dinero. Les gustaría poder sacar ese dinero del país. Argentina lo hace muy difícil. Además, con la diferencia entre el tipo de cambio oficial y el dolar blue, la vida es aún más difícil.

Así que, no habrá Uber en Buenos Aires en un futuro previsible.

Dicho esto, sí que tenemos algunas alternativas, aunque se basan simplemente en mejorar el sistema de taxis existente en lugar de sustituirlo.

Durante el último mes, he estado utilizando [EasyTaxi](http://www.easytaxi.com «EasyTaxi Buenos Aires») y ha demostrado ser una forma mucho mejor de conseguir un taxi que pararlo en la calle (especialmente en horas punta y cuando llueve). Solo tienes que abrir la aplicación, marcar el punto de recogida en el mapa y pulsar «Llamar a un taxi». Incluso puedes especificar que quieres un taxi con maletero grande. Un conductor responderá y verás su nombre, el modelo del coche, la matrícula y la hora aproximada de llegada.

Es seguro y sencillo, además de más barato que llamar a un Radio Taxi, ya que no pagas los «6 metros de taxímetro» extra que cobran. Al final del trayecto, solo tienes que pagar la tarifa del taxímetro en efectivo, como siempre. (SaferTaxi era una aplicación competidora de EasyTaxi y acababa de empezar a aceptar tarjetas de credito, por si lo preferías).

Entonces, ¿es más fácil que parar un taxi en la calle? Sí.
¿Es más barato que llamar a un taxi? Sí.
¿Es más seguro? Un poco.

¿A los taxistas les gusta? Sí. Les sale más barato al mes que formar parte de un servicio de Radio Taxi.

¿A los sindicatos de taxistas les gusta? No. Uno de nuestros conductores nos contó que los miembros del sindicato han estado reservando viajes y luego multando a los conductores por utilizar la aplicación. Ahhh… siempre hay cierta fricción cuando se alteran los métodos más antiguos, consolidados y caros.

¿Conoces algún otro servicio? Cuéntanoslo en los comentarios.

ACTUALIZACIÓN: Vale, aquí es donde EasyTaxi me falló: a las 9 de la mañana de un día laborable lluvioso, no había absolutamente ningún taxi que aceptara mi solicitud. También lo intenté con SaferTaxi y, aunque tienen una función muy interesante que te permite «ofrecer una propina» en horas punta, nadie aceptó mi propina de entre 20 y 30 pesos. Creo que además tienen muchos menos conductores que EasyTaxi.

Comentarios de lectores

Chris Post31/10/2014
That's a shame, I use Uber all the time in Sacramento and San Francisco and its the best thing since sliced bread! I told my friend in Mendoza about it and he couldn't believe it. He said us gringos live in the future lol. In my limited experience with Argentina, I totally see the points you are making politically, culturally and economically - just a shame as I would have used the heck out of it when we stayed at your airbnb apartment last year instead of the radio taxis or hailing a cab off the street.
DaVe31/10/2014
We were amazed too when we used it this past summer. So easy. In Argentina we have to deal with what we have... EasyTaxi is better than nothing!
Nico04/02/2015
Dave this is very unprofessional and complitely biases opinions. Your points don't match the reality, and you use figoures in your replys that are based on your personal experience, not in macro facts.
You talk as if you were an expert in Argentinas politics and econonomy, let me tell you that the only argument that makes real sense is the fact about money transfer constraints. The rest of the facts mentioned only make sense to people without much knowlage on this, as yourself. No ofence, my advice, be more humble.
Uber is present for example in india, where with exception of transfer issues, is below on most of the resons you state, and has been baned in european and US citys, so don't talk about unión storys (which are strong for sure, but not a valid point for the argument). Low credit card use? Crime/safety? Poor data? Low smart Phone penetration? Check out the citys Uber is precent, leave the emotions aside and think with your head man.
If you dislike Argentina, I understand, if the headline was: what I dislike about Argentina, and the reasons were those same bullet points, I would honestly be in line with most.
Please mind my english.
DaVe04/02/2015
I still think my points are pretty much on target. Do you really think Uber just overlooked Buenos Aires in their expansion plans and went to smaller South American cities? Why are they not in Buenos Aires?
Argentina was just ranked #1 worst place to do business for the second year in a row. (http://www.forbes.com/sites... Just one of the reasons:
"Argentina, meanwhile has closed itself off from the major U.S. multinationals that have a long history of investing in the country. In 2011, the government restricted the flows of dollars into the country, leading to a massive black market, and making it next to impossible for multinationals to repatriate dollars. Customs duties squeezed margins on importers, pulling some of them out of the market."
Why do you think so many international brands have left Argentina already?
I have admitted that smartphone use is on the rise here, but data service is still horrible - mostly 3G with 4G just starting to roll out. I'd bet most other cities have better networks and higher use. As for credit card use, that is just anecdotal evidence for sure, but credit card fees are very high here and payouts for merchants take a long time.
Alessio Aguirre-Pimentel21/12/2014
Few Coments:
Bureaucracy:
Avoid it. It's the digital world. Do not open up an office in Argentina. Charge the money internationally as do Amazon, Facebook and thousands of companies which do business with Argentinians without having an office here.
Low Credit Card Use: You must be confused with some other country. By law your salary has got to be deposited into a bank account and you have to get a debit card which has got to work as a credit card for payment purposes. Plus, the people who would use Uber probably have Executive Platinum credit cards.
Poor Cell Data: Well, if you are a tourist on a prepaid plan, maybe. Claro offers great speed with very low downtime for about 15 dollars a month. Not bad
Low Smartphone Penetration: You must have visited some other city. Buenos Aires is third to Santiango de Chile and Brasil in cellphone penetration, not to mention that -again- the people using Uber would be middle and upper class, who each own an iPhone and and S4 and an iPad and an iPod for good measure. Those 3 million dollar apartments you see for dozens and dozens of blocks on Avenida del Libertador do not run on dial up and Nokias.
Strong Taxi/Remis Unions: So what? what are they going to do? prevent people from installing Uber?
Safety/Crime: Well, tell them you have the identity of the driver established via a Credit Card, photo ID and the licence plate and if they do not get it, then they do not deserve to use Uber.
Insurance: Again, I use OKCupid with no insurance, the Better Business Bureau has not filled a complaint yet.
Financial Instability: Uber does not need to get to money out as it is out the second you pay for the service. Same goes for Amazon, Facebook and the rest. If Uber were dumb enough to open an office here and set up a bank account where they would deposit money then yes, it would be hard to get the money out, but why would they?
By the way, strict policies about getting money out of the country have nothing to do with financial instability. A good client of mine has a franchise a 5 star hotel in Aruba -very stable economy- and they have had 35 million dollars sitting there since if they wire them out lose about 45% of it.
Cheers
Nico28/12/2014
I agree on almost everything this guy says. This article is really bad. Uber has opened up office in cities like Medellin, Bogota, Belo Horizonte, Sao Paulo. These cities rank way below Buenos Aires in almost every aspect being considered.
DaVe, check your facts man, you are way off.
DaVe28/12/2014
I'm pretty sure that I am not that far off and that you're both Argentine and a bit clouded on your facts.
First off, bureaucracy is ridiculous here. Have you done business anywhere else in the world? Doing business here is truly like being in a 3rd world country - long delays, bribes, etc are still the norm here. You mention Amazon doing business here? That is news to me. In the US I can get goods delivered to my door in 2 days. Here? People used to be able to order books and get them in a month or so (hopefully). Now, you cannot order more that $25 per year without filling out the proper forms and waiting in line. Yes, Google and Facebook are here, but primarily for the advertising business. Do you know how many other multinational firms have left Argentina in the last few years? The list is quite long.
I may have been off on credit card use here, but I still know tons of locals who refuse to use their credit cards for fear of AFIP tracking them. That is not to mention the difficulties for the merchants with credit card processing. In most other parts of the world, there are multiple credit card processors with payouts coming in a few days. In Argentina, there are a small handful and payments take 21 days with high fees.\
As for online payments, that market is still quite small here. Until Groupon and other daily deal sites came to the market a few years ago, I'd say using your credit card online was considered risky and had very low penetration. Sell something on MercadoLibre? You're most likely going to be meeting in person and getting cash for the transaction. That is ridiculous? I could never imagine using cash on eBay.
Cell data sucks here. Personal, Claro, Movistar, etc all only have 3G speeds that drop out in parts of the city, whether you have a plan or not. Movistar just announced plans to add 4G speeds - and the rollout will take a year plus. Companies have not invested in the infrastructure here because it was not profitable for them to do so.
Yes, wealthy Argentines do have iPhones - that they smuggled in from Miami because they would be three times the cost here. What is the percentage of the population in this category?You mention Libertador, what about the rest of the city or country. Do they people who would drive for Uber have iPhones? That's doubtful when most people still have Blackberries. Yes, Samsung is making some inroads here, so I'd say that it is increasing relatively quickly.
The taxi unions are already pressuring drivers who use EasyTaxi. I spoke to a driver who said union reps book false trips and then fine them for using the app. This one is pretty clear from Uber's other experiences across the globe - taxis do not like Uber and will do what they can to stop it. Sure you can install it, but what are you going to do with no drivers?
For insurance, I was referring to automobile insurance which I'm pretty sure you do not need for OkCupid.
Uber will want to get profits out of the country. How do they do this? They'll have to process the credit card transactions in Argentina, most likely with the 21% IVA. You again mention Amazon, but they do not operate in Argentina. So, Uber will have to start exporting an equal amount of items as they want to get their profit out like BMW, Porsche, Adidas and other multinational companies have to do? Maybe Uber can export Argentine wine too in order to get their profits out of the country.
To Nico, yes Uber has opened in those other cities, and I'd argue they're more business friendly than Argentina. Do you really think with Uber's aggressive international expansion they have not looked at Buenos Aires? I'd highly doubt that. I'm sure they did look here and determine it was not a market that they could easily and profitably enter.
Alessio Aguirre-Pimentel12/01/2015
You are off-topic. Who cares if the iPhones are smuggled?
A point-by-point rebuttal is not necessary, I would just be repeating myself.
MercadoLibre.com.ar opened up here a while ago, people said there would be little business, people do not have credit cards, the mail service sucks, blah, blah. It was just bought by eBay and it is becoming one of the biggest companies in Bs As.
Yours was an hones attempt to be informative, you just don't know better. I do not expect a "thank you", since nobody likes being told they just don't know, but it is that simple.
DaVe12/01/2015
I do not care if they are smuggled, I'm saying a very small percentage of the population has smart phones still. Though I agree that is changing. But come on, Blackberry is still very popular here while they are losing market share almost everywhere else in the world.
MercadoLibre is successful, but of course they operate across South America, not just in Argentina. I'd like to know what percentage of their transactions in Argentina take place with credit card, which was my point? I've sold on there, and 90% of what I've sold was paid for in cash. I guess I could run to RapiPago and make a deposit for my Uber car...
In South America, Uber operates in Barranquilla, Belo Horizonte, Bogotá, Brasilia, Cali - Colombia, Lima, Medellin , Panama, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, and Sao Paulo. If you think for a minute that Uber did not look at Buenos Aires, one of the top 25 cities in the world by population, you'd be mistaken.
DaVe31/12/2014
Please see my comments below. I think you are way off on this one.
Benjamín Eidelman31/05/2015
as others have pointed out, check your facts. it might work better to Google around than just using your opinions and the opinions of your friends, in this case instead of all this list of presumptions you could have googled that Uber was about to open in Buenos Aires so the taxi unions made a visit to the (very "business friendly") city mayor who right away forbidden Uber yo operate in the city (so yes Strong Unión a, and a mayor who only cares about his friends). All your other expeculations were unnecesary.
DaVe03/06/2015
This article was written on October 30, 2014, so it's 7 months old. I did not see any news about the mayor prohibiting Uber. Can you send me a link to a news article?
I'm sticking by my original article, with some clarifications:
- smartphone use is expanding in Argentina
- cell data is still horrible although 4G service has been slowly rolling out
- bureaucracy, corruption and difficulty in getting money out of the country are still strong factors
What else is wrong in that article?
ulizos17/10/2015
Nothing. He's Argentinean. They have too much pride to see anything wrong with Argentina.
vicucha20/01/2016
Which is stupid, because I'm Argentinean and nothing the article said seemed inaccurate to me, except for outdated facts but that's to do with the passing of time. Typical, people react negatively because nobody likes to be told their flaws or their country's in this case, but that doesn't change the fact that it's true. Hopefully things can change for the best. As for Uber in Argentina, while it's cool in a way, but they'll be taking money out of the country.
Romuh31/12/2015
Now when Blue and official is equal, some new business opportunities may arise.
DaVe31/12/2015
The blue and official are almost equal now. If companies can move their money outside of Argentina, we'll have a lot of business opportunities.
Romuh31/12/2015
As far as I'm following the news, won't it be much easier now? I've been living in BSAS until 2011 and now coming back. Thought that this move would make it easy (ier) to take money out by purchasing dollars officially?
DaVe09/01/2016
Yes, restrictions on foreign companies are easing as well. It looks like Uber could launch here in 2016.
Graciela Maria Spalding18/04/2016
Uber started to work in Buenos Aires four days ago and it is facing a fierce opposition both from the government and the taxi unions, even including physical attcks. They are conteracting that by offering free trips during FIVE days up to April 20. I am a fan of their wonderful service and campaigning for them in my profile. Please like Uber Argentina page to support . Thank you