Taxi Talk
I’ve been having pretty interesting talk with cabbies in Buenos Aires. For starters, most of the older men that are driving have come out of retirement after the economic crisis, where a LOT of assets were frozen. I just found out that most cabbies rent their cabs for about 180 pesos a day, and happen to make about 50k a year, which is the minimum for a family of 4 to have a decent quality of life. In essence, half of their cost comes from the rental of cabs and the license. Licences are limited to something like 75,000 in Buenos Aires.
Bus drivers earn a bit more and it’s guaranteed cash, as opposed to cabbies who have to fuel up and aren’t getting a lot of customers, but I’d hate the stress if I had to drive a bus given how agressive traffic is here.
A lot of drivers complain about the government, and with good reason. It’s pretty corrupt, a veritable black hole, and they still have three years left in this administration. With inflation of 15% or more annually, I hope that Argentina finds a way out of this mess.
