Newcomer Getting around in Buenos Aires with Taxis & Ride Share Apps (Uber, DiDi and Cabify)

[earlyretirement]

Buenos Aires ride share apps work very well. Taxis are also totally safe to take no matter where you hail them from. Just keep in mind that while not common, you can get a taxi meter that is rigged and moves faster. I've taken tens of thousands of taxis in Buenos Aires the past 21+ years and it has only happened a few times but it just happened last week on a route from my apartment to my office. I know exactly how much it costs and it was running over 2X faster. I called the guy out on it too.

That's the nice thing about taking ride share apps like Uber, DiDi and Cabify. (They are all available in the Apple Appstore and also for Android).

Uber, DiDi, Cabify are all available in Buenos Aires and are all very safe to use. Uber is the most popular and you should be able to add your foreign credit card to your account but keep in mind with Didi and Cabify you typically have to pay for the ride with Cash. But it will show you up front exactly how much it will cost.

Keep in mind in some locations around popular touristy areas, they might ask you to walk a block over to that pick up location. For example, I stayed for 2 months this summer and stayed at a house on Gorrito and Thames and I would need to walk around the corner where they would always pick up and drop off there as well. So note that so you're not confused or wondering why they don't come to your specific location.

Also, note that many streets are one way streets so just walk to the pick up spot as it will save you time vs. the driver having to go on a convoluted path to get back to you. Also, many of the Uber drivers are from Venezuela and they are hard workers and very friendly.

Buenos Aires used to have over 38,000 taxis when I first moved to Buenos Aires in 2002. Taxi licenses used to be very expensive. Buenos Aires had more taxis than New York City, Paris and London combined. But the shift over to the ride share started happening and now taxi licenses are dirt cheap. Most of these guys own their own taxis and they are very honest people. I think taxis are actually cheaper now vs. Uber. I still just flag a taxi if I see one on the street as often times it's quicker. There are just not that many any more.

 

[David]

Thanks. In preparation for my trip to Buenos Aires I have tried registering for a Cabify account but have not been able to do so as the app does not seem to be able to send verification codes to non-Argentine phone numbers. Has anyone been successful in setting up a Cabify account with a UK/non-Argentine number?

My main objective is to be able to use taxis in BA without having to pay cash. I do have an Uber account but I have heard that Uber in BA still requires you to pay the driver in cash. Is this the case?

 

[earlyretirement]

Thanks. In preparation for my trip to Buenos Aires I have tried registering for a Cabify account but have not been able to do so as the app does not seem to be able to send verification codes to non-Argentine phone numbers. Has anyone been successful in setting up a Cabify account with a UK/non-Argentine number?

My main objective is to be able to use taxis in BA without having to pay cash. I do have an Uber account but I have heard that Uber in BA still requires you to pay the driver in cash. Is this the case?

I'm able to use my USA phone # with Cabify. I have an account and it's linked to my iPhone. Can you try signing in with your Apple ID? Or do you use Android? I just connected mine with my Apple ID and I have it linked to my USA credit card and no problems at all. But IIRC, I think I have to pay in cash in Argentina when I use Cabify so that may not work for you.

Uber works VERY good in Buenos Aires. However, sometimes (not often but every now and again) I will get a driver that accepts and then he/she says something like, "I just wanted to see if you can pay cash". Many times I have very little cash on me so I say no and they cancel. You have to just get use to carrying around some cash. But I agree Uber is cool as to not use cash or have to worry about carrying it around.

I always leave them 5 stars and a good tip if their car is clean and they are friendly. No, it's not true you always have to pay cash with Uber. I've used Cabify a few times when the wait time is too long with Uber.

It's kind of going full circle with Uber. In many airports around the world I am back to taxis. And many times it's even cheaper. Uber line is really long sometimes. In Buenos Aires I'm back to taking taxis much of the time as there are many on the street and many locals use Cabify and Uber mostly. Some DiDi too but I haven't used DiDi although I have it on my phone.

The funny thing is on my last work trip to Buenos Aires last week I mostly took taxis as the wait times were too long with Uber. Uber is so cheap in Buenos Aires. It's only around $2.50 to $3 US to go clear from Palermo to Recoleta. Most times I will just book Uber and if it takes too long I'll also flag a taxi and just cancel the Uber if it hasn't found one yet or the cancel fee is only like $0.50 so I just do that and take whichever is quicker as I'm always going from meeting to meeting most times with not even 5 minutes to spare.

I'm often in Uber or Taxis about 10-12 times a day going from meeting to meeting.

 

[Darksider415]

Unless I’m in need of a van to haul baggage to and from the airport when traveling with my wife, or have a lot of large items after shopping, I’ll just grab a taxi off the street. More often than not, the conversation is better and it’s cheaper to boot.

 

[earlyretirement]

Unless I’m in need of a van to haul baggage to and from the airport when traveling with my wife, or have a lot of large items after shopping, I’ll just grab a taxi off the street. More often than not, the conversation is better and it’s cheaper to boot.

Yes, taxi's are so easy. However, where I use Uber a lot more these days is to do a scheduled pick-up at a certain time. Many times I am in meeting after meeting when I can't even spare 5 minutes to be late. So I will just line up Uber scheduled pick-ups. Something nice is they are almost always early. I just have my assistant book a bunch of them up ahead of time and they are reliable.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

Thanks. In preparation for my trip to Buenos Aires I have tried registering for a Cabify account but have not been able to do so as the app does not seem to be able to send verification codes to non-Argentine phone numbers. Has anyone been successful in setting up a Cabify account with a UK/non-Argentine number?

My main objective is to be able to use taxis in BA without having to pay cash. I do have an Uber account but I have heard that Uber in BA still requires you to pay the driver in cash. Is this the case?

Dave: my lady and i both tried Cabify this week, updated apps and iPhones, USA numbers through T-Mobile, but you're correct: no SMS verification ever arrived after 3 days now. i ended up finding a dog-friendly taxi driver named Susy/Susi/Susanna that was amazing! she was referred by my Airbnb Host, and i'm using her again this week like a lot of places, it works best to just find someone you trust, keep their WhatsApp number, and message them directly. she's awesome about responding to WhatsApp messages, and she works a ton (usually afternoons and late at night, but she ended her day picking me up at 07:30 in the morning when my flight arrived). her info is:

+54 9 11 6154 9415

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Susitaxi

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that being said, i used cash and i didn't think to ask her what other payments she took (Argentina seems to be increasingly pro-cryptocurrency like Bitcoin Cash/BCH) but you should message her and ask! regardless, a 97-minute ride from EZE airport to Villa Crespo, in traffic, with information and good convo during the ride, she only asked for 15,000 Pesos or U$S 20 ... pretty nice when other taxi services ask for U$S 55 !!!!

 

[IrishLad]

Thanks for the info! I agree when traveling I normally just get the Whataspp of the taxi driver or Uber and then end up using them the entire trip. Sometimes they are busy but sometimes they have other friends too. Everyone wins as they don't have to pay Uber the 25% commission. I have never traveled with my dog. StatusNomadicus, can you outline how difficult or easy it was to bring your dog? I have often thought about bringing my dog on a long trip.

How long are you staying? Can you post here or maybe to not take up space on this thread can you post a separate thread about your experience bringing your dog to Argentina?

 

[David]

Dave: my lady and i both tried Cabify this week, updated apps and iPhones, USA numbers through T-Mobile, but you're correct: no SMS verification ever arrived after 3 days now. i ended up finding a dog-friendly taxi driver named Susy/Susi/Susanna that was amazing! she was referred by my Airbnb Host, and i'm using her again this week like a lot of places, it works best to just find someone you trust, keep their WhatsApp number, and message them directly. she's awesome about responding to WhatsApp messages, and she works a ton (usually afternoons and late at night, but she ended her day picking me up at 07:30 in the morning when my flight arrived). her info is:

+54 9 11 6154 9415

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Susitaxi

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that being said, i used cash and i didn't think to ask her what other payments she took (Argentina seems to be increasingly pro-cryptocurrency like Bitcoin Cash/BCH) but you should message her and ask! regardless, a 97-minute ride from EZE airport to Villa Crespo, in traffic, with information and good convo during the ride, she only asked for 15,000 Pesos or U$S 20 ... pretty nice when other taxi services ask for U$S 55 !!!!

Thank you StatusNomadicus!

OK you confirmed that it wasn't user error. I'm not the most tech savvy but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong. It sounds like maybe older users. were allowed to use their phone numbers. I read your post about Rappi and it sounds like the same thing. I didn't know if I had to be in Argentina to have it work but it sounds like you are there and still not working. Thanks for the advice. Also, thanks for posting Susy's #. I will contact her to use her! This is a great community! I know it's new but I'm already finding out a lot of info. I love it.

 

[David]

Dave: my lady and i both tried Cabify this week, updated apps and iPhones, USA numbers through T-Mobile, but you're correct: no SMS verification ever arrived after 3 days now. i ended up finding a dog-friendly taxi driver named Susy/Susi/Susanna that was amazing! she was referred by my Airbnb Host, and i'm using her again this week like a lot of places, it works best to just find someone you trust, keep their WhatsApp number, and message them directly. she's awesome about responding to WhatsApp messages, and she works a ton (usually afternoons and late at night, but she ended her day picking me up at 07:30 in the morning when my flight arrived). her info is:

+54 9 11 6154 9415

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Susitaxi

Business Account

api.whatsapp.com

that being said, i used cash and i didn't think to ask her what other payments she took (Argentina seems to be increasingly pro-cryptocurrency like Bitcoin Cash/BCH) but you should message her and ask! regardless, a 97-minute ride from EZE airport to Villa Crespo, in traffic, with information and good convo during the ride, she only asked for 15,000 Pesos or U$S 20 ... pretty nice when other taxi services ask for U$S 55 !!!!

StatusNomadicus,

I agree can you please post about your experience bringing your dog to Argentina? If you could do a post on that. I'm coming for 6 weeks and I am debating whether to bring my Yorkie or not. I read a few things online but some of the information was conflicting so I didn't know if rules changed or not. Would you mind posting a thread about bringing a dog into Argentina? I'd greatly appreciate it!

 

[Vlad]

I did not experience any problems activating Cabify with my US phone number (+1 Country Code).

But if your goal is to avoid paying cash for rides then Cabify won’t help you. Technically speaking, yes there is an option to pay with the card, but your ride request won’t get accepted as long as you have a credit card as a payment method. You have to select the cash option. At least this was my experience.

I used Cabify a lot in BA (along with taxis) and always paid cash.

For foreign credit card transactions, the tourist dollar rate is used. though this is less than the dollar blue but it's pretty good rate and more than double the official exchange rate.

Previously Mastercard and Visa used to apply the adjustment as a refund but since November 6th, the tourist dollar rate has been directly applied at the point of transaction. Just returned from BA last week.