After docking in Miami and clearing US immigration and customs, we stepped out of the cruise port in hopes of grabbing a taxi to our nearby hotel. But after two drivers refused to transport us when they found we were only going to a hotel less than two miles away, we ended up resorting to Uber.
Miami Taxi Drivers Don’t Like Short Rides
The immigration process into Miami was tedious, with only two agents clearing a boatful of passengers (thank goodness there were only 700 passengers onboard, not 5,000…).
When we finally got through that line, we stepped outside where taxis were lined up waiting to transport folks to the airport or their hotels. I’d imagine that many of these guys (and they were all men) had been waiting hours for a ride. So yes, the prospect of only diving 1.8 miles around the corner to the Hyatt Regency was understandably not savory.
I got into the first car and the driver asked me where I was going and I told him.
He shook his head and said no.
While I could have yelled at him or refused to get out of the car, I had no desire to subject my son to an angry driver in a city I was not familiar with.
The second driver was nicer about it, but he laughed and said, “Your ride ain’t long enough” and refused to even open the car door for me.
That’s not how taxis should work…taxis are given preferential privilege to transport folks and part of the licensing requirements should be that they cannot turn down a short ride if they want to enjoy access to places like the Port of Miami.
And by that point, I realized why I despise taxis more than Uber.
I know it’s a horrible life to be a cab driver…your core business has been eaten by Uber and Lyft and when you wait around all day for a ride, a $10 ride is heartbreaking. But if you don’t like the profession, there are other jobs available… especially in a city like Miami.
So I took an Uber to the Hyatt Regency. Not only did I save money, but the Venezuelan driver was far more pleasant.
Bottom line: taxi drivers are going to act like taxi drivers and this situation is not unique to Miami. There’s a reason why people dislike cabbies as I was certainly reminded here.
Awe poor baby
He was traveling alone with a small child. Don’t be a hateful dick.
Eat my ass
When are you going to accept my challenge, Chi? Why do you keep running and deflecting? It’s a shame that you are allowed to insult and spew your violent hate here, but that’s Matthew’s choice as to content. As such I have given you an opportunity to come out from behind your keyboard and properly show who you really are, with me in exchange. Yet you keep running. Hmmm…
lol why would I want to get into it with some old fart on a travel blog?
@Chi You don’t want to accept my challenge because you are terrified of the reality of being humiliated. Not because I I enjoy doing this (as you say you do) but because you spew vitriol and hate and endanger our society. That’s why I want to do it. If I am going to get in the ring with you, let’s at least know who we both are. I’m not afraid, clearly you are.
Awe = a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.
I’m assuming you meant “aww”. Poor baby.
The “poor baby” is the cab driver. Cab drivers made their own bed through decades of horrible service, and now they have to lay in it. Too bad for them.
Taxicabs need to all be loaded into a Viking cruise, taken out to sea and given the proper burial at sea they all deserve.
Taxes are worse than taxis .
I know you made the best of an aggravating situation but I’m curious about something. Doesn’t the Hyatt Regency, just a mile and a half away, have a shuttle?
They do not (to my knowledge) – would be great if they did.
@John … +1 . Best preparation is to pay a little m0re for a hotel which will transport the guests . It is a necessity for myself .
I dont believe any hotels in Miami offer *pickup* service. Drop off, some.
Sorry you had to stay at that dreadful Hyatt.
For the day – we had a late flight out and so I got the hotel room just so we had a place to crash and it worked out just fine. But yes, not the best Hyatt Regency, that’s for sure…
Would showing some leg help get a starving taxi driver?
Why didn’t you take a picture of their plate and report it?
I should have.
Where exactly are they expecting to go? Virtually every person exiting the cruise port is going downtown, to Brickell, or to the airport. The airport is a little longer, but not much.
I wouldn’t have even considered a taxi. I would have requested an Uber from the jump. Taxi drivers really are just the most dishonest people on Earth. It’s universal.
Rideshare cant pickup at the cruise terminals. Y0u have to walk to a special area outside the parking lots.
At least taxi drivers show up. Before a trip to the Oakland airport I called for an Uber. There were 4, then 3, then 2, then 1, then 0. I had to walk 3 miles to rapid transit to get there. In the SF Bay Area I think Uber drivers are software engineers who don’t need the money.
I recently flew into Heathrow and was trying to get out to Weybridge, via taxi. It’s about a 40 minute ride, so no small fare. Thus, I was surprised when the taxi driver refused to take me; the taxi rank manager stepped in and promptly told the offending driver he would have to leave the queue and airport grounds for doing so. It was not a big deal, as the next driver was more than happy to take me, and the driver who refused did end up being kicked out of the queue. Maybe if that was the policy on this side of the pond, we might see fewer instances such as this.
This is an issue at Miami Airport as well. Pre-COVID, they had a blue cab/yellow cab setup, where blue cabs were for local rides but at flat fare. The flat fare part is gone – all taxis run meters, but yellow cabs would refuse my ride to my condo 2 miles away and blue cabs were almost never around. I complained to airport management, my city councilman, mayor of Miami, mayor of Miami-Dade county… no one cares.
I didn’t like to use Uber at the airport because Florida has no front license plate – it’s basically impossible to find your ride in the mayhem. I ended up with a workaround of taking the train to rental car center and grabbing taxi there.
There is a easy fix to this problem. Grant it that drivers wait in line for hours before they get a fare.At LaGuardia Airport you tell the taxi dispatcher where you want to go. If it is a short distance the driver is given a time stamped ticket of when you leave. If the driver gets back to the airport in less than an hour they are allowed to get in front of the waiting line. Thus they can get another chance at a longer ride.
This is exactly why I Uber every single time. Taxi drivers need to be taught a lesson.
An Uber driver did the same thing to me in Chicago. He accepted the ride, we got on his car, and then he changed his mind.
I ran into this issue at SeaTac when I lived in Seattle. I lived close, but would fly in late at night when public transit wasn’t running and wasn’t familiar with uber. Taxi drivers would get really upset because they wanted fares to downtown or Bellevue. Just started tipping really well out of guilt.
This s*** happens all the time at the MIA airport. I wait for pieces of crap stinky taxi and as soon as I find out I’m going to Coral Gables. They say no no no. I just take it as part of Miami’s crappy service culture. Take Lyft or Uber.
Taxi drivers the world over consider themselves to be a special, privileged class. Be fortunate that you were somewhere where you had an alternative to the establishment taxi mafia!
A sub set gay liberal man victimizes taxi drivers because he needs to go down the block to an airport hotel.
I guess no one explained to you, nor did you bother to ask the information desks located at around the luggage claim area that there are BLUE CABS that provide those short trip services. That system has been in place for over 25+ years.
I would have just offered the driver double the fare + good tip just to get going & away from the airport. At the end of a long trip, I just want to get home and if it costs double the normal fare, and gets me home quickly, money well spent.
You did well going with Uber. Taxis in Miami are 20+ year old former police cars in terrible condition with dirty interiors and drivers who only take cash and don’t have change, tough luck if your ride is $22 and you only have two $20 bills…