Santiago Olivares Tobon
Every day 18,000 people need this transportation service. The Blue Stripe ask for conditions.
The increase in passengers passing through the José María Córdova airport in Rionegro has increased the dispute between the so-called Blue Stripe taxis, the yellow ones and the drivers Of applications; everyone looks for the race at all costs: they make buses, lower the fare and even wait in restaurants.
The situation came to a head last Tuesday when the drivers of the Raya Azul blocked the airport tunnel, lowering even those who rode in private vehiclesensuring that platform drivers are taking food out of their mouths.
And it is that according to the Ministry of Transport, the only ones authorized to pick up and drop off passengers at the air terminal as public transport are the Blue Stripes. Taxis can only carry passengers, returning emptywhile the platform ones could not do so, although they work using their legal status as a private vehicle.
Through the air terminal, which serves Medellin, 45,000 people transit. Of all this population, it is estimated that 40%, that is, some 18,000 people are users of the public service, according to the Airplan concession, operator of the airport.
This population is the one that has become the axis of this penny war, who, although they make use of their right to mobilize in the environment they consider most convenient, transporters demand the right to work according to the law.
“We are the authorized ones”
The drivers of the Raya Azul try to make people feel that they are legally They are the ones that have the permission to operateeven with an exclusive lane, signposted and with dispatchers supplied by the airport.
But what brought them to a halt on Tuesday is that with the increase in rig drivers, your profits are getting smallermaking its operation unfeasible.
This was stated by Alex Velásquez, one of the leaders of this type of transport, who stated: “It is very complex to work because individuals took access to the airport. We have found that they are more than 20 cars that are taken from the international exit up to door 3 and they don’t even let us work anymore, despite the fact that we are the only ones authorized”.
The bid is also economic, since both they and the platform drivers manage their rates, some being cheaper than the others. According to Velásquez, the transportation he provides costs $24,000 for the collective service, while if it is individual it costs $98,000.
César Cano, application driver, stated that through Uber and others the cost may be between $80,000 and $90,000depending on the time, a situation that has led those of the airport’s official public transport to have to lower their prices.
“Between the companies we have reached agreements to do promotions. For example, if you take the collective vehicle from San Diego, it costs $22,000, while if you use the individual service, you charge $90,000”.
Taxis are also included in this user bid, since, even though they can’t legallythey try to take and pick up passengers from the air terminal so as not to go down empty and not lose money.
Jhon Fredy Escudero, union leader of taxi drivers, commented that “we continue going up to the José María Córdova airport and coming down empty, causing fuel losses, we have to pay two tolls, which ends up generating unfair competition, in unequal conditions”.
This dispute over users has led to several attacks. In addition to the modalities already mentioned, according to the application drivers, the formal ones are using some strategies so that individuals and taxis are penalized by Rionegro traffic agents.
“The people of the Raya Azul have people who are watching if a person requests an Uber service, spying on their cell phone, and then inform the traffic. They even report that vehicles with certain license plates will pick up a person through the platforms. They do the same with the taxis that pick up passengers there,” Cano said.
This dispute over the passenger has become a headache for both the Rionegro Mobility Secretariat and the operator Airplan, who have worked on various strategies, at least with guaranteed transport by the Ministry of Transportation, to resolve this dispute.
The Undersecretary of Mobility of Rionegro, Duberney Pérez, expressed that “we will have a continuous presence of traffic agents, but we also ask that the blue stripes work orderly and respect the shifts we established. We will evaluate the situation every 15 days”.
Airplan’s director of operations, Javier Benítez, pointed out that although the issue of controls is the responsibility of the Mayor’s Office of Rionegro, since the concession they have worked with the drivers of the four guaranteed companies to give them a special space for them, for which they are not charged a peso.
But although all the conditions are given at the airport, Benítez pointed out that this is a problem that to a greater or lesser extent occurs in all airports in the country, but it is a situation that forces formal drivers to to improve the service they provide.
“The only solution, in addition to what we already have, is to compete with quality of service. If we succeed, the user will opt for the official service”, concluded Benítez.