Bogota Reports

[Mr Enternational]

Uber changed their model of business to not being a rideshare but instead becoming a car rental but with a driver (kind of like a limousine but just not a limo LOL). That's specifically how Uber gets around the court case. So you are technically correct in that Uber as a rideshare is illegal. However, Uber in its new form in Colombia is now a car rental company that simply offers a driver.

That I know. From my understanding this is only Uber saying they are now this type of business, however it has still not gotten approval from any government entity to be run in this manner. So until it does or until it is formally challenged, it is still operating in a gray area and technically illegal, hence the people doing it can be subject to all the fines and stuff.

It is like the reverse of the USA weed game. Some states have said it is okay, but federally it has not been given any approval, so at any time the federal government can come shut it down but as of now they have made no effort to do such. With Uber the big guys have NOT said this new model is okay but are not putting in the effort to totally squash it, hence the local guys can enforce it as being illegal under the last and most current LEGAL ruling which says Uber's business is not okay.

[LatinaLover#1]

You think a multi-billion dollar MNC knowingly operates illegally, gives millions of rides a day, conducts a million transactions a day with Colombian banks, and the Colombian government has no clue what's going on? The stupidity is just off the scale. BTW there are ZERO advertisements in Vegas explicitly advertising prostitution. And certain prosecutors won't prosecute small drug cases because the court system will become overwhelmed. You have no clue on how businesses and the legal system operate. You brag about knowing everything in the 3rd world yet you've never seen a plug-in water heater.

So again, here's the question that you refuse to answer:

If Uber is illegal in Colombia, why doesn't the Colombian government shut down access to its servers? Remove Uber app downloads from Colombian IP addresses? Freeze all Uber's Colombian bank accounts? Issue arrest warrants for Uber's board of directors?

After taking countless Uber's, They always want me to sit in the front, even if it's just me and my girl. So they don't want to appear to somebody they are rideshare. I had one woman Uber driver tell me if we get stopped, to call her by her first name, she said " they can take my car away. " I have no idea who, what or why but they seem to me to be wary of something.

[BigGuy719]

What is the next cheapest country after Colombia? Can't stay here all year.

[Mr Enternational]

If you played the way you are in the USA, Mr. E, you would be sued or in jail or both. If you do not believe me, come back and try it. You will see.

You forget that I have friends and family members that still do all their dirt in the USA. Those kind. Of problems just do not run in our circle.

[DaVinci40]

Hi Mr E, first of all great advice. I'm new to this Bogota sub forum as I've only just visited this great city. I'm surprised there's not more buzz about it (I also want to try out Lima too but that's later) so the first thing I don't want to do is come on and be a douche and start something with someone that's got a lot of experience here. I also don't want to take Clams approach of just giving anecdotal stuff. Kind of like you said "Colombia doesn't work because Clam said something should work" with no real evidence to back that up. I also don't want to negate what your Uber driver friend had to say either but I'll try and make my points succinct and with no anecdotal evidence but something a bit more meaty and factual.

It's really confusing how the Colombian government works. What's new? LOL. In this example, it's confusing because Didi, Indriver, I can't think of the others right now but they work as ridesharing apps. Why it's confusing is that ridesharing apps are the things that should be illegal in Colombia under this ruling but they are allowed to continue as Cotech Inc (the company that initially sued Uber) sued just Uber and not Didi or the others as Uber was the primary market share at the time (this goes all the way back to about 2015). In theory if you ride Didi as an example, you may be breaking the law but the ruling was specifically against Uber. Either way it doesn't mean that a traffic cop can't be a dick to a driver. Confusing as well, because as of after Uber left Colombia and after the ruling that Cotech won the case against Uber, Uber changed their model of business to not being a rideshare but instead becoming a car rental but with a driver (kind of like a limousine but just not a limo LOL). That's specifically how Uber gets around the court case. So you are technically correct in that Uber as a rideshare is illegal. However, Uber in its new form in Colombia is now a car rental company that simply offers a driver. And car rentals, with or without a driver, are not illegal in Colombia. In fact, Cotech has yet to sue Uber as it would be difficult to win and complicated if they did win to then enforce.

From a consumer standpoint, it's no different to us. We get on the Uber app and we pick a destination, tell it where we are, a list of options come up for price and car and then we agree to the ride. As a driver, it's different. Here in the USA, Uber drivers and delivery drivers have their own app that's different than the riders app that you and I use. Terms of service have to be agreed upon and your specific country needs to be entered so that your app is then compliant with that countries laws. Uber around the time of this case partnered with a Latin American company, that was specific to Colombia called TaxExpress. That may be the app that the drivers use in Colombia or TaxExpress software may be integrated into the Uber Driver app. Either way, the driver is no longer considered a rideshare driver and is now expressly renting their vehicle and they themselves are offering themselves as a driver when me, you or someone else requests them on our Uber app.

A bit confusing? Yeah it is There are a number of articles out there but it gets a bit difficult to find some as I'm here in the States and if you are too finding Colombian based news articles in Colombian using google search that's going to search for primarily English language articles because I'm here is a little difficult but I'll put links to some good informative articles that will give you some more factual based evidence rather than what Clam is doing which is kind of "well if I think it should work then it must work this way" type thing. If you do some searching too it's easy to get what is now incorrect info. Make sure you look for articles specifically within the last year as if you look up most articles from 2020 and earlier it's before Uber changed their rideshare model.

As for your taxi driver friend. I feel for her / him. Those Cupos are frikken ridiculously high. And if I was a taxi driver that paid what is almost a small fortune and probably more than the cost of my car just so I can drive as a taxi to then have my earnings half or even worse almost dissapear with the advent of rideshares I'the be pissed and I may even take my anger out on Uber, DiDi drivers, etc. Because of that and because of incendiary remarks by the Colombian Transport minister it makes some of these drivers nervous. Hopefully instead the taxi fleet in Colombia modernizes instead.

https://fee.org/articles/how-colombi...n-industry/amp

https://amp.theguardian.com/technolo...taxis-deal-app

https://labsnews.com/en/news/busines...-colombia/?amp

https://www.expresscomputer.in/news/...a-court/58616/

I had one from Bogota Express that was dated fairly recently but I can't find the link now and it was a good explainer regarding rideshare apps vs Ubers model of car rental w / driver and how that model may become more widespread across Latin America. The same situation is also happening to a lesser degree in CDMX but right now it's specific to the airport but just like Colombia, Mexico is also confusing as it's rarely enforced one day and then another is.

I do not work for the Colombian government so I can not tell you why they do not take more measures to prevent ride-share apps. And even though it is illegal I have read info online that they are still paying taxes. Maybe kind of like those weed shops in the US that are illegal on a federal level, but they are still paying taxes to the federal government, and last I read they could not even deposit that "illegal drug money" into a federally-insured bank. Why doesn't the US federal government shut them down?

Now what you refuse to do is provide proof as to why it is legal. You keep using your first world business reasoning for a third world issue. And in this case it is not compatible.

[Elvis 2008]

You did not trust them to do what? I trust a woman just fine to cook me a home cooked meal, but I damn sure would not trust any of them with my ATM card and the PIN. Why would I be inclined to? I guess it is all a matter of perspective and what you want to entrust to them.

To have sex and for them not to go crazy if their bat shit crazy expectations were not met. When you pay for sex, it is like this is what you get and you cannot * about getting more.

I knew big cops who were scared shitless of a woman complaining they harassed her. My ex called the cops and was told that I would be arrested if I yelled at her.

My sister-in-law got pissed at my brother and told the cops he hit her. Of course, he did not, and he eventually caught her in a recording where she said just that. A woman thinks that if a man offends her, he belongs in jail. Again, this has gotten to be normal.

We just had an incident where a volleyball player claimed someone called her the and word. I do not like it but this was like a national incident. It is like, "A woman's feelings are hurt. We need to find a man and beat them up so she feels better. " They did an investigation and found no evidence to back up what she said happened.

On the flip side, my ex-fiance in Venezuela went to the police and complained she had a stalker in Peru. The police were like "Yeah, sorry maam, but you are from Venezuela and we really do not give a shit. " The laws are the same in Latin America as they are here, but they are just not enforced.

One guy on here said that he wanted women to sign consent forms before having sex with them. For Colombia, that is crazy. For the USA, it is not.

And the idea of even seeing pros has been clamped down on with this trafficking BS. If you played the way you are in the USA, Mr. E, you would be sued or in jail or both. If you do not believe me, come back and try it. You will see.

[Mr Enternational]

After my divorce, I did not trust women.

You did not trust them to do what? I trust a woman just fine to cook me a home cooked meal, but I damn sure would not trust any of them with my ATM card and the PIN. Why would I be inclined to? I guess it is all a matter of perspective and what you want to entrust to them.

[Mr Enternational]

So again, here's the question that you refuse to answer:

If Uber is illegal in Colombia, why doesn't the Colombian government shut down access to its servers? Remove Uber app downloads from Colombian IP addresses? Freeze all Uber's Colombian bank accounts? Issue arrest warrants for Uber's board of directors?

I do not work for the Colombian government so I can not tell you why they do not take more measures to prevent ride-share apps. And even though it is illegal I have read info online that they are still paying taxes. Maybe kind of like those weed shops in the US that are illegal on a federal level, but they are still paying taxes to the federal government, and last I read they could not even deposit that "illegal drug money" into a federally-insured bank. Why doesn't the US federal government shut them down?

Now what you refuse to do is provide proof as to why it is legal. You keep using your first world business reasoning for a third world issue. And in this case it is not compatible.

Once again I talked to a friend in Bogota tonight that drives Uber. She said the apps exist but they are still illegal. What she sent me explains why it is not legal. It is because in order to give a ride to someone for money the car has to be registered with the minister of transportation. This is the cupo that costs an arm and a leg that is being discussed. And we all know that most vehicles that pick someone up when they order a rideshare is someone's personal vehicle. If you are giving someone a ride for money without the cupo then you are operating within an unregulated black market. Uber tries to circumvent this by saying the person that calls up for a ride is actually renting a car and the driver happens to come with it. But the thing she sent me goes on to say that if you are working through these apps you run the risk of being fined, your vehicle impounded, and your license suspended. Or maybe they should just tell the police to chill because ClamSlammer said it was all good.

If you can find any information that contradicts what she or this said, then post it here. And I am not asking for your reasoning, your experience in the first world, or something that sounds like it makes sense to you. Post something that says today Uber is finally legal in Colombia and supporting documents. Because there is tons online as well as drivers that have first hand experience saying that it is not legal, but from what you are saying you (with no hand experience) know better than them.

[Elvis 2008]

What I do not get is why guys can not find a normal woman to treat like a human being. Why do they always have to do it with a chick they are supposed to be paying in the first place, aka a hooker, sugar baby, or whatever other name you want to give a chick that is not coming over if you do not give her money?

I cannot speak for everyone Mr. E. After my divorce, I did not trust women. My ex was very attractive, church going, and was nice and loving early on and turned into a fucking monster. I was living with a woman who literally wanted me to be unhappy. Then you go to a court room and you are told that your money is not your own and half of the money is hers even if she is sitting on her ass. So what does that tell guys?

IMO you are telling men that prostitutes are a better deal. If you want control over your own money, and you want women who will be nice to you, have sex with you, and care how you feel, you better get a pro, and it is great at first, but slowly, you want more. It is an empty feeling as you hand them money and they fly out the door. So emotionally being a sugar baby was the next best thing. You open yourself up a little more and there is some emotional connection. There are some hurt feelings but not like with a GF or wife. And this is why I gave the compliment. The OP was treating women as human being versus a person just doing a job. That tells me a guy is halfway there.

As far as why I did not do the conventional dating market, the quality between that and the SB market was ridiculous. It would be one thing if I saw guys killing it in the dating market but they were all bitching, and many were very fit and very wealthy guys. This was in the USA, and the expectations of a halfway decent looking woman were through the roof. I told you about the overweight elderly woman who thought we were on a date and how she would not like it if I saw other people if we were dating. And I did not say it but what I wanted to say was, "Honey, I have a sugar baby whose friends compare her to a supermodel waiting for me at home. You think I give a damn about your expectations? You are lucky I am even talking to you. " I was not comfortable in that scene and why would I be. Look at what my supposed value was in it.

Again, I cannot speak for other guys but I mastered using seeking. I was confident using it scoring the type of women I never had been with before. My current gal is an incredibly provocative dancer and among the best looking women I have ever seen. If I talked to a hundred guys in a club where she was dancing, a normal club, a hundred guys would have told me she it out of my league. Yet when I am doing the SB interview, I did not think that at all. I had women in her league as sugar babies and had rejected them. I also knew what worked and did not in SB relationships. Furthermore, in Colombia, what I found on seeking was a lot of women were not there for money. Their friends had been on the site and found men they liked and had dated or even gotten married.

So we are not in the club and I can talk one on one where I am at my best and it is quiet. Unlike the club or some bar, I am not intimidated. I have done this so many times before. I have my list of questions. I am interviewing her. Where am I going to put you? Sugar baby? WG? Straight out rejection? I put her in the SB category and I have said before she asked for nothing but I still put money in her purse after we had sex.

But I needed that last push Mr. E, and you gave it. How about not giving her anything anything and putting her in the GF category? Now I had done this with women who were not that hot or really hot women I knew for a while and was comfortable with but next time I gave her nothing and invited her on a trip and that is where the magic happened. It was clear to me after that that she wanted to be with me and not my money.

The hard part for me was navigating around this reality: you can be miserable and stay married or you can not give a fuck what society thinks and see all the women you want, and I did the latter. For a while, I hid my life then gradually started showing it to people and saw that they really did not care as long as I was happy. What I saw in in the USA were WGs, women who were WGs but liked to pretend like they were not, and women who treated men like dirt. Given those choices, I was like I will stay with the WGs.

A lot is made about machismo in Latin countries but I will say that there seem to be limits put on female behavior whereas in the USA there seemed to be none. It took divorce for my ex and a lot of other women to realize that there were limits to their shitty behaviors.

I get your model Mr. E. It just does not work for me. I do not have the time to spend in Colombia like you do, and the amount you are haggling over is just not that important to me. I think the takeaway is there are high quality women in Colombia unlike in the USA who may just like you for you. If they ask for money, they are a WG and treat them accordingly but try to seek out the ones who do not ask and see what happens. There is a chance they may really like you.

In short, Mr. E, I paid women Mr. E because I did not trust them otherwise, and it is going to take time for a lot of guys to trust women without paying them. You might not get it but fears are not rational.

[Ryck II]

For some reason, this theory seems to persist and feel that the air needs to be cleared so that we can all move on from Uber and rideshares being illegal. They are not. Let me summarize for us all:

1) Taxi companies in Colombia (like the rest of the world) require their drivers to pay a fee for a medallion. The fees go to local / city / state tax revenues. Every country has their own term for this medallion. In Colombia it's called a "Cupo". And just like basically every country, they had not yet modernized their taxi service and it struggled with the advent of rideshares where anyone could become a "taxi driver" without having to pay your local government the "cupo" fees. As an example, a Cupo in Colombia along with the special drivers license required costs $25-50 k USD. Yes, that is correct. $25 to 50 thousand US dollars. It is often more expensive than the car itself and is a huge source of revenue for the government.

2) Rather than modernize their service or reduce the need for a Cupo, Colombia instead chose to sue Uber specifically as it was the largest rideshare company at the time it entered the Colombian market.

3) Uber lost the court case and in December, 2019 the Superintendent of Industry and Commerce, came out and said Uber is now illegal. This is the point that many of these discussions have hovered around. A member of government on December 19th, 2019 said it was illegal.

4) 10 days later, Uber disputed the findings of the court case and initiated legal actions against the Colombian government to protect foreign investments under the free trade agreement between Colombia and the USA (Uber is a Delaware, USA based company).

5) Approximately 1 month later, while the courts had yet to review the case, Uber left Colombia in February 2020. Reports popped up that Transport police were giving rideshare drivers a hard time at the airports and in an attempt to get around it would require someone sit in the front. At the same time Uber dropped their protective status case because. (read number 6).

6) Once Uber had left, they initiated a different agreement to the Uber app and effectively bypassed the ruling given by the court. Uber in Colombia gets around the ruling by now calling itself a "Car and Driver Rental Service". Now, when getting an Uber from your app you are specifically renting a car and driver and that subtle change means you can use Uber as well as the other rideshare apps as they also changed their terms of service. This is how Uber (and the other apps we call rideshares but in Colombia are now called car and driver rentals) are allowed to operate. It is also my understanding.

7) That's it. Uber and other rideshare apps are not illegal in Colombia.

Now go out and ride your Ubers, Didi's, Indriver to your hearts content while down in Colombia and stop fretting that you're going to get arrested.

You are wrong about one thing. The money that taxi drivers pay for a "cupo" is not going to the government, is not paying any taxes and it is not required by Taxi companies to include cars in their associations. The way it works is: the government allocates a number of taxis for a city let's say 100.000 for Bogota. People apply for a license and licenses are given to the first 100.000 people who applied. Then you are the owner of the license. It is just first come first served. That happened of course decades ago.

Now in order for a new taxi to be registered, you need to show papers showing that another taxi was scrapped. This is what they call the "cupo". Because there are so many taxis stolen for parts or in accidents that totaled them, there are always "cupos" available. In fact, the price of those "cupos" has gone down a lot since uber, didi, cabby and other firms are operating in the city. I am not sure how much it should be now but 10 years ago it was close to 80 million. Almost twice as much as the price of a new taxi at that time.

A few years ago, the government of Bogota, trying to get more tax money, wanted to make taxi drivers declare those "cupos" in their tax forms, but this idea never took off. Government at some point also tried to make the "cupos" Illegal but again the idea never took off. It is just money for an intangible asset that is paid between individuals.

[MiamiBoy1]

Thanks for your recent report, but man, what kind of responses did you expect? Guys here have been hard on you because you let the girl and her family take an advantage of you, totally your fault, not theirs. What was your plan? Fuck her a few times or become her real suggar daddy? If you wanted to just fuck her on your short trips to Bogota, then ppm would be ideal. If your plan was to date her, why spend so much at the very beginning? Let the relationship develop into a stronger one, give it some time, test drive her and then, if she shows lotalty, passion and love, you can start thinking about supporting her, little by little. Do you really think buying shit for her and her family members and wining & dining them will help you immerse into Colombian culture? Lol

Eating at mcdonalds every night is pathetic. There is a shit ton of nice restaurants and cafes around parque 93, any cuisine you crave, you just need to pull out your cellphone and spend 2 minutes of your precious time on google maps.

[MarquisdeSade1]

1) If you fall in love in Latin America, you are falling in love by yourself.

2) Money can't buy you love.

3) and pussy makes you stupid.

A quick story, and I think many of us know of some stories where we fucked up on a trip.

A good friend and wingman of mine, a veteran pilot for a major airline with thousands of layovers throughout Latin America, fell in love with a hot chick who he met in a Terma in Rio. He bought an apartment for her in Santos. Was a great place for him to use a crash pad on layovers and maybe get married. Long story short, he want back to the states and when he returned to Brasil, she the locks changed, had her boyfriend and har whole family living there. The stupid ass put the house in her name so he was shit out off luck. When he confronted her she said and I quote:

"you should have known better, look at you, look at me" nuff said.

You fall in love in LA and you fall in love by yourself? Well to be fair isn't that the case all over the planet?

Too many western "men" love and respect "their women" it isn't reciprocal very often.

Well anyone with a brain knows money can't buy love but there are many here that feel that maybe they can't land a "gorgeous wife" in their home country because they aren't "rich" maybe they can use their money to qualify for one in a 3rd world puta hub? LOL ie Mr Elvis.

Pussy makes me stoopid? Nah not me, LOL.

The need for it sometimes gets the best of me.

But I never forget I am the gift to them.

They need me way more than I need them.

[LatinaLover#1]

Just today, I had a SA girl whom I had a session from my previous trip asked me if I can spot her some money upfront for her to make rent and she can waive future charges the next time I see her. I simply said I am afraid that I do not do that. Then, also another SA girl was pissed that I never bring her my any presents when she kept hinting for one. My thought was, why should I, you are one of the many. It is a transaction and the ppm that I pay her should be enough. I guessed that she has now blocked me on WhatsApp. Whatever, she is one of the so many that I have in my list.

Back when I was using SA and Cupid, I would have lots of these girls asking for money and we had never even met! I always tell them I don't send money, when I see you, of course I'll take care of you. If they ask again I block them. I have to assume if they ask me, they are asking all the men. There is a good portion of SA girls that use the app to groom dozens of guys as their ATM.

I had a few close amigas, who were amazing, great sex, super cute and never even discussed money upfront, they were just thankful for whatever I gave them, never talked about time, just great girlfriend sex. I did send a couple of my special friends a few dollars during the pandemic, they had no food and they all lost their POS jobs. They were the exception.

[ClamSlammer]

My guess is because they knew a sucker when they saw one. My motto is if it is for free then it is for me. And I guess they live by the same code.

I don't think anyone who believes Uber operates illegally should be judging others as "suckers. ".

You have not proven that ride sharing is legal. You have only said because you think and feel it can not be illegal that it is legal. You are in the minority, so how about proving yourself right.

Nobody ever said the government did not know about it. Please quote where you saw someone write that. In third world countries there are things that are illegal that are tolerated and there are gray areas. They will not bust you for something today then bust you for that same thing tomorrow. That is what you are failing to understand.

In Thailand the law says that you must wear a helmet when riding a motorbike. 800 people can ride by the police with no helmet on, then when number 801 rides by without a helmet they pull them over and give them a ticket. Just because tons of people are seen doing it with no penalty does not make it legal.

Well, it is assumed the government does not know about it because they have the power to shut it down. And they have not shut it down. So they must not know about it, right?

Nobody ever said that every illegal act in every country gets arrested and prosecuted. You can get away with minor illegal infractions, especially if you are a single person. You cannot get away with willfully defying a court order if you are a billion dollar MNC with no place to hide. That is something that you cannot grasp because you lack the sense. So after you ignorantly declared yourself the king of 3rd world cold shower knowledge, I taught you a lesson and proved you wrong. So here's another lesson:

Suppose you are in Mexico, and a Mexican with a 2nd grade education tells you "Oxxo has been declared by the Mexican Supreme Court to be illegal. It is now illegal for them to be in business. " Never mind that all their lights are still on. Their doors open. Customers coming in and out buying things. Their vendors are still delivering goods, much of it on credit. Accepting credit card payments through their Mexican bank. Facilitating payments for Izzi and CFE and other utilities. Accepting money transfers through various Mexican banks. Paying their employees. Paying their rent. None of that matters, right? The only thing that matters is that the Mexican with a 2nd grade education said Oxxo is illegal. So to you, it MUST be illegal.

Imagine another scenario, this one using fictitious names to protect the identities of the severely gullible:

SenorAnternacional is at Bogota airport waiting to board his Avianca flight.

A Colombian with 2nd Grade Education: "Hola senor, I want to tell you that the Colombian Supreme Court has declared Avianca Airlines to be illegal. They were ordered to immediately cease all operations last month. They are illegal. ".

But. They are still selling tickets. Their bank is still processing credit card payments. They are still allowing boarding of their flights. They are still taking off and landing every few minutes. None of their flights have been canceled. Their website is still up and running and 100% functional. Their call center is still up and running. They are publishing new scheduled flights daily. They are still paying their employees. They are still hiring and training staff. They are paying their airport fees. Their vendors are still delivering goods. The aviation administration still clears their flights for takeoff. Their insurance company is still insuring them. They are still paying their hotel and other travel partners. There is absolutely NOTHING to indicate that there was a court order to shut down.

SenorInternacional: "I see that Avianca is operating 100% normally, but since a Colombian with a 2nd grade education told me they are illegal, then it must be true. Avianca is illegal! I'm a renegade flyer!

So with Uber, let's examine the facts. Let's count the indicators that would lead you to believe they are legal, and then the indicators that would lead you to believe they are illegal.

First, legal indicators:

1. They are operating 100% normally in Colombia.

2. Colombian and international banks as well as Visa and Mastercard have not severed relations as Uber accepts bank card payments as well as Nequi and DaviPlata.

3. They are paying their employees-their employer identification number is still valid.

4. Uber app is available for download from Colombian Play Store and App Store.

5. Colombian government has not blocked access to Uber servers.

6. They are hiring and training new employees.

7. They are accepting new drivers.

8. Their offices have not been raided by the feds or any other governmental agency.

9. Their insurance company still covers them.

10. Their board of directors are not in Colombian prison for defying a court order.

11. The American government has not revoked Uber's business license, which would surely happen if Uber was knowingly operating illegally in any part of the world.

12. Didi and InDriver have entered the Colombian market. You really think the Colombian government would issue new business permits to an industry that was declared illegal?

13. The taxi industry has partnered with Uber. You can now order UberTaxi in Colombia. So since the taxi companies are an official Uber partner, then the taxi companies must be illegal too, right?

And now, the illegal indicators:

1. Some Colombians with a 2nd grade education told me Uber is illegal.

So there. Might as well be a man and admit you were wrong and apologize. I'll accept and promise to not hold a grudge.

[ClamSlammer]

For some reason, this theory seems to persist and feel that the air needs to be cleared so that we can all move on from Uber and rideshares being illegal. They are not. Let me summarize for us all:

1) Taxi companies in Colombia (like the rest of the world) require their drivers to pay a fee for a medallion. The fees go to local / city / state tax revenues. Every country has their own term for this medallion. In Colombia it's called a "Cupo". And just like basically every country, they had not yet modernized their taxi service and it struggled with the advent of rideshares where anyone could become a "taxi driver" without having to pay your local government the "cupo" fees. As an example, a Cupo in Colombia along with the special drivers license required costs $25-50 k USD. Yes, that is correct. $25 to 50 thousand US dollars. It is often more expensive than the car itself and is a huge source of revenue for the government.

2) Rather than modernize their service or reduce the need for a Cupo, Colombia instead chose to sue Uber specifically as it was the largest rideshare company at the time it entered the Colombian market.

3) Uber lost the court case and in December, 2019 the Superintendent of Industry and Commerce, came out and said Uber is now illegal. This is the point that many of these discussions have hovered around. A member of government on December 19th, 2019 said it was illegal.

4) 10 days later, Uber disputed the findings of the court case and initiated legal actions against the Colombian government to protect foreign investments under the free trade agreement between Colombia and the USA (Uber is a Delaware, USA based company).

5) Approximately 1 month later, while the courts had yet to review the case, Uber left Colombia in February 2020. Reports popped up that Transport police were giving rideshare drivers a hard time at the airports and in an attempt to get around it would require someone sit in the front. At the same time Uber dropped their protective status case because. (read number 6).

6) Once Uber had left, they initiated a different agreement to the Uber app and effectively bypassed the ruling given by the court. Uber in Colombia gets around the ruling by now calling itself a "Car and Driver Rental Service". Now, when getting an Uber from your app you are specifically renting a car and driver and that subtle change means you can use Uber as well as the other rideshare apps as they also changed their terms of service. This is how Uber (and the other apps we call rideshares but in Colombia are now called car and driver rentals) are allowed to operate. It is also my understanding.

7) That's it. Uber and other rideshare apps are not illegal in Colombia.

Now go out and ride your Ubers, Didi's, Indriver to your hearts content while down in Colombia and stop fretting that you're going to get arrested.

This is exactly what I wrote a couple months ago. Uber was declared illegal for a short while, and then they found a loophole. They technically operate as a car rental company and not rideshare. The car just happens to come with a driver. And they've been legal ever since. I just can't imagine how stupid you have to be to believe that a billion dollar corporation would operate illegally in defiance of government orders. I'm talking single-digit IQ stupid. How can they pay their employees? How can they bank accounts not be frozen? How can their servers not be shut down in an instant? Give a millions of illegal rides every week and the government does nothing to shut them down? The stupidity is just mind-boggling.