100 More Aiport Taxicabs to transport visitors

San José, Costa Rica. Costa Rica’s Public Transportation Council (CTP) put out to tender 100 license plates for “Taxis Aeropuerto,” a certified service that offers tourists visiting Costa Rica, a safe transportation service to, and from their destination in Costa Rica.

People interested in providing this service will have until November 28th to present their offerings to the CTP.

“60 plates will go for sedans, 30 for vans, and 10 for wheelchair accessible vehicles,” said Mario Badilla, director of the CTP.

“Taxis Aeropuerto” differ from the regular taxicabs because of their orange color. They are the only certified company to provide services in Costa Rican’s main entrance point –the Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela.

The owners of the new plates will have to know how to speak English and pay a special insurance fee to provide visitors with high quality service and protection.

At the moment only 100 units are available to transport more than 100 thousand tourists that come through the Juan Santamaría International Airport each month. This means that there is one certified taxicab for each thousand visitors.

The new license plates will be out soon and available for the high season.

“We are following an abbreviated process because these units belong to a special base of the public transportation network,” Badilla said.

Costa Rica’s high season for tourism runs from late November to late April, which coincides almost perfectly with the winter in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The high season is also the dry season.

According to the Costa Rican Tourism Board, this year only, the country received 1.2 million tourists during the first semester; during the second semester, that number is expected to increase.

“Tourism is the top vehicle for our country’s sustainable development, its human welfare and for the promotion of opportunities that will benefit local residents,” recently said Allan Flores, Costa Rica Minister of Tourism, during the World Tourism Day, last September.

The CTP said that the process to get a plate to offer services for “Taxis Aeropuerto” is completely free, and no person or institution is authorized to ask for money from the applicants.

For more information, vehicle owners can call 2586-9044, and 2586-9004; or send an email to d.ejecutiva@ctp.go.cr