Be ware of fake taxis in the city

PANAMA. Catching a cab can be worse and more lethal than catching the swine flu. Users are at the mercy of a service with little quality, efficiency and the possibility of robbery or assault.

To add insult to injury, besides the infuriating “ no voy”, the taxis are adopting the dangerous and illegal practice of cloning their registration plates.

On December 29 , 2008, a fake taxi robbed as armored car that was picking up cash from a Texaco gas station in Rio Abajo.

The Transit authority (ATTT) has reported taxis with fake numbers and or fake plates around El Parador (Pedregal) and Santa Librada, in San Miguelito.

But the needs to getting somewhere on time make passengers reluctant to report this activity.

Users should pay attention to the numbers on the doors, if they are not painted, there is reason to believe something wrong. The law says the numbers must be painted on, with specific measurements and shape.

The ATTT asks the public to at least take a quick look to the car before getting in, failure to do it could bring serious and even mortal consequences.

Marcos Mora, operations chief at the ATTT said the fake numbers some times are stickers, magnets or stolen plates from other taxis.

Drivers that get involved in this crime will be punished with licence suspension and car impounding.

The color unification could help end this problem. Haydee Paredes de Chu, Representative of the users and member of the ATTT board, said its urgent to put in motion a plan to stop this crime. According to Chu, the most affected province is Colon , where fake taxi operatorshave been stealing supermarkets packages from the users.

According to the ATTT website there are 25,442 taxis registered in Panama, but only 1,638 are painted with the yellow color ordered by the authorities. The taxis have until December to comply.