Taxi.Rio is an app developed by the Rio de Janeiro government to connect riders to the traditional taxi service.
A growing number of Brazilians are ditching Uber for taxis, which are now becoming cheaper and easier to come by. According to the Union of Autonomous Taxi Drivers of the Municipality of Rio, demand for Rio taxi services, which now operate in a number of cities across Brazil, rose by 60% at the tail end of 2021. Taxi.Rio added roughly 38,000 monthly users in 2021, according to official Rio city government figures.
The shift back to traditional cabs was spurred in large part by pricing and longer wait times. Uber and 99 are grappling with driver shortages and high demand, which has translated to price surcharges, including a 30% increase over two months last fall, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Taxi.Rio added roughly 38,000 monthly users in 2021, according to official Rio city government figures.
Populous urban centers like Rio de Janeiro have recently invested heavily in apps like Taxi.Rio, which aim to make hailing a cab just as easy as hailing an Uber. This has meant that Brazilians have gradually begun to find traditional taxis are often cheaper and more convenient alternatives than private ride-hailing apps.
For drivers, the addition of exorbitant gas prices to the cost of the ride-hailing companies’ 30% cut can be discouraging.