Costa Rica's iconic red cabs are disappearing fast. Taxi industry figures show only about 6,800 licensed drivers remain registered with the Public Transportation Council (CTP), out of 13,500 concessions originally created — a fleet cut nearly in half. The reason, by most accounts, is ride-hailing: Uber launched in the country on 21 August 2015, followed by rivals like DiDi, and both have operated for over a decade in a legal grey zone with no dedicated rules.
The numbers tell the story. Between 2000 and 2015, taxi drivers handed back an average of just 17 plates a year. After Uber arrived, that jumped to 241 a year between 2015 and 2018, then 343 a year between 2018 and 2020. Uber now operates in all seven provinces, claiming more than 28,000 driver-partners and around a million users. For travellers, it means hailing a ride through an app is easy in San José and most urban areas — but the regulated taxi trade that covers smaller towns is under real pressure, and taxi groups warn service could keep thinning out in places apps don't reach.
The dispute comes down to unequal rules. Licensed taxi drivers must hold a state concession, pass vehicle inspections, carry insurance, pay into social security and stick to fares set by the regulator ARESEP. Platform drivers have faced no equivalent requirements. Now a bill — the Law on Non-Collective Paid Passenger Transport and Digital Platforms — is working its way through the Legislative Assembly, and it could reshape ground transport for visitors and locals alike. A committee has already reviewed 282 motions and sent an updated text back for a first-round vote.
Two parts of the bill matter most for travellers. First, it would create a 'dual taxi' category, letting licensed red cabs work through apps as well as on the street, with both platforms and taxis meeting similar standards on insurance, inspections and taxes. Uber has already moved in this direction: it opened registration to red taxi drivers in July and launched Uber Taxi on 29 September with 300+ drivers, though early fares for the taxi option run noticeably higher than UberX.
Second — and this one hits arriving passengers directly — the bill would ban platform drivers from picking up or dropping off at Juan Santamaría International Airport, San José's main gateway. The orange airport taxis would keep their exclusive access. So if you land at SJO after the law passes, your app-based ride may start a short walk or shuttle away, or you'll be joining the queue for the official orange cabs.
Not everyone's happy. Platform drivers' association Aprimotec says the bill threatens some 35,000 households' livelihoods, and drivers marched to Casa Presidencial on 29 July demanding dialogue. Taxi bodies like CANATRANS back the bill as a long-overdue levelling of the field. Either way, the outcome will define how visitors without a car get around Costa Rica for years — app rides everywhere, or a patched-together mix of apps, red cabs and airport taxis.
