Panama, Casco Viejo
Casco Antiguo, San Felipe
With the ramping increase in oil prices, transportation is becoming more expensive. Still, in Panama it is possible to take a taxi for as low as $1.35, depending of course, on where you are going. As much as users in Panama might take a while to adjust to the new prices, because of the subsidized oil it is still cheap.
So how does it works from Casco Viejo to the rest of the city? This is what I just figured out:
First, the basics:
As usual, the base is $1.00 to step into the taxi. Aditional passengers would be $0.40 more.
Tocumen International Airport is still $12 flat fee.
Now, from Casco to the rest of the World (well, Panama City):
Casco Antiguo is Zone 2A. It includes San Felipe, Santa Ana, Ancon and Chorrillo. To move within this zone, is a $1.00
To go to the Causeway, Amador, all the way to La Boca is a $1.35. This is zone 1.
From Casco Viejo to Albrook, Curundu or Calidonia (which is zone 3) then is $1.35.
From Casco Antiguo to Paitilla, La Cresta is $1.75. This is zone 4
To go to zone 5 which is Coco del Mar, San Francisco, Bethania and Dos Mares, then is $2.05
From Casco Viejo to zone 6 (Panama Viejo, Pueblo Nuevo, Hato Pintado then is $2.40
And finally from Casco Antiguo to zone 7 which is Costa del Este and Chanis then is $2.75.
Now, the one catch in all this stuff is the following: I see a line that says that they would charge an additional $0.25 between sub zones. Now, this is tricky, because depending on your route you can pass one or two of them.
As I understand from this, if you want to go from Casco Viejo to Hato Pintado, for example, which is located in Zone 6 (and is divided into: 6A for Panama Viejo, 6 B for Santa Elena and 6C for Pueblo nuevo, where Hato Pintado is) if the taxi driver takes “the long route” then he happens to cross 2 or 3 subzones. So I would be adding $0.75 to my $2.40. Now, would the $0.75 extra cents be enough incentive for a taxi driver to spend about $3.00 in gasoline so he can charge me more? humm…. let´s hope gas prices are high enough that they include efficiency in the ecuation. At the end of the day, he earns more by fast and short routes than he does with tricky ones.