Is Uber Really Safe to Use in Panama?
We recently read an article on NewsroomPanama.com about a female tourist who was attacked by a taxi driver and his cohorts, but many expats prefer the perceived safety of Uber over taxis. But is that “trust” misplaced?
What should have been a 20 minute ride in an Uber turned into a 1:15 hour ordeal that has shaken trust in Uber. A female passenger requested an Uber, which arrived within 1 minute of confirmation (already unusual). The ride included an additional stop to pickup another female passenger nearby, before heading to the destination…estimated 23 minutes total, according to Uber and the route provided.
After the initial pickup, the driver missed the turn to pick up the second passenger (which caused him to deviate from the Uber prescribed route). The passenger had to tell him he missed the pickup. At this time, it was noticed the driver was not using the Uber route, but Waze, a private mapping app.
Also, the time was not updating in the Uber app…like it had been stopped by the driver. With no quick turnaround, the driver had to travel quite a distance to exit and return for the second passenger pickup. After several minutes off-route, he finallly arrived…but the ordeal had just begun. The driver still did not know where he was headed, asking the passengers for the next destination. He started to go the right way, but still must have been confused. He pulled off the road and made a phone call to someone, seemingly for directions. By this time, the passengers were severely frightened, not knowing who he was calling and what his next move would be. The first passenger started an audio recording of the phone conversation to the unknown person. Passenger 2 contacted 104, thinking it was the police, but only Spanish was spoken and was not understood. After several minutes, the driver resumed on another route deviation from the Uber map.
At no point did Uber send a message or call to see why the driver stopped completely for several minutes, deviated from the Uber route multiple times, and was nearly an hour longer than the original estimated arrival time. Uber did, however, charge an additional $45 for the extra time, because the ride “took longer than anticipated.” After several back and forth text messages (the only way to contact them in Panama), the additional charges were refunded to reflect the original quote price for the ride. No explanation was provided, but requested several times, as to why the safety protocols were not implemented. Uber repeated several times that the trip was eventually completed (they did arrive alive, albeit quite late for an event), so a full refund would not be provided. So, the next time you step onto an Uber, just be aware that there are no real safety precautions. You are on your own with Uber in Panama–good luck.
Written by Crystal Howard
