Taxis in Galápagos: how the white pickups work, and the app that orders one

Taxis in Galápagos are white pickup trucks. Not cars: double-cab pickups, so a family, a diving bag and a crate of fish all fit, and so the same vehicle can do the town run in the morning and the lava road to the highlands in the afternoon. There is no meter and no Uber. Fares are fixed by route, everyone knows them, and the way to avoid the one thing that can go wrong, a misunderstanding about the price, is to say your destination and confirm the fare before you get in.

What a ride costs

Fares are per car, not per person, so four people pay the same as one. Cash only, small notes, and no tip expected. Late at night and on holidays a driver may ask a little more; that is normal.

How to hail one

In town you flag them down: they cruise the main streets all day, and there are ranks at the pier and near the markets. Your hotel will call one for you at any hour. For the highlands you can negotiate a half-day with a driver, who will wait at the tortoise reserve, the twin craters and the lava tunnels and bring you back, which is cheaper than a tour if you do not need a guide.

There are no taxis at Baltra airport itself: the airport bus takes you to the Itabaca Channel, the ferry crosses, and the taxis wait on the Santa Cruz side. The whole chain is described in the travel guide, and a private transfer does it door to door.

Water taxis

The small dinghies at every pier are the other kind of taxi. They shuttle between the pier and the boats moored in the bay, and across the bay in Puerto Ayora to the path for Las Grietas and the Finch Bay side. $1 per person per ride, paid on board, no booking. You will take one to board every ferry and most tour boats, so keep dollar coins in your pocket.

CarapachoGO: the taxis, in an app

CarapachoGO is a local app, built in Galápagos by ToursTrust with the taxi cooperatives, that puts the same white pickups on your phone. You set the pickup and the destination, see the fixed fare before you confirm, watch the car come, and pay in the app by card, which is the part visitors like most: no cash, no change, no price discussion.

It works today on Santa Cruz, which is where most rides happen, and the drivers are the official cooperative drivers, not a new fleet. The app is free on iOS and Android at carapachogo.com. On the other islands you still hail taxis the traditional way, which is easy: the towns are small and the drivers are everywhere.

When you do not need a taxi at all

The three towns are each a fifteen-minute walk end to end, and most of what you want is on or near the waterfront. Tours include their transport. On Isabela a rented bicycle, $10 to $15 a day, reaches the beach, the Wall of Tears and the tortoise centre on a flat road. For the rest, a white pickup is never more than a raised hand away.

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Im Reiseführer

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