Some useful advice below kindly provided by Ezy for newbies like myself. Please post phone nos. for other reputable and reliable radio cabs.

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1. Never take a regular cab.

2. I take a remis (private car) from the airport to city center. Cost is USD13. There are booths directly in front of the area where your friends will emerge from customs.

There is also a booth to purchase a ticket for taxis. Tell your friends to make certain they are assigned a radio taxi. This is a less expensive alternative, between 25-30pes0s.

A third option is to take the bus downtown. Tickets can be purchased at the Manuel Tienda booth. Price is only 3 or 4 dollars, but with no Spanish it might be worth splitting the extra cost to get someone to take them directly to their hotel.

Ask your friends to write down the address of where they are staying. Most cabbies and remis drivers will not understand English. The name of the hotel, street number and cross-streets (eg...966 Santa Fe, between Suipacha and Carolos Pelligrini, etc). It would also be helpful if they had the telephone number of the hotel.

3. Once in town, take radio cabs. The rates are very inexpensive. When going out, I usually phone and ask for a cab to pick me up. Coming home I normally just wave for a radio cab to pick me up. Two reliable companies are: Baseport phone..4639.6666 or Time 4961.2111. There are many others.

I had no problems with the cabs in anyway. It's easy to pick out the "real" cabs. I used the black ones with yellow taxi domes. No cab ride was more than 5-6 peso's. I had a good laminated map and it does help...some of these guys can't find own foot....but all in all very helpful and honest

I found out on this trip to BsAs that not all Radio cabs charge the same rate! Some charge double! I took a radio cab from Recoleta to Galleria Pacifico and he meter was $12p. I later took an another cab back to Recoleta and it cost only $5p. He told me that differ cab charge differently. The cab wasn't any nicer or newer. And the traffic was the same. I asked him to take me to airport later that night and it cost me $30p. At the airport I give him $35p and he try to give me $5p back until I told him it was a tip. He is nice in mid 30's and a non smoker too which is nice for me. I got his cell number and company number as well for when he is not working to post for others so you don't end up paying extra when in BsAs. When the hotel call a taxi for you to the airport, they get a kickback and it cost around $45p at Hotel Etoile. His name is Miguel - cell#15-4099-7848. His company is Famosos - 4683-7877. It only take a few minute for him to stop by.

Everybody says always take Radio Taxis. Yet many taxis are running around with the "Radio Taxi" sign on top or on the side, so who can you trust?

Personally, in over 4 years of travelling to BA, the only trouble I've had is when the driver could not figure out where to go. Yet there are scams, so if you have a particular taxi driver that you like, go ahead and use him.

Thanks for the info,

Moondog

I have been taking 3-5 taxis a day for 3 weeks. Not much in comparison with Moondog. My portenas amigas are much more careful than me, because they are more fragile as women, I assume. One only go by remis and never take taxis from the street. If I have done 60-80 rides and in principal, all of them has been correct. Complaints is on the level of 1-3 "taxistas" who claimed not to have change and thereby made me pay more, yet it is still very cheap, and this happens not often, and the amount that I overpaid might be 1-3 pesos(!) After 3 weeks I feel that the risks should´nt be higher here than in other cities/countries. Taxi´s are everywhere and sometimes they completly dominate the streets. Most of them are Peugout (wrong spelling) of the ancient type 504 and Renault 19. Safetybelts don´t exist, and many cars are diesels which pour out unhealthy chemicals -"en masse".

My conclusion is : Bs As taxis are probably the cheapest in the world, and they ALWAYS use taxameter. The taxidrivers are ordinary working-people - and they take you to your special place with pleasure, many are very socialble. Use this service - it´s worth it.

This may come off as stupid, but how does calling a radio taxi work? Do you wait around for it to come pick you up, and how do know which cab it is? Any basic information would be appreciated. Thanks.

The hotel can do it for you, but all the taxis seem to have Radio Taxi on them, so it is hard to distinguish between fake ones and real ones.

Personally, I would not worry, just watch out for the scams. If it does not feel right to you, get out, and get another one.

Moondog