- Thread starter Donato66
- Start date
Any Buses from SDQ airport to BC?
That sounds a little high, you can get a taxi all the way into Santo Domingo for 30/1000.
That does seem high,this is why I am trying to get out of the airport and into the guagua.I have traveled them before and have no problems with them.Never been to this airport,can I actually walk out to the main rd??
It's about a mile or so. If you can walk that far, you might as well walk to Boca Chica. I think Boca Chica is closer to where the airport road meets the highway than the airport.
That's a long way with travel bags. I'd go to arrivals and wave a $500RD at taxis dropping folks off. It's better for them than deadheading back to BC, JD and points East.
aranoid:
How about motocontros-are they in th airport or at the street??
Donato66 I'm sure you mean well..............BUT HANG IT UP DUDE.....bite the bullet, pay the 20-30 dollars, whatever it is. I've made the trip from the airport to BC ALOT. It's just not worth it, to try and walk to catch a bus, or a passing motoconcho, (with luggage) or all this other nonsense your trying to accomplish. And don't wave around a 500 peso denomination note looking for a taxi.....(that would mean you have changed your money at the airport, at some HORRIBLE RATE)....sorry GD.....just put aside 20-30 bucks for the cab ride.....
Just what the DR needs, a clueless newbie waving around money at the airport, where there are more SCAM ARTISTS per square inch.....than say.....ahh......Boca Chica!!!!!!!!!
HOP IN A TAXI.....take my advice......
RISK MANAGEMENT, very important in the Dominican Republic!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You don't wanna be takin outta the game before you eva got in it.......DO YOU???
It's one thing being scammed in BC.....but at the airport?....or robbed by some broke idiot who sees you walking on the highway away from the airport...because your tryin to save 20 bucks?????....or just by some miracle you find a motoconcho, and it's starts to rain a little, while your luggage is on the handlebars.....you really don't need this 20 minutes after your plane has just landed.....
At least in Boca Chica.....(after you get scammed, of course) you'll be surrounded by hungry Piranhas.....(Chicas).....loud music....Presidentes....Brugal.....and you'll have a few stories to tell the grandkids someday.
But if something should ever go wrong at the airport, over trying to save 20-30 bucks.......
Your gonna think back to this post.....and say....
"WHY THE F--K DIDN'T I LISTEN TO rice&beans????????
I'll be in BC mid Sept.......I'll be landing late afternoon. If I see some poor soul walking on the road, while dragging his luggage....whilst cursing the world, I'll be sure to have my driver beep, and I'll wave.....
Of course, by then you'll be too weak to give me the finger......oh well.....see ya at the Boathouse!!!!
I wish ya well Donato66......TAKE THE CAB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The question is though why as they spending billions on a Metro system isn't there at least a simple public bus route into the Capital like any other country.
OK ok your advice makes a lot of sense-this whole thread was because I read a report posted about 4 years ago stating about this bus in the airport that brings you to the main rd. for a guagua.Just was trying to find out if it was true.probably is but only some Dominicans know about this.
Thanks for all the feed back anyway..
Just for the record and hopefully some useful info for someone---When I land at POP for visiting Sosua,Cabarate,Puerto Plata,etc I will walk out of their airport to the Main rd.(maybe 10 min.)and wait for a caro publico(maybe 10 mins).While being haseld from taxis I would just say--no gracias,esta bien y vivo aqui!!Costs me 100 pesos for caro publico,50 for me and 50 for my suitcase,as oppopsed to a $30 fare that the taxis want.I also do this for my trip back to the airport.Besides saving the money you get the real taste of Dominican life.
Nothing ventured-nothing gained!!
Nothing ventured-nothing gained!!
Good question. Simple answer....the Metro is SEXY. All the really great cities in the World have one and as ultimately useless as this one may be it is a status symbol and a message to the rest of the World that the Dominican Capital is ready to play in "the bigs".
It's like when a hotel buys a couple of used treadmills and exercycles and puts up a shack stuffed with $20 4oz bottles of sun tan lotion and trinkets nobody wants to buy so they can get an extra star rating for having a "fitness facility" and "gift shop".
The airport isn't serviced by a regular downtown bus because there are hundreds of taxi drivers who would lose their livelihoods, plain & simple. If some private company, say Caribe started regular runs between their terminal downtown and SDQ they would sell every seat on every bus and the taxi drivers would shut down the airport in retaliation and maybe burn a bus or shoot a driver or two.
My house is roughly the same distance from DCA that SDQ is from where I stay. My ride to DCA from home is $9US. At SDQ they ask for $40US with a straight face. This is the first lesson most visitors learn. Rosetta Stone doesn't cover negotiation in Spanish very well. It's an acquired skill.
like greydread said: the taxi drivers would loose their jobs, but nevertheless this is not a reason to overcharge every single tourist, who arrives to the DR... but unfortunately it looks like they just want to scam the tourists or other people arriving and not knowing prices and stuff: the exchange bank inside the airport with "no commission" is giving the worst exchange rates ive ever seen!
They're getting it while they can. A taxi metering system imposition like the one implemented in Washington DC just a couple years ago would cause a riot in Santo Domingo whereas DC just had a couple guys with signs for a few days. Just steps from the airport cambios are the cajeros which give the daily interbank rate minus the ATM transaction fee. There's a million ways to get ripped off at SDQ just like any airport anywhere else really.
Thanks greydread,
I was never really worried about getting along there,I am very comfortable in the DR and look forward to all my stays.The more I find out about how things work there it will be easier for me and many others.I am sure there is a way out of that airport where non-Dominicans can use and not be over charged and I am determined to find out how.
I am currently considering moving there for a while because of financial reasons(and others)so I'm thinking the more homework I do the better off I will be.
Maybe some adventurers will give the caro publicos a chance and see it's all good!!