Tuk tuk mototaxis
The Tuk Tuk mototaxis were introduced in Guatemala in 2001 and in less the five years there are 8,000 of them throughout the whole country (source: Prensa Libre in Spanish). In Antigua there are about 200 mototaxis and they are economical and unsafe for the locals and an attraction for the tourist. More photos of mototaxis in Flickr.
Daily Content
August 9th, 2006
[...] Antigua Guatemala has four entrances to the city. If we think of them as doors, this would be the main door: the road that comes from Guatemala City. La Antigua Guatemala is located at only 45 kilometres from Guatemala City; you can travel it in about an hour driving safely. If you consider that, in some cases, you can travel for two hours and still be inside Guatemala City, 60 minutes is a short time that separates two completely different cities. Guatemala City is the largest and most chaotic city of Central America. Meanwhile, Antigua is a tiny colonial town with cobblestone streets. Guatemala City is a modern city with skyscrapers, tree-lined boulevards and streets, with a huge metropolitan area, and the most horrible public transportation system in the world. On the other hand, Antigua building code does not allow for two-storey buildings, there are some, but new buildings can not be built; there is no public transportation system, unless you count the tuk tuk and taxis; most of the streets are one-lane ways. So, there is a huge distance that separates Antigua from Guatamala City, and it is not measured in kilometres. Tags: Antigua Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / Welcome to Antigua [...]
September 16th, 2006
[...] La Antigua Guatemala has become a victim to crime and the Antigüeños have demanded safety. These Tuk Tuk Police units are one of the responses from the authorities and the Tourist Commission. I published a photo of a tuk tuk motorbike as a taxi before on May 3rd. [...]
October 1st, 2006
[...] The taxi service in La Antigua Guatemala is anything but reliable. Taxi vehicles come in all colors and makes, mostly Toyota and Nissan. There is not a radio taxi service because all the taxis are owned by their respective drivers and they haven’t see fit to band together and offer a central calling number, so you have to carry three or four different business cards to make sure at least one taxi will be available when you need it. Besides the taxi automobiles, there are Tuk Tuk mototaxis (or tuc tuc in Brighton, England), but they have become unsafe for many reasons including delinquency; there is even Tuk Tuk Police Units now. [...]
March 2nd, 2007
[...] license and insurance. Interesting enough, they meet to decide this after the introduction of the tuk tuks mototaxis. Even the Politour (tourist police) have tuk tuk police units. To me tuk tuks are motorcycles that [...]
March 21st, 2008
I think these vehicles are better to use as taxi than a motorcycle. It’s safer and more comfortable. And are very beautiful.
Such vehicles are used to almost everything in India and Thailand, even as mobile broadcast station.