Mexico City Says Goodbye To The Bug

There's one sure way to know you're in Mexico City: the rounded, green and white Volkswagen bug taxis sputtering and darting along the clogged streets.

But the city's government is planning their slow extermination.

Mexico is the only country where the old-style Volkswagen bug — as opposed to the new Beetle — is still produced, and the car is hugely popular with Mexico City's traffic-savvy taxi drivers. It is as much as symbol as the yellow taxi is in New York.

Step to a curb, and the green bugs dart from the city's steady flow of traffic to the feet of a waiting passenger, flashing their lights in a friendly hello.

Typically, there is no front passenger seat — it's been ripped out to make it easier to climb in and out; families of five or six have been known to crowd together into back seats.

Taxi drivers like the cars because they are cheap: You can buy a new one for the equivalent of $7,420, and parts are easy to find and inexpensive. Their size makes them easy to maneuver in Mexico City's infamous traffic jams.

But the bugs aren't perfect. Their air-cooled, rear engines are big polluters in a city where the surrounding mountains are often shrouded in clouds of smog. The United States stopped production of the bugs in 1977 and bans their importation because they don't meet emission standards.

Called "vochos" — short for Volkswagen in local parlance — the taxis are also the choice of robbers and kidnappers who pick up unwary passengers who can't escape because there are no rear doors.

Sometimes victims are held for days, taken on daily trips to automatic teller machines until their bank accounts are empty.

Many tourist guides tell foreigners what locals already know: Flag down a vocho at your peril.

Gabriel Guerrero did that once, and was robbed of his money. He won't miss them.

"You have no option of doing anything if you are robbed," he said. "There is only one way in and one way out."

That's one of the main reasons Mexico City is phasing out the bug, with a new requirement that all future taxis have four doors. While the bug is not specifically banned, the new rule effectively means it will slowly disappear from the street, replaced by Nissan, Chevrolet and Volkswagen sedans, among others.

City officials claim the new cars will be better for the environment and safer. They also will reduce a big black market for stolen bug parts by diversifying the brand and make of taxis, they predict.

"Thanks to this, we will have better service that is more secure, more comfortable and efficient, and with less pollution," President Vicente Fox said in helping city officials announce the program. "It will benefit the taxi passengers as well as the owners and drivers of taxis."

Mexico City's government has promised $12.5 million to help taxi drivers buy new cars. The money will help swap 3,000 of the 20,000 cars that will need to be replaced this year — the majority being cars older than 1992.

Volkswagen welcomed the change, saying four-door cabs will be more comfortable. The company said it didn't expect any impact on production, with just under 19,000 bugs produced in the first eight months of this year. There are still plenty of private buyers, officials said.

Taxi drivers are torn. Many work for individuals who own several cars, and welcome the idea of a newer, roomier cab. Others say the new requirements are a financial burden.

Steering his 1991 bug around double-parked cars on narrow streets, Ernesto Rojas said the credit package offered by the government isn't enough for him to replace his cab with a larger sedan, which will likely cost more than $10,000.

"They've got four doors in their head, and I don't understand it," he said.

Although the growing number of four-door taxis charge passengers a peso or two — 10 to 20 cents — more than two-door bugs, drivers have to pay more in "rent" to the cars' owners. Jose Luis Condez pays the owner of his bug $20 a day, then takes home an equivalent amount to his family. He believes a four-door taxi will cut into his already slim profits.

"Changing the taxis to four doors doesn't change anything," he said. "It's a stupid idea."

Even as he drives around in his own 2000 Volkswagen bug, Jorge Garcia said he liked the idea of a bigger, more comfortable sedan — even if it meant spending more on maintenance and parts.

"This is the country's biggest city, but in the countryside they have nicer cars than here," he said. "Maybe it's time to improve the city's image."