In the city, taxis are the choice transport method.
When visiting the city, you do not need to rent a car, and in some cases even if you are taking day trips from the city it is cheaper, more efficient and more fun to hire a driver to take you.
In Panama it seems every 3rd car is a taxi. Cab drivers will either honk or whistle at you to get you to consider hiring them. Getting a cab when it is not rush hour is easy. The problem is that during rush hour 99% of the cabs are full. You will have to stand and wait about 5-30 minutes to find an empty taxi. The good news is that if you look like a “Tourist” (not a local), you will likely wait only 5 minutes at the most even during rush hour. The reason is that Tourists often pay way too much for a taxi, so cab drivers will give foreign looking people privilege.
Panama Taxi Fear has recently increase, What foreigners don't realize is that the taxi cab fair in Panama City is a flat fee of less than $2. Giving a taxi driver more than $2 when moving around the city is exaggerated, and cab drivers will joke about the “Tourist that paid them too much.” So if you don't want to be the subject of a joke I suggest you always pay 2 dollars to the cab driver. Never ask “How much?” because that is the sign to the driver he is supposed to rip you off. The standard here in Panama is to just hand the driver $2 and get out of the cab. That is what the driver is expecting.
Taxi Drivers will try to fill their cabs with more people as Possible, since they will charge 0.40 cents for each additional passenger.
Most foreigners stay at hotels in Panama. When you are exiting the hotel the doorman will always ask you if he can get you a taxi. He will then call a cab up from a pool of cabs ready and waiting. Upon arriving at your destination, when you go to pay the standard $2 fee to the cab driver, he will freak out and show you a rate card that says you must pay between $7 - $10. Thus the Tourists get ripped off as per normal here in Panama. What is going on behind the scenes is this: The Hotel gets a $5 - $7 kickback from the cab drivers. The doorman's job is to funnel you into the waiting cabs who pay this fee to your Hotel. So you just got ripped off twice... You PAID the doorman to put you into a cab that will overcharge you by 5x the going rate for a taxi!!! It is really easy to avoid this scam. You simply walk past your doorman and down the street a little ways and flag down a cab yourself. It is very easy, and every cab is fighting to get you as a customer anyway, especially if you look foreigner. Because they think you don’t know the Taxi rate.
I have found that in general there is a line of decency Taxi Drivers will not cross. A couple weeks ago a went to do my laundry, and I had at least 4 bags full of clothes, I stopped a cab, I placed all bags into the cab, when we arrived the laundry I paid the driver, but when I was taking out the bags out of the cab there where 2 bags in the next seat, so I had to get out the cab and take them out through the next passenger door, the taxi driver though I was finished when I closed my door to go to the other side of the cab, He started the car an leave, I began screaming that my bags where still in the back seat, but he didn’t listen, 15 min later the driver came back with the bags and apologize for the incident. Of course I gave him a big fat tip gladly! People in Panama are NOT thieves. They just take advantage of situations. If a Tourist wants to overpay they will not deny you that privilege.
There are no regulations on taxi cabs, or drivers in Panama. Some of the cars are somewhat beat-up and a little rusty. The cost is the same whether you ride in a beat up old car or a newer, nicer looking car. For safety and comfort reasons I recommend you choose the nicer looking taxis. Look for taxis with their windows rolled up! These taxis have air conditioning.
Taxi Drivers in Panama speak English Very little ... but they know their city well. If you know just a few words of where you want to go there is high likelihood you will be able to guide the driver to your destiny. Cars in Panama are small by North American standards. The smallest SUVs are considered huge in Panama. Even the mini-van is considered too large for the streets of Panama. You will see mini-vans on the road but they are not very popular. The cabs are all smaller cars that seat 4 people (perhaps 5 with a squeeze). If you have a large family or a party of more than four people, you will need to take two cabs.
If you are visiting Panama it is best for you to take cabs to move around, Panama doesn’t have trains, People take small planes or helicopters to move from a province to another and the Public Buses are very dangerous and not equipped for foreigners. If you rent or buy a car and you are not used to driving style in Panama, Is not recommended, rather move around in cabs, but if you are used to Panama driving style It is recommended to rent a car from the airport and to move in it, Taxis sometimes become very expensive and even scanty in some places, the cost for day of the car does not exceeds 50 USD. And different deals can be obtained when making the Hotel and Car reservation at the same time. A tank of fuel costs approximately 30 USD. The signposting of the streets is not very good, but with the help of a map it is possible to reach where you are heading to.
Driving skills in Panama at first look horrific. Everyone cuts off everyone. There seem to be no rules of the road. There are almost no traffic lights, no concept of a four way stop. Drivers just “nose” their way in. car accidents are rare here. Also if there is a car accident, it is usually just a fender-bender. The traffic in Panama is so congested (yet you can get anywhere in about 15 minutes or less) that nobody is going fast enough to get seriously hurt.
There are no street addresses in Panama. Many streets don't even have names. There is no postal system here! Everything in Panama is done by region. To an outsider it is impossible to tell one region from another, but in Panama each region is very important. To describe an address you give the name of the region, the street name if available, and the building name.
To come to the downtown from the Airport it is necessary to take the SOUTH highway, this route needs to pay a toll of approximately 3 USD. The parking spots in general are free. And if you get lost do not hesitate to ask, the Panamanians are very attentive.
From Tocumen's International Airport up to the City of Panama can be done using the Service of tourist Transportation which offers two fees: the special fee for 20.00 $ per person with a maximum of two passengers and the collective fee for 24.00 $ with a maximum of three persons. The local transportation also counts with a route system of buses and taxis that circulate along the whole capital. The Taxi fees will change depending on the zone where you want to go and it will not exceed the 2.00 $. Towards the suburbs it can cost up to 10.00 $.The driving license for a foreigner is valid only for 90 days. The international transportation is excellent because the principal routes of air navigation of the world arrive to Panama.
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