Uber Opens Driver Registration in Playa del Carmen and Tulum for Taxi and Motorcycle Services

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Uber has opened registration for taxi and motorcycle drivers in Playa del Carmen and Tulum, part of a wider expansion into the Mexican Caribbean’s tourism hubs, though the company has not said when service will begin in the municipality.

The move follows the arrival of more than 2,200 Cancún taxi drivers onto the platform — roughly 18 percent of the 12,000 operators the local guild reported. Uber is offering up to 2,000 pesos to taxi drivers who complete their first ten trips and 1,000 pesos to motorcycle drivers who complete five, but it gave no start date and did not say how many drivers it expects to sign up.

How drivers can register

Drivers sign up through the Uber Driver application and must be willing to provide taxi and motorcycle services, including those who already work independently. Tulum was included in the call, although the company says the destination is already among the cities where it operates.

The registration drive has no deadline, but advertising has already begun across the region. Uber is also offering bonuses to drivers who refer new recruits, provided those recruits complete a set number of trips.

A market of thousands of taxis

The Lázaro Cárdenas del Río taxi union has reported more than 3,000 registered units in Playa del Carmen. Uber estimates the market at no fewer than 9,000 taxis between Playa del Carmen and Cancún, not counting units in Puerto Morelos, the town that sits between the two cities.

In 2024, the Playa del Carmen municipal government signed an agreement to train 2,500 drivers in languages and tourist service, one of the arrangements proposed between the company and the unions.

From clashes to integration in Cancún

Uber began operating in Cancún on September 14, 2016, facing opposition from traditional transport operators. In the years that followed, protests, blockades and attacks on ride-hailing drivers were reported, along with hundreds of legal injunctions seeking to halt the service. The dispute led to court proceedings and, eventually, intervention by the state government.

An agreement announced in December 2023 with the mediation of the Quintana Roo government allowed traditional vehicles to begin receiving trip requests through the platform in 2025, in a market with some 8,600 concessions. The Andrés Quintana Roo Taxi Union, which represents roughly 8,000 members in Benito Juárez, was a central party to the conflict.

According to Uber, seven of every ten drivers surveyed in the state said the platform had increased their income. The company also reported that more than 180,000 users checked its app weekly in Cancún, among them 73,000 domestic tourists and 9,000 foreign visitors.