In Lima, there are 210 thousand taxis traversing the city throughout the day, marking the highest number of taxis in Latin America (Navarro S. 2014). When compared to New York, which has nearly the same population as the capital of Peru, the Big Apple boasts 30 thousand taxis, which is nearly 200 thousand taxis fewer than in Lima (Rischmoller D, 2013). However, New York is not the sole example. "Buenos Aires (Argentina), Santiago (Chile), and Madrid (Spain) have 13, 4, and 5 taxis per 1,000 inhabitants, respectively. Therefore, in Lima, there is an excess of over 130% of taxis" (La Republica, 2016).

If taxi drivers are informed about this, one of their responses is, "There is no work, that's why I have to 'taxi,'" and it is true, as seen earlier, unemployment has increased. However, they are not aware that they contribute to 72% of Lima's traffic congestion. This means that 60% of the roads are occupied by taxis, covering only 4% of the demand. Therefore, they are causing significant harm to the capital, not just to transportation routes but also to the environment, and they are not aware of it.

Reference:

A. Reghellin (2018). La congestión vehicular en Lima Metropolitana entre los años 2016 y 2016 afecta economicamente a las empresas aseguradoras de vida y a sus trabajadores. Retrieved from https://repositorio.ulima.edu.pe/bitstream/handle/20.500.12724/6170/Trabajo.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y