Take Uber Black cars everywhere.

These are the equivalent of luxury car services—sleek, quiet cars with leather seats and professional drivers. Don’t worry about the price— it is the same price as taking an UberX (shared rides with everyday people in whatever kind of car they have) in the United States! Being in a nice luxury car with a professional driver makes the experience of getting around Mexico City’s insane traffic much more bearable.

The lowest point of our trip was when we we were at Xochimilco (an hour away from home) and it was a 30 minute wait to get an Uber Black. We wanted to get home before the traffic. So, we called a regular UberX. BIG MISTAKE! What arrived was a tiny Chevy Aveo with no air conditioning. Sitting in bumper to bumper traffic in Mexico City in this miniscule car -AT RUSH HOUR- was very unpleasant. It would have been a lot better if we were in an Escalade or a Tahoe. When we got home I said to my mom “No more sitting in a car today” and we ended up walking to dinner!

Even though it was just my mom and me, we took Uber Black XL, the biggest cars possible. Tahoe, Suburban, Escalade, Navigator… riding around like celebrities! The drivers would pull up and say “Just you two” and we’d say “Si!” Riding in the Uber Black XL is by far the most comfortable way to get around, and makes sitting in traffic less stressful. They have air conditioning. The drivers are professional and drive carefully. Uber Black XL is the way to go!

Don’t take a taxi.

The cute pink taxis in Mexico City are not an advisable transport option. The pricing is not transparent, and you may be asked to negotiate a price with the driver. Unless your Spanish is impeccable, this is not something you should be doing! The pink and white taxis are older, often don’t have reliable AC, and don’t have an American-backed payment system like Uber to safely process your credit card.

Skip the Subway:

Not that the subway in Mexico City is unsafe or unreliable, but the crush of people at peak times who take it can be overwhelming. If you aren’t ready to be a small fish in a sea of thousands of people, skip the Mexico City subway.

You can easily rent a bike or scooter anywhere.

Bird. Lime. Mobike. And more. There are all sorts of new app-based bike and scooter companies in Mexico City. Uber even pedals electric-assisted bikes. You will e-scooters and e-bikes them over the Condesa, Roma Norte, and Polanco neighborhoods. They aren’t just for fun, as they can often get you around time much faster than sitting in traffic in a car, especially if you take some of the city’s many bike lanes.