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A report published in the official Cubadebate brings to light the failure of the regulations to the boteros approved by the Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel last year.

The measures, which began as a pilot test in Havana, have generated a crisis in transportation in the capital much more serious than there was. The reordering dictates three types of licenses and none accommodates the drivers.

According to the General Directorate of Transportation of Havana (DGT), in 2018 approximately 27 percent of the total estimated passengers in the city used private taxis as a means of transportation. Before the new regulations came into effect, 6675 private carriers (with means for between 4 and 14 passengers) had licenses. From them to 1763 they were removed because they belonged to drivers without a driving license and 556 were associated with TAXISCUBA.

This means that 4356 had to renew their license according to the new rules but not all agreed to join a plan that ends up affecting them. Maribel Poulot Bravo, Deputy Director of the DGT, explained that the aforementioned means that currently only 2 316 licenses have been delivered.

"I've been working in piqueras for more than twenty years and I've never seen a crisis like this before. Here there were about sixty cars for Guanabacoa and about forty for San Miguel, now there are only four and five, respectively. Despair makes people the same as 4 that 5 fulas to be able to go. All day is a queue of personnel who can not cope, "explains Yeinelis Riviaga, travel manager at El Curita Park.

The experiment, they argue, does not work because it is not profitable for the taxi driver and people end up being the most affected because they run out of transport or paying higher figures than before to move.

"One month we pay a license of 2 thousand pesos and the 10 percent that is another 200 pesos. In addition, we have to enter in the bank, to the Fincimex company, the 320 CUC for the fuel, because they give us a card with 320 liters, just as it is in the pump. That can not be too much for you, because if you do not consume it, you lose the liters and next month it's the same, you start from scratch, "says Yaibel Curbelo, one of those who joined the free taxi category.

"There is only one bank that loads the chip of the Fincimex card and there is always agglomeration, which is why we lose a day of work. That is not for us. With demanding the paper they had. They did not realize that at the end of the year we can accumulate 300 or 400 liters, because these cars are old, they break. Every time you have to pass your hand, once a week give them maintenance, "explains the driver Hanoi Rodriguez.

So far, 1526 have requested free mode, 672 high comfort services and 118 taxi cabs, which represents only 5.09 percent of those who have renewed the license.

"For the DGT it was surprising the little acceptance of the modality of routes, their calculations speculated that at least half of the taxi drivers would request this license, because it offers several benefits," says Cubadebate.

In the report they also explained that the Ministry of Transport has held several meetings to try to convince the taxi drivers but they only gave them an explanatory video and made it clear that they would not answer any questions. To make matters worse, they picked up mobile phones so that nobody could record or shoot photos.


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