• Submitted by: admin
• Society
• Politics and Government
• 03 / 07 / 2019

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The complaints in Havana for the reordering of transport continue.

Now it is the official website Cubadebate which collects three complaints from passengers who describe as "nonsense" the measure of authorizing the new minibuses arrived in the country, to work a few hours as routers and the others as free taxis, and not in the first mode only, as had been announced.

A reader named Cubanito reported that the metrotaxis of the CUBATAXI company, designed to reinforce public transport, is picking up foreigners.

He himself saw the vehicle with sheet B214841, on February 23 at 10:55 a.m., on San Ignacio street, on the corner of Sol, in the historic center of Old Havana.

"It is well known that those who circulate with the little sign of 'Libre' do what they want and the price is 25 CUP up. And at night it is not even said. I wonder: What does 'Free' mean in these taxis, do what they want? Is it that they are private or are they state? You do not know, "he questioned.

For its part, another reader named De Guanabo accused the taxis belonging to the Alamar piqueras charge 50 pesos or 2 CUC. "This is twice the amount charged by individuals, and there are quite a few who do it. Nobody controls them, "he added.

Finally, Medical Economic praised the recent acquisition by the State of more than 500 minibus for taxi service en route.

However, he regretted that after "the war against the boatman", without the knowledge of the population, the contracts made with them allow them to have "free days" in price and route. "Today at 1 CUC pa 'wherever you go ... Tomorrow ... Everyone knows what the relaxation will be ... Pa' wherever and at whatever price," he said.

On January 10, 450 Russian microbuses arrived, which had as their mission to strengthen the capital's public transport, and for that reason they would be destined to the taxi service, according to the official press.

The authorities devised three routes for these buses to circulate in the modality of taxis on routes. Each route would be divided into sections. The most expensive price was on route 16, which runs from Playa municipality and ends in Alamar, and would be 20 pesos.

However, as the complaints sent to Cubadebate show, indiscipline and abuse have taken over this service, which is part of the State's war against private carriers.

In spite of the official propaganda, the experiment with transport that the authorities put into practice last October, has not brought anything but dissatisfaction both drivers and travelers, who suffer daily a diminished presence of private taxis.

With the new categories for the routes: the defined route, with which they give collective service; free and classic (for tourism), passengers must now pay up to eight CUC for a trip that previously cost 20 pesos in a collective taxi that came to complement state public transport.

None of these modalities suits the drivers. Before the new regulations, 6,675 private porters were licensed. After removing more than 1,700 permits and discarding those carriers that did not want to renew theirs, only 2,316 new licenses have been delivered.