From our Bureau of Socialist Vehicle Maintenance with some assistance from our Bureau of Transportation Apartheid
During the first half of 2024, Castro, Inc.’s public transportation system carried around 50 million fewer passengers than it did during the first six months of 2023. This sharp decline is yet another sign of Castrogonia’s death spiral. As vehicles break down, they stay out of service. Repairing them has become impossible.
The end result is that half of all bus routes are paralyzed, with no service at all. And of those routes that are still active, 86% only make one trip in the morning and another in the afternoon. Oh, but you can bet that all of the buses that ferry tourists around the island are very much in service. Constantly. More details below.
Loosely translated from Diario de Cuba
In the first half of 2024, public transportation in Cuba moved 48,860,000 fewer passengers compared to the same period the previous year, according to the Minister of the sector, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, who shared this information on his Facebook profile. The crisis is evident as “with these results, the year is expected to close with around 930 million passengers transported, less than half of what was achieved in the years prior to COVID-19,” emphasized the official.
“The trend in passenger transportation from 2017 to date shows declining results, primarily due to fuel limitations and the reduced availability of technical supplies due to the untimely acquisition of parts, pieces, and components, including tires and batteries, which has led to the progressive deterioration of the means currently in operation,” the minister explained.
He added that the situation is further exacerbated by the shortage of lubricants, greases, and special fluids, which hampers the operation of the equipment and complicates regular technical maintenance.
Rodríguez Dávila acknowledged that “the situation of services in provincial transport companies, which belong to local governments, is critical,” noting that “only 39% of the plan has been met.” He also mentioned that 52% of routes are paralyzed, while “daily services for the population are only fulfilled at 44%,” he stressed. Of the active routes, 86% only make one trip in the morning and another in the afternoon.
“The ferry services in bays, reservoirs, and rivers provided by these entities are operating at 58%, also due to the complex technical situation of the vessels. A total of 853,850 passengers were transported via this method, 65,930 fewer than in the same period in 2023.”
The only aspect showing favorable results is interprovincial services, which in this first half transported, according to data published by the minister, “5,263,920 passengers, achieving 120.5% of the plan and an increase of 937,740 passengers compared to the previous year.”
“The deficit in passenger transportation in the country does not correspond with the effort of the sector’s workers to maintain services. The entities continue to identify export alternatives that allow them to obtain the necessary convertible currency to improve public passenger transportation in the country, with the certainty that more can be achieved,” Rodríguez Dávila concluded, triumphantly.
Despite this bleak outlook, the minister recently claimed that negotiations with Russia in recent years “have directly impacted passenger and cargo transportation” within the island, contradicting not only the reality faced by ordinary Cubans trying to travel from one place to another but also the discouraging official figures.
Furthermore, the official admitted that the government does not have the income or fuel necessary to solve the problem. Meanwhile, Cuban authorities are importing new police vehicles to support the repression of the people, and non-state sector entrepreneurs are acquiring luxury cars in the U.S.
“If you rely on state transportation, you’ll never get anywhere; you could be waiting at a stop for two to three hours. And when night falls, it’s more likely that a magic carpet will appear than a bus,” said Boris Estrada, an employee of a state-owned company in Marianao, in a report published by DIARIO DE CUBA in May.