The Stations of the Cross of Public Transport in Havana

Lines this Tuesday at Fraternity Park waiting to board the bus in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 27 October 2021 — About 200 people were waiting this Tuesday at Fraternity Park to board a bus home. Long lines stretched across the area and some jostled and pushed to get into the few vehicles when they arrived.

On board one of the damaged vehicles, the driver was talking with a colleague about the Stations of the Cross required for the driver to keep the bus running. “It’s a tremendous waste of money to have the bus ‘limping.’ When it’s broken it belongs to me. When it’s working it belongs to them,” he says sarcastically to the other driver. “I can’t take it anymore. For four years they haven’t even given us tires. If the windows fall out, I make it a convertible, but the problem is to keep it running.”

Each stop lasted an eternity due to the number of people crowded in the aisle, complicating the people getting on and off, with a crowd that never gets smaller, and as soon as the door is opened people try to get on.

In recent months, the shortage of transport in the country’s capital has worsened, a situation that is reflected in the crowded stops and the large number of people trying to hail a taxi. Private transport has not been able to absorb the overflow of passengers and taxis also pass by full and without stopping, stared at by the people trying to flag them down.
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