Does passenger transportation improve in Havana?

With the new year, the capital city continues to take steps to alleviate the deficiencies of one of the urban services that has put the most pressure on the country for decades, transportation. Meanwhile, the highest government representative of the sector travels to Russia to expand commercial ties with a country that once again becomes the main supplier of means of transportation for Cuba.

Taxi and public bus lines They have been gradually added since last December among key destinations in Havana. The most recent addition took place on February 12.

The new express bus service will operate between the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución and Havana del Este. With a fixed itinerary and selected stops near hospitals and other important points, it seeks to connect the capital center of Vedado and the peripheral area of Alamar, which functions as a dormitory city.

The new route, scheduled from Monday to Friday, is proposed by local authorities as another option for the exit and entry to the Alamar district, in Habana del Este, during a busy time of traffic, from 6:30 to 8:30 am and from 4:30 to 8:30 am. 6.30 pm. On December 18, another similar service began operating between these two busy points in Havana.

The government also opened two new taxi lines in January, between the same destinations of Alamar and Vedado, as part of a strategy to improve passenger trips during times of high demand.

Havana residents identify these services as road taxis because they are programmed to travel fixed routes.

With the incorporation of new road taxis, transportation alternatives in the capital to the municipality of Habana del Este also improve.

The director of Transportation of Havana, José Conesa, recognized that the opening of these new alternatives does not provide a complete response to passenger transportation in Havana, but it helps satisfy part of the territory's growing demand.

After commenting that the definitive solution is to increase the urban bus service, Conesa reported that the province acquires 90 of these devices every year, a figure that is expected to increase. The authorities have also taken steps to reorganize these services, in order to exploit the available equipment more efficiently.

Meanwhile, the Cuban Minister of Transportation, AdelYzquierdo, visited Moscow at the end of January with the declared purpose of strengthening ties in the automotive, railway, air and maritime-port branches. For a couple of years, Russian transportation productions have once again gained commercial prominence in Cuba.

The supply of Lada brand locomotives and cars in recent months renews ties in a sector that over several decades was dominated by production from the former Soviet Union.

During the visit to Russia, Yzquierdo met with the Minister of Industry and Commerce of that nation, Denis Manturov, and the president of the railway sector, OlegBelaziorov, to evaluate the behavior of the supply of locomotives, parts, workshop equipment and training for the railways. He was also received by the president of the automotive company Avtovaz, manufacturer of Lada automobiles, Nicolás Moure.

In other provinces, some alternatives have also come into circulation to gradually reinforce transportation options. (2018).