"Gazelle" service affected in Havana due to lack of fuel

The population in Havana faces increasing difficulties in getting around due to the reduction in the Metrotaxi "gazelles" service, due to the persistent fuel crisis that is plaguing the country.

Cuba Taxis reported that the fleet of Gazzelle buses faces a visible reduction in its operability. They have not offered data on when the service will be recovered, and they insist that the cause is the lack of fuel.

"During the last 48 hours, there have been difficulties with the fuel supply at the points designated for Metrotaxi vehicles, which is why it has not been possible to cover the routes on the established itineraries," Taxis Cuba said on Facebook.

For many years, Cubans have seen how their public transportation system has gradually disintegrated, with dwindling offers and rising prices. The situation worsens with the recent instability in the fuel supply in the country.

The debacle of the "gazelles" comes in a context where the government has tried to regulate the prices that private transporters charge citizens, a measure that they have promoted without considering the scarcity of resources, and after beginning to sell fuel in dollars in many gas stations in the country.

Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, Minister of Transportation, said that "it is necessary to move forward in the search for financing in convertible currencies for the contracting of more vehicles, which will allow increasing the level of services on existing routes and valuing others, even in provinces."

He pointed out that they are interested in being, above all, electric cars, something that has worried Cubans because they suffer blackouts of more than 12 hours a day and they do not understand how these vehicles can be charged in the country.

The first Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, in February, called on eliminate "softness" in the application of sanctions against rate increases in private transportation.

Government policies that seek to counteract the rise in prices in this sector could be leading to the collapse of one of the few services that operated with some regularity in the capital.

It is increasingly difficult in Havana to get around to get to work, schools and do daily errands.