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The Provincial Transport Directorate of Matanzas launched two extra buses to the East of Cuba this Tuesday, as confirmed by its director, Roberto Bernal Villena, in statements to TV Yumurí.
Every Tuesday, a bus will depart from the Matanzas Train Station to Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo, while on Thursdays it will head to Holguín.
Access to the tickets is not free: they are primarily reserved for individuals with urgent personal situations that cannot be postponed.
The Provincial Transport Directorate sells them upon request from interested parties. Only leftover tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis on the actual departure day of each route.
The announcement comes months after transportation in Matanzas was nearly paralyzed. In February 2026, there were no urban or intermunicipal routes, with only one daily departure on the Habana-Matanzas route and the train to the East running just once a week.
At that time, a weekly bus to Santiago de Cuba was only exceptionally arranged for medical cases or priority situations assessed by the Provincial Directorate itself.
The crisis was due to an unprecedented energy shortage. Cuba lost between 25,000 and 35,000 daily barrels of Venezuelan oil, Mexico suspended its shipments on January 9, 2026, due to potential U.S. sanctions, and the Russian supply was insufficient, with only 100,000 tons of crude donated arriving on March 31, covering one-third of the monthly demand.
Nationally, out of a fleet of 558 interprovincial buses, only 219 were operational in December 2025, less than 40% of the total capacity.
In Matanzas, the situation was equally critical: out of 129 buses available, only 63 were operational in September 2025, barely 48.8%.
Bernal Villena also reported that daily bus service between Matanzas and Havana will resume from the Railway Terminal, for which improvements are being made to the facility: water supply, access road, and street lighting.
The transfer of interprovincial services to that station — known as "La Jaiba" — is due, according to the director, to "serious misconduct reported in the passenger service facilities near the interprovincial bus terminal and the lack of conditions to serve travelers and for the work of the ticket agents."
Meanwhile, the original bus terminal in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood remains unrepaired due to the economic conditions the country is facing, which has prompted frequent complaints from the residents.
Citizens are reporting the remoteness of the Train Station where interprovincial services are now located, as well as the lack of facilities and safety at that location.
The problem is not exclusive to Matanzas. In February 2026, Granma, Las Tunas, Camagüey, and Holguín suspended their interprovincial services due to the same fuel crisis, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at terminals across the country.
Bernal Villena stated that "they continue to assess the situation and search for locations to bring the service closer to the population," a sign that a definitive solution to the transportation collapse in Matanzas remains without a specific timeline.
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