A Cuban identified as Dayamy Trujillo shared in a video that a round trip between San Cristóbal and Havana had cost 8,000 Cuban pesos: 4,000 pesos one way and another 4,000 for the return trip by bus, an amount that far exceeds the monthly salary of many workers on the island.
The author, who filmed the video outdoors wearing a camouflage jacket and sunglasses, confirmed in the comments that the starting point is San Cristóbal, a municipality in the province of Artemisa located about 80 kilometers southwest of Havana, and not Pinar del Río as some followers assumed.
"4,000 pesos for a bus to Havana and 4,000 to return, so that's 8,000 pesos just for transportation. The average salary here is 3,400 a month. Oh, and this is for hitchhiking; a direct car ride is insane, an outrageous price. My God, we can't even go out to work," Trujillo said in the video.
The price contrasts with the rates of the experimental service that the Provincial Transport Company of Artemisa launched on May 31 with private sector participation: 540 pesos from San Cristóbal to Havana and 700 pesos from the provincial capital.
That significant difference indicates that the 4,000 pesos paid by Trujillo correspond to informal private transportation, the only option that operates consistently in the face of the collapse of the state system.
The state passenger transport in Cuba dropped by 93% between January and September 2025, and in January 2026 the government itself acknowledged that it only met 42% of the planned targets.
The situation will worsen even further: the Ministry of Transport announced a drastic reduction in bus, train, and ferry frequencies starting June 18, 2026, amid a fuel crisis that has halted routes in multiple provinces.
Comments on the video reveal that 8,000 pesos is even considered a "cheap" price compared to other routes in the country.
"From Camagüey, it's more than 20,000 for the trip and more than 20,000 for the return. You discovered nothing new," wrote one user. Another noted, "That's little compared to Granma, 16,000 to go and 16,000 to return." From Santiago de Cuba, prices range between 15,000 and 35,000 pesos, and from Holguín, they can exceed 30,000.
The drama intensifies when compared to the real salaries of Cubans. Official data places the national average salary at around 6,830 pesos per month as of the end of November 2025, but many workers earn much less: a store custodian reported in the comments a salary of 2,400 pesos per month, the same as that of a retiree.
The transportation crisis in Sancti Spíritus has reached the point of suspending inter-municipal, interurban, and rural services due to a lack of fuel, while in Ciego de Ávila, only two out of 135 state routes were operating in March 2026.
"THAT'S WHY THERE IS NO DESIRE TO GO TO WORK. BECAUSE MONEY HAS NO VALUE COMPARED TO SALARIES," summarized one of the commentators, in a phrase that encapsulates the feelings of thousands of Cubans trapped between starvation wages and impossible transportation fares.
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