PINAR DEL RIO, February 26 (Víctor Rolando Arroyo, UPECI) - Residents
of Pinar del Río are suffering through a transportation crisis made more
acute by government policies apparently designed to curb the spread of
self-employment.
At a time when there are fewer buses than ever in service, local officials
are neither issuing new licenses for pedicabs nor allowing those that exist to
operate unhindered. Not that pedicabs are a solution to the transportation
squeeze, but they do provide employment for some of the many unemployed here.
Nevertheless, the local government seems to have embarked on a campaign to
erradicate them. In the last few weeks, they have confiscated 70 pedicabs on the
grounds that they didn’t have the required licenses. Yet none of the 70
drivers has been successfully prosecuted.
"We don’t understand the campaign against us said one affected
driver. "On the one side, the population needs our services, and on the
other, we don’t need fuel or spare parts for the maintenance of our
bicycles."
In 1999, the local government suspended the permits for pedicabs, with the
result that many of them continued operating without a proper license. Now
officials seem determined to remove them from the streets. The official
explanation is that "that type of vehicle obstructs the normal flow of
traffic in the streets and they cannot support the increase."
Yet, there are now 5 bus routes in the city, down from 12 in 1999, each one
operating with no more than one or two buses. Government officials say tires and
spare parts are in extremely short supply. The same scarcities and the lack of
fuel
keep cars and other vehicles off the road. Traffic lately has been sparse
here while pinareños look for a way to get around.
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