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FROM
CUBA
Drivers of government-issued cars risk
losing them unless they pick up riders
HAVANA, Cuba, February 22 (Ariel Delgado
Covarrubias / www.cubanet.org) - The drivers
of government-issued cars will now risk
losing them unless they stop to pick up
passengers going their way, at the same
time that police impose heavy fines on private
car owners who try to do the same.
In order to alleviate the transportation
crisis affecting the island, the government
established a program a year ago in which
People's Transportation Inspectors, known
as "the blues" because of the
garb they wear, stand at selected street
corners and coordinate would-be passengers
with passing cars they have the authority
to stop.
Authorities have released figures showing
that in the year since the program's inception,
the "blues" have propitiated the
transportation of 8,250,000 passengers in
government vehicles, or the equivalent of
87,000 bus trips.
The same report documents more than 492,000
instances of government-issued cars that
refused to stop at the inspectors' behest.
The new measure attempts to correct the
problem by stripping a driver of his assigned
car for refusing to stop five times within
the span of a month. The measure provides
that the cars be reassigned to hospitals,
funeral homes, schools, or other institutions.
The entity in charge of the inspectors,
the Special Group for Alternative Transportation,
projects helping an average of 60,000 daily
riders for this year.
However, some here are skeptical of the
government's efforts. "It's a contradiction,
because if the government really wanted
to alleviate the transportation situation,
all they would have to do is issue licenses
to he private operators," said one
of the few who have a license.
He was referring to private car owners
who cruise the streets, picking up and transporting
passengers for about ten pesos a ride. Police
fine these entrepreneurs up to 1,500 pesos
each time they are caught, and can confiscate
their vehicles for a third offense.
Versión
original en español
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