Electric Tricycles Begin Operations in Gibara at 10 CUP per Passenger

Five electric tricycles started operating this Monday in Gibara, Holguín, offering a new public transportation service at a cost of 10 CUP per passenger. Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, Minister of Transport, boasted on Facebook that “the initiative has been well received by the people of Gibara,” although this measure seems like a mere band-aid solution to the structural deficiencies facing transportation in Cuba.

The minister noted that this “is part of a program to extend this technology in public passenger transportation across all provinces of the country, both this year and the next,” a solution that remains insufficient and temporary given the deep crisis affecting the sector.

Rodríguez also announced that the program for introducing electric tricycles is not limited to Gibara. In the municipalities of Baracoa and Maisí in the province of Guantánamo, five tricycles have also been allocated and will soon begin operations.

Recently, the fleet of electric tricycles for public passenger transportation in Havana was expanded with the addition of 35 new vehicles, bringing the total to 118 currently operating in the city. Rodríguez mentioned on his Facebook profile that these vehicles are currently covering 17 routes across eight municipalities.

The latest two routes were recently implemented, connecting 23 and 26 with 23 and L, both urban nodes located in El Vedado, while the second route linked 23 and 26 with the Ciudad Deportiva and the Joaquín Albarrán Clinical-Surgical Hospital (Clínico de 26) in El Cerro.

Amid the transportation crisis in Cuba and the fuel shortage, the government has promised to develop high-tech electric tricycles equipped with solar panels. These vehicles will not only be used for passenger transportation but are also expected to enhance the communication system and disseminate topics of interest for the regime using their two screens and an audio system.