The serious problem of overloaded Collective Urban Transport (TUC) units, exposing people to danger, is once again evident in Managua. On social networks, residents of the capital released a video in which one of the units that cover route 133, from Managua-Ciudad Sandino, can be seen circulating with passengers hanging from the doors.
The route 133 bus, license plate M-3492, was filmed with several users—barely standing on the steps of the unit’s entrances and holding on to the doors—when it circulated through the El Plomo slope sector, in Managua. , heading to Ciudad Sandino.
Related news: Fleet of Chinese buses, insufficient to meet the demand for transportation during “peak hours” in Managua
The situation has become everyday for citizens who have no choice but to risk their lives to go and return to their workplaces.
A user of the units that cover the Managua-Ciudad Sandino route, in an interview with Article 66confirmed that traveling on overloaded routes “is our daily bread.”
«If I go with time I wait for the next bus or if I have rials (money) I go by taxi, but the truth is that you see that every day, with new or old buses it is the same. The buses are always full, with people hanging or crowded, because there are bus drivers who do force you to get on to at least close the door, and it is not just the ones that go to Ciudad Sandino, because to get to work in Managua I take two buses and it’s the same, especially during rush hour when you go to work,” explained the TUC user.
Users are victims of “bad service” TUC in Managua
Consumer advocate Rubén Arriola, from Consultoría del Gestor al Consumidor, stated that the bus service exceeding its capacity is old in the capital and now, despite the efforts of the authorities to acquire more units, that “they offer a certain degree of comfort”, poor quality of service persists.
Related news: Another fleet of 250 Chinese buses arrives in Nicaragua
«Before there were a lack of units; today there are plenty. Why are there excess units in each cooperative? Due to the lack of drivers, and that is why poor service continues to be provided to users of the capital’s Collective Urban Transport. (…) At peak hours, in the morning and afternoon, the units are saturated, because they are not working at 100 percent of their capacity,” Arriola noted.
He explained that they recently visited a capital cooperative in a surprise way in order to verify the type of service they provide, but they found “more than 50 buses parked, out of the 60 they have. Why are they parked? Well, because most of them don’t have drivers.
He assured that there are drivers to whom the cooperatives pay only 100 córdobas per lap; They are not entitled to travel expenses for food, social security or benefits, and they must also pay the additional fares that appear in the bar that marks the number of users boarding the unit.
In this context, he recommended improving the conditions for the workers of the different capital cooperatives, that there be more units circulating, in addition to extending the hours, since many capital residents leave their work centers after 8 at night and must pay for taxis. to return to their homes when they did not find units after those hours.
