Havana/This Friday, the official Cienfuegos press launched a diatribe against the drivers of private electric tricycles. Although at a time of “extinction of urban buses” the vehicles represent a relief in passenger transportation, their presence in the province has gotten out of control and proliferates among them “disorder, chaos, speculation, scams, excessive rates to the people and collisions that may be avoidable.”
For a kilometer of road, criticism September 5which goes from 36th Avenue to the funeral home of the main city, the drivers charge 200 pesos per passenger, an amount that the newspaper points out as “irrational” and that increases if the route extends just five more blocks. The “depressed urban road landscape” due to the lack of transport public and fuel has been the perfect scenario for speculators to proliferate and rates to rise without ever reaching a ceiling.
The newspaper also wonders why, despite the number of tricycles that have been added to the city’s routes, prices do not drop. The answer, he argues, is because they “agree to charge more and more for really ridiculous amounts.”
“It is known today that about 80% of the movement of people here is carried out thanks to these electrical equipment and its internal combustion counterparts. Since their emergence, the Ministry of Transportation identified in them a real possibility to move personnel, authorizing their conversion for this purpose, as long as the standards and the same requirements of one vehicle per fuel were met. Thus, their presence in the cities has multiplied, legal and illegal coexisting in the coming and going through the main arteries,” he admits.
However, what is unacceptable, the newspaper emphasizes, is that the streets of Cienfuegos become, thanks to them, an “uncontrolled jungle.”
However, what is unacceptable, the newspaper emphasizes, is that the streets of Cienfuegos become, thanks to them, an “uncontrolled jungle.” “Their owners have added them to the local fauna on wheels, competing with private and state transporters, in the fight to see who charges the most for very short stretches.”
These actions are detrimental to citizens, he alleges, “already bored with so many failed inventions that only affect their pockets.” And the reason for the high amounts, the drivers defend, is the high price they pay not only for the vehicle, but for its batteries, which are usually of poor quality and do not last long.
As if that were not enough, report September 5many “cheat” traffic laws and circulate without a license to transport passengers. “There are hundreds of people who travel without said license, something that can be seen in the incorrect driving behavior of some of the drivers,” the newspaper adds.
This can be affected, he admits, by the “sometimes very long” delays in the technical tests of the tricycles and the necessary certification so that they can serve as public transportation, which leads drivers to begin circulating without the necessary permits.
In many cities, such as Cienfuegos, it is the private ones that move the largest mass of passengers daily.
Sold on platforms on-linemostly in dollars, electric tricycles have been widely purchased by Cubans whose families abroad can afford to buy them. Business owners and SMEs also began to buy them to use them in the movement of merchandise and, in recent times, they have become vehicles to carry passengers with the approval of the State, which lacks the means to take care of public transportation on its own.
In many cities, such as Cienfuegos, it is the private ones that move the largest mass of passengers daily, since the buses have disappeared and the state tricycles, imported from China and distributed throughout the country in small quantities, usually last little or cannot cope.
Even with the “help” of individuals, Transportation in Cuba is experiencing its worst moment. According to data published in September by the National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei), in the first half of this year, 407.9 million passengers were transported in the country, 10.2% less than a year before.
Not only is the number of people moving by conventional means decreasing, but also those using “alternative means”, that is, animal-drawn cars, pedicabs, trucks and private cars. Between January and June 2025 there were 169.1 million, compared to 191.5 million in the same period of 2024, 11.7% less.
