The sale of reservations at the Train-Bus terminal and the activation of online reservations were the news in the return to the interprovincial transportation in this province of Eastern Cuba after the start of the second phase of the post-COVID-19 recovery stage.
While on the truck platforms of “El Ferro,” as it is popularly known, the voices of "¡Camagüey!" "¡Holguín!" have begun to be heard again, in a clear sign of the return of the transfer of massive numbers of people to these destinations by private carriers. At the other end of the enclosure, the headquarters of the Viajero Agency opened its doors. The institution will be from now on the only one in charge of selling the tickets for the interprovincial routes both in buses and trains.
Marbelis Lázaro Ávila, head of that entity, specified that they have already started sales of national bus reservations to the west only to Cienfuegos, and to the east, to Baracoa. The Agency will be open from Monday to Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 12:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. In the following months, she said, they will move to the historic center of the city. First, temporarily, at the Chess Academy and then towards the former flower shop, which will be its final headquarters.
With the return to interprovincial transport activity, the official version of the Viajando app also came, an application for mobile phones that makes it possible to buy tickets to the provincial capitals that are in this phase 2.
To be able to use the app, users must have mobile devices with an Android system version equal to or greater than 4.4.2, email, the latest version of the Transfermovil application with associated cards for e-commerce and connectivity service through Wifi Etecsa or mobile data package for the internet.
In this regard, the head of the Viajero agency in Las Tunas stated that travelers who purchase their ticket by this means, upon reaching the terminal after identifying and showing the confirmation message received on their cell phone, will receive a pass that will give them access to the bus.
FINAL TOUCHES AT THE INTERPROVINCIAL TERMINAL
Further south, in the National Bus Terminal of this city of Las Tunas, its lounges are still closed to the public and will not open until next Wednesday, July 8. They will do so with a clear separation of passenger arrival and departure flows and with places for disinfecting people's hands and footwear.
Representatives of the Terminal clarified that at the moment there will be no waiting list there and the destinations scheduled for Las Tunas will be to Holguín and Camagüey, both with two daily departures; and to Santiago de Cuba, with one at 8:30 in the morning.
As reported to the press by Oscar Alberto Carvajal Serrano, director of the National Bus Company, the buses will travel at full capacity and passengers will be able to transport the same amount of luggage as previously: 20 kilograms and up to 30 more according to the established rate.
ALERT TO BREACHERS
For its part, at the stops of urban public transport, the active work of transport inspectors was seen, who insist that it is already obligatory for state car drivers to collaborate with the transportation of passengers and that during the second phase of the de-escalation, on each bus is only allowed to occupy all its capacities for seated passengers and up to 70 percent of the capacity for standing passengers.
Abraham Rojas Rojas, comprehensive transportation supervisor commented that from the first phase they were forced to require some drivers of state public transport vehicles from people who did not comply with the established guidelines. "You have to work hard because it is true that the population is irritated and pressured, but most agree that these rules must be enforced," he said.
Referring to the non-state sector, he pointed out that the violation of the measures would lead to the occupation of the operating license or the notification through a fine of one thousand pesos (CUP). The inspectors, anticipated Rojas Rojas, will expand their radius of action beyond the terminals to detect possible wrongdoers.
