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Why hitchhiking is huge in Cuba
- obilgic 6y ago[2015]
- Clewza313 6y agoFull title "Why Hitchhiking Is Huge in Cuba: 'The Transportation System Is Screwed'", which pretty much encapsulates the story. The detail about the Cuban Ministry of Transport mandating US-made engines even for their Chinese-imported buses was rather mind-boggling though. I can only imagine that somebody at the Ministry is getting a nice kickback from the smugglers/dealers somehow.
- segfaultbuserr 6y ago> Cuban Ministry of Transport mandates that buses manufactured in China must be outfitted with American-made engines, a move many see as government mismanagement. Due to the 55-year US trade embargo of Cuba, which the socialist government estimates has cost their economy $116.8 billion, third-party businesses must purchase the motors in America, and then ship them to a third country to import them to Cuba. This results in many buses being sidelined, with repair parts coming late or not at all. WTF? How could this even happen?
- sudosysgen 6y agoWell, to be entirely fair, Chinese engines up until very recently were severely lacking. Beyond that, there isn't really any country besides Spain, China and Russia that will trade openly with Cuba for fear of indirect American sanctions, so maybe in the lack of any open market option they decided to go with what they knew best, which are American engines.
- segfaultbuserr 6y ago> Chinese engines up until very recently were severely lacking. Interesting. What makes a bad (or good) engine for a bus?
- ThePowerOfFuet 6y agoQuality.
- sudosysgen 6y agoReliability, repairability, and fuel efficiency.
- Clewza313 6y agoYutong buses are now ubiquitous across Asia, and the engines seem just fine to me, even on pretty rough roads.
- sudosysgen 6y agoYes, engines from China are now reliable enough. That said, the article is already six years old and the ordinance probably several years older.
- anthk 6y agoThe main invest from Spain in Cuba it's Tourism related.
- n4r9 6y agoHow could what happen, the trade embargo?
- recuter 6y agoWell, also there is basically only one "highway" outside Havana. It is called the autopista and is comparable to an unmaintained back country road that is riddled with potholes. I somehow managed to get a rental when I was there and drove across - it was great. Broke down once in some village, out of nowhere almost immediately people came with a jack and fixed it for free. Interesting way to meet people.
- anthk 6y agoAutopista it's just the translation of "highway" in Spanish. Source: I'm a Spaniard.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- dr-detroit 6y agoAll communists share their cars because they are not filled with bitter hatred and vitriol towards their fellow man out of pure necessity.
- nicolas_t 6y agoSlightly off topic, but a great movie featuring the abysmal public transport in Cuba is "Lista de Espera". Really recommend it if you come across it.
- cardanome 6y agoThis is factual wrong on so many levels. Hitchhiking in the sense of getting into a private car that just happens to go the same directions and has no commercial interest is NOT a thing in Cuba, are at least not the norm. Not many people own their own car in Cuba and if they do, they use them mostly commercially. What they are probably referring too are cooperative taxis. Those are cars or smaller buses that are driving a certain route, like a bus. They don't have fixed stops. You just go to a street that is part of their route and wait for them to drive by and hail them. You get on, pay a small fee and tell the driver when you want to stop and go out. Think low tech Uber + ride sharing with strangers. They are super great for getting around comfortably for cheap. Saying the public transport in Cuba is bad makes no sense. Basically nobody owns a car in Cuba and people still get around just fine. Of course because of the economic blockade against Cuba they are forced to be creative on how to use the available resources. As someone that has lived and studied in Cuba, feel free to ask additional questions. The amount of misinformation really grinds my gears.
- helloworld11 6y ago>Of course because of the economic blockade against Cuba they are forced to be creative on how to use the available resources. Yes of course, Cuba's economic woes and abysmal civil/tech infrastructure are entirely due to the economic blockade. several decades of a certain repressive, individuality and development crushing political system and its economic theories have nothing worth mentioning to do with it. This itself is more than a little piece of misinformation, blaming Cuba's problems entirely on the US (though the US and its misguided blockade have their share of faults)