President Luis Abinader was in eastern Santo Domingo on Monday, 28 March 2022 for the start of operation of the Charles de Gaulle bus corridor. The route is 17 kilometers long and has 69 stops. It will be served by a fleet of 94 buses with capacity for 90 passengers. The route goes from the Juan Carlos Bridge in eastern Santo Domingo to Los Guaricanos in northern Santo Domingo province.
No cash is acepted. Only Metro SDGo cards, pre-paid bank cards, credit and debit cards are accepted for the RD$35 fares. Service is available from 5am to 11pm.
The Abinader administration has been allotting the routes to the leading bus syndicates that agree to remove the shared-taxis and keep up the system. The Charles de Gaulle corridor was allotted to the Mochotran transportation syndicate. The corridor is the third inaugurated by the Abinader administration using the public-private partnership scheme. The others are those of the Núñez de Cáceres (Conatra transport syndicate) and the Winston Churchill (Mochotran) avenues.
The corridors are controversial. Opponents say the government is de facto privatizing public routes and awarding these to entities that in the past have been known to impose their illegal takeover of the routes through the use of violence.
Syndicates that have not been favored and are being displaced, including Fenatrano, protest the allotments.
The government has been rerouting the Omsa government buses, and there is concern the privatized scheme is fully replacing these. There is concern over what will happen if the new operators of the routes have problems, including their bus drivers going on strike, if Omsa is not there to provide the transportation service. The service is also more costly and the frequencies are less, causing delays for the commuters. There are already complaints that the bus drivers wait for the buses to fill up, affecting commuters.
When in eastern Santo Domingo, President Luis Abinader also announced the government would be investing in improvements in the sea-fronting Malecón.
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Listin Diario
El Caribe
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
29 March 2022