The Abinader administration Transportation Cabinet is meeting with transport syndicate Juan Hubieres to discuss the situation of the recently inaugurated Charles de Gaulle bus route. The Abinader government contemplates the installation of 16 public-private transportation bus corridors, of which the Charles de Gaulle route is the third.
The route was allotted to the Mochotrans syndicate. Juan Hubieres, who represents the Fenatrano syndicate, says Mochotrans drivers benefitted with the route allotment represent only 20% of the vehicles that traditionally had controlled the route. He says his syndicated drivers have been left out.
On the inauguration day, five of the new buses were vandalized as those not included applied the same violent methods that have characterized the transport syndicates that now are being turned into partners with the government under the public-private alliance model.
The public-private alliances that are being allotted the bus routes have been coordinated by the Ministry of the Presidency, under Minister Lisandro Macarrulla working with the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant). President Abinader named a former Fenatrado syndicated truck director to head the Intrant. Fenatrado was well known for its exercising vandalism to monopolize cargo transport in the country.
Meanwhile, those who have used the Omsa buses that covered the Charles de Gaulle route are enjoying days of free transport on the modern buses. Once the grace period is over, the passengers will see their fares increase from RD$15 on the Omsa buses to RD$35 on the modern buses. There will not be alternative shared-taxis on the route, as the allotments of routes includes the ban on small taxis operating on these.
Diario Libre recalls that Fenatrano was linked to having resorted to vandalism to impose its right to control a route in eastern Santo Domingo, when a free trade zone operated a bus route for its employees.
Juan Hubieres of Fenatrano has said that members of his Fenatrano syndicate have been protesting peacefully. He said that the government has awarded the route to operators that do not have even 20% of the drivers on the route.
Hubieres considered that the director of Intrant, Rafael Arias, should be in jail for violating Law 63-17 on transit and land transport: “He should be in jail, they should investigate what he has done with the pension fund rooms of the drivers, he should be investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office,” he said.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
30 March 2022