Inhabitants of the north, east and southeast of Neiva express disagreement with the “bad service” of the bus transport, specifically of routes 23 and 61.
DIARY OF HUILA, NEIVA
By: Angelica Tatiana Andrade Quimbaya
Due to the repeated cases of disagreement that were found regarding the frequency with which the public transport service is provided, specifically routes 23 and 61, Diario del Huila followed up on the reports and on-site confirmation in order to to verify the testimonies of the community that has been affected when moving from north to east to Las Brisas, Ipanema, Bello Horizonte Clinic, Santa Lucía Plaza Shopping Center and vice versa, from the upper part of Ipanema to the Surcolombiana University, Cándido or Chicalá, as well as from the southeast of Neiva towards the fifth race with 12, Convention Center, Surcolombiana University or Santa Rosa.
One of the cases is that of Mrs. María Hilda Hernández who, due to the assignment of the Bello Horizonte Clinic as her primary care IPS, has had to travel several times from the Chicalá neighborhood to Ipanema to receive medical services, a situation that does not generate inconveniences, except for the long waiting period when boarding public transport.
“Every nothing I have to go to the center to authorize laboratories or an appointment when I have a consultation with the specialist and one tries to get there anyway because there are more routes, but when I have to go to Bello Horizonte to receive the service everything gets tedious Because only Route 61 goes to that area, which rarely passes on time, I always have to wait more than ten minutes, only when a good one is there it passes quickly, once I had to wait 50 minutes but I don’t remember the date or the hour. Now, to return someone from there is another karma because when you finish the procedures in the clinic you go out to wait until it passes and you have to wait all that time or pay the $7 thousand that a mototaxi charges, even if you don’t believe it, many people They end up paying from $4,000 because they get bored waiting for the bus to pass and if it’s after 6 pm, it’s even worse because it’s very likely that it won’t pass,” said María Hilda Hernández.
In addition to the above, the case of Jaidy Puentes was found, who stated that it is difficult for him to get to his workplace in the Santa Lucía Plaza Shopping Center or to travel from there to his home because on Saturdays, after 3 pm, he does not manages to have the service offered through the Cootranshuila company and on Sundays or holidays it is worse because collective transport is not enabled during those days.
Photo: Tatiana Villarreal
“For someone who works in that area of Neiva, transportation is very expensive, I have had to pay for a motorcycle taxi because if I leave after 6 pm the bus does not pass, on Sundays you can stay there all day until Monday when the night passes. first route of the day because it is not possible to provide the service. I know that there are routes like 7 and 49 from Coomotor or 19 from Flota Huila that pass every five minutes maximum, but unfortunately to Ipanema and from Ipanema to the center there is only one route that passes through the center until 5: 30 pm maximum and if you are in a good mood, you may come later, but you have to wait a long time. Those of the groups complain about the motorcycle taxis and do not realize that one has to use that type of transport that is more expensive and insecure because they do not provide a good service, a service where the buses pass more frequently, that one does not have to wait more than 10 minutes because security is also at risk and the time spent standing there and many times in the sun hoping that it will pass at some point,” said Jaidy Puentes.
Regarding the opinion of some inhabitants of the area, it was identified that they have chosen to acquire vehicles in order to have autonomy when traveling, a situation that affects their economy.
“To go to work I had to get into debt with the purchase of a car that was not in my plans to get yet, fortunately I have the support of my grandparents, but if you want to arrive on time, optimize transfers or move to the center and the center to the top, because you have to decide to ride a bicycle, which is not ideal in a city like Neiva where the temperature is over 30 degrees and the sun is unbearable, buy a motorcycle, which is something that generates a lot of risk or what I I did,” said Miller Díaz.
Ruta 23
On the other hand, inhabitants of the eight district of Neiva are also affected by the frequency and schedule of route 23, whose route begins in Surorientales passing through Acacias, San Martín and Diego de Ospina to take second street to seventh race with tenth street, then it goes through fifth race, passing by the Convention Center and the Surcolombiana University until it reaches the Santa Rosa neighborhood, in the north of Neiva.
Among the situations evidenced, it was known that waiting times exceed ten minutes, leaving students and workers exposed to crime that takes advantage of those moments to dock or return, choosing to take other types of transportation services such as motorcycle taxis.
“I go out every day with my son who goes to school and one gets handcuffed because that bus takes a long time to pass and it might be that we had another route, but no, here we had routes 3 and 8 of Coomotor but they were removed because They said they were mugging the drivers. So what do we do there? The child arrives late for school and when I go to the center to run errands I also harm myself because this group takes a long time to go from here to the center and from the center to here”, described Norma Bonilla.
To confirm the information, personnel from Diario del Huila verified the waiting time to board Route 23 this Thursday afternoon, identifying that it was more than 19 minutes, that is, double the time described by the chief of transportation of the company operating the service.
Photo: Tatiana Villarreal.
Cootranshuila
Finally, Diario del Huila contacted the head of transportation of the company Cootranshuila Ltda., Édgar Manolo Torres, who indicated that one of the factors that affect normal compliance with schedules and update times is the state of the city’s road network of Neiva, the increase in the individual and private vehicle fleet, in addition to the deficiency in the linkage of public service vehicles due to the future implementation of the massive public transport system.
“There are basically three factors that are affecting the provision of public service in all of Neiva. In our case, for example, the routes are distributed every 7 or 9 minutes, but with the increase in the number of vehicles at a private level, it is difficult to meet these frequencies and even more so during peak hours, in the same way we are working until 6:30 p.m. o 7 pm on some routes due to the crime that exists in Neiva, since the vehicles go to the ends of the city where the routes begin, which is Chicalá, above San Juan and they begin to rob the vehicle operators, to break the windows because we don’t stop them, this is a complication due to the insecurity in all of Neiva,” Torres said.
In response, Diario del Huila told him that in the case of route 61 that reaches the La Sierra residential complex, where the risk that drivers could suffer is nil, the frequency is limited after 5 pm, which the inhabitants of the southeast, north and east have chosen to buy a motorcycle or car or resort to motorcycle taxis because the offer in the provision of public service is not guaranteed, to which Édgar Manolo Torres replied that it is due to the deficiency in passenger demand .
Photo: Tatiana Villarreal.
“The main problem is the deficiency in the demand for passengers, during the week we are working until 7:30 or 8 pm depending on the traffic and the demand for passengers in the sector where we have always complied with Flota Huila. People prefer the mototaxi and there we have nothing to do, in those cases that they are commenting on they have to tell me the date, time and place because I have GPS for the vehicles and I can show that it happens every ten minutes maximum, no I know why people will be saying that. The idea is that we provide the service every day, the problem is that on weekends people take out their private vehicle or motorcycle, now there are three or four motorcycles in a house and that is complex because it does not allow us to guarantee the operation of collective vehicles, up to a certain point they work and the idea is not to abandon the route, suddenly on weekends the frequency is increased. In the case of Sundays and holidays it is complicated because almost all of Neiva stops providing the public service, the idea is that on Saturdays we provide the service from 7 in the morning to 7 at night in slightly longer frequencies , for example, of 12 or 13 minutes and we have twelve vehicles destined there that gives us that average”, concluded the head of transportation.