After a meeting with the head of the ATY, Rafael Hernández Kotasek, the protesters went to the Yucatán Congress, where they presented their demands to the legislators.
About 200 taxi drivers protested at the Yucatán Transportation Agency (ATY) due to excessive charges for services and fines, as well as the risk of having their permits revoked for any minor excuse and “sold” to third parties.
“They will benefit those who really have the possibility, friends who have money to get a concession, they have a group of friends already prepared, when they issue a call, they even have names and to whom it will be sold,” denounced Wilmer Carrillo, a taxi driver from the municipality of Ticul.
The protesters, who represent collectives that group about 10,000 taxis in the 106 municipalities of Yucatán, went to the ATY offices, located on 60th Street between 41 and 39, in the Centro Zone of Mérida. Later, they managed to enter the building to talk with the head of the agency, Rafael Hernández Kotasek.
The drivers denounced the increase in the cost of fines and procedures, in addition to pointing out abuses in administrative processes, such as long waiting hours to be attended to.
“They are really extorting us, that is one of the problems, we talk about fines, we talk about procedures, from paying 300 pesos for an anti-pollution verification we are paying 1,300 pesos, they tripled, they tripled the costs, now they invented another cost for the anti-pollution verification, for the physical-mechanical verification, which is a charge that goes directly to the agency and as the previous administration (headed by former governor and now senator, Mauricio Vila Dosal) shielded it, now they have to find a way to get money,” said Graciela Flota, a taxi driver.
The protesters also complained about the impacts caused by a new operations map for foreign taxis, which limits their ability to provide service.
“The geographical area for foreigners, they sent us to Tizimín, 120 kilometers away, Mérida is 70, what engineer did that job, they don’t realize,” one of them confronted when Hernández Kotasek came out to attend to them.
In addition, the drivers pointed out the existence of “pirate” collective taxis that put passengers at risk by not complying with safety standards. They denounced that at least 16 units operate irregularly in the municipality of Peto.
“They are working with superimposed plates, with labeled vehicles, with Peto-Mérida routes, and they argue that from your side they already have the established permits with quotas that they pass “under the table” they are working unfairly with abuses to the citizens and now are you aware that you are putting thousands of passengers at risk?, who need them out of necessity and you are so aware because they pass good sums of money to you and they themselves argue that they hand it over to you,” said the complaining taxi driver.
Due to the lack of response at the ATY, the taxi drivers went to the Yucatán Congress to present their complaints and requests. They were received by the president of the Legislative Power, Wilmer Monforte Marfil, as well as by legislators from Morena, PVEM, and PT.
“Today, more than ever, the transportation permit holders exhibit in all their fullness and with all their breadth the shamelessness with which they created a transportation agency to do business, to make deals, to make shady deals and to end and exterminate the concessionaires of the municipalities,” said Alejandro Cuevas Mena, a Morena deputy.
Later, through a video, Hernández Kotasek assured that he would work to improve ATY services and review the case of the fines.
“I am convinced that public transportation will never again be used for political purposes, but to safeguard the genuine interest of the thousands of users who use public transportation every day. We know that we are in a transition process. We came and started with the ‘Va y Ven’, which is the mass transportation system that moves more than 500,000 people every day,” said the state official.
Source: Milenio
