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Cartago Route Has New Bus Company
Starting January
Beginning January 15 and not
tomorrow (Saturday) the bus
company Sociedad Autotransportes
Cartago S.A. (SACSA) will no
longer be providing regular bus
service between San José and
Cartago. The service will be
assumed by Lumaca, which is
partly owned by the Alajuela bus
company, Tuasa, controlled by
Marvin Herrera, which is also a
partner in the vehicular
inspection company, Riteve S.A.
The announcement was made by the
Consejo de Transporte Público (CTP)
which gave route 300 temporarily
to Lumaca after Sacsa was found
to have violated a number of CTP
codes.
The change was first announced
to take place on December 16,
however, none of the offering
companies could make available
the 102 bus units required to
transport an average of 25.000
passengers daily, according to
Eduardo Montero, vice minister
of Transportes.
Sacsa is suspended from
operating for the next six
months following numerous
complaints by users for bad to
poor service. The straw that
broke the camel's back occurred
on November 3 when a Sacsa bus
went out of control, injuring 39
passengers. The company
initially blamed the driver, but
investigators found that the
unit was poorly maintained and
the brakes gave way, when it
left the road and ran into a
mound of dirt in Tres Rios, east
of San José.
A total of six companies were
interested in the route,
however, other than Lumaca none
of the others were able to
provide the required number of
units and in the time frame,
said Montero. Lumaca is
committed to provide a majority
of the units less than five
years old, including 8 brand new
units and will have the contract
for six months, which can then
be renewed.
Montero added that his
inspectors will be closely
keeping an eye on SACSA for the
next several weeks. "Cartago
needs good bus service", said
Montero.
Cartago mayor, Carlos Góngora,
hopes that the SACSA drivers
(mostly from Cartago) will be
hired by the new bus company and
that none will be fired. Vice
minister Montero added that none
of the SACSA drivers have
received notice as yet.
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