Is there a better option to the 'carro publico' (fixed-fee trans-city vans) for Puerto Rico commuter's needs?

Asked by BronxLens (1539

) July 4th, 2008

Being an island PR should begin implementing the use of buses for medium-long distance range transportation.

A carro publico is great to take people from inside a town to the adjacent ones, but for longer distances it is a very poor option.

A better solution would be interstate-type buses as they are ideal for:
– reducing transportation cost
– reducing transit time
– expanding range of cities to go work/study at
– improving availability of public transportation (carro publicos currently do not operate on Sundays, and offer no service after 6pm aprox. the rest of the week)
– Improvement of quality of life as polution would be reduced. Ex. One Greyhound bus can take up to 54 cars off the road and achieves 258 passenger-mile per gallon of fuel.

Do you think there are other/better options vehicle-wise to help solve the current need?

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3 Answers

I think there would be a more viable alternative than the Carro Publico, but never having visited that island trust territory of the USA, I don’t know what it might be.

I’d suggest that a kind of “laboratorio de ideas” be impaneled to carefully study the problem and come up with possible solutions.

The “experts” for this group should consist of life-long residents of the island, who are specialists in the field of population density studies and mass transportation.

Also, one of the ways to make any kind of “bus service” popular, is to have it operate 24/7 (but with decreased frequency during the late-at-night or early morning hours) and to have the fares funded by taxpayer dollars (subsidized), so passengers can ride free of charge.

August 24, 2008, 8:33 AM EDT

JackAdams (6574

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