Havana, the most expensive city for transportation in Latin America

Havana, the most expensive city for transportation in Latin America /
14ymedio
Posted on October 31, 2014

How much of your salary do you pay for transportation? Results of
research of the Engineering Department at Diego Portales University, Chile

14ymedio, Havana, 31 October, 2014 – The Engineering Department at Diego
Portales University in Chile has released a study that shows Havana as
the city with the highest transportation costs relative to salary. The
research looked at 20 capitals in the region and was published by the
newspaper La Tercera and on Radio Cooperativa.

According to the report, the most costly city with regard to public
transport fairs is Havana, whose "inhabitants spend 24% of their minimum
salaries" on it.

The cheapest city is Panama City, where people spend only 1.7% of the
minimum wage on transport

At the other end of the scale, the cheapest city is Panama City, where
the inhabitants only spend 1.7% of the minimum wage on this budget item.
In Chile, meanwhile, people pay 12.1% of the minimum wage to use this
public service.

Now, if we look at the absolute numbers, the Latin American city with
the highest priced transport is Brasilia. Although in relation to the
minimum wage it is second highest, behind the Cuban capital.

Public Transport in Cuba has seen a price increase in recent years.
Although the official price of most buses is forty centavos in Cuban
pesos (CUP), many routes have a fare of 1 CUP. To this is added the
deteriorating service and the long waits at the bus stops, which have
made many opt for collective taxis—also known as almendrones*–whose fare
is 10 CUP one-way.

With a minimum monthly salary of 225 CUP, Havanans were spending almost
one-fourth of their income on transportation, according to this study at
Diego Portales University.

*Translator's note: The word "almendrone" comes from the Spanish word
for "almond" and is a reference to the shape of the 1950s American cars
that are commonly used as privately operated shared-taxis.

Source: Havana, the most expensive city for transportation in Latin
America / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/havana-the-most-expensive-city-for-transportation-in-latin-america-14ymedio/