A person was injured on Tuesday while traveling on a public bus in Havana due to a violent incident where the vehicle was subjected to vandalism, causing material damage. This was reported by Javier Trujillo, a Facebook user and administrator of the group ‘Reporte de Rutas en Tiempo Real’. He stated that the incident occurred in the afternoon on a route 174 bus, which runs from Vedado to Lawton (Víbora stop).
“At 4:30pm today, a vandalism incident happened on route 174 (bus 5223 from the Lawton Terminal) when a group of young people got into an argument with a man inside the bus,” Trujillo reported in his post. Photos shared by Trujillo showed the damage to the bus, including a shattered glass door at the rear exit.
“The rear door was broken. The incident took place on Mayía Rodríguez Street in the 10 de Octubre municipality, resulting in one injury. So far, one person is detained at the Aguilera police station,” the post continued. The exact details of the incident remain unclear, so it is unknown whether the glass shattered during the argument or if it was caused by a thrown object.
Neither the authorities nor the official press have addressed the incident. It remains uncertain whether the injured individual sustained wounds from the broken glass or from physical blows. The identity of the injured person and the detained individual have also not been disclosed.
Vandalism: A Costly Issue for Havana's Public Transportation
Between April and May this year, at least five incidents of vandalism against public buses in Havana were reported. In early May, a bus from the Havana Provincial Transportation Company was stoned, breaking its front windshield and taking it out of service for repairs. The projectile cracked the windshield without penetrating it, so no injuries were reported.
The bus, a Chinese-made Yutong with the number 9029, belonged to the Regla municipality depot and operated on route A32 (Palatino - Regla - Habana del Este). In April, another public bus was stoned just before 11 p.m. while traveling through Centro Habana, as reported by the same transportation company on social media. This incident occurred at 10:40 p.m. on Prado between Genios and Cárcel, affecting bus 8412 on route A58 (Boyeros and Bruzón - Plaza de la Revolución to Bahía - Habana del Este). Photos showed that the stones targeted the driver’s area.
Days later, several public buses in Havana were vandalized and stoned while on their regular routes. The Havana Provincial Transportation Company reported three such incidents on different routes. One involved bus 9002 on route A27 from the Palatino terminal, which was attacked at the 26 and Puentes Grandes stop. A pedestrian threw a stone through the front door, cracking the driver’s cabin glass.
In another incident, a “massive” stone-throwing targeted bus 8456 on route A62 from the Guanabo terminal while it was parked at the Virgen del Camino stop. The bus driver was assaulted, and the perpetrators escaped. The final incident involved bus 5500 on route 55 from the Lisa terminal at the intersection of 23 and 214 streets, where vandals broke several passenger windows before fleeing.
Public Transportation in Crisis Amid Vandalism
These incidents occur amid a severe public transportation crisis in Havana. According to Yunier de la Rosa Hernández, Director General of Transportation in the territory, during a Ministry of Transportation (MITRANS) review, only 252 buses were operational in early March, compared to 309 that were out of service. De la Rosa acknowledged that people often wait three to four hours at bus stops depending on the route’s importance, with some routes operating only a single bus.
In June, a man was arrested for throwing a stone that broke a side window of a state bus in Havana, as reported by the Provincial Transportation Company. The incident involved bus 613 from the El Calvario terminal, which was stoned while finishing its route. Although the company did not specify, it seems only the driver was on board at the time. The detained individual was not named, but a photo of the suspect holding a knife at the time of arrest was shared.