{"id":602548,"date":"2026-04-14T03:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T03:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602548\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T03:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T03:04:16","slug":"an-underwater-bus-in-havana-becomes-the-ride-that-matters-during-cubas-fuel-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602548\/","title":{"rendered":"An underwater bus in Havana becomes the ride that matters during Cuba’s fuel crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HAVANA (AP) \u2014 On a recent sweltering afternoon in the Cuban capital, dozens of commuters on bicycles, scooters and electric motorcycles gathered in a tidy row at the entrance of the Havana<\/a> Bay Tunnel. They were waiting for the Ciclob\u00fas, a bus specially fitted to take people \u2014 and their rides \u2014 through the underwater tunnel linking Old Havana to the eastern side of the island.<\/p>\n

The diesel-powered bus can accommodate around 60 travelers and their vehicles, making enough trips to transport more than 2,000 people per day. It features a front seating section, but half its metallic frame is an open bay for cargo. Riders enter via a specialized ramp and stay with their vehicles for the duration of the trip, holding onto wall-mounted grab bars for balance. Bicycles, motorcycles and scooters are not allowed in the tunnel.<\/p>\n

While the Ciclob\u00fas is not new, it has never been as popular \u2014 and essential \u2014 as Cuba navigates its most severe energy crisis in decades.<\/p>\n

The energy blockade<\/a> imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> in January has forced the country to ration gasoline to only 20 liters (5 gallons) per vehicle through a cumbersome appointment process that can take weeks, or even months, halting public transportation<\/a>. These days, the streets of Havana are almost empty of cars but teeming with thousands of bicycles and small electric motorcycles that have become the only way to get around.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband owns a bicycle, so I’m riding as his companion,\u201d said Ingrid Quintana, a resident of East Havana, who works in the old part of Havana, while waiting for the tunnel bus. \u201cIt\u2019s an option we have, because there\u2019s no public transportation and we can\u2019t afford to pay for a private taxi, so we ride the Ciclob\u00fas.”<\/p>\n

The Ciclob\u00fas is the shortest public transportation route on the island, covering 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) in about 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

After boarding near the Havana Bay Tunnel in Old Havana, passengers endure a rattling journey through the darkness of the underwater passage. They emerge in eastern Havana, a sprawling residential zone where hundreds of thousands reside. By contrast, the alternative land route must skirt the massive bay, a 16-kilometer (10-mile) trek through sparsely populated and poorly paved industrial port areas.<\/p>\n

The fare for boarding ranges from 2 to 5 Cuban pesos (a tiny fraction of a U.S. dollar on the informal market) depending on whether you are transporting a bicycle or a motorcycle.<\/p>\n

In comparison, a ride in a shared taxi from the eastern neighborhoods \u2014 passing through the tunnel \u2014 costs 1,000 Cuban pesos (about $2). A Cuban worker can earn a monthly salary of 7,000 Cuban pesos<\/a> (about $14).<\/p>\n

Owned by Havana\u2019s state-run transport company, the Ciclob\u00fas emerged in the 1990s during the so-called \u201cSpecial Period,\u201d the crisis triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union that left the island isolated, prompting then-President Fidel Castro<\/a> to distribute Chinese-made bicycles among the population.<\/p>\n

Over time, the service lost some of its appeal as residents turned to regular buses or shared taxis. But it is now seeing a resurgence as fuel shortages<\/a> force more Cubans to rely on bicycles, electric tricycles, scooters and motorcycles for their daily commutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost jobs are on the other side, in the city, and that\u2019s why we have to ride it to get across,\u201d said 32-year-old gym teacher B\u00e1rbaro Cabral, gripping his bicycle tightly as the Ciclob\u00fas began to fill with passengers.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/latin-america<\/a><\/p>\n

Andrea Rodr\u00edguez, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAVANA (AP) \u2014 On a recent sweltering afternoon in the Cuban capital, dozens of commuters on bicycles, scooters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,227919,227921,46,227918,13422,227920,227916,227917],"class_list":{"0":"post-602548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cuban-capital","12":"tag-cuban-pesos","13":"tag-economy","14":"tag-electric-motorcycles","15":"tag-havana","16":"tag-havana-bay-tunnel","17":"tag-old-havana","18":"tag-underwater-tunnel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}