The Data
In the first quarter of 2024, a movement of almost 100 thousand users was registered at the San Antonio terminal, the majority looking for the intercity service
Jonathan Maldonado
The intercity transportation service at the border is temporarily suspended, according to a statement issued this Saturday, April 27, by the Transportation Cabinet of the Government of Táchira.
The measure, taken after the collapse of the retaining wall in a section of Trunk 1, specifically at the height of the Páramo Los Cacaos, Capacho Viejo municipality, includes both the searchers and the encavas that provide the service.
The order surprised the drivers of the DT9 (encavas), as they thought that for this group of units (32 positions), due to their size, there would be the possibility of continuing to work on the road artery.
“The route between San Antonio del Táchira-San Cristóbal will be covered only by suburban lines,” reads the statement signed by deputy José Rosales Aleta, leaving for granted that “once the recovery of roads is completed, the service will resume with “full normality.”
They fear loneliness
Dozens of workers at the San Antonio del Táchira terminal, in the border municipality of Bolívar, spoke out within hours of learning the statement. They asked the State Government not to suspend the exit of the excavations with an interurban route from the border.
José Niño, motorcycle taxi driver, urged the authorities to enable the DT9 (encavas) route through Rubio so that they can continue offering the service from the border and, in this way, families who live a working life in the port are not affected. land.
Niño recalled that the interurban units are what give life to the facilities. They understand what happened on Trunk 1, after the fall of a wall in the Páramo Los Cacaos, which limits vehicle traffic, but they ask that the transportation service not be completely suspended.
«They can enable the Rubio route, the DT9s can go through there. “We have these units, which are the only ones that give us the guarantee of bringing passengers to San Antonio,” he insisted, as he stressed that the suburban routes are not complying with the road regulations.
Ticket sellers and agency owners also supported the call: “We are many parents who depend on and need this work. “We ask that you be considerate of us.”
The workers pointed out that more than 2,000 families would be harmed by the stoppage of the terminal: «At the whim of three or four people who work at the San Cristóbal terminal, those of us who work here cannot be harmed. “We are also Venezuelans and we have the right to work.”
Interurban routes were reactivated on July 26, 2023, after more than three years paralyzed on the border. His return brought dynamism back to the facilities. They fear that loneliness will prevail again on the platforms.
