Terror has taken over the roads of Antioquia. Trucks, buses and burned motorcycles have taken the front pages of the newspapers. Faced with this situation, the companies that travel to the Atlantic Coast, the North, the Northeast and Urabá Antioquia have ceased their activities. There is no way to go by public transport to these subregions.
Beyond the impossibility of traveling, the transport companies, revealed Samir Echeverry, executive director of the Association of Passenger Transporters of Antioquia, (ATPA), have stopped receiving $2,500 million. The calculation is that only 60% of the passengers are leaving the terminals compared to a normal day of operation.
The figure becomes more dramatic when converted to passengers. Echeverry estimated that there are 1,588 vehicle shipments that have been stopped. One is equivalent to regarding 40,000 passengers. To top it off, many have canceled tickets to other destinations that do not have major security problems, such as the south of the country or the routes to Bogotá and the east.
Although the Southwest is operating relatively calmly, three companies received threats and stopped operating. “They stopped the offer to save life. There are roads preventively blocked by the Police and others closed by crime,” Echeverry said.
There is another complex situation that has gone unnoticed, and that is what happens with the bus drivers. Some were trapped in the municipalities and have not been able to return to Medellín for fear that their vehicles will be burned and, since there is no public transport either, they have had no choice but to stay. “There they are in complex situations, in the midst of anxiety, with food problems. They don’t know what to do,” concluded Echeverry.
It is estimated that the abnormality in the provision of the service will continue until this Sunday, March 8. At night there will be a meeting with the authorities to take stock and make decisions.
