Schedule delays, common fleet breakdowns or reckless driving: users of the Murcia-Cartagena bus line say enough is enough

CARTAGENA. A total of 220 personasregular users of public transport, specifically the line MUR-083 Murcia-Cartagena have complained, through a letter addressed to the service concessionaire company –Interbus– Yet the Ministry of Development, of the deficient intercity transport service that has been suffering for months. The signatories affirm that they are cThere are continuous delays in departure times, as well as breakdowns in fleet vehicles, or the more than usual fact of not all users being able to access the bus and waiting an hour, hour and a half, for the next bus. In addition, bus bonus users denounce not having the opportunity to reserve the ticket online o to recklessness in the driving of a specific employee.

The users who have signed this letter addressed to Fomento and Interbús describe situations sometimes, they might seem surreal for the rest of us, but due to the frequency with which they occur, they have ended up becoming an almost common occurrence on their journeys. Among them, they highlight, for example, that some passengers say they pass “fear on the road” by a driver”reckless person who does not respect the safety distance, makes dangerous overtakes, continuously brakes and that it has received several verbal complaints from passengers, as well as official complaints.

But, in addition, they recount what happened on March 29, 2022, when on a bus leaving Murcia at seven in the morning on the way up to Puerto de la Cadena ““The engine stopped working and thanks to the driver’s skill he managed to take an exit and park.”. The bus to continue the trip took 55 minutes to arrive, in a stretch of less than 10 kilometers, the complainants add.

Under these conditions we have made the Murcia – Cartagena journey this afternoon. Leaks in the passenger seats and the driver with an umbrella to continue. @GrupoInterbus
@la Verdad_ct
@the truth is
@A3Noticias
pic.twitter.com/IxUzCVghb1

— Cris (@criscrismr) April 13, 2022

Leaks in driver’s seat and under umbrella while driving

But what happened is crazy in April of last 2022on one of the buses leaving Murcia at five in the afternoon, when a traveler “You have to make the trip with an umbrella to protect the driver from the leak that falls right on top of his seat”. A month later, another bus, leaving Cartagena at four in the afternoon, has to make an emergency stop at exit 150 of the highway. “since a breakdown caused a fire and an explosion that affected the rear window, with firefighters having to intervene. The reinforcement bus arrived 30 minutes later to finish the journey.”

The nonsense continues in August with a bus that left Cartagena at 3:00 p.m.The front glass was held with tape. More recently, just a week ago, on the service on November 16, 2023, time 2:30 p.m. direction Cartagena-Murcia, the bus arrived broken down and it was the customers waiting for its arrival who observed the “burning smell and smoke coming from the back of the bus”. When the driver got out of the vehicle, they explained the situation to him, “and without giving it any importance he urged us to get in. “Such was our astonishment and concern that we asked him directly if traveling in those conditions was safe, and the driver’s response was that he could not guarantee us anything.” In this context, “we travelers decided not to get on the vehicle, fearing for our safety, and we requested a replacement bus, since there were already customers waiting for the three in the afternoon service. The replacement bus did not arrive.”

“This fact adds to the multiple day-to-day incidents with this company, among which the continuous lack of punctuality predominates, and the fact that at certain times people are left unable to make the trip they had planned, due to lack of places in the vehicle”, the users of the line addressed to both the Service Concessionaire and the Department of Development add in their writing. In such a situation, bus users, complain before the upcoming signing of another contract for the management of interurban transport, specifically the Murcia-Cartagena line a “renewal of the bus fleet, those used by the transport company are outdated, none use less polluting fuels such as LNG, electricity, hydrogen, etc…, since they are all powered by diesel or gasoline.

Furthermore, they ask that “digital mechanisms for ticket reservation for regular users who use vouchers, either card or university voucher”. Likewise, they request that information signs clearly indicate “the order of preference when there are more passengers than seats, tickets, vouchers, line order, etc…”.

Finally, they add that it is necessary “reinforcement bus planned” the days and hours that travelers are usually unable to access the bus because the capacity is full. Have a driver on call for any unforeseen events; increase frequencies in the time sections in which most users use the bus, especially in the section from seven to nine in the morning, increase frequency in 30 minute intervals. Likewise, increase the departure time slots from two to four in the afternoon.”

And, finally, they add, in case anyone seems to have forgotten to “clean and disinfect the buses at least once a week.”

This same week the matter was discussed in the UPCT Governing Council, since the group of students is one of the most affected by this number of incidents. Several members presented the Cartagena-Murcia transportation problemswith frequent delays, old buses, some that have burned down, without sufficient capacity at peak times, with a very complicated reservation. The rector, Beatriz Miguelhas heard what happened and has decided to file a formal complaint about this situation with the different organizations involved.