Cozumel, Q. R. — After years of island service, the pubic transport company Uniper will stop operating on the island. As of August 16, Uniper will no longer offer its public transport services.
Simitrio Peña Novelo who heads Cozumel’s Urban Transportation, confirmed the company’s decision to stop operating. He said this week, the directors of Uniper presented him with a letter announcing that they would stop providing the service on the island, but without clarifying the reasons.
However, José Novelo Zalas, who is the President of the Unión de Permisionarios (Uniper), said since the pandemic, they have been operating with only three routes out of the 10 they had before. He explained that with only three routes, they have not been able to recover and have continued to experience losses, adding that it is no longer profitable to operate on the island.
“There was a decrease in vehicles as well as a decrease in demand and an increase in maintenance costs and salary payments,” he stated.
Simitrio Peña Novelo said the City of Cozumel will need to meet with the committee to decide the next course of action, which could include hiring another company or transferring the routes over to the Adolfo López Mateos taxi drivers’ union. He said the decision made will be announced in coming days.
