Cuba Letting Drivers Rent Buses, Make Money

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Cuba Letting Drivers Rent Buses, Make Money
By Rosa Tania Valdes
May 17, 2010

HAVANA (Reuters) - The Cuban government has begun renting its smaller city buses in Havana to the bus drivers in another minor move under President Raul Castro to ease the state's hand in Cuba's socialist economy.

The program, launched several months ago and still not announced by the government, appears to be part of Castro's drive to improve the communist island's troubled economy by giving more incentive for Cubans to work harder.

"They rented us the guaguas (buses). The (state) guarantees gasoline, we pay daily taxes and what is left is for us," said a driver this week while passengers filled the 16 seats of his Chinese-made Yutong bus in a Havana plaza.

Improving public transportation is one of the major challenges facing Raul Castro, who replaced ailing older brother Fidel Castro as president two years ago.

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