CUENCA DIGESTExpress buses to make Cuenca – Guayaquil run; more complaints about Coopera plan from investors’ attorneys

The Interprovincial Transportation cooperative (UTIPA) says it will begin offering express bus service between Cuenca and Guayaquil. Currently, all the buses on the route make frequent stops between the cities to pick up and drop off passengers.

UTIPA says it making the move, in part, because of the suspension of many of the passenger van services that ran the Cuenca to Guayaquil route.

Armando Rodas UTIPA manager, says the emphasis of the new buses will be on convenience and comfort. “The buses will modern, clean and comfortable. We understand that many passengers complain about slow service and poor cleanliness and we are resovling those problems.”

Rodas says there will be eight departures daily from Cuenca, the first at 2 a.m. and the last at 7 p.m.

The express buses will depart and return to Cuenca's Terminal Terrestre on Av. España.

More complaints from Coopera attorneys

The attorneys for a group of Coopera members with investments of more than $10,000 are complaining about the formula for disbursing money to larger account holders.

The federal office of Economia Popular y Solidaria (SEPS) which is charged with the liquidation of Coopera, says that it will favor the catastrophically ill, the handicapped and the elderly in the next phase of payouts to account holders. After that, SEPS also said it would begin to repay accounts with amounts above $10,000, beginning with smaller accounts first. Officials say they are sticking to their plan of paying back 99% of all account holders.

Carlos Heredia and Gustavo Quito, who represent some of the 1,660 Coopera members with accounts of more than $10,000, including 150 to 200 expats, objected to the new payout formula. Heredia said he believes that it was intended to divide his clients. He also objected to paying smaller account holders first.

More than half of the Coopera members with accounts of less than $10,000 have been repaid. Some have decided to keep their accounts with the cooperatives that have assigned Coopera accounts following the closure.

Heredia and Quito say they are proceding with legal action against SEPS to stop the current distribution prcoess, as well as other issues.