Electric buses will connect tram and city buses by year’s end; New tram cards go on sale Monday

Cuenca tram director Boris Palacios announced Thursday that 11 electric buses will be delivered in October or November and be part of the plan to integrate the tram and municipal buses. He said the buses have been purchased with grants from three international environmental organizations.

Unavailable for three months, passenger tram cards go on sale Monday.

“The new buses will provide a feeder system from selected bus stops to the tram and will be a key aspect of the integration process between the two systems,” Palacios said. “We will have the full integration plan in place by the middle of the year and be ready to implement it by the end of the year.”

He added that talks are continuing with bus owners. “Among other things we are discussing relocating the route of the number 100 bus, which currently competes with the tram,” he said.

On Friday, Palacios announced that 60,000 tram passenger cards have arrived from Spain and will be available to the public beginning Monday. Because of a shortage of computer chips due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the city was unable to fill earlier orders, resulting in a three-month period when cards were not available.

The cards, which can be purchased for $1.75, offer tram rides for 35 cents to the general public. Students, those over 65 and the disabled, pay 17 cents per ride. Tram riders who already have cards do not need to replace them.

Cards will be sold at the El Arenal market office, the ETAPA service center at Gran Colombia and Tarqui, the 9 de Octubre office, Terminal Terrestre and at the Mariscal La Mar airport.