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An underwater bus in Havana becomes the ride that matters during Cuba's fuel crisis ^⁠21%

4/12/2026, 10:30:14 PM

Topics: Cuba

Keywords: Havana, Cuba, Latin America, Central America, Oil And Gas Industry, Ingrid Quintana, Fidel Castro, Mass Transit, Business, Oddities, Donald Trump, Recessions And Depressions

BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Confirmation Bias, Post Hoc (False Cause), and Availability Heuristic, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 15.2% saturation with 87 hits. Analysis detected 875 faulty-reasoning hits from 571 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 34.8% and a BS Rank of ⁠21% (17,446 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 79.70% of the article peer group.

Confidence50%

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571 words

HAVANA (AP) — On a recent sweltering afternoon in the Cuban capital, dozens of commuters on bicycles, scooters and electric motorcycles gathered in a tidy row at the entrance of the Havana Bay Tunnel.

They were waiting for the Ciclobús, a bus specially fitted to take people — and their rides — through the underwater tunnel linking Old Havana to the eastern side of the island.

The diesel-powered bus can accommodate around 60 travelers and their vehicles, making enough trips to transport more than 2,000 people per day.

It features a front seating section, but half its metallic frame is an open bay for cargo.

Riders enter via a specialized ramp and stay with their vehicles for the duration of the trip, holding onto wall-mounted grab bars for balance.

Bicycles, motorcycles and scooters are not allowed in the tunnel.

The energy blockade imposed by U.S.

President Donald Trump in January has forced the country to ration gasoline to only 20 liters (5 gallons) per vehicle through a cumbersome appointment process that can take weeks, or even months, halting public transportation.

These days, the streets of Havana are almost empty of cars but teeming with thousands of bicycles and small electric motorcycles that have become the only way to get around.

“My husband owns a bicycle, so I’m riding as his companion,” said Ingrid Quintana, a resident of East Havana, who works in the old part of Havana, while waiting for the tunnel bus.

“It’s an option we have, because there’s no public transportation and we can’t afford to pay for a private taxi, so we ride the Ciclobús.”

The Ciclobús is the shortest public transportation route on the island, covering 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) in about 15 minutes.

After boarding near the Havana Bay Tunnel in Old Havana, passengers endure a rattling journey through the darkness of the underwater passage.

They emerge in eastern Havana, a sprawling residential zone where hundreds of thousands reside.

By contrast, the alternative land route must skirt the massive bay, a 16-kilometer (10-mile) trek through sparsely populated and poorly paved industrial port areas.

The fare for boarding ranges from 2 to 5 Cuban pesos (a tiny fraction of a U.S. dollar on the informal market) depending on whether you are transporting a bicycle or a motorcycle.

In comparison, a ride in a shared taxi from the eastern neighborhoods — passing through the tunnel — costs 1,000 Cuban pesos (about $2).

A Cuban worker can earn a monthly salary of 7,000 Cuban pesos (about $14).

Owned by Havana’s state-run transport company, the Ciclobús emerged in the 1990s during the so-called “Special Period,” the crisis triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union that left the island isolated, prompting then-President Fidel Castro to distribute Chinese-made bicycles among the population.

Over time, the service lost some of its appeal as residents turned to regular buses or shared taxis.

But it is now seeing a resurgence as fuel shortages force more Cubans to rely on bicycles, electric tricycles, scooters and motorcycles for their daily commutes.

“Most jobs are on the other side, in the city, and that’s why we have to ride it to get across,” said 32-year-old gym teacher Bárbaro Cabral, gripping his bicycle tightly as the Ciclobús began to fill with passengers.

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571 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers17%attributed speech474writer words

39 attributed words40% of attributed speech74% writer coverage

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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An underwater bus in Havana becomes the ride that matters during Cuba's fuel crisis ^⁠21%

Speakers

Bárbaro Cabral

Analysis

Biases

Fallacies

Manipulations

An underwater bus in Havana becomes the ride that matters during Cuba's fuel crisis ⁠21%

Speakers

Bárbaro Cabral

Analysis

Biases

Fallacies

Manipulations

An underwater bus in Havana becomes the ride that matters during Cuba's fuel crisis ^⁠21%