Jeeps in Cuba Used as Taxis
Photo Feature by Ernesto Gonzalez Díaz
HAVANA TIMES – They are jeeps, mostly Willys and Toyota brands, which are between 50 and 75 years old and have been adapted for taxis. Many have modern under the hood mechanics from Hyundai, KIA or Mitsubishi. There are even some that even have air conditioning.
These taxis have a fixed route through the main avenues of the city moving people from the periphery to the most central places. They have the capacity to transport between eight and ten passengers and every day they are more visible in the streets of Havana. In reality, they are not very comfortable, and the price of the ticket is not affordable for the vast majority, but in some way they constitute for some a palliative to the difficulties of transportation. It is fair to say that the price of the ride is conditioned by factors such as the high cost of parts and aggregates, the crisis in fuel distribution that has not yet been overcome, among others.
Like the rest of the so-called classic cars, they are a tribute to the inventiveness and ingenuity of Cubans who have spent more than 60 years fighting against hardships and shortages of all kinds and with leaders who have in the US embargo a scapegoat to justify all kinds of negligence, ineptitude and inefficiency.
Something that I found most interesting is that several of these photos with the filters they have can be confused with really old images since most of the vehicles that roam the street are old vehicles.
Brian,
What exactly were you expecting as a Jeep fan? Please specify for the readers.
Ernesto Gonzalez Diaz, I assume, lives in Havana. He, again I presume, wanted to do a photographic montage of the Jeeps he saw circulating as taxis on his city streets. As his photos clearly demonstrate, his camera lens encountered Willy Jeeps and Toyota brands. How and why is this photographic display “extremely disappointing” as you state?
I think it only appropriate you explain to the readers, and more importantly, to Ernesto why exactly his photographic montage is “extremely disappointing”. Perhaps you know something he does not about Jeeps used as taxis that we all would like to know in terms of photographic purity.
As a JEEP fan I find this set of photos to be extremely disappointing !!
Thanks you very mouch y take your suggestion
Ernesto Gonzalez Diaz – great job in providing the reader with a transportation photographic expose of the reliable Toyota and Willy jeeps as taxis used in Cuba.
Awhile back you did a similar photographic display of different types of cars circulating the Havana streets. That was very well received.
As a suggestion, you could attempt to do a photographic display of the ubiquitous “bici taxi”. As you know this type of transportation is used all over the island from small villages to large cities like Havana. Many tourists seek them out because they provide a luxurious ride for a small stipend.
What makes the “bici taxi” transportation unique is that the three wheeled or four wheeled machine comes in all different shapes, sizes, electric, pedal pushed, musically inclined, or not. No two bici taxis are the same. The owner puts his (and it is mainly man operated) stamp of uniqueness into his machine.
I am sure the reader will find a photographic expose very, very interesting and enlightening.