Va y Ven service cuts threaten mobility in Mérida as concessionaires remove buses over late payments, impacting 500,000 users until ATY resolves debts.
Concessionaires of the Va y Ven public transport network in Yucatán will begin a phased withdrawal of dozens of buses in the coming days after the Yucatán Transportation Agency (ATY) missed a series of payments. The move affects 500,000 daily riders across Mérida, its metropolitan area, and the eastern municipalities of Valladolid and Tizimín.
On Thursday, July 17, leaders of the 11 main concessionaires pulled 149 of the system’s 492 units from service. They did so to pressure the ATY, a branch of the state government, into covering overdue mileage payments. Despite the region’s deepening transit crisis, neither side disclosed the exact size of the debt.
Later that evening, business representatives met with Secretary General Omar Pérez Avilés and ATY director Jacinto Sosa Novelo. They reached a provisional deal to pause further cuts while officials work to clear the backlog.
“This is not an extra cut; it applies only to second‑shift service after noon,” said David Quintal Medina, spokesperson for the 11 concessionaires.
He added that weekend schedules always run fewer buses to match lighter demand. Starting Friday, they will scale back 40 percent of the fleet—about 221 buses—on Saturdays and Sundays. Then, at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 21, they will remove half of the fleet—246 units—from all routes.
Va y Ven service cuts leave fewer buses in service
Concessionaires said they tailored their reductions to minimize disruption for riders. “We’ve run the numbers so we can impact users as little as possible,” Quintal said. Yet cutting service during off‑peak hours still risks longer waits and crowded buses for many residents.
In a statement, Pérez Avilés guaranteed that ATY will keep 100 percent of routes running at full capacity during peak hours, from 5 a.m. to noon. He said this measure will help thousands of commuters who depend on the first shift to reach work or school.
Sosa Novelo stressed that ongoing talks between the state government and the concessionaires remain the best way to resolve the sector’s challenges. He described the dialogue as a “key mechanism” to prevent further drops in service.
The current crisis echoes warnings issued in March, when Sosa Novelo presented a report on the network’s sharp losses. He said the Va y Ven model had racked up a 663.4 million‑peso deficit so far this year and could reach a shortfall of 1.858 billion pesos by the end of 2025. “The model is unsustainable; it favors just one group,” he warned deputies.
At the time, Governor Joaquín Díaz Mena decried what he called an “irresponsible economic disaster,” though he did not directly name former governor and now PAN senator Mauricio Vila Dosal. Vila Dosal had championed Va y Ven as a cutting‑edge mobility solution for Yucatecans.
With users bracing for reduced service, concessionaires and government officials face pressure to settle accounts and restore full operations. Riders say they need clear timelines for payment and bus returns to avoid longer waits and strained connections across the region.
Until then, the phased removal of buses will continue as concessionaires press the ATY to honor its commitments—and as half a million daily users adjust to fewer seats on Mérida’s streets.
Va y Ven, Yucatán public transport, Mérida buses, ATY payments, public transit crisis
