TIJUANA – On a press conference held this Tuesday morning, the Secretary General of Tijuana's local government, Carlos Mejía López, highlighted the main changes that will happen to Tijuana's public transit service, once the new BRT public transit system (SITT) and guidelines kicks in.

This is what the local government had to cleared up in a press conference, following threatening statements made by the heads of the different taxis organizations in the city, who have opposed most of the attempts of modernizing public transit:

1 - They won't take away their "livelihoods"

One of the main arguments given by the taxi leaders is that the changes that the local government want to implement will affect the livelihoods of 60,000 families, to which Mejía responded at the press conference as something "totally false".

2 - Single route Taxis won't disappear

According to the Mejía López, these types of taxis —which follow a single route and pick-up passengers along the way— won't disappear or will lose any of their characteristics, only the name. While they are currently known as taxi de ruta or with a fixed route, they'll now be known as taxi colectivo. "We are hoping for these taxis colectivos to join our app platform and be part of the new SITT", explained Mejía.

3 – Regular taxis will now be known as "básicos"

Taxis libres, or regular taxis, will continue to operate the same way, but they will now be required to adhere to a 4 to 7 passenger capacity (depending on the type of vehicle) and they'll be known as taxi básico.

4 – The taxi workers will not SITT employees

Even though Mejía admits that the SITT's first phase of the project doesn't take all of the 7,000 taxi workers into account, there's the possibility for them to integrate into the new BRT system, transporting passengers to and from the SITT's Main Route. He does state that this collaboration may take years to actually happen.

VIDEO: Public Transit Press conference with Carlos Mejía

What follows now is the meeting between Tijuana's government and the dissidents, but according to local newspaper El Sol de Tijuana, there is still no formal request to hold a meeting between the two parties.

Via Zeta

More news at SanDiegoRed.com

Follow San Diego Red on Facebook and Twitter.

miranda.garcia@sandiegored.com

Translated by: edgar.martinez@sandiegored.com