Tulum-Playa del Carmen Vans Cut Service as Ridership Plunges

Tulum, Quintana Roo — Facing a sharp drop in passenger demand, the transport unions that serve the Tulum–Playa del Carmen route have begun rotating days off for their vans, pulling about a third of the fleet from the road each day.

The scheme, introduced less than a month ago by the unions Untrac, Tiburones del Caribe and Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, gives drivers and their vehicles a two-day-on, one-day-off schedule, union leaders said.

“When we saw that ridership had dropped even further, we started resting one out of every three days — we work two days and rest one,” said Moisés Paul Quijano, secretary general of UNTRAC Section II. He said the same schedule is applied by the other organizations operating on the route.

Quijano said 72 to 75 vans are taken out of service each day, roughly a third of the number that previously operated regularly. The route has seen demand fall steadily since the start of the year; after running at full occupancy, it now carries little more than a quarter of its former load.

Even with one union resting, active vehicles struggle to fill enough trips. In some cases, vans manage only two round trips to Playa del Carmen during the day, he said. Daily ridership is now estimated at 10,000 to 12,000 passengers, compared with around 60,000 at its peak.

“We’re working at a quarter of what was once 100 percent,” Quijano said.

About 150 vans operate daily under the current scheme, with a capacity of roughly 15 passengers per trip. Quijano said service to passengers’ workplaces remains guaranteed, and the problem lies within the transport sector itself: lower revenue no longer supports keeping the entire fleet running without hurting drivers’ incomes.

“There are enough vans for people to get to work — we don’t fall short,” he said. “The problem is internal among us as unions: there isn’t enough for everyone.”

The unions agreed to alternate their operating days to reduce competition among vans and make the service more sustainable while the downturn persists on the Tulum–Playa del Carmen route.