In the midst of the current emergency due to insecurity, there is a deficit and deterioration of security kits in public service vehicles or taxis.
Unlike the growing insecurity that exists in the streets of Guayaquil, the alerts generated by the help buttons located in the yellow taxis, formal or regularized, have dropped drastically. Literally zero.
This is reflected in the statistics of the Integrated Security Service ECU911, which require that In the years 2020 and until October 2021, no passenger, nor the taxi driver, have activated the so-called panic button within these transport units in the Buenos Aires city. Nationwide, the ECU911 has only received two alerts this year and six last year.
The figure, far from reassuring him, worries Bolívar Tello, ECU911’s deputy director of operations, especially when he analyzes the alerts reported in previous years in the country. “From the statistics, in 2015, there were 2,553 at the national level, and now I only see two, that is worrying,” warns Tello and suggests investigating the reasons for the resounding fall in alarms in taxis, vehicles that together with interprovincial buses They are part of the Safe Transport program, initiated by the National Transit Agency (ANT) since 2014.
From this Tuesday, November 9, only 50% of urban buses will circulate in Guayaquil, announce carriers
This plan sought to monitor the units in real time and attend to public emergencies by installing technological equipment such as cameras and help buttons. These red buttons were placed in easy-to-reach places for the driver and passenger. A button was even located in the trunk of the vehicle in the event of possible extortionate kidnappings. When a citizen or driver was in danger, they could activate the help button and a signal reached the ANT dispatcher staff, located in the operating rooms of the ECU911, thus they coordinated with the operators of this institution to send emergency help.
Of the nearly 12,000 taxis in Guayaquil, 25%, about three thousand units, do not have technological security equipment, says George Mera, president of the Guayaquil Taxi Drivers Union. “They do not have, because there is no where to buy it, they stopped being brought and the new colleagues do not have them,” says the leader and warns that, on the other hand, those who did receive the camera kit and aid buttons have already deteriorated. “Some devices are working well, others no longer have spare parts.”
On Quito, the same thing happens, assesses Guillermo Abad, former Secretary of Mobility in the Capital Municipality. “A large part of these cameras are no longer used, they were damaged, there was no proper maintenance, they were disconnected, and of course because the investment was state,” says Abad, founder of Justicia Vial, a road supervisor.
Across the country, according to ANT figures, 11,000 intra- and inter-provincial buses have security teams, as well as 45,000 taxis. The director of the Safe Transport project, Carlos Fernández de Córdova, defends the operability of these devices when asked if the few alerts are due to the fact that the equipment is not working.
“By no means, we are all the time monitoring that the equipment is installed in the units and if not, the operator is notified. We have workshops to attend to any maintenance ”, assures the official, who attributes the decrease in activations of the help buttons to the pandemic.
The Safe Transportation program has 18 employees on its payroll, including dispatchers who receive the distress button alerts. Its budget has varied in recent years, depending on the phases in which equipment has been provided to the sector. In 2018 $ 45 million were allocated, in 2019 $ 3 million were delivered, last year $ 793,000 and this year $ 332,000.
We are on an extended budget. For next year $ 1 million has been requested, self-management funds, agreements … are also being sought.
Carlos Fernández de Córdova, director of the Safe Transport project.
Fernández de Córdova emphasizes that the equipment is mandatory for buses, but not for taxis.
In Guayaquil, the Transit and Mobility Agency (ATM), says its Director of Transportation, Fernando Amador, has no competence for safety in taxis or the handling of technological kits. “This is a program that the ANT manages. In the transfer of competence, it is for procedures of authorization, change of operator, disabling, enrollment, those are our competences, but not for the security kit, we do not even have access to the videos of the cameras ”, stressed Amador.
The renewal of the equipment, and the safety of those who mobilize in the 12,000 taxis in Guayaquil is uncertain. The leader George Mera affirms that the cost of the renovation cannot be assumed by the union. “It is impossible for the partner to have another expense, remember that we have the meter there as an ornament.” (I)
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