HAVANA, Cuba — Drivers in Cuba are facing the prospects of waiting several months to refuel their cars, as fuel shortages caused by a U.S. oil siege intensify.
To avoid chaos outside gas stations, Cuba’s government last week made it obligatory for drivers to use an app known as Ticket to get refueling appointments.
But drivers in Havana told The Associated Press on Monday that the app is only awarding them appointments several weeks or months from now.
“I have (appointment) number seven thousand and something,” said Jorge Reyes, a 65-year-old who downloaded the app on Monday.
Reyes signed up to refuel at a gas station in Havana that is only awarding 50 appointments per day. “When will I be able to buy gas again?” he said.
The app only allows drivers to sign up for appointments at one gas station at a time. So, on WhatsApp groups some drivers are sharing information on which places might be less crowded or which gas stations have a greater capacity to serve customers, noting that some locations are awarding up to 90 appointments per day.
But that is of little comfort to those who have downloaded the app, only to find out there are up to 10,000 appointments ahead of theirs.
The Cuban government has also stopped selling gasoline in local currency at subsidized rates of about 25 cents per liter, and is now only selling more expensive fuel, priced in U.S. dollars.
A liter of gasoline currently sells for $1.30 at gas stations and can cost up to six dollars in the growing black market for gasoline. Government workers in Cuba are earn less than $20 a month, when their earnings in Cuban pesos are converted to U.S. dollars using market rates.
When drivers can finally refuel at service stations, they are only allowed to buy 20 liters of gasoline, or about 5.2 gallons.
“This will not last me long,” said Ariel Alonso, a businessman who refueled Monday at the El Riviera gas station.
“I have to leave a reserve of five liters in case anyone gets sick at home,” and has to be taken to the hospital, he said.
The Ticket app is run by XETID, a state owned software firm. Last week, the company’s commercial director Saume