Public Transportation during COVID-19 Pandemic – Quintana Roo, Mexico

It has been sixteen months and counting.  The last time I was on a colectivo (bus) was March 13, 2020.  My husband and I had gone into Playa del Carmen, Mexico to walk up and down the infamous 5th Avenue and to have lunch at 100% Natural.  That weekend will be forever burned into my mind because that is the weekend the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) announced the pandemic that shut down the world...COVID-19. 

Our friends that were here in Mexico from Canada received an emergency evacuation communication from their airline that the upcoming flight, scheduled for the next day, would be the last flight out of Mexico for a while.  In a panic, my friends hurriedly packed up their belongings and left Mexico the very next morning.  

The local workers begin leaving Quintana Roo in droves to be with their families, and the place became a ghost-town.  Everyone watched the news, read social media threads, and followed the Quintana Roo state government’s guidance like ducklings following their parent.  The pandemic, as of this writing, has killed over 230,00 people in Mexico (and over 600,000 within the United States) and continues to be a force to be reckoned with.

The good news is that that within less than a year’s time, vaccines were developed, approved, and continue to be injected into anyone’s arm that is willing to protect themselves in the United States.  In Quintana Roo, they are administering vaccinations by age groups, and as of today, anyone over the age of 40 can get the vaccine.

This blog post is being written from the perspective of someone that is fully vaccinated.  Although as a U.S. citizen, being fully vaccinated means being able to go back to almost “business-as-usual”.  Traveling to and living in Mexico, these rules do not apply.  

The Quintana Roo state government continues to classify the COVID-19 status as orange.  In fact, Quintana Roo is the only state in Mexico where the COVID-19 cases continue to rise.  The state continues to have a mask mandate (for inside and outside), emphasize social distancing and frequent hand washing and/or sanitizing.

To be honest, I was not sure how the public bus system was handling the COVID-19 pandemic.  Would they only allow people to sit at every other seat?  Was there someone on the bus assigned to clean and sanitize as passengers got off and on?  I decided there was only one way to find out.  So, after 16 months of sheltering in place, it was time to venture out and enjoy my much-missed local public transportation adventures.

Over the course of one weekend, I hopped on several buses between Puerto Aventuras and Valladolid, Playa del Carmen, and Cancun as if it were “business-as-usual”.  Oh, how I missed the sights and sounds of riding the local buses.  At one point, I believed I almost felt giddy to be back to “normal”.  But there were clearly some positive changes; masks were a requirement while on public transportation, no exceptions.  And the price was finally the same for all passengers.  No two-tier pricing for locals versus tourists.  It cost 30 pesos to take the colectivo from Puerto Aventuras to Playa del Carmen.  What was disappointing was that there was no social distancing on the colectivo…the bus was jammed packed like sardines in a can.  In addition, there was no hand sanitizer offered.  Basically, people got on, people got off.  You ride at your own risk!

I did notice that when I took the ADO bus to Valladolid, the bus terminal in Tulum had every other seat closed to enforce social distancing, and they did temperature checks, gave out hand sanitizer and had each person entering the terminal step in some type of foot disinfectant (I still haven’t been able to figure that out).  But there were no seating restrictions on the bus (almost every seat was taken).

The malls were open and practiced the guidelines for COVID-19, but some of the local shops, restaurants & historical sites had limited hours of operation, and/or limited the number of people that could enter at a time.

So, you may be asking the question “as a fully vaccinated person, did I feel confident using public transportation in Mexico?” The verdict is still out on that question.  It has been over 14 days now and neither myself nor my husband have had any COVID-19 symptoms.  In addition, we both had an antigen COVID-19 test performed, just to make sure.  

However, I also recognize that there are no guarantees, and I could potentially get and spread COVID-19 or one of the various dangerous variants. In the meantime, I am enjoying a renewed sense of why I live in Mexico and all the beauty I see around me as I ride the colectivo throughout Quintana Roo.

So, the next time you see me standing at the bus stop and ask me how I’m doing, don’t be surprised by my response; from the famous words of NBC Sports’ Gary Koch, “better than most.”

COLECTIVO/BUS PRICES:

1. Colectivo from Puerto Aventuras, Mexico to Playa del Carmen, Mexico - 30 pesos a person, one way

2. Playa Express – from Playa del Carmen, Mexico to Cancun Mexico – 45 pesos a person, one way

3. R1 city bus – from Cancun ADO Station, Mexico to the Hotel Zone in Cancun, Mexico – 12 pesos per person, one way

4. ADO Bus from Tulum, Mexico to Valladolid, Mexico – 162 pesos – one way, per person

5. Taxi from Puerto Aventuras, Mexico to Tulum ADO Bus Station – 500 pesos for four passengers