EDITION 87

MAY 2008

Urban Transportation in Mazatlan

By Enrique Vega Ayala
Official Chronicler of Mazatlan

Carriages and streetcars

Throughout its history, changes in Mazatlan's transportation have been linked to services for the port's visitors. Just as new buses circulate today through the tourist areas, the four-seated carriages that inaugurated public transportation in the mid-1800s were intended primarily for the passengers and crews of the ships that anchored at the southern beach. Luis M. Servo attests to this in his 1854 "Statistical Notes for the Port of Mazatlan." More than cover distances, transportation services helped travelers with their bulky, heavy luggage for a modest fee. Even as the city grew, there was still no need to transport locals from place to place over the intricate, cobble-stoned roads.

As activities in the port intensified, the movement of passengers and cargo to the harbor and through the city required more public transportation vehicles as well as an organized hub for carriages. Although the models changed over time, the vehicles were always known as "spiders" (arañas) and became one of the symbols of traditional Mazatlan. The mere mention of them brings nostalgia to some.

Yet, there were more than spiders in Mazatlan's old public transportation. In the late-nineteenth century, there was also a mule-powered streetcar route that went from the wharf, the customs office, the shipyard, to Machado Plaza. Although the city had grown and transportation fulfilled other functions, including service to the newly established cemetery, the route still mostly catered to "tourists."

Another innovation along these lines was the steam train that Arturo de Cima introduced when the railroad came to Mazatlan in 1909. Its main purpose was to take passengers and railroad workers back and forth between the city and the station, then located near Bonfil Park. The steam engine pulled four cars from the station at the corner of Recreo (Constitución) and Casamata (Francisco Serrano) streets and continued toward Nueva Street (Melchor Ocampo), where it turned before stopping in front of the Pacifico Brewery. It then went down 18 de Abril (Gabriel Leyva), stopped at the station, and continued to the Number 3 Cemetery, where it turned around and went back. The fare was five cents for adults and two pesos for children under ten. According to Carlos "Chale" Salazar, the long war of attrition and attacks during the Revolution put an end to the streetcar in 1913.

Climate and public transportation

Given the climate of Mazatlan, vehicles exposed to the wind have been the most attractive, although air-conditioned buses are becoming ever more prevalent. The spiders and the streetcars left passengers plenty ventilated, as did the Ford trucks equipped with seats in the trunk. The so-called "tropical buses" ran from the market to the railroad station and, occasionally, all the way to Urias or to the cemetery. The terminal and the gas station were on 21 de Marzo Street, between 5 de Mayo and Guillermo Nelson.

The spiders, which had survived the streetcars and endured even the invasion of buses, later faced competition from taxis. In order to defend their traditional trade, the drivers organized and in 1936 formed a union.The bus and taxi drivers together established their own union, and remained united until 1942, when each group formed its own union.

In 1956, the Alliance of Urban and Suburban Transporters took the place of the Bus Drivers' Union and immediately took over the existing bus routes. It was then that buses began to circulate instead of the "tropical buses." For the first time, Mazatlan's public transportation users rode in closed vehicles; however, as a rule, the new buses' windows could almost never shut entirely. New models were periodically introduced, but until the 1970s the buses were always gray. More colors arrived with the red-and-white and cream-and-red minibuses that replaced the short-lived collective taxis. For many years the minibuses have been called "peseros," even though the fare now exceeds the original "peso."

After 1975, the traditional "spiders" succumbed to the popular motorized “pulmonias” and their drivers began to provide service in red trucks equipped with seats much like the earlier "tropical buses."

1993 saw the debut of air-conditioned buses. This didn't last long, for a few years later they lost their climate-control abilities. What remains even today is their name: "Colosios," a reference to the assassinated presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio whose advertisements once blazoned the rear of the buses.

In 2001, new green buses began to service the tourist routes. In act against nature, they are all air-conditioned and fitted with wide, hermetically sealed windows. Many of these vehicles have since become "publimoviles," or moving billboards-the advertisements that cover them head to toe provide some extra money to their owners.

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"Araña" in Olas Altas

The Spider and taxi stop in front of the Belmar Hotel

 

 

Carriage stop in front of the Plaza Machado

Mule-powered street cars

 

 

Tropical buses in front of the market