Terminal de Transportación Pública Carlos Garay

Terminal de Transportación Pública Carlos Garay, a.k.a., Terminal de Carros Públicos Carlos Garay (Carlos Garay Public Transportation Terminal), is a public transportation terminal for shared ride passengers in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is located on the block bounded by Calle Vives, Calle Unión, Calle Victoria and Calle Mendez Vigo, in the Ponce Historic Zone, two blocks northeast of the main city square, Plaza Las Delicias. It is also a hub for the SITRAS city bus transportation system. It opened in 1987. On a typical weekday, approximately 500 passengers on about 40 buses and shared-ride vehicles use the station. The building is an example of 1960s urban renewal. When at its peak, the Carlos Garay terminal accommodates over 100 públicos.[5]

Terminal de Transportación Pública Carlos Garay
Terminal de Carros Públicos Carlos Garay, Calle Victoria side, looking west (2014)
LocationThe block bounded by Calle Vives, Union, Victoria and Mendez Vigo.
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Owned byMunicipality of Ponce
Operated byMunicipality of Ponce
Line(s)Don Q, Choferes Unidos, others
Platforms3 levels
Bus operatorsSITRAS
Construction
Structure typeSteel and concrete
Platform levels3
Parking425[1]
Bicycle facilities20[2]
History
Opened1987
Rebuilt2004[3]
Traffic
Passengers (2017)7,500[4]

History

The first public transportation in the city consisted of horse-drawn wagons and was started in the 1850s. The first such service car was made operational on 24 June 1854 by Juan Nepomuceno Castro. Señor Castro had purchased the wagon for that purpose from Guillermo Neumann, who had been mayor of Ponce three years earlier, from 23 April 1851 to 30 September 1851.[6] As "a large city with a small town flavor",[7] for years Ponce's public mass transportation system consisted only of a shared taxi service providing public cars and vans known as públicos.[8]

The first line of public transportation via automobile between Ponce and San Juan was established in 1902.[9] By the 1940s,[10] a network of públicos numbering some 20 "líneas" (lines, or shared taxi companies) had already emerged in Ponce, and positioned itself along various downtown city streets.[11] The 20 or so líneas served both intra-city and inter-city transportation needs. Lineas providing inter-city service, that is, those heading to other towns such as San Juan,[12] Mayaguez, Guayama, Peñuelas, Adjuntas, and Juana Diaz, were stationed around the perimeter of Plaza Las Delicias and numbered eight, with a fleet of 38 vehicles.[13] Intra-city lines, namely those heading to various communities in the city of Ponce (Jardines del Caribe, Cantera, Glenview, etc.)[14] or to its barrios, including Guaraguao, Anón, Coto Laurel, etc., projected further out from the city center, were located mostly in the area surrounding Plaza del Mercado de Ponce, and numbered 12 lineas, with a fleet of 109 vehicles.[15] The entire shared taxi network covered some 8-10 city blocks of downtown Ponce. The scattered públicos generated congestion in some downtown streets, was plagued by unpredictable and sporadic service, had limited or no service at all on weekends, and no evening service. It was under these set of circumstances that the need to create a hub for Ponce's public transportation system became evident.

The plan to build the terminal took concrete form during the administration of mayor Tormos Vega (1977-1984).[16] Fifteen properties (mostly residential homes) were purchased, at a cost of $2,000,000 ($8.44 million in 2019 dollars[17]) in order to secure the land area necessary to building the terminal.[18] Construction began in the later part of 1983 at a cost of $4,500,000 ($11.6 million in 2019 dollars[17]). In its opening year (1987), the terminal was assigned an operating budget of $160,000 ($360 thousand in 2019 dollars[17]).[19]

The decentralized shared ride system changed in 1987 when all the líneas scattered throughout downtown Ponce were centralized at the 3-story Terminal de Carros Públicos Carlos Garay[20] upon the Terminal's inauguration.[21][22][23] With the inauguration of the SITRAS city bus system 25 years later (2012), buses also started to use the terminal as their central depot.[24]

Architecture

The terminal has a footprint of 8,563 square meters[25] and was made possible, in part, through funds from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration.[26] The building is constructed of huge steel-reinforced concrete trusses. The structure has space for 425 vehicles.[27] The site now occupied by this terminal was the site of the city's first cemetery in the 1700s, and Calle Union street was known as "La Calle del Cementerio" (Cemetery Street). In 1842, as the town grew and for health reasons (in times of heavy rains, cadavers would float up to the surface), a new cemetery was built much further away from the center of town, which is today (2018) known as Panteon Nacional Roman Baldorioty de Castro.[28]

Name

The terminal was named after Carlos J. Garay Villamil, an iconic cochero from Ponce, who for decades provided tourists and sweethearts with lovely horse-drawn rides around the city.[29]

Bus service
Main article: SITRAS

Local buses stop at the terminal but do not enter it, as the interior of the terminal was not designed for bus service. SITRAS buses stop on Calle Vives on the southern perimeter of the terminal.

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See also

References
  1. Reglamento para la Consideracion, Ejecucion y Certificacion de Propuestas para Recibir Incentivos de Rehabilitaciona Llevarse a Cabo en el Centro Urbano de Ponce. Oficina de Ordenación Territorial, Municipality of Ponce. Item #33. 8 June 2004. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  2. Estudio de Transportación. A. M. Figueroa. University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Page 11. 23 March 2012. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  3. Reglamento para la Consideracion, Ejecucion y Certificacion de Propuestas para Recibir Incentivos de Rehabilitaciona Llevarse a Cabo en el Centro Urbano de Ponce. Oficina de Ordenacion Territorial, Municipality of Ponce. Item #33. 8 June 2004. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  4. Estudio de Transportación. A. M. Figueroa. University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Page 3a. 23 March 2012. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  5. Viven pesadilla choferes en Ponce. Reinaldo Millán. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 31. Issue 1545. Page 16. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  6. Eduardo Neuman Gandia. Verdadera y Autentica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. 1913. p. 99. Reprinted 1987.
  7. Ponce. Harry S. Parise. Explore Puerto Rico. Page 239. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  8. Let's Go:Home > North America > Puerto Rico > Southeast > Ponce : Intercity Transportation. Archived 4 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved April 16, 2010.
  9. Socorro Guirón. Ponce, el teatro La Perla y La Campana de la Almudaina. Historia de Ponce desde sus comienzos hasta la segunda decada del siglo XIX. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1992. page 427.
  10. Temen 'golpe de muerte' con SITRAS. Jason Rodríguez Grafal. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 29. Issue 1453. Page 10. 5 October 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2012. Weblink updated on 2 February 2018.
  11. Estudio de Transportación. A. M. Figueroa. University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Page 3a. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  12. Temen 'golpe de muerte' con SITRAS. Jason Rodríguez Grafal. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 29. Issue 1453. Page 10. 5 October 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  13. Estudio de Transportación. A. M. Figueroa. University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Page 3a. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  14. Temen 'golpe de muerte' con SITRAS. Jason Rodríguez Grafal. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 29. Issue 1453. Page 10. 5 October 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  15. Estudio de Transportación. A. M. Figueroa. University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Page 3a. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  16. Carmelo Rosario Natal. Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945-2002. Published by Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 123.
  17. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  18. Carmelo Rosario Natal. Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945-2002. Published by Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 123.
  19. Carmelo Rosario Natal. Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945-2002. Published by Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 123.
  20. Porta Caribe: Ponce and around. Stephen Keeling. "The Rough Guide to Puerto Rico." Rough Guides Limited. 2008. Page 221. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  21. Porta Caribe: Ponce and around. Stephen Keeling. "The Rough Guide to Puerto Rico." Rough Guides Limited. 2008. Page 211. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  22. Temen 'golpe de muerte' con SITRAS. Jason Rodríguez Grafal. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 29. Issue 1453. Page 10. 5 October 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  23. Ponce Public Transportation. Frommer’s Getting Around. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  24. Choferes denuncian el cierre de baños. Reinaldo Millán. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 4 March 2015. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  25. Ordenanza Numero 56, Serie de 2011-2012. Municipal Assembly. Government of the Municipality of Ponce. 13 April 2012. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  26. Ordenanza Numero 56, Serie de 2011-2012. Municipal Assembly. Government of the Municipality of Ponce. 13 April 2012. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  27. Reglamento para la Consideracion, Ejecucion y Certificacion de Propuestas para Recibir Incentivos de Rehabilitaciona Llevarse a Cabo en el Centro Urbano de Ponce. Oficina de Ordenación Territorial, Municipality of Ponce. Item #33. 8 June 2004. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  28. Socorro Guiron. Ponce, el teatro La Perla, y la Campana de la Almudaina. Ponce Municipal Government. 3rd edition. 1992. page 29.
  29. Carmelo Rosario Natal. Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945-2002. Published by Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 122.

Further reading
  • Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliográfica Anotada. Second Edition. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 263. Item 1316. LCCN 92-75480
  • Luis Rodriguez-Garcia. Requerimiento arqueológico (Fase 1B): Terminal de Vehículos Públicos, Calle Marina esquina Comercio y Luna, Ponce, P. R. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1988. (PUCPR).
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