from a friend...

ADO now ADON't

Well, it was too good to last. ADO has stopped its daily runs to Merida and is now sporadic. Tried to get a trip for this week and was told that I have to check every day to see if they are going.

I knew it could not go on forever. There were times when there were only two people on the bus. At $79bz one way, there is no way they were making money.

Someone said that they had a contract and had to do the runs but it made no sense from the start. No way in hell they could have that volume of traffic to Merida. If they did, then imagine the amount of foreign exchange leaving Belize. UHS was not a bad idea.

I really think that they should give these guys permission to run to Chetumal, at least until some local company can come up with a decent bus to provide adequate service to our people.

The ADO run to Cancun is working fine, since many folks are saving money traveling to the US via that route. There should be a regular schedule to Merida though, maybe once or twice a week. It cannot continue to be just wait until we get a full load.

response....

As you said, that daily run from Belize to Merida is just not economically feasible.

But since the ADO run to Cancun is working fine, then why not take the ADO bus from Belize to Cancun and then transfer in Cancun on another ADO bus to Merida.?

The ADO bus schedule shows that they have at least two daily runs from Cancun to Merida during the week and at least one on weekends. I'm not sure whether the prices indicated are in U.S. dollars or Mexican pesos but if it's in U.S. dollars, it seems rather expense for a bus ride from Cancun to Merida.

Here is the link for the ADO bus schedule within Mexico.

http://www.ado.com.mx/wadod/compra.jsp

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Problem is buddy, Cancun is quite a distance from Merida. There is an option to transfer at Bacalar which I am going to try. Don't remember Bacalar having much of a terminal though, and I sure hope that the layover is not too long. The return trip will be another challenge.

The fares on the ADO site are in pesos. In Mexico, the dollar sign ($) is used to denote pesos.

from a friend....

ust got off the ADO a short time ago after a day in Merida. It seems I either got lucky or the schedule is back on track. Nobody seems to know.

The bus left as usual at seven pm and arrived in Merida at about 3:30am. Normally in the summer months it arrives a hour later because like the US, Merida has daylight savings time. At the moment, we have the same time.

I normally stay at Hotel Margarita which is right across the street from Clinica Merida. I usually get off the bus, take a taxi and they let me in and allow me to book in early. This time was no exception, only when I got ready to check out last night, they told me that I owed an extra day. They have tightened up on the policy of anything before seven am is considered a full day. I finally convinced them that I was broke after spending all my money on medicine. I got let off with a "don't do it again". It is a fairly decent hotel for just a little over a hundred Belize per night. Its close proximity to the hospital makes it quite convenient.

I primarily went to get some xrays on my knees and right hip. Turns out the contact lady forget to pick up the xrays in time and I will have to wait until next week for her to send them down. Totally disappointed.
The bus returned on schedule so maybe it was just a breakdown last week. I know for sure that for at least three days last week there was no bus.

As per usual, there were about four people going and three coming back. For sure these folks have been losing a hell of a lot of money on that run. The Cancun run is doing well however, and goes at least half full every night. For the life of me, I don't see why they don't just run that one, stop off at Chetumal and let the Merida bound folks switch over to a Chet to Merida bus.

Anyway, it sure is a convenience to ride non-stop on a bus where you have a pick of seats and two or more to yourself.

Enjoyed the outing. Wish I could move around more and enjoy Merida. It is a very nice city.

Why don't you either move to Mexico or get your Xrays done here in Belize?

'Cause he's a roots Belizean and he has a complicated autoimmune chronic illness. Belize doesn't measure up, medically speaking.