Three unions, one road, and not enough passengers to keep them all working

Three transport unions that share the van route between Tulum and Playa del Carmen have agreed to work in alternating shifts for one month, with one of the three resting each day.

The arrangement covers Untrac and Tiburones del Caribe, both based in Tulum, and Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, which operates out of Playa del Carmen, according to operators interviewed. Two organizations run the route on any given day. The third stays parked.

For anyone riding Highway 307 without a car, one of the three fleets is now missing from the road on any given day because there are no longer enough passengers to fill all three vans.

Two unions work, the third stays home

The cycle turns on a three-day loop rather than a calendar week. One day Untrac and Lázaro Cárdenas del Río take the route. The next, Untrac rests, and Tiburones del Caribe comes in, so two groups are always in service. Operators described it as two days of work followed by one of rest, repeating without interruption.

The objective, as they put it, is for all three organizations to benefit and for none to be left unprotected or at a disadvantage relative to the others. Distributing the work evenly is also meant to prevent the groups from competing unfairly for the remaining passengers.

Hotel occupancy at 15 percent, the lowest Tulum has recorded

Representatives and drivers attribute the decision to the drop in ridership over recent months. The wider numbers are worse than anything the destination has posted before. On August 14, Quintana Roo tourism secretary Bernardo Cueto Riestra said Tulum hotels were running at 15 percent occupancy, the lowest in the municipality's history, with Playa del Carmen at 30 percent, according to the trade outlet Reportur. He attributed the fall to an atypical sargassum season and to airlines cutting frequencies into the Mexican Caribbean as fuel costs climbed.

The vans do not carry only tourists. They move hotel and restaurant staff, students, and residents who cross between the two municipalities every day. So a slow hotel season empties the vans twice.

The unions have adjusted before. In August 2025, Untrac reported that passenger traffic on the corridor had fallen by roughly half and that the unions had cut the daily quota each driver pays for his unit by 200 pesos, in remarks to the regional outlet Agenda QR. The quota came down. The passengers did not come back.

The passenger cap that split the unions in May

The agreement follows a dispute that nearly stopped the service three months ago. In May, Untrac Sección II warned of a partial or total work stoppage after the Lázaro Cárdenas del Río union changed departure conditions in Playa del Carmen, limiting Untrac vans to 10 passengers while other groups left with as many as 15, La Jornada Maya reported. The union's secretary general, Moisés Paul Quijano, said the change violated agreements the three organizations had signed under guidelines promoted by state authorities, and that leaving with five fewer passengers barely covered fuel costs.

No stoppage followed. What arrived instead is an arrangement in which the three groups divide the shortage rather than argue over who absorbs it.

Thirty days will decide the Tulum to Playa del Carmen vans

The rotation is a pilot with a 30-day term. If the results are favorable and a majority of operators approve, the unions expect to keep it permanently. If they are not, the leadership will study other options, which they have not detailed.

Operators described the pilot as an agreement among the three organizations. They did not mention any role for Imoveqroo, the state mobility institute that regulates passenger transport in Quintana Roo and that took part in 2023 when the route's stop was relocated on the federal highway.

For riders, the practical question is the wait. Two fleets instead of three means fewer departures spread across the day, and no revised frequency has been published. Operators say keeping two groups on the road at all times was the point, precisely so the service never goes dark. They did not mention any change to fares or pickup points.

No date has been set for the count that ends the trial. Until it happens, the drivers resting today are back on the road tomorrow, and the decision on whether the rotation becomes permanent rests with the operators themselves rather than with any transport authority.

Have you waited longer than usual for a van between Tulum and Playa del Carmen this month? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes.