Traffic in Cuba

Priscilla,
I am from Canada, but I was in Havana Cuba recently, for 7 weeks.

Cuba is not like other countries... too many cars, traffic, and parking is not a problem.
Cuba is a communist country and the government limits the people from doing everything.
Although education is free, there are too many uneducated people. Why get a 4 year degree and then you get a job paying peanuts. They prefer to drive taxi.

There is a shortage of everything, including gasoline, and cars, but you still see vehicles on the road.
Cuba doesn't have many vehicles, like other countries, because they cannot afford them.
That said, there are a surprising amount of cars in the streets, but there is no real rush hour.
You can always find a place to park for free.

Commute to work is difficult, but not because of the traffic, it's because there is not enough transportation. The buses are small and always full, so you have to wait.

Running errands is has many problems. First because it takes forever to get anywhere. You either walk, wait for the bus, take a collective taxi, or pay full price for a regular taxi. Most people cannot afford a regular taxi. That's just transportation. The next problem is that there is a shortage of everything, so there are line-ups to get into the stores. It can take a large part of your day to run errands, so you need to stock up on things you use regularly, if you can afford it.

In Cuba there is no credit or financing to buy cars. So traffic is limited or really not much. You buy a car if you can afford it! Simple. In USA and Centrale Europe it's easy to get credit, even sometimes if you're not working. But banks and other credit enterprises charge interest... At some point if they cannot make ends meet due to ongoing payments on the car especially if they lose their job they still have to keep paying or else when can't afford car and home they become homeless.