USB routers for students
More than 5,000 portable wifi USB routers were delivered to private and public middle and high school students in San Miguel de Allende. In the first event with about 60 guests, the USB routers were awarded to students with the best grade point averages.
These Telcel USB routers offer students unlimited internet access that they can use for the next four months, said the director of the municipal government’s Citizen Services, Rosario Licea Perales. Two million pesos are being invested in this initiative.
Gas alternative for taxis
Following the event, Mayor Luis Alberto Villarreal met with about two dozen taxi drivers who will switch from gasoline to gas. He spoke to them about the benefits of the change, one of which is that in optimum conditions, auto fuel injection can yield from 35 to 50 percent more mileage.
With the Ecotaxi program, CO2 emissions are also reduced. In a year, 100 cars using gasoline can emit up to 1,000 tons of CO2; with gas this is reduced by half, and the environment benefits. Villarreal mentioned that the more than 300 vehicles of the municipal administration changed to gas at the beginning of his term. “In 2018, Public Security spent 542 thousand pesos on gasoline; today they spend 220 thousand pesos in total.
Villarreal has invited all taxi drivers to switch to gas. By Nov. 12, the day of the meeting, 70 cars had already registered for the switch. There are an estimated 600 taxis in San Miguel, and the administration would sponsor the change to TruFuel. “Imagine, if you spend 500 pesos a day on gasoline and switch to gas, you would save 200 pesos a day, or 6,000 pesos a month,” he pointed out.
When questioned if in the future the City Council would ask State Mobility to manage taxi rates, Villarreal responded, “No. San Miguel is the best municipality in Mexico. The quality of life of San Miguel is different. The commitment today is for users to know that they will travel in an ecological vehicle. We are supporting the drivers. We live in a municipality where land does not cost the same as in any other part of Mexico, [except that with] a beach. The economy is different, the values are different. For now I have no such proposal. If we receive the suggestion, we will. We are on the side of the people, the environment, the taxi drivers who work from sunrise to sunset. The day they can no longer work they will not have social security, retirement. The drivers, in most cases, do not own the concession. Many years ago concessions were given out for election purposes, for the corporate vote. We will directly support the worker behind the wheel.”