Where Did Mérida’s 35 Missing Buses Go?

Social media posts claiming that 35 Mercedes-Benz buses are being pulled from Mérida’s Va y Ven system and shipped off to Aguascalientes have set off a bigger conversation about the state of public transit in the city.

David Quintal Medina, president of the Circuito Metropolitano road council, said there’s no official word confirming where those buses are headed. But he used the moment to lay out a much larger problem: buses meant to serve Mérida that never made it onto the streets at all.

“I don’t have official information from the company,” Quintal Medina said. “What we do know is that they had units parked there that were also not incorporated into the system.”

By his count, roughly 150 vehicles have been returned, held up, or simply never put into service since 2025. Mobi Bus sent back 50 units that had been sitting in Querétaro. Grupo Canto returned another 50. Minibuses del Mayab couldn’t get about 20 vehicles into the system, and Pioneros currently has roughly 30 buses parked and unused.

“My group, which is Mobi Bus, had 50 units in Querétaro, and we had to tell Mercedes-Benz that they would not bring them in even though we had an authorization letter from the previous administration,” Quintal Medina said. “They did not accept it, so why bring vehicles that would not enter the system?”

Add in about 45 smaller “Mini Va y Ven” vans that were supposed to cover nighttime routes for restaurant and hotel workers, and the tally of buses that never reached riders climbs close to 200.

“These little trucks were focused on providing service to those who work at night or early morning in restaurants or hotels, but to this day, they have not been put into operation,” Quintal Medina said. “They are parked there, and the saddest thing is that they are being paid even though they do not circulate.”

He’s also worried about what sitting idle for months does to the vehicles themselves, since buses tend to deteriorate quickly when they’re not running.

Meanwhile, riders are the ones absorbing the shortfall. Quintal Medina said wait times have stretched out and lines at bus stops keep growing as the city’s population and demand for transit outpace the number of units actually on the road.

“The city continues to grow and continue to grow, and it needs more buses because the waiting times are getting longer and longer,” he said. “We can see this in every trip we make around the city or the periphery.”

As for the 35 buses supposedly bound for Aguascalientes, that story remains unconfirmed. Whether or not those specific units end up leaving the state, Quintal Medina’s tally suggests Mérida’s transit gap has little to do with any one shipment and everything to do with a system that has struggled with growing pains since it launched.

Fast Facts

• Reports of a transfer of 35 Va y Ven buses to Aguascalientes remain unconfirmed by officials
• Roughly 150 buses have been returned, detained, or never incorporated into Va y Ven since 2025
• Mobi Bus returned 50 units; Grupo Canto returned 50; Minibuses del Mayab lost about 20; Pioneros has roughly 30 idle
• About 45 “Mini Va y Ven” vans built for nighttime routes have never started service
• Combined, close to 200 buses meant for Mérida’s transit system haven’t reached riders

With reporting from De Peso