Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Students make it to Valle de las Palmas as best they can

Tarantulas, snakes, coyotes on the unlighted road

Baja California’s Autonomous University campus at Valle de las Palmas – 29 miles east of Tijuana’s downtown.
Baja California’s Autonomous University campus at Valle de las Palmas – 29 miles east of Tijuana’s downtown.

Baja California’s Autonomous University campus at Valle de las Palmas is located 29 miles east of Tijuana’s downtown. 5355 students, mostly from Tijuana and Tecate, make their way to Valle de las Palmas despite the shortage of public transportation.

Some of them travel three hours to get there for classes. Psychology student Eduardo Mendoza is one of them. He lives in the Playas de Tijuana neighborhood. To get there he take three means of transportation: from Playas to downtown TJ, from downtown to El Refugio neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, and then to Valle de las Palmas.

“My first class starts at 8 o’clock. I need to wake up three hours before and I barely make it. Before the pandemic, there was a bus coming out from downtown straight to the campus. Now there are fewer buses available, and it is worse coming back home. I luckily have a professor that takes me and some other friends back close to downtown. But I've heard about students who had to walk kilometers until someone randomly gave them a ride back to the city outskirts”.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The municipal government has tried to implement a transport system to offer students a route.

Carlos Rodriguez who’s studying in Valle de las Palmas, realized this issue during his first semester and worked during the pandemic and virtual classes to buy a car. He’s helping out classmates by sharing his car with them. He noted that this is a way to support each other because they share gas expenses.

“There’s a Facebook page for rides. People post their routes and the empty spaces in their cars. Others don’t even post, just go with their cars to the bus station in El Refugio, park for a few minutes and raise their hands. If you have four empty spaces, you lift four fingers. Most of them take your offer and hop in but some others don’t because, you know, the whole insecurity issue.”

Rodriguez stated that the problem with the lack of transport is the way back, not because of insecurity or getting robbed, but the wildlife in this desert area. Tarantulas, snakes, and coyotes come out at night. The closest neighborhood is about two and a half miles away from the campus, on a road without public lighting.

Verenice Valtierra has an old school bus from the U.S. and uses it to offer rides and charge 10 pesos to each student. She has to deal with transportaion controllers. What she is doing is considered irregular and can bring a fine from the municipal transport department. “It is a way to help out students and get some money now that the pandemic has hit us all badly.”

Transport services like Alitisa, which has a concession for that route, report a lack of drivers for their units.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The Art Of Dr. Seuss, Boarded: A New Pirate Adventure, Wild Horses Festival

Events December 26-December 30, 2024
Next Article

Hike off those holiday calories, Poinsettias are peaking

Winter Solstice is here and what is winter?
Baja California’s Autonomous University campus at Valle de las Palmas – 29 miles east of Tijuana’s downtown.
Baja California’s Autonomous University campus at Valle de las Palmas – 29 miles east of Tijuana’s downtown.

Baja California’s Autonomous University campus at Valle de las Palmas is located 29 miles east of Tijuana’s downtown. 5355 students, mostly from Tijuana and Tecate, make their way to Valle de las Palmas despite the shortage of public transportation.

Some of them travel three hours to get there for classes. Psychology student Eduardo Mendoza is one of them. He lives in the Playas de Tijuana neighborhood. To get there he take three means of transportation: from Playas to downtown TJ, from downtown to El Refugio neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, and then to Valle de las Palmas.

“My first class starts at 8 o’clock. I need to wake up three hours before and I barely make it. Before the pandemic, there was a bus coming out from downtown straight to the campus. Now there are fewer buses available, and it is worse coming back home. I luckily have a professor that takes me and some other friends back close to downtown. But I've heard about students who had to walk kilometers until someone randomly gave them a ride back to the city outskirts”.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The municipal government has tried to implement a transport system to offer students a route.

Carlos Rodriguez who’s studying in Valle de las Palmas, realized this issue during his first semester and worked during the pandemic and virtual classes to buy a car. He’s helping out classmates by sharing his car with them. He noted that this is a way to support each other because they share gas expenses.

“There’s a Facebook page for rides. People post their routes and the empty spaces in their cars. Others don’t even post, just go with their cars to the bus station in El Refugio, park for a few minutes and raise their hands. If you have four empty spaces, you lift four fingers. Most of them take your offer and hop in but some others don’t because, you know, the whole insecurity issue.”

Rodriguez stated that the problem with the lack of transport is the way back, not because of insecurity or getting robbed, but the wildlife in this desert area. Tarantulas, snakes, and coyotes come out at night. The closest neighborhood is about two and a half miles away from the campus, on a road without public lighting.

Verenice Valtierra has an old school bus from the U.S. and uses it to offer rides and charge 10 pesos to each student. She has to deal with transportaion controllers. What she is doing is considered irregular and can bring a fine from the municipal transport department. “It is a way to help out students and get some money now that the pandemic has hit us all badly.”

Transport services like Alitisa, which has a concession for that route, report a lack of drivers for their units.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Live Five: Rebecca Jade, Stoney B. Blues, Manzanita Blues, Blame Betty, Marujah

Holiday music, blues, rockabilly, and record releases in Carlsbad, San Carlos, Little Italy, downtown
Next Article

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader