Cuenca Clarifies When Movilízate Cards Can Be Lent

Cuenca has clarified how the Movilízate card will work when one passenger needs to help another passenger who has run out of balance.

Starting August 15, people using the card to pay for urban public transportation in Cuenca will be able to lend it without an extra reload. The clarification matters because an earlier explanation suggested that lending the card within ten minutes could trigger the unsubsidized bus fare of 40 cents.

The one-time exception

The city’s current explanation is narrower and more practical. Marisol Peñaloza, Cuenca’s acting mayor, said that if a family member or another citizen runs out of balance, the card can be lent once as an exception based on solidarity.

That does not turn a personalized card into a general-purpose pass for repeated sharing. It does give families and passengers a defined way to handle an occasional problem when there is no nearby place to reload and someone needs to keep moving.

The useful point for residents is that the ten-minute language should not be read as an automatic charge every time a card is briefly lent. The city said there will be a technical clarification and solidarity exceptions.

Personalization still matters

Students and the general public are still required to personalize their bus cards. Personalization takes place at sales or recharge points.

The purpose is to give the city real information about who receives the urban-transport subsidy. That makes personalization more than an administrative step: it connects the card to the subsidy system and to the city’s effort to identify the people using it.

What residents should do

If you use Cuenca’s buses, personalize the card if you have not done so already. Keep the card available for your own trips, but remember the one-time solidarity exception if a family member or another passenger runs out of balance.

The final technical treatment of every possible lending scenario is still being clarified. For now, the practical rule is straightforward: the August 15 rollout includes a one-time exception, while personalization remains mandatory.