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TRANSPORT-CHILE: Transantiago – Ready for Take-Off?

Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, Feb 9 2007 (IPS) - A new public transport system will start operating this Saturday in the Chilean capital, aimed at improving quality of life and curbing air pollution. But its success depends on overcoming infrastructure problems and the difficulty of changing entrenched cultural habits.

“It’s a good plan, but the educational campaign required for smooth implementation hasn’t been carried out. A lot of problems will be solved as it goes along, but we’re worried they’ll undermine the credibility of the system,” Stefan Larenas, the head of the Chilean Consumers and Users Organisation (ODECU), told IPS.

The Transantiago Plan, inspired by Bogotá’s Transmilenio system, consists of a network of trunk roads served by articulated buses. Stops along these roads allow passengers to transfer to or from feed buses arriving from outlying neighbourhoods. Passengers can also transfer to and from the underground system, which is part of the trunk route plan.

Head of the Catholic University’s Cities Observatory project Pablo Allard told the El Mercurio newspaper that Transantiago would “entail large sacrifices, costs, and a major cultural change for people, but that with all its defects, the long term benefits would be tremendously positive, and the social costs would be corrected over time.”

Transantiago will contribute to reducing pollution in Santiago, which has one of the highest levels of air pollution in the world, since it will cut the number of vehicles and the volume of emissions.

Traffic is one of the main sources of air pollution in the Chilean capital. According to the authorities, the Transantiago articulated buses use a cleaner diesel fuel with only 50 parts per million of sulphur, and comply with EURO III international vehicle emission standards.

These modern buses, which have facilities for disabled people, have been gradually introduced since October 2005, while the ageing fleet of ordinary buses has been reduced from 7,000 to just under 5,000.

Smog will also be curbed by shortening public transport routes, decongesting the roads and discouraging the use of cars.

The non-governmental organisations ODECU, Ciudad Viva (Living City) and the Terram Foundation have just created the Urban Transport Observatory (OMU) to monitor the radical changes that public transport will undergo in the capital from this Saturday.

Transantiago was the initiative of former President Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006). Its design and execution was entrusted to several state bodies, and it is funded by public and private investment totalling more than two billion dollars. It was originally planned to start operating in August 2006, but had to be postponed for various reasons.

According to Larenas, “a revolution like this one should have been preceded by a public awareness campaign lasting at least two years, as in Bogotá for its Transmilenio project, and not just a couple of months as it was here.” Because of this, the government has been criticised for taking an “improvisational” approach.

The Transmilenio information campaign took many months, not just because Bogotá’s population is larger than Santiago’s, but mainly because it has no underground. Santiago’s subway system has a similar structure to that of Transantiago.

Transantiago involves exclusive bus lanes, route changes, differential fares and new bus stops. Santiago has been divided into 10 service zones, and bus rides may be local (confined to one zone) or trunk (crossing from one zone to another, involving passenger transfers).

One of the most radical changes will be the form of fare payment, which will require an electronic swipe card of the kind already used on the underground.

The electronic card has been distributed free of charge, and it can be loaded with whatever sum the user wishes. The bus fare is 380 pesos (70 cents of a dollar) and is valid for three transfers (within 90 minutes of the start of the journey) one way, and back again. Machines are needed to accept cash and put credit on the card, and card-reading machines are needed on buses.

Transport Minister Sergio Espejo admitted on Feb. 2 that there would be difficulties with some routes, coverage and bus frequency, but he said the important thing was to have mechanisms for correcting them.

Espejo acknowledged that in the first few days, users would naturally experience inconveniences.

By Feb. 6, the electronic cards had not all been distributed, not all buses had been fitted with card-reading machines, and not all the segregated lanes and bus stops had been built.

The Transmilenio in Bogotá was not complete when it was inaugurated, either. At first it had only two trunk routes and few bus stops, and it has been added to over the years.

Nearly all Santiaguinos interviewed by the media over recent weeks said they had no idea how the Transantiago system worked, even though the government has been providing information through phone numbers, walk-in offices and a web site.

Master builder José Olguín, 58, told IPS only days before Transantiago was due to begin operating that he did not know the new routes or how to use the electronic card, although he admitted that he had not made much effort to find out.

His work takes him to different areas of Santiago every day and, as he has no car, he relies on public transport. “My wife (a home-maker) is more worried than I am, because she says she’ll get lost. She doesn’t know what bus to take to go to the doctor’s,” for example, because sometimes several transfers are necessary, he said.

The executive branch has trained personnel to give directions in the field, and has sent route maps to every household in the capital. It has also hired retired footballer Iván Zamorano, a national idol, to explain the system on television spots.

Transantiago was devised in 2002 to modernise the much-deteriorated public transport system in Santiago, which is home to 6.5 million people.

The Lagos administration’s assessment – still valid today – was that urgent change was needed. It was impossible to predict bus frequency or journey times, and there was massive traffic congestion, increasing car use and severe air pollution.

Buses were owned by hundreds of small companies, labour laws were regularly flouted, for instance by not paying drivers’ social security contributions, and by the exhausting workdays. So the 3,000 former owners were forced to amalgamate into 10 companies and put in bids for the new routes.

A number of cyclists’ associations have asked the authorities to integrate them effectively into the Transantiago system. They want clearly marked bicycle routes, a lower maximum speed limit for motor vehicles, and parking stands for bicycles. Minister Espejo promised to answer their demands on Saturday.

In Larenas’ opinion, “the true test of Transantiago will come in March,” when the school year begins and people go back to work after their southern hemisphere summer holidays.

He was particularly concerned about the role of the underground in the new system. As of Saturday, the number of its passengers will double, to six people per square metre. According to Larenas, more trains and stations are needed than those promised to date.

Over the next few months, OMU will be working on a charter of rights and obligations for Transantiago passengers. Among their essential rights are to be treated decently by drivers, and that the quality of transport vehicles be improved. As for obligations, all passengers must pay their fares, as a significant number of freeloaders would bring about fare increases.

While the government estimates that the new transport system will be fully operational within about six months, Cities Observatory’s director Allard said the process could take up to two years.

“If Transantiago is properly operated it could bring lots of benefits, but we’re concerned that the lack of information, exclusive lanes, bus stops and electronic cards might upset people, and end up being a disincentive to use public transport,” ODECU’s Larenas said.