Skip to main content

Chile's public transport service improves, study says

According to a study carried out by Santiago’s metropolitan transport department DTP Transantiago, the mass transport system operating in the Chilean capital has increased the number of buses operating and has improved frequency indicators in the last year. All seven companies operating different corridors within Santiago put more buses on the streets and exceeded the 90 per cent ratio set as the minimum to comply with regulations in the last three months of 2013 compared to the same period of 2012. Metb
February 20, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
According to a study carried out by Santiago’s metropolitan transport department DTP 5348 Transantiago, the mass transport system operating in the Chilean capital has increased the number of buses operating and has improved frequency indicators in the last year.

All seven companies operating different corridors within Santiago put more buses on the streets and exceeded the 90 per cent ratio set as the minimum to comply with regulations in the last three months of 2013 compared to the same period of 2012. Metbus was the top operator performance at 99.1 per cent, while Alsacia came last with 92.4 per cent.

All seven companies improved in frequency, with STP as the most regular bus operator, with a 90.4 per cent ratio. Alsacia was still below the 80 per cent minimum ratio required, at 77 per cent. Concessionaire Express, which a year ago was below the 88 per cent threshold, has now met the minimum target.

Transantiago was introduced in 2007 to improve public transportation by lowering the number of buses and optimising routes, but implementation was rushed, and changes in the seven years since it was introduced have been unable to solve what were initially seen as teething problems. The system has needed constant public funding, and over the past six years the government has injected over US$10bn to keep the system going.

Related Content

  • Study shows road markings deliver cost-effective road safety
    June 20, 2012
    Road markings are among the most cost-effective solutions to make roads safer. A recent study carried out for the American Glass Bead Manufacturer’s Association quantifies by just how much Despite only making up 23% of the US mileage, fatalities on America’s rural two-lane highways made up 57% of all traffic fatalities in 2009 — resulting in more than $77Bn in losses for that year alone. Moreover, a rural motorist is 2.7 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash per mile travelled than their urban
  • Emissions reductions targets to have major impact on transport
    October 28, 2015
    As bold moves aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions have been introduced in California, David Crawford looks at the ramifications for transportation. California Governor Jerry Brown’s recent dramatic raising of the bar on emissions reduction policy for the state has won him praise from Japan, Australia, Europe and the secretariat of the critical UN conference on climate change being held in Paris in November/December 2015. His April 2015 executive order aimed at bringing emissions to 40% below 1990 lev
  • US adopts automated enforcement… gradually
    March 4, 2014
    The US automated enforcement market is in rude health as the number of systems and applications continues to grow and broaden. Jason Barnes reports. Blessed and cursed – arguably, in equal measure – with a constitution which stresses the right to self-expression and determination, the US has had a harder journey than most to the more widespread use of automated traffic enforcement systems. In some cases, opposition to the concept has been extreme – including the murder of a roadside civil enforcement offici
  • Is fare-free transit taking us for a ride?
    August 11, 2022
    More cities around the world are trialling fare-free public transit schemes. Do they work and are they sustainable? Andrew Stone puts absolutely no money on his travelcard and jumps on board