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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Figures show Express Lanes bring wider benefits
    August 12, 2015
    Drivers in the Washington DC area are realising time savings following the opening of Express Lanes on the I-95 - and not only those paying to use the new facility. Washington is ranked as being the worst gridlocked city in the United States. Every day its drivers face an average commute time of 39.5 minutes and they waste an average of 67 hours every year just sitting in traffic. In a move to counter these problems, late last December new Express Lanes were opened along 46.6km (29 miles) of the I-95 betwee
  • Asian cities dominate ranking of world's biggest and busiest metros
    November 6, 2015
    Asian cities dominate the ranking of the world’s biggest and busiest metro systems, according to a new report from UITP, the International Association of Public Transport. The report, World Metro Figures, is a comprehensive study on the current state of the world’s metro networks and highlights potential future developments. The report shows that in 2014, 156 cities around the world had a metro system in operation, nearly two thirds of which were in Asia and Europe. The world’s busiest metro networ
  • India to invest in transportation to boost urban economies
    November 13, 2012
    Grand plans have been announced for transport investment in India aimed at boosting city economies. India’s Government Secretary for Urban Development Sudhir Krishna explains all to Jason Barnes. There are many reasons for developed countries’ high levels of urbanisation, not least of which is that the types of employment to be found in towns and cities tend to generate relatively greater wealth and so make greater contributions to a country’s economy. That creates the imperative for developing nations to f
  • Study looks at air quality impacts of low carbon buses
    December 11, 2013
    A new report prepared by Ricardo for the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) to review the air quality impacts arising from the recent rapid increase in the number of low carbon buses in the UK recommends that the legislation needs to consider hybrid technology impacts in the test processes to avoid potential unintended consequences in terms of local emissions. As they mainly operate in urban areas, local emissions from buses are of particular significance. Reviewing worldwide test processes for