Improving the Urban Public
Transport in Developing Countries:
The Design of a New Integrated
System in Santiago de Chile
Antonio Gschwender
agschwen@yahoo.com
Thredbo 9
5-9 September 2005
Lisbon, Portugal
Santiago de Chile
• Modal split (motorised trips)
Year
Public
Transport
(%)
Car
(%)
Others
(%)
1977
1991
2001
83.4
70.5
51.9
11.6
19.7
39.2
5.0
9.8
8.9
• Public transport in 2003
– Buses
•
•
•
•
•
380 lines, average length 60km
8,000 buses
4,000 private “companies”
No operational subsidy
Bad service
– Metro: good service (fast, reliable, clean)
2
Diagnosis of the Bus System
• Negative aspects
– On-the-street competition
• High accident risk
• Unpredictable waiting times
– Lack of cleaning and
preventive maintenance
– Routes designed to compete
with other bus lines and
metro
– Institutional design
• Absence of Transport Authority: attributions divided into many
public bodies
• Almost no participation of the authority in the planning of the
system
3
Diagnosis of the Bus System
• Positive aspects
– High frequencies
• Low waiting times
– High routes density
• Low walking times
– Low transfers
• Due to overlapping of many long routes
• ... and fare structure: ”pay each time you board”
– Positive aspects should be maintained
4
Main Aspects of the
Proposed New System
• New routes
structure
– Three
complementary
networks
• Metro
• Main bus routes
• Feeder and local
bus routes
5
Main Aspects of the
Proposed New System
• New fare structure and ticketing system
– Integrated fare
• Bus and metro
• Reduced (zero) transfer fare
– Contactless smartcard
• Only paying device
• Already used in the metro
(1,4 million in 2004)
6
Main Aspects of the
Proposed New System
• Transport authority externalises:
– Operation of the buses
– Finance administrator
• sells tickets
• administrates revenues
• provides ticket-reading machines
– Information manager
• manages operational information
• generates operational reports
• users’ information
7
Main Aspects of the
Proposed New System
• New property structure for the bus industry:
several big companies
– Main routes
• 5 tendering units
• Some 500 buses each unit
– Feeder and local routes
• 10 local areas = 10 tendering units
• Some 200 buses each unit
– Maximum 4 concessions per operator
8
Main Aspects of the
Proposed New System
• Financial balance
– No operational subsidy
• And fares cannot rise
– New costs
• Ticketing system
• Information manager
• Infrastructure in transfer points
– Reduction in bus operation costs
• Better match between demand and capacity (coordination between
routes)
– Fares are a result of the tenders
• 0.45 EUR estimated average adult fare
9
Additional Description of The
Proposed New System
• Buses
– 18m articulated buses
introduced
– Fleet: 4,500 vehicles
• (Metro network is doubled)
• 1,600 new low floor/entrance
– Euro III emission norm
10
Additional Description of The
Proposed New System
• Infrastructure plan: segregated busways (14km),
transfer stations, etc.
– Cost: 210 million EUR
• 25% publicly financed; 75% private investment charged
to users’ fares
• Yearly cost of the
system
– 570 million EUR:
fares revenue
32% metro
5.5% finance adm.
and information
manager
5.5%
infrastructure
43% main
bus routes
14% local and
feeder buses
11
Final Comments
• Current situation
– Design of the plan began in 2001
– Bus operation tenders
• Awarded in January 2005
• Between 2 and 8 offers per tender unit
• Old and new (foreign and Chilean) operators
– Finance administrator
• Awarded in April 2005
– Information manager
• Not awarded yet
– Implementation
• Begins in October 2005
• Finish by the end of 2006
12
Final Comments
• Change in the whole bus system
– Political dimension
• Already tendered services (since 1991)
• Very bad public opinion about current bus system
• Successful experiences in other Latin-American cities (e.g. Bogotá)
– Technical dimension
• Data availability
• Modelling capacity: Joint design of 160 lines in a 5.4 million
inhabitants city
– Design model
– New bus routes: heuristics
– New frequencies: min Cop+Cusers
• Knowledge of the particular situation
13
Final Comments
• No strong political figure promoting and
defending the plan over all its steps
– Together with unclear institutional design:
problems
• Competition existed in bus operation tenders
– Financial risk of the bus operators was reduced by
several mechanisms
• Massive introduction of smartcard was
attractive for banks
• Transfers increased from 0.2 to 0.8 per trip
14
Final Comments
• Some future challenges
–
–
–
–
–
Transport authority?
Congestion-free infrastructure for the buses
Extension of integrated fare to other modes
Travelcards?
Product differentiation? (price-quality)
15
END of the presentation
16
Improving the Urban Public
Transport in Developing Countries:
The Design of a New Integrated
System in Santiago de Chile
www.transantiago.cl
Antonio Gschwender
agschwen@yahoo.com
Thredbo 9
5-9 September 2005
Lisbon, Portugal
18
Fare Structure
19
Additional Description of The
Proposed New System
• Financial risk of the bus operators
– Reduced by:
• Minimum income guaranteed: between 85 and 60%
• Patronage semi-guaranteed: only 10% of the variation is transferred
to operator
• Concession period can be extended up to 24 months if income is low
• Revenue adjustments in case of patronage changes due to
commercial speed variations
• Compensation fund: assures payment in first months and if drops in
the demand occur
• If fares reach an upper limit, measures to rationalise the use of car
will be introduced
20
Additional Description of The
Proposed New System
• Infrastructure plan
–
–
–
–
14km of new segregated busways (11km already exist)
2 big interchange stations
35 smaller transfer stations
Road surface and geometric improvements in 63km of main
roads
– 2 strategic road connections
– Improvements of 5,000 busstops
– Cost: 210 million EUR
• 25% publicly financed
• 75% private investment charged to the users’ fares
21
Additional Description of The
Proposed New System
• Awards and penalties scheme
– Income generated by the penalties is returned to the
operators (awards)
• Operators’ payment adjustment
– Mathematical formula (production factors), as before
– Impacts users’ fare
• Avoid need of legal changes
• Avoid intensive requirements of new
infrastructure
22
Santiago de Chile
• Motorisation rate
– 1977: 80 cars per 1,000 inhab
– 2001: 148 cars per 1,000 inhab
• 10.2 million daily motorised trips
• Modal split 2001:
–
–
–
–
–
–
36% walking
26% bus
24% car
4% metro
4% taxi and shared-taxi
6% other modes
• 1,600 million trips in public transport in a year (2003)
– 290 yearly trips per inhabitant in PT
23
END
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