Chile Smart Mobility

Chilean public transportation systems are overseen by regional authorities that report directly to the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunication. In the Santiago Metropolitan Region, the Directorio de Transporte Público Metropolitano (DTPM) regulates, supervises, and operates the largest public transportation network in the country that includes the six lines of the Santiago Metro, 378 urban bus routes, and Central Train Alameda-Nos suburban train line. Santiago’s bus network is divided among six concessionaires that operate 378 routes and 3,800 buses including the largest fleet of electric buses in South America. The combined network has 2.8 million daily weekday trips, below the pre-pandemic level of 3.6 million daily weekday trips and processes nearly 325,000 payments. One million users are using digital payments since the program began in January 2022.

In August 2022, the DTPM launched the Technical Transformation of the RED Network, a $500 million, ten-year plan to integrate Santiago’s sprawling public transportation network, improve accessibility, and lower carbon emissions. The strategy was developed to prioritize the users and strengthen the sustainability and resilience of the system. The four main components of the plan are:

•    Fleet Management: Improve reliability and confidence in the system
•    User Information: Open, accurate, and accessible information for decision-making 
•    Ticketing System: Modernize the payment system and diversity of payment methods
•    Network operation: Improve route efficiency, frequency, and intramodality

DTPM will release the Elaboration and Publication of Essential Content for the Fleet Management and User Information tender on September 30, 2022. Tenders for the remaining components will be released in 2023.

For more information, please contact U.S. Commercial Service Chile Commercial Specialist Claudia Melkonian.