Chile weighs up solutions to shift passengers from cars to public transport

Chilean authorities are aware that public transport must be a more attractive option to encourage a shift away from using private vehicles on clogged city streets, but there is some disagreement on whether measures such as congestion fees or carbon taxes are needed to accelerate the trend. 

“It is hard to build a city around a sea of cars,” transport minister Juan Carlos Muñoz said in his opening address at the Latam Mobility Southern Cone Summit held in capital Santiago.

New car sales in Chile surged to an all-time record in 2022 due to concerns regarding COVID-19 contagion in crowded public transit, worsening the traffic in many cities.

“We caused a disaster,” Muñoz said, underscoring that private vehicles, the subway system and bus lines are often taking passengers to the same destinations.

As new bus and train services are added, and new subway lines in the case of Santiago, the question is on how to simultaneously reduce the use of private vehicles to ease traffic.

Muñoz said that his ministry is currently weighing up measures to improve traffic management. 

“It's important to understand that this won't be solved with more infrastructure. It won’t be solved with more traffic lanes, but rather with better management to promote modes of transport that use existing infrastructure in a more efficient manner,” he told BNamericas after his speech.

Santiago currently has over 2,500 electric buses operating on its streets and another 1,200 will be added after an ongoing tender.

Meanwhile the first units have started running in regional capitals such as Antofagasta and Rancagua, while La Serena and Valparaíso are expected to follow suit shortly. The government's objective is to have electric buses operating in all regional capitals by 2026.

Muñoz said that this will be easier thanks to the approval of a public transport subsidies bill earlier this month, which, among other aspects, establishes that 50% of these funds must be used for infrastructure and service improvements. The remaining 50% will be allocated to operating subsidies, fleet renewals and new infrastructure. 

“For public transportation to be of high quality, it requires a substantial investment of resources. This doesn't make it a waste of money; rather, it constitutes a social investment that helps reduce the number of people using private cars,” he added. 

“Rather than fines, we have to think of ways in which vehicles can circulate in a more efficient manner,” he said when asked about the possibility of implementing congestion fees. 

Marcela Munizaga, deputy chair of subway operator Metro de Santiago, spoke about this possibility more explicitly.    

“We should think about carbon taxes or congestion fees. To make [private vehicles] internalize the negative externalities that they create,” she said during a transport decarbonization panel held at the same summit. 

When asked by BNamericas about the feasibility of that idea, Munizaga admitted that the political viability of such measures remains uncertain, but cities that have applied congestion fees, such as London, Singapore and Stockholm, have shown positive results so far.