Transantiago: Before and After

Today, I’m gonna talk about Transantiago System.

Transantiago started on February 10th, 2007. Before that day, we could see yellow buses on Santiago streets. Since that day, everything changed. We could see long lines of people who wanted to go home, but they couldn’t. They had to wait for hours to get on the buses. Everybody was angry, because they felt absolutely humiliated. The system changed the way to travel in the city, because in the past, people could get on one bus and arrived to their destiny, but now, it is not possible. People have to get on a bus, and then, they have to get off and get on another bus. It has been my experience. Really, I didn’t use that means of transport, because usually, I used the subway, but I could feel the change, because suddenly the subway turned into the most important means of transport, so everybody use it. I have to wait a long time to get on the train and we were all squashed together in the tube and it is so uncomfortable.

The old system wasn’t a great system, but it was easier. We didn’t have to change from a bus to another, so we took a shorter time to arrive to our destiny. But everything isn’t so bad. I think the bip! card is a good way to pay the ticket. Now, drivers can concentrate on driving. Also, now drivers earn a basic salary independently of how many people get on the bus. I think that is great.

I think Transantiago has changed for better. Now, there are more buses than in the past, and buses frequency has improved. Obviously, it is not enough, and I hope problems can be resolved soon, for example, buses frequency has to improve everyday, because people are all squashed together yet.

Bye!