The Metropolitan Region of Chile will have 50% of its fleet of electric public transport buses by 2025, following a new tender that seeks to join the 2,480 currently in circulation.
According to the media América Economía, at the beginning of the month, the Chilean government informed that it received 86 bids submitted by nine interested companies, both Chilean and foreign, for the bidding process for the 2023 road concession of Red Movilidad, the public transport system of the metropolitan area, where more than seven million people live.
This is the first Chilean tender for roads, that is, for the companies that manage the bus routes in the capital, in which it was required that the units to be operated be 100 percent electric.
The Director of Metropolitan Public Transport, Paola Tapia, pointed out in an interview with Xinhua news agency that everything started in 2017, when Santiago was a pioneer in Latin America in implementing this technology with buses brought from abroad.
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“Today we have 2,480 electric buses, we are going to reach more than 3,500, so of the total fleet, which is 7,000 buses, they are going to be electric buses next year,” said the official.
Tapia emphasized that this “is a transportation revolution that is here to stay, which is related to the technology of the buses to which we have also associated comfort issues”.
Unit Features
The official highlighted that currently the electric buses have USB charging, Wifi connection, air conditioning and a separate cabin for the driver.
She added that the new tender is accompanied with the strengthening of the infrastructure because they will go from 28 electroterminals that the city currently has, to more than 50, in addition to improvements in the bus stops.
“Chinese technology has been fundamental to this revolution in public transportation. They were in 2017, when being Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, we brought the first electric buses to our country in a business model that has also been replicated in other countries and that is always observed with great interest to be able to replicate that figure also in other Latin American countries, even in other parts of the world,” Tapia said.
Latam Mobility in Chile
On August 27 and 28, Latam Mobility arrives in Santiago de Chile for its mobility meeting that seeks to promote development in the Southern Cone and the region.
It will be two days that will bring together leaders from the public and private sectors to discuss the prospects and developments that seek to massify sustainable mobility and electromobility.
For more information about participation click here.
