The ups and downs of a public transport reform: the case of Transantiago

In Santiago, the capitol of Chile, an ambitious reform of the public transport industry, aptly named Transantiago, was introduced in February 2007. Serious design and implementation problems were immediately evident, creating one of the most important social and political crises in Chile since the return to democracy more than 20 years ago. In this paper we review the Transantiago experience, identifying the main design, institutional, contractual and implementation mistakes associated with the reform and the painful consequences that these failures generated among the population. We also review the policies that were implemented to address these problems and that enabled the system to provide a reasonably satisfactory service by late 2009. We believe that documenting and reviewing the Transantiago experience is important for policymakers so that analogous mistakes are not made in other transport reforms in developing countries. This may be particularly relevant now that several countries are considering or implementing reforms similar to Transantiago, for example the SITP in Bogotá, Colombia.