Balance of roads prioritized for buses: 36 kilometers of bus-only lanes and 50 new monitoring points added

Monday, March 17, 2025 – In the framework of the implementation of the “March Plan” for the return to mobility, the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz, together with the Director of Metropolitan Public Transport, Paola Tapia, and the head of the Transport Inspection Division, Óscar Carrasco, announced the implementation of more kilometers of prioritized roads in order to improve travel times for users of Red Movilidad, but also announced a balance of citations to motorists who do not respect the roads.

The authorities indicated that 2025 began with 36 additional kilometers of bus-only lanes, in addition to the 87 kilometers of corridors and 28 kilometers of exclusive lanes. In total, there are 480.5 km of roads prioritized for public transport, which corresponds to 14.4% more than what existed in 2022.

“The new kilometers of prioritized roads will allow us to continue reducing travel times, mainly in districts such as Quilicura, Puente Alto and Providencia. In fact, this measure increases the speed of buses by up to 30%, which is a great incentive in our commitment to promote the use of public transportation. Today, one bus moves the same number of people as 60 cars, many of which travel with only the driver. For this reason, it is very important for the Ministry to continue and strengthen these types of measures aimed at improving the quality of our system”.said the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz.

For her part, the Director of Metropolitan Public Transportation indicated that “from the Public Transportation Board we have invested in improving the infrastructure for the network buses, which today allows us to have more than 480 kilometers, almost equivalent to the distance between Santiago and Concepción. The Bus Only Lanes, corridors and exclusive lanes are a contribution to the city, providing faster, more efficient and less polluting trips for millions of people every day”.

With regard to the control of non-compliance with priority routes, during 2024, 835,294 citations were issued by the Camera Monitoring Points (PMC), which corresponds to 16.03% more than in 2023. Meanwhile, on-site controls resulted in 11,954 citations to vehicles that circulated improperly on bus-only lanes, corridors and bus-only lanes.

“Our aim is not to fine, on the contrary. We seek to change the bad behavior of certain motorists who insist on traveling on roads that are reserved only for buses. This is a vital infrastructure for the proper functioning of public transportation and for the mobility of thousands of people who use it daily”, added Minister Juan Carlos Muñoz.

In this regard, the head of the Transportation Control Division, Óscar Carrasco, emphasized that “our work is that through this automated control system, motorists respect the public transportation routes. Last year we issued more than 830 citations to vehicles through this system, including 50 new cameras that came into operation and for this year we will add 50 more control points for these routes, therefore, our recommendation is to avoid fines and respect these routes”.

There are currently 230 PMCs in Greater Santiago, 50 of which were added in the second half of 2024, improving the flow of transport in districts such as El Bosque, Independencia, Recoleta, Renca, San Bernardo and Santiago. Another 50 new camera monitoring points will be added this year, which will be distributed in Estación Central, Recoleta and Las Condes. The fine for not respecting priority lanes is 1 UTM ($64,700).