Red buses to the airport report more than 2 and a half million transactions and add bip!

Santiago, September 9.- With the aim of facilitating access to public transport for those arriving at Arturo Merino Benítez airport, through the national and international terminals, the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications together with Metro and Santiago Airport presented 5 bip!

The new devices are located at the Intermodal Station (2), the National Terminal (1) and the International Terminal (2), and seek to bring the public transport system closer to passengers, workers and visitors who can arrive and leave the airport on Red buses, connecting with Metro de Santiago and Nos-Estación Central train with a single beep!

The Undersecretary of Transportation, Jorge Daza, indicated that the measure is part of the collaborative work that also included the Santiago Airport, Metro and the Ministry of Public Works, and seeks to facilitate the mobility of people, especially in a time of high flow such as National Holidays.

“With the installation of these beep! at Santiago airport we are taking a key step to continue strengthening public transport from the country’s main air terminal, especially services 555 and 444 of Red Movilidad that connect the air terminal with the Pajaritos and La Cisterna Metro stations, which have also been very well evaluated. This facilitates access to an economical means of public transportation to travel to the city,” said the Undersecretary of Transportation, Jorge Daza.

There will be more than 350 thousand people who will move through the Arturo Merino Benítez Airport these National Holidays, 50% in domestic trips and another 50% in international flights. In view of this, the Undersecretary of Public Works, Danilo Núñez, indicated that “the call we make is to prepare in advance, check in in advance and arrive 2 to 3 hours in advance if you travel within Chile, and 3 to 4 hours before if you leave the country. The important thing is to be informed and take advantage of this possibility of accessing a totem for the purchase and loading of bip! cards, an initiative of the Ministry of Transport that brings all citizens closer to our main air terminal”.

The director of Metropolitan Public Transport, Paola Tapia, said that “we made a positive balance of the Red Movilidad system towards the Santiago airport. So far this year we have had more than two and a half million transactions in services 555 and 444, which come from the Pajaritos and La Cisterna metro stations, respectively. This positive balance goes hand in hand, thanks to public-private work, with the incorporation of ATMs that will allow you to buy the bip! directly at the airport and have access to public transport.”

Nicolas Claude, general manager of Santiago Airport, stressed that “this initiative is in line with our objective of strengthening various connectivity options between the Airport and Santiago. With these new totems, those who arrive in Chile will be able to be immediately connected to the public transport network, and people flying from regions will have access to the means of payment that allows them to travel by buses, the Metro and the Nos-Central Station Train.”

Finally, Metro’s Planning and Customer Manager, Carlos Melo, said that “this will make it very important for those who travel from Chile or abroad to be part of our integrated transport system of which Metro is the backbone. This also means a first arrival at the airport to support the 555 and 444 services and in the future, as announced, to lay the first stone of Line A that will connect Metro with the airport.”

The increase in the use of Red system buses to reach the airport has been sustained since 2023. This led to the incorporation of double-decker buses to route 555 since March 2024, a service that has been rated with a score of 6.5 by users, according to a survey carried out last year.