Mobility Network: 214 new electric buses will renew the coverage of the southern sector of Santiago

Friday, January 12, 2024.- The Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz; together with the Undersecretary of Transportation, Jorge Daza; the director of Metropolitan Public Transport, Paola Tapia Salas, and mayors of the benefited communes presented the 214 new electric buses that will join Red Movilidad.

The new machines will replace the previous orange diesel units that currently circulate in the southern sector of the capital, in communes such as San Bernardo, El Bosque, La Pintana and La Cisterna.

In this way, Santiago’s Public Transport System will exceed 2,480 electric buses, remaining the city outside China with the most examples of this type.

In this sense, Minister Muñoz indicated that “as a Government we are interested in promoting public transport, sustainable, safe and modern transport that is within the reach of all the inhabitants of the Metropolitan Region. This effort is reflected in modernizing the RED fleet and that these new machines reach every corner of the city. It is a promise that we are fulfilling with territorial equity and quality of life for users.”

While the DTPM director, Paola Tapia, stressed that “we are working hard to fulfill the commitment to advance and transform Red Movilidad with high-standard buses with which we improve the travel experience and, with it, the quality of life for millions of people. A few days ago we started a new tender that will allow 50% of the total fleet in Santiago to be electric, benefiting 3.5 million people.”

CHARACTERISTICS

Like much of Red Mobility, these new 214 units have a Red standard, so they have USB chargers, universal accessibility and air conditioning. Added to this is the most advanced technology in electromobility, such as a water and dust protection system for the main components – such as the motor and the electrical box – as well as nitrogen cooling to increase the performance and useful life of the batteries.

The mayor of La Cisterna, Joel Olmos, said that “between 130,000 and 200,000 people pass through the La Cisterna intermodal station daily and it is the connection point with all the communes in the southern sector of Santiago. It is very significant that these buses come to deliver a different quality standard, efficient, silent and with air conditioning.”

On this point, the mayor of El Bosque, Manuel Zúñiga, valued that “this is a very powerful state policy that President Boric has been implementing and we thank him. This is a giant step and we are happy. Not only do we have a new Metro, we also have better quality and technology for public transport.”

Finally, Christopher White, mayor of San Bernardo, reflected that “this is a concrete signal that seeks to level the playing field in the Metropolitan Region. A couple of months ago, the people of San Bernardino saw how these buses traveled other places. This achievement is very important and we thank the Government that has managed to understand us, especially in our communes that have a historical debt with the quality of life.”

Other features of these models are an “anti-entrapment” door mechanism for users, a 360° camera to avoid blind spots, proximity sensors to detect nearby pedestrians and cars, a passenger counter and an intelligent system to limit speed according to geographical location.

The fleet was manufactured by the Asian company Yutong and will be operated by Voy Santiago. It should be noted that electric buses are zero emissions, so they take care of the environment. In addition, they generate less noise than diesels, so they also reduce noise pollution. In fact, it is estimated that an electroterminal has the same volume of noise as an office.

Red Movilidad is currently undergoing one of its biggest transformations due to the new 2023 Road Use Concession Tender, which seeks to incorporate more than 1,200 models of this category into Santiago’s public transport.