One of my most frightening recurring dreams about my upcoming trip is the bus system. In Valparaiso- and most of the rest of the country- the buses are privately run companies with few regulations. The drivers are usually paid a commission per rider, incentivizing sardine-packed crowds and recklessly fast driving. Now, I'm not the only one with these bus fears: a recent movement to publicly control the mass transportation system in Santiago is a growing nightmare for President Bachelet and Congress.
Congress will soon hear a second version of an emergency funding bill attempting to revive Transantiago, a recently-implemented change to the public transportation system of the nation's capital. When the changes were introduced last February, a rough transition period saw Bachelet's Santiago poll numbers plummet more than 10% in a month, attributed entirely to the Transantiago fiasco. Though the plan was created during former president Ricardo Lagos' administration, 53% of poll respondents disapprove of the way Bachelet has handled the implementation, 64% calling the process "improvised."
The criticisms are not unmerited. The centralized control of bus dispatching failed repeatedly in the first few days, causing chaos as bus drivers attempting their new, poorly defined routes. Even in May, only 90% of the buses were fully linked to the dispatching service. Hype about the new system created a flood of curious passengers, overwhelming an already-overflowing subway. Fare evasion remains a major problem, with as much as 1/3 of all passengers riding without paying.
These internal issues are exacerbated by the typical criticisms of big spending in the capital city, compared to more rural areas. Bachelet is constantly defending these projects with statistics of increased spending in other parts of the country. Still, this disparity gives her a hard row to hoe when it comes to persuading a nation of taxpayers to invest in the future of a single city's transportation system. Perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel is Chile's unexpectedly high revenue this year, a result of increasing global copper prices (Chile's biggest natural resource).
Neither a failure of the public transportation system nor lassaiz faire politics are an option here. The attempt to socialize and consolidate the giant system is a necessary step for Santiago, no matter how difficult the process might be. Bachelet must simply bite the polls and fight Congress until they give her room to let it work. But she can't be too willing to wait: 2 years from now, those unhappy poll-ees will have a chance to throw her under the same bus she tried to save.
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2 comments:
hmm, i'm feeling kind of torn about saying this, but it actually seems like the solution here lies more with private enterprise than the government. You don't want people crammed into unsafe busses, but this is just the kind of thing conservatives always point out to highlight government inefficiency.
Probably the best solution would be scrapping the busses for trollies or subways.
except that this includes all forms of public transportation, and the subway is one of the primary modes of transportation in Santiago.
Really, I don't think status quo of 2,000+ individual bus companies, each with a fleet of about 2 buses is preferable to a little hard-won change.
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