Busy September

As spring sets in things return to normal after two crazy weeks. First we had September 11th, the date of Pinochet's putsch. In his days it has been a day of violent protests against his regime. The regime has gone but the protests live on. Against what? Nobody knows. Chileans hurry home after their bosses allow them to leave early and barricade themselves behind the front door. Public transportation grinds to a halt because buses become rock-magnets and the streets are blocked by burning tires. Police in riot gear everywhere, trying to clean up. This years result: three dead. And for what? The general consensus is that it's mostly youngsters way to young to understand the impor- tance of the date but are just looking for a fight. In the Netherlands you would call them (football) hooligans I guess...

And then there are the "Fiestas Patrias", celebrating the start if Chile's independence (18th) and the successes of the Chilean Army (19th, but basically just another free day to get rid of that mayor hangover). The days leading up to the 18th all (economic) activity grinds to a halt and those that have to show up for work on the 17th do so for half a day or so attending a pre-18 celebration with colleagues. Typical celebration consists of eating empanadas (see picture) and having a Chilean barbecue called asado and drinking grape chicha. My score: two days of asados and one day of home made empanadas and too much pisco sour and chicha. No wonder I was craving for fruit the sunday after. I didn't go to any Fonda this year, but I did go last year and watched how the Cueca is really done. All in all, it has been a busy two weeks.

Beep! Card

The Tarjeta Bip! (or Beep! card in English) is used to pay for all public transportation that is part of the Transantiago network. Obviously the name come from the sound the scanner makes when you put your card against it to pay your fare. You can charge your card at every metro station, at most banks and at pay-your-bills-shops (don't ask). To get onto the metro platforms you use your card to open a turnstile (gate) and the fare is deducted. The fare only only depends on the hour you are traveling (rush hour is more expensive) and not on the distance. Inside micros (city buses) hang yellow boxes where you are supposed to put your card and have your fare deducted. If you have enough credit a singe "Beep!" sounds and a light turns green. If you don't have enough credit it goes "Beep! Beep! Beep!" and the light turns red. But since bus drivers have a fixed salary most of them couldn't care less. If you ask them in broken Spanish if you can pay him or where you can charge your card they will most likely wave you on without saying a word.

Needless to say that fare evasion is high on Transantiago micros. Some estimates are as high as 30%. That's why micros on some lines (the ones I have come across run along university campuses, coincidence?) have turnstiles inside the buses. Not that that works, because people just crouch underneath them. Some bus stops are gated and during rush hour they put up yellow boxes and have personnel that checks if you pay your fare.

Speaking of fare, every transfer to another bus is free within two hours (I think). If you travel by metro your connection to the micro is free and if you get on the metro after using the bus you only pay 60 pesos (the difference between metro and micro fare). You can't leave and get on the metro for free though. The system also provides an "emergency fare" where you can use the bus between 2100 and 0900 even if you have no credit on your card. Your fare will be deducted the next time your charge your card though. Now I know why people have negative credit on their card at times!

The Metro (1)

The biggest problem of the Santiago Metro is its success. Daily the system transports over 2 million people and the density is over 5 people per square meter. It spans 84.4 km (20.1 km under construction) and has 107 (16 under construction) stations. It connects the cities center (inside the triangle created by lines 1, 2 and 5) with the municipalities and is a great way to circumvent traffic jams. Line 1 is hit hardest because it is currently the only east-west axis, but hopefully next year when the extension of line 5 is complete things might get a little easier. Station Los Heroes is the most busy, where you might see a train or two pass before you can get on.

The Chileans always complain about their metro, it's hot and it's crowded. But to be honest, in my opinion it's one of the best. It's very clean, train frequency is relatively high, layout of the station is good for the most part and security is very good. Maybe that's because the system only operates until around 23:00. Most stations have plasma television sets hanging above the platforms and a lot of stations have artwork and some even have exhibition areas. There are some aging cars in service, but for the most part they are modern, some with LCD television screens. Cars on lines 1, 2 and 5 run on rubber tires whereas the cars on lines 4 and 4A run on iron wheels.

At the end of this year, the metro should start using the the new extensions of lines 1 and 5. The most important one is that of line 5 because it will server as a parallel to the overcrowded line 1 and will unlock an region of Santiago (Maipú) that right now has a poor connection to the Metro network. Seems to me they might as well connect line 4A to that same end point, but as I understand it they want to evaluate the current system together with the Transantiago to see what problems need to be resolved more urgently. They have the money from copper sales and with the economic crisis hitting the construction sector hardest start building, I'd say! Seems a better way to stimulate the economy than buy giving away money to families based on the number of children, as they do now. Oh well, it's election year...