Further details have emerged for Chile’s plans to reform the public transport system in the capital city of Santiago – including a specific focus on bus and subway ticket prices.

The first part of the proposal, submitted yesterday to Congress by Transport Minister Felipe Morandé (ST, July 28), would give the state more control over public transport provider Transantiago and aim to reduce operating problems and delays.

Plans to reform the capital’s beleaguered public transportation system were unveiled to Congress this week by Transportation Minister Felipe Morandé.

The plans will propose new measures of state regulation, along with an injection of public money, in an attempt to resolve Transantiago’s substantial deficit and halt the repeated rises in ticket prices.

It has been a rough week for Santiago commuters. On Monday, after experiencing a blackout on the metro, some employees arrived late to work only to find that their employers doubted their explanations.

The power failure, which occurred at around 7:23 a.m., lasted for almost an hour in between the Alto Jahuel and Los Almendros metro line. The El Mercurio reports that when passengers realized what was happening and that they might be late to work, they began to panic and lose control.

After a four-year delay, the construction of the Vespucio Oriente Highway was confirmed last week by the Public Works Ministry (MOP). The highway that skirts the eastern part of the Metropolitan Region will be mostly underground and will cost about US$1.7 billion.

The highway construction was announced along with a number of other infrastructure projects. The list of new projects, which are to be built from 2010 to 2014, will cost about US$8 billion. This sum is expected to rise by US$3 billion (for research and development), creating a new estimated cost of US$11 billion for 2014.

The project to improve the G-21 highway linking Santiago and to nearby ski slopes appears to be at a dead end.

Crucial to the project’s development is the agreement between the Lo Barnechea borough and the financial sponsors – the mining giant Anglo American and ski resorts Valle Nevado, El Colorado, Farrellones Andador and La Parva.