Cycle of Technical Talks at the Chilean Senate: BRTCoE director participates in debate on the future of metropolitan transport

With the presence of Senator Manuel José Ossandón, member of the transport committee of the Senate; Deputy Leopoldo Perez; the Transport Regional Ministerial Secretariat for the Metropolitan Region, Matías Salazar; among others, the speech by our BRTCoE Director, Juan Carlos Muñoz, was held in the former National Congress of Chile.

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The meeting was attended by several members of the world of transport, including representatives of the operators of Transantiago – Santiago’s public transportation system –, Metro – Santiago’s subway system –, leaders from the collective taxis union, ministerial and municipal specialists, members of the academia and university public.

The theme proposed by the host, Senator and member of the Senate Transportation Committee, Manuel José Ossandón, was the future of transport in metropolitan areas of the country. In this regard, the congressional representative marked out that “we set up this space in our Senate to discuss complex and contingent topics, such as the future of transport in Chile. For this, it seems to as that having Juan Carlos Muñoz’s technical vision is the best starting point.”

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Regarding what issues to resolve in the future are, the Senator said «we need a transport policies design that consider both the voice of academia and the experts, as those who are every day ‘on the street’ using the system as a passenger or as a service provider. Otherwise we will remain lame in one of the most important themes for Chilean citizens». He added, «transport in our cities should be designed from and for the people.”

Meanwhile, BRTCoE Director Juan Carlos Muñoz said, «in the cities of medium and large size is essential to put a stop to the rampant car use during peak periods”. He added, «congestion levels are too palpable and its social cost allows that greater investment in public transport, such as buses and Metro, becomes very necessary”. The professor is also director of Metro and adviser to the Metropolitan Public Transportation Directory.

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For further details of the presentation by Juan Carlos Muñoz: here (in Spanish)