Metropolitan efficiency plan
Introduction
The Master Transportation Plan Santiago 2025, also known by its official acronym PMTS 2025,[2] was the metropolitan public transportation planning instrument for the city of Santiago, Chile, which is currently developing a coordinated program of projects for the different modes of transportation (Metropolitan Mobility Network, Santiago Metro, EFE (Tren Nos-Central Station), Urban Highways, Cycle Paths "Annex: Cycle Paths of the Region Santiago Metropolitan (Chile), Light Rail and Cable Cars) and public and private institutions that meet the ministerial objectives of efficiency, equity, sustainability and security.[3].
Developed as a Master Plan in the field of public transportation efficiency according to the National Transportation Policy developed by the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications of Chile (MTT), the latter is an initiative presented at the beginning of 2013 that seeks to provide a "clear framework that allows the different transportation actors in Chile to plan and implement systems that promote the social and economic development of the country."[4].
Origin
Although work was already underway in 2009 on a single transportation coordination plan, called at that time Urban Transportation Plan of Greater Santiago,[5] in January 2013 the MTT announced the Santiago 2025 Transportation Master Plan, in response to the need to have a guide for the management and strategic investments in infrastructure that would define an urban transportation system aimed at satisfying the mobility needs of people and goods in Santiago for, at least, the next 12 years.
According to studies developed by the MTT, the metropolitan area of Santiago de Chile, known as Greater Santiago, would be in a critical period of its development, characterized by consecutive increases in the rate of increase in the vehicle fleet. It is estimated that the trend growth of motorization in Santiago will double the number of vehicles between 2012 and 2025, going from 1.3 to 2.7 million,[3] thus creating pressure to increase investment in road infrastructure, despite the existence of three important restrictions that prevented its immediate planning: lack of available space in Greater Santiago, "and citizens would not accept the large-scale expropriations that would be needed for this increase in capacity";[3] budgetary limitation; Chile's Transportation Policy promotes efficient and sustainable solutions, explicitly prioritizing the use of mass public transportation. Specifically, it is proposed to structure the development of cities around mass transportation corridors: Metro, suburban trains, and high-performance buses on dedicated roads.