Starting this Saturday, October 3, the Bandera axis will once again be enabled for public transport use after more than a decade.
The mayor of Santiago, Mario Desbordes, highlighted the reopening, stating that "private cars, trucks, or any other type of vehicle will not pass through here," and adding that "three quarters of the axis is dedicated to pedestrians and commerce."
"It will be compatible, as in many capitals of the world, as happens in many cities, public transport and only public transport with a semi-pedestrian lane," he added.
He also highlighted that 70% of the buses, which will circulate at a reduced speed, are electric, and in two more years this figure will reach 100%.
Regarding the services that will travel through the area, these will be route 201 (San Bernardo-Huechuraba), 301 (San Bernardo-Independencia), 306 (Lo Espejo-Independencia), and the night route 264n (La Florida-Huechuraba), which will have four stops.
The Minister of Transport, Louis de Grange, highlighted that "thanks to this new axis that is being used for public transport, travel times will be reduced, and this reduction in travel times is not only a better experience for the user, but also allows companies with the same fleet to even generate a little more frequency."
According to the authorities, the reopening will benefit around 65 thousand users on an average working day and will...
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Starting this Saturday, October 3, the Bandera axis will once again be enabled for public transportation use after more than a decade. The mayor of Santiago, Mario Desbordes, highlighted the reopening, stating that "private cars, trucks, or any other type of vehicle will not pass through here," and adding that "three quarters of the axis is dedicated to pedestrians and commerce." "It will be compatible, as in many capitals of the world, as happens in many cities, with public transportation and only public transportation on a semi-pedestrian road," he added. He also highlighted that 70% of the buses, which will circulate at a reduced speed, are electric, and in two more years this figure will reach 100%. Regarding the services that will travel through the area, these will be route 201 (San Bernardo-Huechuraba), 301 (San Bernardo-Independencia), 306 (Lo Espejo-Independencia), and the night route 264n (La Florida-Huechuraba), which will have four stops. The Minister of Transport, Louis de Grange, highlighted that "thanks to this new axis that is being used for public transportation, travel times will be reduced, and this reduction in travel times is not only a better experience for the user, but also allows companies with the same fleet to even generate a little more frequency." According to the authorities, the reopening will benefit around 65,000 users on an average working day and will reduce travel times by between 52% and 58% for the buses that recover this route. According to what De Grange pointed out, "it was closed for 13 years since the works on Metro Line 3, and afterwards there were attempts, yes, to transform it into a pedestrian walkway, into something more urban, but the truth is that it never, never worked well and it did cause structural damage to public transportation users." The intervention, with an investment of 1,249 million pesos, includes a semi-pedestrian artery, commercial terraces, and urban furniture. The works also included the repair of tiles, replacement of deteriorated elements at Bandera with Moneda, cleaning of kiosks, and recovery of the underpass, where graffiti was cleared, work was done with pressure washers, storm drains were unclogged, and murals were painted over. Finally, the mayor stated that "we will have special services from the municipality and we will have the collaboration of the Traffic Prefecture to carry out a period of information and adaptation."