The new collection system for public transport in Chillán and Chillán Viejo officially began to function, in what will be the white march between now and the end of the year. This means that it will be possible to continue paying with cash, until December 31, to then give way to full payment through the new electronic card.
With this process, the region becomes the first in the country, outside of Santiago, to implement this payment method.
The panorama in the service office, to be able to acquire the card yesterday morning, revealed long lines and waits of up to 30 minutes, a place where only two service tables are available. Most of the users who arrive at the points in person are older adults, who have received training in recent weeks, a situation that will also continue to occur in the coming months.
To start this process, various regional authorities came to the service office, located at Avenida Libertad 715, to report details of this implementation. The Ñuble transport seremi, Javier Isla, commented that more than 5,000 trips are expected for the first hours of implementation, adding that 95% of the total of 150 charging points throughout the intercommunity are already serving.
The authority explained that “in any case, we will continue to operate with a mixed system throughout the year, since we need this new process to be easy and with a slow transition, so that people can adapt in the best way to this new system. In this way, we will detect the different failures that may arise, mainly in some sectors where it will be more complicated, so that all people can use this electronic system and we do not reach January with difficulties or problems. We hope that during this week we will have 100% of the charging stations operational”.
The physical card has a value of $2,500, which comes with two free rides included. In this regard, Isla added that an emergency one is also included in the event that the user runs out of balance. The seremi explained that “as long as the card has a positive balance, whether it is 10 pesos, it will allow this emergency trip to be made and it will inform the person that the balance has run out so that they take precautions and remember to recharge it.” Isla also added that “we have already begun to talk with some municipalities, our objective is to interact with residents of other communes, because they also use this service.”
The electronic validators are already installed in the 311 buses of the 10 lines, something that the authorities stressed should be an obligation. That is why the taxibus union also referred to this implementation. Humberto Llanos, president of the Chillán major carriers union, commented that the balance so far has been positive. “The care center is full every day and the latest free cards are being delivered to seniors. The response has been good from students and older adults, which is something new, because everyone wants to have their card. As a union we are proud that we are taking on this new challenge”.
