An evident lack of drivers presents the collective transportation of Rancagua, the drop in frequency of both buses and buses continues despite the fact that March has already begun.
Until not long ago it was not so difficult to move around by public transportation, but little by little its presence has been decreasing, and there are several points in the city to which it is very difficult to go after 7 p.m. And why not talk about the frequencies of the buses supposedly tendered, but barely monitored.
The thing is that during the pandemic, the courses to obtain a professional license were paralyzed, in addition to which Link has hired many of the city’s professional drivers, thus making the offer smaller. And not everyone can drive a vehicle intended for the transportation of passengers, whether it is a bus, taxi or bus.
But this decrease that we had already warned about last year has apparently only multiplied, thus falling collective transportation into a dangerous vicious circle that the transportation authority refuses to talk about. Their presence decreases while informality increases or there are greater incentives for the purchase of a vehicle, further saturating the already narrow streets of Rancagüinas. It is impossible to want to overcome the problem of traffic jams if you do not have a robust collective locomotion, where compliance with frequencies and schedules is supported by professional drivers.
And it is not that trips have decreased, but rather that the need is being covered by a proliferation of Uber, whether connected to the application or completely informal. For example, it is not difficult to find on neighbors’ WhatsApp someone who offers transportation service in their car, without going through the mediation of an application.
There are no simple solutions, but they will never exist if we insist on not talking about the issue. Just to say something, it is worth asking: where are the free courses to obtain professional licenses? Are there subsidies for this necessary training?
Luis Fernando González Vallejos
Sub Director.
The article Few collective transportation drivers. It was first published in El Rancagüino.
