THE CONGRESS de la República approved the budget addition of $1 billion pesos to guarantee the co-financing of the public transport systems of 14 cities, including TransMilenio de Bogotá.
“By agreement between the mayors, the National Government and approval in the Congress of the Republic, $1 billion pesos in support of public transport enters and they authorize us to start renegotiating contracts with private operators so that they also contribute,” said Claudia López, mayor of Bogota
This investment, according to the mayoress Mayor, allows the TransMilenio system to be able to cover the operation it carries out in the city. “In the budget addition of mass transportation to Bogotá and TransMilenio corresponds to 66% of that income, approximately $660,000 million pesos,” said López.
The president explained that this budget addition allows TransMilenio to cover the operation it carries out daily in the city and recalled that this means of transportation is a service that has been improving its benefits to the citizen.
With this budgetary addition, it was possible to endorse the proposal for the sustainability of the mass public transport systems of 14 cities, including Bogotá.
ABC Tariff Stabilization Fund (FET)
Until April 23, the SITP subsidy amounts to $917,474 million. It is estimated that during all of 2023 it will reach $2.99 trillion. One of the factors that has contributed to the difference in the FET is the problem of evasion of ticket payment in the System.
For this reason, TransMilenio has an Anti-Evasion Strategic Plan in the trunk component, through four lines of action:
Prevention, Citizen Culture, Advocacy and Co-responsibility: realization of awareness campaigns, educational actions and presence of TransMilenio Coexistence Managers. Strategies focused on raising awareness about the harmful effects of non-payment of the ticket, strengthening the citizen culture of users to increase ownership by the System and create co-responsibility in its use and care. Monitoring and characterization of evasion: monitoring the phenomenon of non-payment of fares in the trunk component and the measures implemented to counteract its impact. Strengthening of the infrastructure: development and modifications in access control barriers in the ‘floor to ceiling’ typology and new entrance doors to improve the adequate control of entrances and exits of the system. Inspection: joint actions with the National Police that make it possible to strengthen preventive and control actions to counter crimes and infractions in the SITP.
The strategies implemented to mitigate the phenomenon of non-payment of the ticket correspond to expanding the range of intervention of the territorial teams (TM Coexistence Managers and Evasion Regulators), having a greater presence in the stations and portals of the System, to develop actions of prevention, awareness, containment and dissuasion against payment evaders.
Likewise, deploy campaigns and actions for the appropriation of the system and the promotion of citizen culture, to create greater awareness of the importance of payment validation and for the interventions of the territorial team to be safer, reducing the number of attacks on officials and guaranteeing greater well-being for them. This with the purpose of providing a higher quality service provision.
In addition, motivate and manage the co-responsibility of companies, higher education institutions, schools, soccer schools and any complementary training institution for children, young people and adults so that they understand the importance of paying the ticket and the benefits of having a personalized card .
Finally, progress on hard infrastructure projects (doors and access control barriers) and soft infrastructure (separation of flows, electromagnets and adjustment of BCA closing times for the disabled, BCA blocking sensors).
Causes of Consecutive Increase in FET
The SITP has not been oblivious to the national and world economic situation. The variation of macroeconomic indicators has affected the growth of the System’s costs. Bogotá has the only Integrated Mass Transportation System (SITM) in the country that has achieved full implementation of its three components (trunk, zonal, and cable).
This led to the linking of a new fleet after the definitive removal of the Provisional SITP, and to a single essential public transport system, with a single means of payment. Despite the efforts that the city has made to attract new demand to the System after the impact of the pandemic, only until the end of 2023 do they plan to recover the levels of demand prior to the health emergency.
Bogotá, in its environmental district policy and under the need to improve the quality of life of citizens, chose to implement a new fleet, with better technological standards. Finally, the variation in national and world inflation in recent years, both consumer and producer, contributes to fixing the increase in the dealer’s rate, which has had a significant effect on the System’s costs.