Introduction

This idea was born when looking for information about San Francisco on the web to plan my holidays there. There was a lot of information and my holydays were great. Then I started looking for information about my home city (Santiago, Chile) and there wasn't a lot, so I decided to publish a blog that could help english speaking visitors.

Transportation

I'll break it down in the different ways of transporation available in Santiago.

Bus
Actually Santiago is undergoing a public transport rework. There are some lines going out, and new ones being created, old buses moving out, and new ones coming in, in other words, mayhem. But you shouldn't worry. You'll probably find a bus that can take you quite close to your destination.

There are over 100 lines, so don't expect me to list them all. The old buses are yellow with a white top. The new buses ar green and white. There are also other buses, mainly to make transfer to/from subway that are red.

The fee is unique, but recalculated every month according to several factors (diesel price, bus parts price, etc) and if changed it would take effect the 15th of the month. Actually it's Ch$ 350 (nearly US$0.70). And even lower on the red buses. The downside is that your are not allowed to make any transfer at all. One fee, one trip, it doesn't matter if it's just two blocks.

Some of the buses has automated ticket machines, so you have to carry change. Other buses (most of them) will have the driver to collect the fee and give you the ticket. You are entitled to ask for your ticket, since you can be asked to pay again if you can't produce yours upon inspection.

Most of the buses can be found from 7:00 through 00:00, so be prepared to wait a really long time if you are out of that time range (even forever).

It's very usual to see poeple coming up on a bus to sell stuff (food, pencils, pens, calendars, whatever). As you can imagine, usually the products are counterfeit, defective or poor quality, buy at your own risk. Sometimes you'll find old style beggars, and other times you'll find people who deal some product to every passenger and then ask for money in return. You only have to reject the product or return it when asked for money.

Smoking is not allowed on any bus.

Subway
Actually there are 4 subway lines, with no fancy names, and they are called Line 1, Line 2, Line 4 and Line 5 (don't ask what happened to Line 3). You can find a diagram here.

The fee depends upon the time you are boarding the train. The following table summarizes all:
Monday - Friday
Saturday, Sunday and Holidays
Expensive Time Block
Ch$ 460 (US$0.90)
6:30 - 7:14:59
9:00 - 17:59:59
19:30 - 22:30
-
Normal Time Block
Ch$ 370 (US$0.73)
7:15 - 8:59:59
18:00 - 19:29:59
All day
First train
6:30
Saturday: 6:30
Sun & Hldys: 8:00
Last train
22:30
22:30

There are big signs in almost every station showing in what time block you are, so check your ticket so it matches the colour of the sign. There will also be a loudspeaker warning when a time block ends and another begins. If you try to use the wrong ticket you won't be able to go through the ticket gate.

You have to insert your ticket in the slit located in the automated ticket gate (all of them are automated, so you should never hand your ticket to anyone), and then go through the left side.

You can also buy a metro card, that acts as a prepaid card. The plastic value is Ch$ 1000 (US$2.00) and can be charged with any amount you want, in Ch$ 500 steps. Metro cards are contactless, so you have to weave it in front of the automated ticket gate, in an area usually marked with a green circle. The pros to use a metro card are: you get a Ch$ 20 discount on every trip and you can enter the platform even when ticket sale has stopped (close to the closing hour).

You can make all the transfers you want as long as you don't exit the gates. The transfer stations are not very user friendly so ask for help. As opposed to other metro systems, transfer stations have only one name.

There are no different lines runing on the same tracks, just one regular service. Sometimes you can catch a train that is making a short service, meaning it won't go to the terminal station. In that case, it will be displayed on the front of the train, and on electronic displays on the station.

Metro fees change every 2 or 3 years.

Beggars and people selling "stuff" are not allowed on the trains nor the stations. If you find one, you could warn security staff (people on blue uniform) or helping staff (people on black and yellow uniform).

Some stations have some paintings and other forms of art. Unfortunately not all of them can be seen without exiting the gates.

You can find elevators only in lines 4 and 5 (the new ones). When there's no elevator, you can find some wheelchair transporter to bypass stairs. In the old lines (1 and 2) sometimes you can find escalators.

You are not supposed to eat, drink, smoke, listen to loud music, sit on the floor or transport cargo (including bikes) on metro.

Cabs
There are several kinds of cabs. The most common cabs are black with yellow top, airport/tourism cabs and call cabs (locally called radio taxi). Be sure to ask beforehand if the fare includes toll fees.

If you are carrying a lot of luggage, be sure the cab has stopped and the driver is opening the trunk before stepping down. You don't want to end up at a police station filling a complaint.

Smoking is not allowed on a cab, but you can ask.

Sharing a cab is not a common practice.

The first kind (black and yellow) can be found almost everywhere, they are constantly driving, looking for passengers. They should youse a taximeter by law. The fares work like this: Ch$200 (US$0.40) just for hiring the cab (granting you 200 mts.) and Ch$80 - Ch$100 for every 200 mts. or 60 seconds. So a 4 Km trip, with no stops should cost you in average US$3.75. You have to be careful of the proper working of the taximeter , that it gets reset when you hop in because it's not unheard of greedy cab drivers trying to charge you extra. Try to carry enough change and small bills. There are real stories about drivers swapping a big bill for a small one, claiming that your payment is not enough. It's not very common, but be aware anyway.

Sometimes, when you are absolutely clear about the usual fare for a given route, you can try to haggle with the driver, but it's not advised.

The call cabs have to be called by phone, and they will pick you up wherever you want. Upon calling the dispatcher will inform you of availability and estimated time of arrival. It's healthy to distrust a little the information given by the dispatcher, since they usually try to grab as many trips as possible. In peak hours or heavy rain days is not unusual to be put on hold when calling, so be patient or look for something else.

The fare is a bit more expensive than the previous one, charging Ch$1000 (US$1.95) just for hiring. The variable part should cost almost the same, with the added benefit that they usually only charge for distance and not for time.

If you are going to be using a call cab service frequently, and for the same traject, you can ask for a frequent user fee, that means a small discount or keeping the old price.

The airport/tourism kind, are usually located at the airport. I haven't used them but have been told they should work a lot like call cabs. The catch here is the location of the airport, almost out of the city, so there'll be a base distance for every traject.

Coming soon: airport.