Sadly, after US$750 million and more government spin than a hurricane, the truth is starting to trickle out.
From our news today:
Metro: taxpayer nightmare
It took 2 months and legal action, but journalist Edwin Ruiz of Clave finally got the figures to write his story on how the reality of the first year of the Santo Domingo metro compares to projections made for justifying the construction of the first line. The metro promoters had estimated 200,000 passengers and RD$4 million a day in revenues per day. But the reality of the first six months is that on average 50,643 (including both routes) passengers have rode the metro paying RD$1,012,856 in fares (at RD$20 the fare). The at least RD$3 million daily deficit needs to be picked up by taxpayers. Thus the "dream" of President Leonel Fernandez seems to have turned into a nightmare, at least for taxpayers.
The metro cuts the time to get from Villa Mella to La Feria from 2 hours to 20 minutes. The service is world class. But where are the users? It is not that they would not like to take the modern metro, it is that the feeder routes are not there, and passengers have to pay other fares anyway to take the metro. Hamlet Hermann, former director of the Metropolitan Transport Authority, explains the government did not heed advice to create the feeder routes first.
The stats on the Metro show that the least used stations are those at the Maximo Gomez Cemetery (63 users per hour), the Mirador del Norte (60 users per hour) and La Isabela (54 users per hour). The most used stations are at the two extremes. The Mama Tingo at Av. Charles de Gaulle in Villa Mella shows 636 users per hour, and the La Firia receives 456 users per hour.
Moneywise, the metro is a big loser. With a fare of RD$20, it generates barely RD$1,02,856 daily, or approximately RD$370 million a year, equivalent to about US$10.3 million. Traditional motoconcho, guagua and concho transport favorably compete in price with the comfort of the metro.
According to the OPRET the metro cost US$674.6 million. But the IDB says the investment was US$54 milion per kilometer, or US$756 million.
OPRET has reported the government is subsidizing the metro with RD$22.5 million a month, or about RD$270 million a year. But Edwin Ruiz reports that in the 2009 National Budget RD$2.41 billion or US$64.8 million have been allotted for the operation of the metro. 86% of those funds would have come from abroad.
Opret says that the present cost per passenger is RD$35. The report indicates this means a RD$1.09 billion deficit needs to be assumed by taxpayers that most probably are not using the metro. The report concludes that around 25,000 persons a day benefit greatly from being able to use the US$750 million-metro.
The authorities of the Metro refused to sit for an interview with Edwin Ruiz after delivering the data.
From our news today:
Metro: taxpayer nightmare
It took 2 months and legal action, but journalist Edwin Ruiz of Clave finally got the figures to write his story on how the reality of the first year of the Santo Domingo metro compares to projections made for justifying the construction of the first line. The metro promoters had estimated 200,000 passengers and RD$4 million a day in revenues per day. But the reality of the first six months is that on average 50,643 (including both routes) passengers have rode the metro paying RD$1,012,856 in fares (at RD$20 the fare). The at least RD$3 million daily deficit needs to be picked up by taxpayers. Thus the "dream" of President Leonel Fernandez seems to have turned into a nightmare, at least for taxpayers.
The metro cuts the time to get from Villa Mella to La Feria from 2 hours to 20 minutes. The service is world class. But where are the users? It is not that they would not like to take the modern metro, it is that the feeder routes are not there, and passengers have to pay other fares anyway to take the metro. Hamlet Hermann, former director of the Metropolitan Transport Authority, explains the government did not heed advice to create the feeder routes first.
The stats on the Metro show that the least used stations are those at the Maximo Gomez Cemetery (63 users per hour), the Mirador del Norte (60 users per hour) and La Isabela (54 users per hour). The most used stations are at the two extremes. The Mama Tingo at Av. Charles de Gaulle in Villa Mella shows 636 users per hour, and the La Firia receives 456 users per hour.
Moneywise, the metro is a big loser. With a fare of RD$20, it generates barely RD$1,02,856 daily, or approximately RD$370 million a year, equivalent to about US$10.3 million. Traditional motoconcho, guagua and concho transport favorably compete in price with the comfort of the metro.
According to the OPRET the metro cost US$674.6 million. But the IDB says the investment was US$54 milion per kilometer, or US$756 million.
OPRET has reported the government is subsidizing the metro with RD$22.5 million a month, or about RD$270 million a year. But Edwin Ruiz reports that in the 2009 National Budget RD$2.41 billion or US$64.8 million have been allotted for the operation of the metro. 86% of those funds would have come from abroad.
Opret says that the present cost per passenger is RD$35. The report indicates this means a RD$1.09 billion deficit needs to be assumed by taxpayers that most probably are not using the metro. The report concludes that around 25,000 persons a day benefit greatly from being able to use the US$750 million-metro.
The authorities of the Metro refused to sit for an interview with Edwin Ruiz after delivering the data.
