Transportation unions, such as Conatra, CNTU and Fenatrano denounced the Metro by pointing out that it will benefit just 2% of the National District’s passengers, as reported in El Caribe. The union leaders expressed doubts that the fares could be kept at RD$5 and RD$10 pesos. Juan Hubieres and Ramon Perez Figuereo, well-known transport union leaders also rejected the sum of US$327 million as money that the country is not in a condition to repay. Hubieres called the project “A lovely utopia.”
In a separate analysis, El Caribe shows why the transportation unions are so strongly opposed to the plan. The Metro offers just 10 kilometers of service. The bus unions offer 35 kilometers of service over the same route, and OMSA offers 16 kilometers of service. The bus unions also offer 30 different routes along the corridor while OMSA and the Metro only offer one. The major difference between the different services will be speed. The Metro will take less than 14 minutes, while OMSA takes 25 minutes and the union-operated buses take 35 minutes.
The Metro will have the capacity to transport 480,000 people a day, but the unions say that they are moving just 150,000 per day along the proposed route.
One of the most interesting arguments was presented by Antonio Marte of the Conatra union. He told reporters from El Caribe that while he and his members are not against the Metro, they are currently providing an efficient service without government subsidies. “There are approximately 251,000 people in the Santo Domingo North municipality, and there will be few alternative routes available for them to use when the digging starts.”