Jack T. Allison, executive director of the Puerto Rico Transportation Authority Transportation, said in Santo Domingo during his participation in the metro workshop called by the Dominican College of Engineers (CODIA) on experiences in other countries, that in Puerto Rico the construction of a 17-kms urban train is part of a major effort to recreate the metropolitan area of San Juan. He said it is an opportunity to correct major errors in city design and rebuild urban areas so that the city can be more efficient and compact, increasing population density.
He explained that Puerto Rico had given preference to the automobile in its urban models. “Now we are returning to a walkable city model, with underground utilities, making sidewalks wider to be more pedestrian friendly,” he told his audience.
He explained that in the 40s and 50s Puerto Rico went from being a farm-based country to an industrial society. As a result, people moved to the cities and developed sprawling neighborhoods that required more and more highways to be built to accommodate the vehicles. But he said city planners now realize that the vehicle traffic load will always catch up with the roads and the solution needs to be to make the city more compact. “Cars cannot be the only alternative,” he said.
He explained that 90% of those that use the metro in Puerto Rico do so because they do not own a car. He alerted that a metro needs to attract a broader clientele and society needs to find ways to motivate all its residents to use collective transport.
He said that all metros have begun with one line. “Once you start, you have to continue.” In Puerto Rico they are already contemplating new lines.
Nevertheless, Allison cautioned Dominicans of the hidden costs of the metro. He said that the metro in Puerto Rico costs US$100 million a year (power, security, transfers to buses and multi-fare paying taxis, maintenance, etc.). He mentioned each car costs US$2 million.
Furthermore, he said that the estimated cost of the metro, of US$1.45 billion had increased to US$2.25 billion by the time of completion. He said they were fortunate that Puerto Rico had the resources to absorb the 80% increase. Likewise, the train that started in 1996 should have been completed in 2001, but it was not until December 2004 that the initial trial runs were begun.
He also commented that the 1.8 km underground stretch of the metro is not in operation because one of the eight ventilators did not operate properly. He said the authority decided not to risk any problems happening, because this would eliminate the confidence of the population in the system, key to the success of the project. He also said that major investments had to be made to ensure that the power supply was adequate all throughout the urban train route.
Allison explained that Puerto Rico chose the elevated metro because of the high cost of underground. He said the government studied transport alternatives for 30 years and there was widespread citizen participation in the choice, before they decided to go ahead with the elevated inter-urban train. The last study was carried out by Frederic Harris, a major US firm specializing in transport solutions.
Puerto Rico contracted four different companies (Mexico, US, Spain and Germany) that built four sections of the metro. “Our lesson is that one has to be very careful with what vendors want to sell you because they make it look much better than what it is,” he told DR1.