Red movilidad launches new service to Santiago airport from La Cisterna station

Monday, January 22, 2024.- Red Movilidad launched its new service to Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport. This is route 444, operated by RBU, which connects the La Cisterna Intermodal Station with Chile’s main air terminal.

This new transport offer considers a route from the southern sector of the city and has a direct connection with lines 2 and 4A of the Santiago Metro, in addition to the numerous buses that pass through the La Cisterna Intermodal, benefiting more than 13 thousand residents of communes such as San Bernardo, El Bosque, La Pintana, Puente Alto, Lo Espejo, La Granja and San Ramón.

In this context, the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz, stressed that “A year ago we were here celebrating that for the first time we were going to have a public transportation service to the airport. That service, the 555, we can proudly say, has carried almost a million passengers. Today we take a new step in terms of connectivity to the air terminal, with the new 444 service that will link the southern sector of the city with the airport. From today, by paying the fare only once, you can reach the airport from any commune in the southern zone. This means significant savings for thousands of workers and also for those who are going to take a flight.”

For her part, the Minister of Public Works, Jessica López, stated that “Santiago Airport is the main gateway for our country and we are doing a significant amount of work with the concessionaire society to further improve standards. The figures support us, since in 2023 the number of passengers who used the airport rose by 25% compared to the previous year and we expect this year to exceed pre-pandemic use. Now the new news is the new 444 shuttle service that connects the airport with the southern area of Santiago. The ways in which the city of Santiago connects with this airport are so important in terms of circulation, as our airport can only continue to grow, so we are working on new ways to have new means of transport that connect the airport with the city.”

In this way, the Metropolitan Public Transport System already has two routes that arrive at the air terminal. The 555 service, which debuted in January last year, recorded nearly one million transactions in its first 12 months of operation. An Ipsos study on user satisfaction revealed that 63% rated it with a score of 7 – the highest on the scale – and 21% with a 6.0.

The director of Metropolitan Public Transport, Paola Tapia Salas, indicated that “This new service will operate from Monday to Sunday, will have a frequency of six buses per hour and will connect one of the intermodals with the highest influx of public, such as the La Cisterna Intermodal that also connects with Line 2 recently extended to the El Pino Hospital in San Bernardo and with Line 4A to Vicuña Mackenna. This service that starts in La Cisterna and continues through Lo Espejo, Cerrillos and Maipú to reach Pudahuel will allow accessibility for more than 13 thousand people benefited by this system.”

The 444 service is made up of 20 high-standard buses, so they have air conditioning, Wi-Fi, USB chargers and information screens.

The mayor of La Cisterna, Joel Olmos, said that “this means progress for two things: because people who travel from the southern sector to the airport will save at least twenty minutes, and that is something very significant, and also because this promotes the use of public transport, because a Bip! versus a taxi or an Uber is a big difference, so it will also mean savings, especially for workers.”

Meanwhile, the mayor of Pudahuel, Ítalo Bravo, said that “the 555 service was great news not only for travelers, but also for the workers who many come from our commune. That’s why demand gave way to better supply and better coverage. With a Beep! it brings us closer to the airport, which is in our commune, but at a distance that is not minor. A taxi costs 20 thousand pesos. It’s profit everywhere.”

As for the route, it has an extension of 25.6 kilometers there and 24.05 kilometers back and transits through Américo Vespucio to ENEA and then extends to the Intermodal Airport Red Mobility, where a free shuttle bus from Nuevo Pudahuel leaves at the national and international terminals.

This service will operate seven days a week. From Monday to Friday it will operate from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., while on Saturdays it will depart at 6:00 a.m. and on Sundays at 6:30 a.m. At rush hour the frequency will be 6 buses per hour, while at peak afternoon it will be 5.