Despite being a small and territorially distant country, Chile is taking firm steps towards electromobility.
Last week, the last 214 electric buses that will renew the fleet in the southern area of our capital were publicly presented.
Today, Santiago is the non-Chinese city with the largest number of electric buses in the world, with a total of 2,481.
Electromobility leads us towards a better city.
Each diesel bus that we renew represents a reduction of 30 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
And each electroterminal (facilities where electric vehicles are recharged and their departures are planned), of which today we have 25, implies 43% less polluting emissions and 50% less noise, with all the benefits that this entails for users and workers of the system, as well as those who reside in its surroundings.
This silent, but powerful transformation brings with it a task that the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz, has asked us to promote.
It is about the incorporation of women in each of the dimensions of this area.
In Latin America, women are the ones who use public transportation the most.
In Chile, 52% of trips are made by women and 65.5% of them are associated with care work, shopping, or looking for or dropping off someone.
This means that women tend to make more, but shorter, trips per day.
A century ago, when mass transportation systems began to be developed in cities, this data was not available.
Consequently, the routes were designed considering mainly single and longer routes from the center to the periphery.
That is, from work to home.
City planning somehow made invisible the unpaid work of women, associated with the care economy.
The efforts of different States to combat the climate crisis have taught us that it is possible to rethink our forms of mobility, just as new technologies are at the service of it.
In that sense, it should be the job of governments, civil society and academia to generate and share data disaggregated by gender.
It is the only way to mainstream gender in urban planning.
These data may also reflect differences between women, such as those that may exist between those who live in urban and rural areas, or by age group.
There is still much to do and ideate.
Chile was a pioneer by creating the first International Gender and Mobility Observatory, to which we have already added 6 public agencies.
In addition, we have been systematic in promoting the incorporation of women drivers: currently, 8.5% of women drive Red Movilidad buses, an increase of 62% compared to 2021. With actions of this nature, we hope to continue taking historic steps so that consolidate electromobility and improvements in public transport, with a woman's face.
Paola Tapia
was the first Minister of Transportation in Chile.
She now manages the metropolitan buses of the capital, Santiago de Chile, and promotes the gender perspective in transportation through Mujeres en Movimiento.