Four mayors, nine managers and a series of postponements: the Quito Metro, after nine years, will start up with pending issues

What was once called an “underground white elephant” by the current mayor of Quito, Santiago Guarderas, now has a date for the start of its operations. The Quito Metro, the most expensive work in the history of the capital, has taken more than nine years to build and an innumerable list of possible inaugurations, the last one will be on December 21, 2022.

The first line of the Quito Metro will connect users from Quitumbe, in the south, with El Labrador, in the north of the city. The 22-kilometre section will have 18 six-car trains that are expected to pass through the 15 stations at exact times.

On November 29, the Quito Metro Metropolitan Public Company (EPMMQ) signed the contract for the commercial operation of the project with the Franco-Spanish company Metro Medellín-Transdev SAS

The Quito Metro will begin operations on December 21, 2022

This would be the last step to follow for the project to finally start operations, which will cost more than $2,061 million. However, according to EPMMQ itself, it will not start with some of the necessary elements, they will be added over time.

In a past interview, the manager of the Quito Metro, Efraín Bastidas, pointed out that after the inauguration some elements will still be missing, such as the 24 card vending machines that are expected to arrive in February 2023.

In addition, users will not have a cell phone signal, the issue of advertising and rental of premises within the stations will not have been awarded, among other needs that are supposed to be solved on the fly.

However, the issues that have been the point of dispute and that were not completed or announced either are the Integrated Public Transport System, the Integrated Collection System and the security systems with the ECU911.

Efraín Bastidas, manager of the Quito Metro: At times I feel that a taboo is generated regarding the Metro, what interests us is that it operates, that we have a safe system

For Andrea Flores, former manager of the Quito Metro, this is crucial, because without the integrated transport system the objective would not be met, which is to supply passengers to the Metro and that they travel safely and in less time.

In addition, he expressed concern about the lack of an agreement between the project and the ECU911 Integrated Security Service regarding the security system. In his opinion, it would be best for him to receive training on the Tetra system, which the Metro has, since staying with the system maintained by ECU911 would entail new work in the tunnel and a delay of approximately one year.

“I think it is not enough to announce a date without all the plan that is needed for the Metro to actually work, there is no restructuring of the routes and frequencies on the surface, there is no issue of telecommunications, or emergencies, is it? What happens if there is an emergency on December 22? All these pending events were announced more than a year ago and have remained at the same point,” Flores emphasized.

The former mayor of Quito Augusto Barrera agrees with this, with whom the construction of the Metro began in 2013. For him, this project should have been inaugurated between 2017 and 2018, however, past administrations have turned it into “political loot that its execution has been delayed”.

Barrera pointed out that the most likely thing is that the mayor will announce that on December 21 a phase of knowledge of the Metro with the people will begin, this would be part of the white march, which consists of carrying out tests or simulations of the real operation, bringing together all the elements that are part of the work. With this, he anticipates that the commercial operation will only begin in the first months of next year.

Flores added that only one campaign is managed for political purposes, as he added that his management proposed that the final testing phase start in December and commercial operations begin in March, only he pointed out that this was offered a year earlier. In other words, according to her, a year has been lost in which the project has risen in price and has prevented users from benefiting from it.

Barrera was more critical and said that the Metro has advanced by its very nature, since in terms of construction it has been an international benchmark. “Advantageously, the project has continued and has concluded because the structure was very robust and has been able to even withstand the lousy administrations (…); if we had not had some of the last mayors, the project would have worked on autopilot better”, he emphasized.

The Quito Metro, without light at the end of the tunnel; count of nine years

The Metro has gone through four mayors: Augusto Barrera, Mauricio Rodas, Jorge Yunda and Santiago Guarderas. During these periods they have had nine managers and with them, a number of officials who have left and entered the project.

Finally, citizens long for the wait for the inauguration of the most expensive and emblematic project that the capital has ever had to end on December 21. Despite this, it is still hoped that all the systems that are part of its operation come together and start the real operation that aims to solve the transfers of people in shorter times, with exact schedules and with order, under and over the surface. (YO)