The new facilities at Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL), inaugurated in February, continue to present new developments. Now, a Bus Terminal has been set up to maximize connections with the capital and surrounding areas.
The inauguration of the bus terminal was attended by the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz, together with the shareholders of Nuevo Pudahuel, Nicolas Notebaert, CEO of VINCI Concessions and President of VINCI Airports; Fernando Echegaray, Deputy Executive Director of Groupe ADP in charge of operations and Executive Director of ADP International; and the concessionaire’s General Manager, Xavier Lortat-Jacob.
This infrastructure is part of the master plan being executed by Nuevo Pudahuel. This plan includes the new International Terminal (T2), inaugurated last February, as well as buildings for public services such as SAG, Customs and PDI, new parking lots, two boulevards, an amphitheater, an art room and the improvements to be made to the old terminal, which since February 28 has been operating only domestic services.
The Terminal:
The bus station has a surface area of 16,700 m2 and 26 bus positions. It will start providing services to Centropuerto and Turbus companies, in addition to crew buses and tourism services. In the future, it is expected to open its offer to direct services to cities near the Metropolitan Region, such as Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Rancagua, or San Felipe.
«This terminal allows us to generate greater connectivity options with the city and provide greater comfort to passengers who come to the airport. With this bus station, we will be able to better manage mobility services to and from the airport. At the same time we’ll generate a relevant area of activity that in the future may open opportunities to expand the area benefited by the airport not only to Santiago but to the entire central area», said the general manager of Nuevo Pudahuel, Xavier Lortat-Jacob.
For the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz, the official opening of this space means «making strong progress in promoting that more people opt for sustainable transport. In this case, intermodality, through this terminal, is in line with the search for greater equity and efficiency for the city in general. This will encourage people to leave their cars behind, as well as allow people who come to work here every day to do so in better conditions».
The new terminal also has roofed waiting rooms, restrooms, and space for eight commercial premises. The design also includes a 3,000 m2 main roof structure to protect passengers from the rain and sun.
Bus Terminal service between Santiago and the airport
According to the website of the companies operating at the airport, their schedule is as follows:
- Centropuerto: Every day from 6hs to 23:30hs a service every 10 minutes between Los Héroes Station and the Airport; between 23:30hs and 4hs, it is an hourly service. It has six intermediate stops to connect with subway lines (1, 2, and 5), intercity buses, and suburban trains. The journey time is 40 minutes.
- Centropuerto (Maipú): It has two daily services from Maipú to the airport every day.
- Centropuerto new destination: The company announced that it will soon have a service to Terminal Alameda.
- Turbus (from Terminal Alameda): Every day from 5:30 am to 11:35 pm every 15/20 minutes from Monday to Friday and every 20/30 minutes on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Night service is only from Monday to Friday from 23:35hs to 5:30hs every hour.
- Turbus (from Terminal Pajaritos): Every day from 5:00hs to 22:00hs every 15/20 minutes from Monday to Friday and every 20/30 minutes on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.
