Riders feel service of Santo Domingo Metro is "good"
Workers can cross the city
SANTO DOMINGO. Some five months and nine days after the opening of Line 2 of the Santo Domingo Metro, the riders see the new route and the connection with Line 1 in a positive way.
Carmen Brito, a student at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and who lives in San Luis, tells how the Metro has reduced her travel time by two hours a day. "Before, it was two hours to go and two hours to come back. Now I can take the Metro at the 17 and go down to the university. One hour." Brito has used the new line for the first time this semester.
Luis Miguel Diaz, a high school student, sees how the cost to go from East Santo Domingo to the Hermanas Mirabal stop in Villa Mella goes down. In this case, he took a public car to Line 2 and from there to his destination. "I would have had to take another public car to Ovando (Nicolas de Ovando) and from there another to the Hermanas Mirabal Metro station," said Diaz, who also stressed the safety. "Now I take half the time to go from my father's house to mine. It is faster, safer, and you don't have to fight to get a seat."
And citizens have found creative ways to use the Metro. The small bus lines and public cars have also created routes to be able to take advantage of the situation, and this has created jobs, like the one Reinaldo Gonzalez has. He is a "filler" at the Eduardo Brito Metro station for the public cars that are on the Los Mina-Megacentro route. "There are also the routes to El Tamarindo, Invivienda, Los Tres Brazos," says Gonzalez, while he stresses that all of the routes are taking passengers at the Eduardo Brito station. The small bus routes, belonging to the Fenatrano syndicate, have created the term "special routes" and go to and from the barrios mentioned all the way to Line 2 of the Santo Domingo Metro.
The employee of the Ministry of Education, Geronimo Sanchez Quezada also sees an improvement in his quality of life through the reduction of the travel time. "Now I leave (the Ministry of) Education, I get on the Metro at (Maximo Gomez) and I arrive here and for sure it is close to noon," he explains.
Jorge Ramirez, a resident in West Santo Domingo, who works as a mason, says that the Metro has opened the doors to work in other places. "Before, in order for one to have a job, you had to be sure to arrive on time at the job sites, and be present; but now I can take jobs on the other side, without thinking that I am going to spend half the day on the bus," he ended.
The extension of Line 2 of the Metro
The government announced last July the construction of the second phase of Line 2 of the Metro, which will start at the Francisco del Rosario Sanchez Bridge (the 17) and go as far as the Community College, located at Kilometer 14 of the Mella Highway, next to the municipal district of San Luis. The construction of this Third Metro Line will cover 11.5 kilometers and have a cost of approximately US$850 million, according to information from the Office for the Reorganization of Transport (Opret), Diandino Peña. Within the cost is included the construction of a bridge that will connect the Eduardo Brito Station in the National District with the extreme west of East Santo Domingo. The bridge will have a cost of approximately RD$2.8 billion at the time the project was announced.
Carmen Brito, a student at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and who lives in San Luis, tells how the Metro has reduced her travel time by two hours a day. "Before, it was two hours to go and two hours to come back. Now I can take the Metro at the 17 and go down to the university. One hour." Brito has used the new line for the first time this semester.
Luis Miguel Diaz, a high school student, sees how the cost to go from East Santo Domingo to the Hermanas Mirabal stop in Villa Mella goes down. In this case, he took a public car to Line 2 and from there to his destination. "I would have had to take another public car to Ovando (Nicolas de Ovando) and from there another to the Hermanas Mirabal Metro station," said Diaz, who also stressed the safety. "Now I take half the time to go from my father's house to mine. It is faster, safer, and you don't have to fight to get a seat."
And citizens have found creative ways to use the Metro. The small bus lines and public cars have also created routes to be able to take advantage of the situation, and this has created jobs, like the one Reinaldo Gonzalez has. He is a "filler" at the Eduardo Brito Metro station for the public cars that are on the Los Mina-Megacentro route. "There are also the routes to El Tamarindo, Invivienda, Los Tres Brazos," says Gonzalez, while he stresses that all of the routes are taking passengers at the Eduardo Brito station. The small bus routes, belonging to the Fenatrano syndicate, have created the term "special routes" and go to and from the barrios mentioned all the way to Line 2 of the Santo Domingo Metro.
The employee of the Ministry of Education, Geronimo Sanchez Quezada also sees an improvement in his quality of life through the reduction of the travel time. "Now I leave (the Ministry of) Education, I get on the Metro at (Maximo Gomez) and I arrive here and for sure it is close to noon," he explains.
Jorge Ramirez, a resident in West Santo Domingo, who works as a mason, says that the Metro has opened the doors to work in other places. "Before, in order for one to have a job, you had to be sure to arrive on time at the job sites, and be present; but now I can take jobs on the other side, without thinking that I am going to spend half the day on the bus," he ended.
The extension of Line 2 of the Metro
The government announced last July the construction of the second phase of Line 2 of the Metro, which will start at the Francisco del Rosario Sanchez Bridge (the 17) and go as far as the Community College, located at Kilometer 14 of the Mella Highway, next to the municipal district of San Luis. The construction of this Third Metro Line will cover 11.5 kilometers and have a cost of approximately US$850 million, according to information from the Office for the Reorganization of Transport (Opret), Diandino Peña. Within the cost is included the construction of a bridge that will connect the Eduardo Brito Station in the National District with the extreme west of East Santo Domingo. The bridge will have a cost of approximately RD$2.8 billion at the time the project was announced.