According to CNN Chile, the Metropol Chile consortium, owner of Buses Alfa and Buses Omega, filed a request for voluntary liquidation with the courts on Friday, October 23. Both companies operate within Red Movilidad, Santiago's public transport system. The Directorio de Transporte Público Metropolitano (DTPM, the Metropolitan Public Transport Directorate) confirmed the filing this Saturday.
The DTPM reports to the Ministerio de Transportes y Telecomunicaciones (Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications) and manages the contracts for the capital's buses. In a statement, the agency said the concessionaire is responsible for 52 routes with 741 buses.
These services run mainly through Huechuraba, Renca, Puente Alto and San Bernardo, municipalities (comunas) of the Santiago area. According to the DTPM, the group's bankruptcy involves 10.3% of the Red system's total fleet.
Despite that figure, the authority said the routes will continue to operate normally. The statement noted that "there is capacity to guarantee the availability of buses and not affect services".
The liquidation request has a recent background. According to the DTPM, in recent weeks support measures were put in place so that users of the routes assigned to Metropol could reach their destinations, "due to a series of situations of non-compliance". The statement does not detail what that non-compliance consisted of.
The report also does not mention the situation of the drivers and other workers at Buses Alfa and Buses Omega, or what will happen to their contracts during the process.
To sustain operations, the Ministerio de Transportes is in the process of appointing Fernando Saka Herrán as provisional administrator. His main task will be to ensure operational continuity for both companies' routes.
While that appointment is finalized, the DTPM asked passengers to check Red Movilidad's official channels for any changes to the affected services.
