The Metropolitano System of Transport, more commonly known as Metropolitano, in October completed one year of full operation. The Metropolitano Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Segregated Corridor of High Capacity (known as COSAC I, by its Spanish acronym) reached its 100 millionth passenger mark.

On October 14, the Municipality of Lima, in an award ceremony in Metropolitano’s Central Station, awarded Raphael Roney Jiménez Velarde, Metropolitano’s 100 millionth passenger, a fare card that will allow the free use of Metropolitano for one year. Passengers José Luis Abanto Arrelucea (passenger number 99,999,999) and Jhonathan Ciriaco Sedano (passenger number 100,000,001) also received fare cards for the free use of Metropolitano for six months. This recognition reinforces the rapid, orderly and safe quality of service provided to passengers in the capital city.

“In the next three months we will see new investments in road safety, stations, signals, and also in urban insertion,” said the Mayor of Lima Susana Villarán, while awarding the passenger winners. “Next year, with an investment of 150 million dollars, we will expand the number of stations, particulary with the expansion of Metropolitano in the north.”

Villarán also announced that she signed a mayoral resolution that empowers Protransporte to begin an adjustment process for the future operation of the Segregated Corridor of High Capacity (COSAC II, by its Spanish acronym) and the complementary corridors. She also expressed thanks to the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, EMBARQ (the producer of this blog), COFIDE, the newly formed foundation Transitemos and other institutions that have helped to improve the quality of Metropolitano.

Villarán thanked the passengers of Metropolitano for trusting in Metropolitano as a means of transportation that is “so important, so modern, so rapid, so good, and so safe, in addition to other characteristics.”

At the end of 2010, Metropolitano transported an average of 220,000  passengers daily. Currently, it transports an average of 360,000 passengers daily. The goal for December 2011 is to transport half a million passengers per day.

Below is a translation of Mayor Villarán’s  address at the award ceremony:

“On October 2, we celebrated one year since the Metropolitano became fully operational and we wanted to commemorate it in the best possible way. Esteemed Metropolitan Council Members; Mrs. María Jara; Mr. Carlos Villegas, president of the association of victims of traffic accidents; Mr. Jhonatan Sedano, passenger number 100 million and 1; Mr. Rafael Jiménez, passenger number 100 million, Mr. José Luis Abanto, passenger number 99 million 999 thousand; Mr. Luis Morarte, main project engineer, who told me that 45 years ago, his pregnant wife was accompanying him at this same place, in order to begin building the Express Highway with Don Luis Bedoya Reyes.

I would like to thank all of you for being here with us: the public officials, Alejandro Silva, our defender of the victims of traffic accidents, and civil society organizations, and many thanks to the President of our Transportation Commission Victor Ramírez.

Today, we are gathered here to recognize the 100 millionth passenger of the Metropolitano, an emblematic public work for our city, which, like the President of Protransporte Juan Tapia has correctly stated, was made possible by the efforts of several of the mayors in our city. This is a crucial aspect, the continuity of public works, because in Lima, public works are not measured in four-year periods, they are measured in 10-, 20- or 30-year periods.

Thus, I would like to thank you, passengers of the Metropolitano, for trusting in this vital means of transportation, that is so modern, so fast, so good, so safe, in comparison to all other transportation modes.”

Read the full speech here.