The Santo Domingo Metro () is a rapid transit system in Greater Santo Domingo. Serving the capital of the Dominican Republic, it is the most extensive metro system in the insular Caribbean and Central American region by length and number of stations. It began operation in 2008.
The Metro is a major part of the "National Master Plan" to improve transportation in Greater Santo Domingo and the rest of the nation. The first line was planned to relieve traffic congestion on the Máximo Gómez and Hermanas Mirabal Avenue thoroughfares, which connect Santo Domingo. The second line, which opened in April 2013, is meant to relieve the congestion along the Duarte-Kennedy-Centenario Corridor in the city from west to east. The current length of the Metro, with the sections of the two lines open as of August 2013, is . Before the second line's opening, 30,856,515 passengers had ridden the Santo Domingo Metro in 2012. With both lines opened, ridership increased to 61,270,054 passengers in 2014.
Four more lines are planned to be constructed in the near future, for a total of six lines.
Overview
The first line was unofficially inaugurated on February 27, 2008. On December 22, 2008, non-commercial operation of the metro system began and provided free service to the public during the Christmas holiday season. The metro was closed on January 6, 2009, for final touches before it opened for commercial use on January 30, 2009.
Shortly after the inauguration of Line 1, presidential elections took place in the Dominican Republic. President Leonel Fernández stayed in power and promised to continue the expansion of the Metro across the Greater Santo Domingo. By mid-2009, construction of Line 2 had commenced and it opened on April 1, 2013. An approval for an expansion of the second line was issued January 2014, with construction beginning on April 1, 2014.
Approval and construction
Line 1
President Leonel Fernández proposed and started the construction of the first subway system in the Dominican Republic and the second in the Caribbean. The actual first phase of the overall "Master Plan" for the Metro took place once Fernandez had proposed the construction of the Juan Bosch Bridge. The bridge was built with support for two heavy rail lines on the deck that until the third line of the system gets built are being used for regular vehicle traffic. This phase took place under Fernandez's first administration and with very little public knowledge of the Master Plan.
The project was prompted by the need to reduce the continually-rising heavy road traffic congestion; the current disorganized and inefficient public transportation system; and air pollution, which severely affects the residents' productive time and the health. The system will complement other forms of public transportation such as OMSA (Metropolitan Office of Buses Services) buses, with the government estimating that around 100 feeder buses will be in service.
The first line of the mass-transit system has sixteen stations: six elevated, ten underground. It has a total route length of and connects Villa Mella in Santo Domingo Norte with La Feria in Santo Domingo. That is expected to bring relief to the city's current public transport system. Daily ridership is expected to be about 200,000 passengers once other lines or at least the feeder bus system is integrated. The first line opened for commercial service on January 30, 2009.
On September 23, 2007, President Fernández while on a trip to the East Coast of the United States announced that stations on the Santo Domingo Metro were not to be named by the streets that they intercepted but instead named to honor important historical people of the Dominican Republic. On February 25, 2008, during the final testing before the official inauguration of the line by President Fernández, Ing. Diandino Peña announced the official names for the stations.
Line 2
In the presidential elections that took place on May 16, 2008, President Fernández was re-elected for his second consecutive term. However, long before his re-election, companies that specialize in studying land composition had begun drilling holes specifically around the area at which Line 2 (along Avenida John F. Kennedy, a major throughway in the city that turns into Duarte Highway, connecting the city with Santiago) was being built.