How to ride public transportation in Santiago

Santiago’s public transportation runs on one system with three modes and a single card. Metro is the backbone, RED buses fill in everywhere the subway doesn’t reach, and a commuter train called Tren Nos covers the southern suburbs. Tap on with the same bip! card across all three and you get free transfers between them — the twist for visitors is that the fare itself changes depending on what time you tap.

The basics

Three networks, one fare system:

• Metro — 7 color-coded lines. Line 1 is the one most visitors ride, running east–west under the main avenue through downtown, Providencia, and Las Condes.
• RED buses (formerly branded Transantiago) — an extensive network of routes run by several private operators under one fare and one brand, filling in the gaps between Metro lines.
• Tren Nos — a commuter rail line connecting Estación Central to San Bernardo and Nos in the southern suburbs, run by the state railway EFE. Less relevant if you’re staying central, useful if you’re headed south.

All three are covered by the same Red Metropolitana de Movilidad fare: tap once and you get up to two free transfers within 120 minutes, as long as you’re heading in the same general direction.

How to pay

• bip! card — the standard rechargeable card, sold at Metro stations and bip! retail points across the city. The card itself costs $1,550 CLP (that doesn’t include any fare balance), and the minimum top-up is $750.
• bip!QR — a virtual bip! card in the official Red app or the BancoEstado app, if you’d rather not carry a physical card.
• Contactless bank card — since February 13, 2026, you can tap a contactless Visa or Mastercard debit, credit, or prepaid card (physical or in a phone/watch wallet) straight onto a Metro or Tren Nos validator, no bip! card needed. It charges the standard adult fare, bills your card as a single lump sum the next day, and — for now — only works at Metro and Tren Nos, not on buses (that’s expected to roll out later in 2026). It also doesn’t support the student or senior discount fares.

Whichever you use, tap the same card or device every time, including transfers — that’s how the system knows to apply the free-transfer discount instead of charging you again from scratch.

Fares

Buses charge one flat fare any time of day. Metro and Tren Nos fares shift with the clock:

A single tap buys up to two free transfers within 120 minutes of your first tap, in the same general direction — one of those transfers can be used on Metro, the other on Tren Nos.

Reduced fares exist for students ($260, any time, via the national student ID/TNE card) and seniors 65+ ($390, valid across Metro, bus, and Tren Nos; a separate $260 Metro-only senior fare also exists) — but both require a Chilean ID-linked card, so they’re not something a visitor can usually get.

Getting from the airport

Santiago’s airport is Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL), in Pudahuel, west of downtown. There’s no Metro line to the airport yet (one is planned but not open), so you’ve got two options:

• RED bus 555 (cheapest, same fare as any other ride) — connects the airport’s Intermodal terminal to Metro Pajaritos station on Line 1, using your bip! card at the regular bus fare. It runs every 10 minutes, with an estimated 30-minute ride, Monday–Friday 6:00am–10:30pm, Saturday 6:30am–10:30pm, Sunday 8am–10:30pm. From Pajaritos, transfer to Line 1 to reach downtown. A free shuttle bus covers the short stretch between the Intermodal stop and the terminal doors.
• Private airport shuttle buses (more direct, separate fare — not part of the bip! system) — Centropuerto runs every 15 minutes to Pajaritos, Terminal Sur, Maipú, and República, for $2,400 CLP one-way ($4,100 round trip). Turbus runs every 10–15 minutes to the very central Terminal Alameda (roughly 4:30am–midnight) as well as Terminal Pajaritos, for $2,000 CLP one-way.

Taxis and rideshares are also readily available at both terminals if you’d rather skip public transportation after a long flight.

Apps to download

• Red Movilidad — the official DTPM app, for real-time bus arrivals and trip planning across Metro, bus, and Tren Nos.
• Google Maps — solid for general trip planning with live Metro and bus data built in.
• Moovit — a popular alternative for step-by-step directions with live bus arrival times.

When it runs

• Metro: weekdays 6:00am–11pm, Saturday 6:30am–11pm, Sunday and holidays 7:30am–11pm.
• Tren Nos: weekdays 6:00am–11pm, Saturday 7am–11pm, Sunday and holidays 8am–11pm.
• Buses: most of the network runs into the evening, but a separate night grid of dozens of routes (marked with an “N”) covers roughly midnight to 5am, and a further set of routes run 24 hours a day.

There’s no all-night Metro or Tren Nos service — if you’re out past closing, you’ll need a night bus, taxi, or rideshare.

Accessibility

Every Metro station has elevators, alongside tactile paths, wider gates at the validators, and an assistance phone line (800 540 800) if an elevator is down. Trains have a dedicated wheelchair space and priority seating, and the newer automated Lines 3 and 6 add Braille bip! machines and lower validators. On Tren Nos, all stations have elevators. Across the RED bus fleet, 87.3% of buses have a wheelchair space, manual ramp, and a stop-request button at wheelchair height.

Etiquette & local quirks

• Tap every time, even on a free transfer — your tap is what tells the system you’re mid-journey rather than starting a new paid trip.
• Rush hour is genuinely packed. The peak fare windows (7–9am, 6–8pm weekdays) line up with when Line 1 and the busiest buses are standing-room-only — budget extra time, or extra patience.
• Keep bags in front of you and phones out of back pockets on crowded trains and buses, especially during rush hour — Santiago’s system is generally safe, but pickpocketing in dense crowds is the main thing to watch for.

Good to know

• Fare inspectors do check. Riding without a valid tap can get you fined and added to a national fare-evasion registry, which can in turn affect other government paperwork.
• The fare changes by the clock, not by distance — a short hop and a long ride cost the same at any given hour, so there’s no need to calculate a fare by trip length.
• Metro Línea A, a new line planned to connect a future Line 7 station at Huelén (Cerro Navia) to the airport, has been announced but isn’t running yet — don’t count on it for now.