The reasons for the financial deficit of the Medellín Metro that could lead to a crisis in the system

The pandemic does not end up wreaking havoc beyond human health. One of those affected would be the Medellín Metro, which, like most mass transit systems, faces a financial deficit that puts its sustainability at risk.

The situation was revealed by Medellín, Cómo Vamos, through a report in which it established that the Metro has spent its savings and if it does not obtain new forms of financing in the medium term, it could affect operational standards.

The report states that the Medellín Metro depends 97% on ticket sales, which fell by up to 47% during 2020 due to lockdown, which left a collection gap that could no longer be recovered.

According to the newspaper El Espectador, the figures in the report indicate, for example, that in 2019 the Medellín Metro sold around 963,856 tickets per day during the working week, but by the first year 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the figure dropped to 512,382 passengers. It went from receiving 607 billion in tickets, to $377 billion in 2020.

Although by 2021, with the economic reactivation, the demand for mass public transport in the city has increased, ticket sales have not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, which would have caused the financial deficit.

Between 2020 and 2021, the system would have stopped receiving up to 721 billion pesos, which forced it to take part in the backup box and generated a deficit of close to 480 billion pesos, according to the station Blu Radio.

This situation, according to the director of Medellín, Cómo Vamos, Luis Fernando Agudelo, would have two consequences: the suspension of the civil works projects of the system as an adaptation of some stations because for two years the modernization fund has not been fed, and this, in turn, that the Metro does not have the form of adapt to a season of increased demand that exceeds its capacity.

“We have an estimate of losses due to demand reduction amounting to $552 billion, certified by Mintransporte,” Tomás Elejalde Escobar, manager of the Metro, told the newspaper El Colombiano. According to him, that loss is not recovered because it is structural and absolute, but they would have stopped the losses with a recovery of approximately 90% of demand.

He announced in the interview with that newspaper that there are no resources for expanding the fleet, so they will need co-financing from the Nation, also for modernization and repowering projects. Although projects, such as that of the 80, are guaranteed by varied sources of funding.

So far, he said, with subsidies from the national government and the suspension and pledging of the debt, more than 200 billion pesos have been recovered.

Medellín, Cómo Vamos recommended that other forms of financing be sought so that the system does not depend solely on tickets, such as through contributions from the municipalities of the Aburrá Valley and the private ones that benefit from the system. He also proposed operating commercial spaces in and around stations.

The manager believes that they will probably need another two years of debt suspension and a fleet renewal that reduces energy consumption. In turn, the Medellín, Cómo Vamos program proposed a new allocation of gasoline and tobacco taxes that are allocated for debt repayment, for maintenance and renewal. The clear thing is that they will have to take measures to avoid a crisis and overcome the deficit.

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