Felipe Gonzalez, King’s College London

Paper: Public Transport Electrification: Lessons from a Pioneer

Abstract: Cities worldwide are committing to zero-emission bus fleets. We evaluate a pioneer: Santiago, Chile, whose electric bus fleet is the largest outside China. We link the universe of georeferenced bus trips to vehicle technology, ridership, and nearby air and noise monitors. We exploit staggered re-tenders triggered by contract expirations set before electrification entered the policy agenda. Fleet electrification improves local air quality and reduces noise near routes, with little change in operating speed and no detectable ridership gain. At the scale reached in 2025, these environmental gains imply gross annual benefits of USD 128–362 million.