With the engine running before dawn, school transporters will begin their days making calculations that no longer add up. This is at least the prediction of Elly Martínez, who has worked in the field for over thirty years, when asked about the historic increase in gasoline prices announced by the government of President José Antonio Kast. Although Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz confirmed that they will seek to extend a monthly bonus of $100,000 to school transporters to cope with the rise for six months, the concern in the sector remains palpable.
This is due to the uncertainty of how the increase in gasoline prices will affect daily operations. Moreover, beyond the rising costs of routes—coupled with the uncertainty generated by government measures, such as changes to the fuel price stabilization mechanism, better known as Mepco—drivers and owners of school vans face a scenario that threatens to strain their budgets and the routines of thousands of families, just as the academic year begins to gain momentum. Elly Martínez's story becomes representative.
Before becoming vice president of the National Confederation of School Transport of Chile (Confentetuch), she had already spent years behind the wheel, during which she has seen it all: from rising gasoline prices to regulatory changes and crises that have tested the continuity of the profession. She started in 1996, when the sector had different rules and costs were more predictable. Since then, she says, she has learned to adjust rates, negotiate with parents, and maintain a service that often relies more on trust than on numbers.
“Initially, it was like a contribution to the household, then it became the main income for our family,” she tells The Clinic. “I really enjoy it because every day is different depending on the mood and energy I receive from the children,” she adds when asked about her work. According to the school transporter, her routine is divided into segments: she starts around 6:30 AM until 8:30 AM, and then from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM.
Later, she takes a one-hour break for lunch and then returns to work around 3 PM until 6 PM. Martínez states that “the …
This is always earned with responsibility and quality in service. ” Over the years, she explains that school transport has become her main source of work, even allowing her to pay for her children's university education. “I live off this job,” she asserts.
The impact of rising gasoline prices on school transport Regarding how her expenses will grow now that gasoline prices are set to rise—with increases of up to $370 per liter for 93-octane gasoline and up to $580 for diesel, effective this Thursday—Martínez suggests that if she previously spent $300,000 monthly, she now estimates costs will rise to $600,000. “I’m worried; I already raised the monthly fee in March and I won’t be able to do it again, considering that my parents also live on a salary and this period can be very long. Not only will fuel prices rise, but there will also be increases in food and other things,” she explains.
On raising school transport rates, Martínez indicates that “I might have to do it, but for now, I raised them in March and I can’t do it for at least another six months. ” “Unfortunately, we are the last ones the authorities might think of. Our call is for them to remember us,” she adds, concluding: “I would ask the government to review our situation; we provide a very important service that many parents depend on to be able to work.
We are the aunts or uncles to whom parents hand over the keys to their homes to leave their children because they arrive later. ” For her part, Verónica Contreras, president of the school transport union, states that “this increase (in gasoline prices) is a heavy blow to the school transport sector because the rates were already set; they were fixed between late February and early March. So, one cannot now tell the parents that there has been a 60% increase in expenses.
” “We work with a segment of parents who are middle class or below, many of whom have vulnerable children. Therefore, they are not in a position to absorb such an increase at all. They make a tremendous effort to hire school transport; it is not a luxury or convenience for them, it is a necessity because they are people who leave early for work and often leave their children at home waiting for transport,” adds the president of Confentetuch.