11,000 passengers a day? That's ridiculous. Where are your sources? No one in their right mind would bother building a mass transit system for an expected ridership of 11,000 per day. There must be some mistake, l'm sure. I'd expect ridership to be in the hundred thousands(atleast 200,000), surely, considering the amount of people that live in the immediate area of this subway line.

I'm sure those figures must be including the expected ridership of the current and future subway lines (if built) in total. It doesn't really matter how many miles of rail there are tbh. LOndon's subway network is almost twice as expansive as that of Paris and yet the paris metro moves more passengers. Also keep in mind that there tends to be a higher usage of public transportation in developing countries as everyone cannot aford to buy their own car like in the states or even puerto rico. So you see, the SD subway clearly has an advanatage over it's cousin in san juan in terms of expected ridership. So, 1 milliion daily riders may not be that farfetched after all...although quite a challenge...

Cant wait till it opens... im goin bak 2 DR jus to get on it...
ok mabe not JUST for that but def. looking foreward to gettin on, looks way better then tha NYC subway. hope they take care of it tho....

I am fully Dominican, so I am not mixed with anything.

Like the majority of Dominicans, I am ethnically mixed with the calculations as follows:

50% White or European ancestry
25% Black or African ancestry
25% Taino or Native ancestry

Thanks

World's best top public transit systems

http://www.virgin-vacations.com/site_vv/11-top-underground-transit-systems-in-the-world.asp

11,000 people per day is extremely little, but the PLD thieves wouldn't have a problem with that. The purpose of many of these grand state projects is to inflate potential costs to get more from creditors (a billion U.S dollar system when the global economy is good is actually nothing for banks). When the money is in their coffers they then proceed to build a-la-cheap with bad cement and cheap illegal foreign labor and pocket the difference. Politicians in DR don't think in the long run so they probably didn't bother to look at what it would cost in future subsidies. You can believe the low numbers, after all where's everyone going on a daily basis, it's not like the country has full employment.

DominicanChic, where did you pop up from? thanks for your input; people should read your insights on this subject very carefully, especially the one which asserts that sufficient studies were not done before embarking on the project.

11,000 passengers a day? That is too little, and I don't think it will be that little. According to wikipedia, "200.000 daily (projected daily ridership)." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Domingo_Metro)

BTW, the metro will start operating by the end of this month. The metro cards "Viajero" are on sale for RD $30. If you live in the capital, go buy yours before long lines take place!

DominicanChic, you hit the nail on the head with what you said about what the government has in mind when they decide to build these projects, but I think many are underestimating just how big the population is in Santo Domingo city. I think this train will have a significant impact on the traffic flow in parts of the city. There may not be that much employment, but traffic in the capital is horrendous and very, very congested. Believe me, people will use this Metro service day and night.