Chile head pledges transport fix

President Bachelet had apologised before for the transport problems

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has promised to fix the capital's transport system after months of mounting public anger at delays and cancellations.

Ms Bachelet accepted mistakes had been made in trying to upgrade Santiago's public transport and said she understood people's frustration.

She urged lawmakers to approve some $300m (£152m) in investment.

There have been frequent and at times violent protests at the failings of the Transantiago system.

Failings

Many of the capital's six million residents have had to walk long distances and change buses two or three times to get to work or school, as hundreds of regular routes have been cancelled or diverted.

"It has been a bad, frustrating experience for a majority of Santiago residents, especially the poorer sectors," Ms Bachelet said during her second state of the nation address.

"There were failings in the design and implementation, there was a massive failing by the people who should have guaranteed the system's operation."

Ms Bachelet proposed creating a new transit authority and asked Congress to approve $290m for more buses and other upgrades.

She also promised more spending on schools.

Last year, hundreds of thousands of high-school students took to the streets of the capital to call for education reform and lower transport fares.