[sustran] Re: transit in Mexico city

[Sujit Patwardhan]

 >>>> I do not generally advocate separate bikeways for cyclists because
 >>>> I think they are unnecessary.

1 April 2002

Dear Ramon,
Can you elaborate? We in Pune (population 3 million), India are trying to 
make cycling more popular and safer through creation of cycle tracks, 
better public transport and efforts to reduce personal vehicle population 
which is growing at the rate of 90,000 vehicles annually and adding to the 
present (already high) vehicle population of 1.2 million.
The present trend is to make wider and newer roads, fly overs and other 
very costly infrastructure while the only public transport in the city 
(buses) languishes for want of funds, priority and leadership. The buses 
are owned by the Municipal Corporation and run by its Municipal Transport 
and controlled by elected representatives act as though they are not 
answerable to the public. Presently there are about 800 buses out of which 
only about 650 are roadworthy on any given day and even some of these break 
down as over 160 are more than 15 years old. For 3 million population, 
experts say we need at least 1,200 buses plying on the roads, so we have 
just over half that number. Inefficient service has spurred the growth of 
private vehicles (about 70% are two wheelers) and pushed the cyclists off 
road. Average occupancy of buses is as low as 9 persons for a bus with 
capacity of 45 seats, so no wonder the transport organization is losing 
money and has fares higher than auto-rickshaws seating three passengers.
We feel priority should be given to improving buses, making them efficient, 
reliable and affordable (like Curitiba) so that eventually many presently 
going in for personal vehicles (mostly 2 wheelers) will be tempted to try 
out and stay with public transport. Cycling can be compatible with public 
transport so we are pressing for cycle tracks (for safety) and opposing 
flyovers (bad for cycling as well as for buses), wider roads and high tech 
pies in the sky like the SkyBus.
--
Sujit Patwardhan
Pune, India






At 09:23 PM 3/31/02 +0800, you wrote:
>I am not familiar with the situation in Mexico DF but I would guess that 25
>km is the longest trip from home to work? If that's so, then it is a stretch
>to cycle but certainly not impossible. I cycle 15 km to work daily and it
>takes me about an hour to do so. Add another 10 km and that's much less than
>the 2-3 hours of commute by public transport (I'm assuming) that has been
>reported. I do not generally advocate separate bikeways for cyclists because
>I think they are unnecessary. What I do advocate is for cyclists to undergo
>proper training so that: 1) they can cycle safely on roads; and 2) they can
>enjoy cycling as an activity in itself -- something that will sustain their
>cycling  more than the usually good-intentioned but usually poorly designed
>and implemented bikeways.
>
>Ramon

--
Sujit Patwardhan
sujit at vsnl.com