[sustran] Re: transit in Mexico city

[Lake Sagaris]

Hi everyone

I've come in on this toward the end, because I've just got back from a 
meeting in Nairobi about successful urban transportation solutions from 
around the world. Bogota, Quito, Curitiba, are the logical examples from 
Latin America, and I'm glad that Eric mentioned Bogota and provided such 
useful links as well.

It seems to me that either / or debates are not as fruitful as integrated 
solutions and Bogota is the best example I know of of that (anywhere in the 
world, actually, except perhaps Amsterdam). For our countries in the 
developing world, urban transport problems are compounded by an enormous 
number of trips as families cross the city several times daily as children 
commute to schools in "better" neighbourhoods, and the fact that cars (used 
by a small, but powerful minority) are choking out essential routes and 
infrastructure that should be dedicated to transport modes that serve the 
majority. This reality, compounded by the really disgusting quality of 
diesel fuels used by many vehicles, particularly buses, means that urban 
transport tends to be inefficient, unpleasant, stratified by income level, 
age and gender, and highly damaging to the environment, particularly in 
terms of noise and air pollution, but dirt is a serious problem -- and cost 
-- to the quality of life in all its aspects.

Oddly enough, we have countries the world over (as this list has 
illustrated), which prefer to spend millions on highway infrastructure, 
which is extremely expensive, rather than on relatively cheap, more 
socially fair and more environmentally successful option. From Lloyd, in 
reference to a Chilean transport "authority" arguing that a Bogota type 
solution was too "expensive" for Santiago:

"Incredible how there is enough money to build $60 million per kilometer
systems, but there is nothing for $2 million per kilometer systems (that
actually serve more people)."

We need -- and have a right to, if we look at the modal distribution of 
transportation in most of our cities -- to cities where more of existing 
infrastructure is dedicated and adapted to the majority modes. In Santiago, 
20% of trips are done by car, 20% by foot or bike, 60% by public transport, 
mostly buses.

This means (and again, Bogota has done this wonderfully well) that:

1) When parking is eliminated from streets, SIDEWALKS and not roads used by 
cars, should be widened;
2) More space should go to dedicated busways
3) More space should go to pedestrians and bikes.
4) Where possible this should add up to more GREENSPACE, to improve usage, 
safety, quality and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Cyclists should have the use of an enormous network of bikelanes that not 
only are NOT shared with cars, but are PHYSICALLY SEPARATED from them. 
Otherwise, we will continue to see the disproportionate number of accidents 
and fatalities involving bikes, and these will grow with bike use. Even in 
Toronto, which is a relatively bike-friendly city, sharing bike lanes with 
car lanes without a physical separation does not work. Typically, cars park 
in the bike lanes or stop there illegally. While I congratulate the hardy 
souls who risk their lives daily to bike in Latin American or other cities 
where traffic is insanely careless of human life, this does not make bikes 
an option for millions of school children who could find more freedom and 
better health by biking rather than bussing or carring to school.

It is particularly important, and often overlooked, that these new systems 
DISPLACE cars from roads. Otherwise, as we have learned over and over 
again, newly created space on roads used by cars will constantly be filled 
up by them (studies indicate that within four to five years, 90% of new 
road space is choked up again by cars). There is no such thing as 
"discouraging" car use, as so many national or municipal policies state, as 
long as new infrastructure is being built for them, particularly in a 
context where mass transit, bikeways and pedestrians are sadly neglected.

By the way, for anyone who would like to carry on this discussion more in 
Spanish, please feel free to join innovacionurbana, our Latin America-based 
list, in Spanish, that exists expressly for this purpose.

All best
Lake Sagaris
Living City - Ciudad Viva
Santiago

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At 09:27 AM 4/2/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Kano and others,
>
>I think in big metropolis as Mexico city isolated solutions are not the best
>ones. I used to live in Mexico city and even if I would love to make my
>everyday travel by bike, it wasn't possible. It's really too dangerous! since
>I've been living in Montreal I do my travel by bike (when the weather 
>allows me
>that), and I certainly enjoy it. But in big cities I think we can only travel
>by using several transit modes, the question that rises then is how to
>coordinate these modes.
>
>
>Paula Negron
>
>En réponse à Harshad Kamdar <hjk at rincon.net>:
>
> > Dear Paula,
> >
> > I have been following the exchanges re Cycling and Mexico which is 2400
> > M
> > above MSL. Even in Khatmandu (Nepal) I was reading that they are trying
> > to
> > provide Cycleways. Even as an experimentation they have started a
> > Mountain
> > Cycle mounted Police for controlling traffic.
> >
> > A bicycle is a poor man's vehicle and it also lends mobility to the
> > youth
> >
> > Kanu
> >
> > Kanu H J Kamdar
> >
> > Tel: +91 22 4010041
> > Fax: +91 22 4021590
> > E Mail: hjk @rincon.net <mailto:hjk at rincon.net>
> >

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