[sustran] Bogotá's time machine

[Carlosfelipe Pardo]

Hi,

There have been a lot of rumors regarding Bogotá's "fate" in terms of 
transport, and a lot has happened in the last months. Some may be 
interested in knowing more about it. I will do my best to summarize the 
key issues of this "time machine" towards the past (I would say 
somewhere around the 80s) that our city has started to experience in 
terms of transport policy and practice. It's based on the latest 
"development" plan of the city, press announcements and a recent meeting 
I attended where the new Secretary of Mobility described their projects 
in some detail. If anyone would like to correct or add something, 
they're most welcome:
 
*BRT and Metro*: As with Curitiba, many rail promoters are very 
interested in developing a rail system for Bogotá. This in itself isn't 
too bad. The bad thing is that one strategy has been to discredit the 
xistent BRT systems. This story is very long, so I won't get into it. 
For Bogotá, the current mayor won the elections partly because he 
promised to build a metro, and because the BRT's 
6-people-per-square-meter operations had people doubting about its 
efficacy as a mass transit system. However, the mayor has never said (or 
maybe doesn't know) that a metro will have the same operation 
characteristics, but at a much higher cost. However, a bid for studies 
to develop the metro will be open soon (two weeks ago, 42 companies 
expressed their interest in taking part in such a study), financed with 
loans from development banks. In this regard, the World Bank has told 
the municipality clearly that they should be very careful about 
developing a rail system due to the known risks of such a system.
At the same time, the mobility secretary has said "we cannot build more 
BRT (TransMilenio) because we have no more money". Strange but 
true...more about financing below. Regarding the BRT's operation and 
structure, they have also announced that they will "improve" operations, 
mainly by changing the financial structure and (see this!) possibly by 
changing the payment to operators by kilometers to another scheme (by 
passengers? that could take us 10 years back in just a couple of months).
Finally, they have just announced that, on the "Séptima" Avenue (where 
plans for BRT phase III had been fully designed already), they will 
build a "busway" (not a BRT, but a busway, like the one that proved that 
this scheme would not work in Bogotá, in the 1980s and 1990s). They said 
this will enhance the (fare) integration of the new integrated scheme 
they are proposing, which they say would be ready in one year. For such 
a scheme, IADB is providing a grant to the city.

*Parking: *Last week, they have also announced that, due to congestion, 
cruising, and delivery truck problems, they will now "solve everything" 
by opening up parking bays in the city, AT NO COST. I told the Secretary 
of Mobility that this would just increase congestion if they didn't do a 
proper parking pricing policy, but he answered "I can't charge users for 
parking if I don't have good public transport"... Chicken and egg 
problem # 1. Further, one must note that sidewalks which were previously 
built are now being partially torn down by some shop owners, etc. Ah, 
but I have to be fair: cars can only park a maximum of 3 hours in the 
newly opened parking bays.

*Roads and Highways: *Yet another idea of the current administration has 
been to say that, to solve the current deterioration of the current 
roads, they will build new roads with the "innovative model" of a 
concession. Yes, there is something strange here also: new roads to 
solve the deterioration of old roads.  I suggested they concession the 
maintenance of the existing roads, and charge for their use while using 
the charge to invest in public transport and partially solve the 
financing problem described below. However, this wasn't seen as viable 
or useful or even logical. It's also relevant to note that, since they 
have started to prioritize traffic management, traffic police are now 
overriding red phases for intersections on the BRT and pushing cars to 
the limit of the intersection (yes, on top of the pedestrian crossing 
/zebra).

*Bikeways: *When the Chamber of Commerce asked the Secretary of Mobility 
about the role of bicycles in the transport system, he said "I never 
thought a bicycle could be part of a transport system". However, he went 
on a trip to Europe to learn about transport measures, and his 
conclusion about bicycles was that they are only feasible to use in the 
Netherlands, where the average trip distance is 2km. Thus, Bogotá should 
not promote bicycles (despite the existent 340kms of fully segregated 
bikeways and its 8-fold increase in use since their implementation).

*Land use*: The last related measure proposed is that they will build an 
intercity train. The argument the Secretary of Mobility has given is 
that "people want to live in suburbs and leave the noise and pollution 
of the city". That is, the city is inevitable noisy and filthy, so the 
people who can afford it should do their best to live as far away as 
possible... and the city must cater the needs of those oh unfortunate 
rich people. A lesson on equity.

*Financing the system*: During elections, the candidate for mayor said 
he would finance all transport improvements (metro, road network) with 
the funds gathered from traffic violations (e.g. "tickets"). Now they 
have seen that this is not viable, so they say that all development 
banks are "begging" them to take a loan, which would be payable starting 
2015... Also, they have reminded us that concession highways pay for 
themselves...

*Politics*: As if the above were not enough to demonstrate how Bogotá 
will go back to the stone age in transport, there are also heavy 
political battles involved. In summary: any proposal that sounds like 
sustainable transport (livability, equity, less car use, more bicycles, 
more public transport) will be labeled "Peñalosa" and they will say you 
come from his political party. Of course, under this administration all 
doors will be closed if you just mention that name, since he was the 
opposing candidate to the current mayor.
I would also say that the current plans to stop further development of 
transmilenio and do busways is a deliberate attempt to stop any project 
that had to do with Peñalosa, as if the development of a city had 
someone's name attached to it, the current Bogotá with wide sidewalks 
and bikeways is dubbed "Peñalosa's city". And, since local GDP has 
increased significantly and USD exchange rate has dropped, everyone 
has/wants to have a car (loans are also pretty easy to get) and hates 
any anti-car measure.

Ok, and for those who have heard about the Sunday carfree day (Ciclovía) 
from 7am to 2pm, a congressman has proposed a law that will limit the 
time of the Ciclovia to 12 noon, and should start at 5am, despite the 
fact that at least 1million users are using the ciclovía from 11 to 2pm. 
His argument: many people suffer from the congestion of those 117 km, 
and bikeways aren't used during that time (according to him). So, 
following this rationale, a recreational measure has to pay for the 
excessive car use in the city.

That's it, in a nutshell. Sorry for the black hat, but I thought it 
would be useful to describe the status quo of Bogotá's transport. If all 
goes as planned, we will be back in 1980 by the end of this 
administration, but we'll have the additional problems: a huge loan on 
an inexistent subway, unprecedented population of cars and motorcycles 
and the expected increased pollution, injuries, deaths in road accidents 
or from respiratory problems, and a dirty, inefficient and congested city.

What to do? Comments are most welcome.

Best regards,

--
Carlosfelipe Pardo