[sustran] Bogotá modification of plate restriction

Carlosfelipe Pardo carlosfpardo at gmail.com
Tue Feb 10 06:15:42 JST 2009


Hi,

Some of you may already know that Bogotá's mayor has been struggling to 
find a way to solve the ever-increasing problem of congestion, and the 
only idea that has been implemented to date is modifying the plate 
restriction: until last week, the plate restriction had been running 
during the peak hours (6-9am, 4-7pm). From last Friday (one day after 
the carfree day), the plate restriction was changed to all day. I guess 
you're also aware of the fact that this type of all-day restriction has 
been implemented in Mexico and Santiago (among others), where the 
typical result is a very brief reduction in congestion, but a short time 
later citizens buy a second car and this will in turn generate even more 
congestion than before. Of course, there are even fewer citizens who can 
buy a second car, so the inequity between car users and users of other 
modes of transport is even bigger.

Since I am not in Bogotá, I can't give a full account of what is 
happening. But just a few days after this measure has started, I see two 
interesting reactions:
1- A news report talking about the glories of renting a car to avoid the 
plate restriction, providing a detailed account of the way in which 
people can access this service (please note, this is not carsharing, but 
regular car rental) - however, the article also includes real 
sustainable transport options as well. Link below.
2- In one of the news reports of the measure (link below), a reader 
commented the following (my translation): "I have just bought another 
car for 5 million [roughly 2,000 USD], it pollutes more than a bus but 
what are we going to do..." (comment 22).

Comments are welcome.

link to the article regarding car rental:
http://www.portafolio.com.co/finanzas/guias/vehiculos/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR_PORTA-4795802.html

Link to the article with the comment on buying a new car:
http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/bogota/nuevo-pico-y-placa-ha-motivado-a-algunos-ciudadanos-a-organizar-su-transporte-de-diferentes-maneras_4802856-1


Best regards,

Carlos.
ps: I am still thinking Bogotá has turned itself into a time machine.


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