Public Transportation

Right now, the world is absorbed in what is currently happening in Europe. Is the euro going to survive? Are we all going to die after the EU collapses? Are some of the questions most specialists are replying these days. Some economists highlight the increasing relevance of developing countries in saving the advanced and indebted European states. This sense of urgency might have unexpected bad consequences. In this entry, I would like to talk about public transportation.

For many countries, Mexico included, automobile exports are key for stimulating its economies, and since sales are plunging abroad, automakers are turning to the domestic market to compensate the decrease in sales. However, there is a point in which car’s density could result in causing more problems than those by lower revenue in the automobile industry.

Some months ago, IBM presented its Global Commuter Pain Survey, which did a research on 20 economically important cities around the world regarding commuting habits. The index measures 10 aspects, among them were: commuting time, time stuck in traffic, agreement on the statement that gas is very expensive, traffic has gotten worse, start-stop traffic is a problem, driving causes stress or anger, etc. Only two out of the first ten places were urbanizations in developed countries, Milan and Singapore, which spatial growth is completely constrained by natural barriers, and their scores were less than half of those in the first two places. The others were cities in emerging economies: Mexico City, Shenzen, Beijing, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Bangalore, New Delhi and Moscow. In sum, traffic –surprise, not just drug traffic– is a pain in the ass in Mexico.

Despite this information, there are several projects throughout Mexico that have the goal to increase the number of public transportation users. Particularly, because of its huge cost and visibility, we can see projects in Mexico City: the construction of the new subway (the line 12) and, to a lesser degree, the construction of the fourth line of the Metrobús, a bus rapid transit system. Also, other smaller cities have plans to modernize their transportations: in the states of Chihuahua, Baja California and Nuevo Leon Bus Rapid Transit projects had been authorized and there are plans in Acapulco and Tijuana to install BRT systems; the Municipal Plan for Climate Change (PACMUN) that, among other things, projects to install sustainable public transportation system in seven municipalities: Guadalajara (the second most populated Mexican city with around 4.4 million of habitants), Aguascalientes, Cintalapa, Cozumel (a Caribbean resort), Culiacan, Puebla (the fourth biggest conurbation with more than 2.5 million of habitants), San Nicolas de los Garza (the county with the highest GDP per capita in Mexico) and Xalapa; also in Guadalajara Metropolitan Zone is the possibility of constructing a tram in Zapopan, and there are other smaller plans in other states.

These projects seem promising for its potential to reduce contaminants and the commuting time. Still local governments are also promoting urban highways: the Supervia Poniente, the Second Floor of the Periferico and Viaducto Bicentenario in Mexico City, Vía Express in Guadalajara, and Plan de Ayala in Puebla.  In the case these urban highways were built, let’s hope they do not exacerbate the current mobility problems they were supposed to solve, like it happened in United States several decades ago.

Sources

-http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/transportation/10-worst-cities-for-commuting-2011-edition/892

-http://www.animalpolitico.com/blogueros-el-blog-de-anca/2011/01/12/autopistas-urbanas-la-historia-como-farsa-y-tragedia/