Mexico City: A city built for cars

Transportation experts say capital city is built around cars and that public officials do little to promote or develop public transportation

By BRONSON PETTITT

Mexico Weekly / March 8, 2011

Transportation experts say Mexico City, in particular, and most urban areas in the country in general, are built around cars and do not do enough to promote or develop public transit.

In 1990, there were about 1.9 million cars circulating on the streets of Mexico City. This number rose to 2.9 million in 2000 and skyrocketed to about 3.5 million in 2008, said Gabriel Tarriba, a researcher from the Mexican Institute of Competitiveness (IMCO), during Tuesday's forum “Policies for Sustainable Urban Mobility” at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN).

Not surprisingly, traffic congestion has also worsened. In 1990, the average car drove at 38.5 kilometers per hour (kph) in Mexico City. By 2003, drivers moved at 28.1 kph and by 2007, only 17 kph.

The problem is only going to get worse, says Jorge Coxtinica, operations director of the Metrobús system. An average of 325,000 cars are registered in the capital each year and numbers are expected to keep growing.

“If this trend continues … we're going to get to the point where average speeds within the city will be practically zero,” Coxtinica said.

Public Transportation Underused

The country, as a whole, has seen car ownership grow quickly in the last three decades. In 1980, there were 4 million cars registered in the country. This number grew to 6.6 million in 1990, and to 10.2 million by 2000. By 2009 the figure had doubled to 20.5 million.

For its part, the capital government has taken measures it says are designed to dissuade vehicle use.

Since it was inaugurated nearly six years ago, Metrobús Line 1 (that runs along Insurgentes) has prompted at least 6 percent of commuters who use this route to stop using their cars, Coxtinica said, citing data from ridership surveys. Similarly, Line 2 (that runs along Eje 4) has reduced the number of driving commuters by 10 percent.

The number of users traveling on the Metrobús three-line system has also increased. This year, construction will begin on two more lines, and the Mexico City government promises to inaugurate Metro Line 12 (Tláhuac to Mixcoac) by April 2012.

But despite all of these efforts, both local and federal governments have not done enough to encourage people to use public transportation, according to the experts.

In 2008, Mexico spent 217 billion pesos ($19.47 billion) on gasoline subsidies, Tarriba said. This money could have paid for 75 new Metrobús lines spanning 20 kilometers each; 11 new Metro lines similar to Line 12; or 26 new Suburban Train lines similar to Line 1.

“Gasoline subsidies promotes the use of cars and is an obstacle for sustainable movement,” Tarriba said.

Opportunity Costs

In 2007, traffic jams in the Mexico City and its surrounding region cost a collective 3.3 million working-hours lost per day, or 3,700 pesos ($338) lost in productivity per worker, per year, according to the IMCO.

Tarriba and other experts called on the city to act quickly to promote sustainable mobility.

Two-thirds of capital residents use public transportation, and microbuses are by far the greatest means of mass movement: 14.1 million trips were taken each day in Mexico City and its surrounding region, compared to 6.3 million trips by car and 4.2 million trips by Metro, according to Mexico City government data.

However, public transport information is not always easily accessible or clear. For instance, Tarriba pointed out that each transit system – the Metrobús, Metro, Light Rail and Suburban Train – has its own website where information is not always clear and readable.

“There isn't a website that incorporates all of the information,” Tarriba said.

In fact, a Swedish Web programmer who wondered why it was so hard to find information on how to get from point A to B in Mexico City, designed VíaDF, a website that combines all means of public transportation and offers commuters possible routes using Google Maps. Though the instructions are not always 100 percent accurate, Tarriba said, the site has great potential.

Javier Hernández Hernández, a professor at IPN and organizer of the forum, said the two-day event was meant to inspire engineering students to consider the political and social aspects of urban infrastructure.

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