Living Car Free - Even Mexico Is Way Ahead Of The First World With This New Bike Share Program

....in spite of the capital city's poor tolerance toward bikes....
"....Take a vast, teeming megalopolis where the car is king, bicycle paths are few and motorists often seem determined to mow down anyone not tucked behind a steering wheel...."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-bikes31-2010mar31,0,4380710.story

Perhaps... but on the other hand, I don't find that the attitudes of drivers towards cyclists is nearly as extreme here in Canada as the attitudes of Mexican drivers is portrayed to be in that article. So... at least where I live I would say that - in certain regards - we are ahead of Mexico. Now, in terms of how the government is approaching the situation Mexico is certainly very progressive in contrast with North America.

They are only ahead if it works. They are not ahead of Portland, Davis, or Denver as far as cycling attitude.

Bogota, Colombia's Capital is doing well with its weekly Ciclovia Program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELa5CHsUepo

Bogota, Colombia's Capital is doing well with its weekly Ciclovia Program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELa5CHsUepo

Excellent video. The ciclovia is an amazing event... you close a good portion of a city to car traffic for one day a week and let the cyclists, peds, skateboarders and others ride in peace. This ciclovia is a truly huge event...

I'm really amazed at some of the efforts made in Latin America to deal with car congestion in their cities. As mentioned in the video, several cities including Guadalajara Mexico and a city in Chile are implementing similar ciclovias.

Latin America cities have also contributed hugely to defining new patterns for dealing with urban development. The city of Curitiba in southern Brazil has been implementing a solid transit infrastructure since the 1960s. 1,100 buses make 12,500 trips per day, serving 1.3 million passengers. Here's an 1999 article by Bill McKibben on this remarkable city.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/cities-of-exuberance/curitiba-story-of-a-city



The first time I went there, I had never heard of Curitiba. I had no idea that its bus system was the best on Earth or that a municipal shepherd and his flock of 30 sheep trimmed the grass in its vast parks. It was just a midsize Brazilian city where an airline schedule forced me to spend the night midway through a long South American reporting trip. I reached my hotel, took a nap, and then went out in the early evening for a walk – warily, because I had just come from crime-soaked Rio. But the street in front of the hotel was cobbled, closed to cars, and strung with lights. It opened onto another such street, which in turn opened into a broad and leafy plaza, with more shop-lined streets stretching off in all directions. Though the night was frosty –Brazil stretches well south of the tropics, and Curitiba is in the mountains – people strolled and shopped, butcher to baker to bookstore. There were almost no cars, but at one of the squares, a steady line of buses rolled off, full, every few seconds. I walked for an hour, and then another. I felt my shoulders, hunched from the tension of Rio (and probably New York as well) straightening. Though I flew out the next day as scheduled, I never forgot the city.

That was a cool video. Did you notice how the streets were without cracks and holes or even patches of asphalt?

Bogota is ahead of many of the so called developed countries as well in fast inner city bus systems. The Dedicated Express lane Transmilenio Bus System in Bogota is a real hit, drastically reducing vehicular traffic (buses, cars). You have to have been in Bogota prior to the Transmilenio to really appreciate the change. The Politicians have been studying it here in Miami as a way to reduce inner city congestion but the study seems stalled. Probably the local Polticians couldn't skim enough $$$ off this system due to its simplicity in construction as it requires no rail-beds ect. Only the use of existing asphalt roadbeds, though some widening would be needed to be done in the areas where the stations would be located.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLcHLj0SzUs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDnkzNh9qBs&feature=related

The only problem with trying to implement Bogota's rapid bus system is that city streets today are too narrow for a HOV and traffic lane together. I've seen so called "Bus Lanes" in New York City and they are full of cars or police vehicles. The buses travel just slightly faster than in the past.

Then there are the surburban towns themselves that fight tooth and nail against HOV lanes of any kind.

....in spite of the capital city's poor tolerance toward bikes....
"....Take a vast, teeming megalopolis where the car is king, bicycle paths are few and motorists often seem determined to mow down anyone not tucked behind a steering wheel...."


Mexico still has a long way to go. Watching this video, I did not see one bicycle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDBrpcczUjY&NR=1

Mexico still has a long way to go. Watching this video, I did not see one bicycle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDBrpcczUjY&NR=1

I'm sure there would be the same type of traffic in just about any large city in the world. I don't know about bicycles, but from what I have seen of Mexico, cities are quite a bit more walkable than what you see in the US and people aren't afraid to travel by bus, either within the city or between cities.

DS--were you in Bogota to visually see how some of Bogota's streets were Before the Transmilenio was constructed? You wouldn't belive it was possible what they accomplished. BTW, this Transmilenio is a Done Deal except for the expansion of some of the existing routes. What they did in Bogota on the major avenues where the Transmilenio runs is to take a Lane from the car lanes and use this for a Dedicated Bus Lane. It really wasn't much of a problem due to the huge decrease in daily Car Traffic that the loss of a Lane was hardly noticed by commuters. Since its inception(transmilenio) and also Pico & plato where cars with certain plate prefixes are not allowed on city streets depending on the day of the week) individual Auto Traffic is greatly decreased. Its been a huge success with few complaints presently.

Bogota, Colombia's Capital is doing well with its weekly Ciclovia Program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELa5CHsUepo

This video quite literally blew me away. To think that a city is making a concerted effort to 'raise the game' and by the numbers and variety of people taking part, it is obviously working. They have steadily increased the route miles so would the next step, over time, be to extend the days? Why not the entire weekend? I have seen nothing like this in the UK. Our country should hang it's head in shame. Columbia leads by example.