BRT PDQ in DF

Atlantic correspondent Cristine Russell takes a look at Mexico City's quickly-implemented bus rapid transit system.

1 minute read

November 20, 2009, 8:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg


Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has plans to expand the system to ten lines by 2012.

"Metrobús also offers a remarkable example of how to put a new transport system into place in a relatively short time, how to foster cooperation over competition in a city known for its rough-and-tumble politics, and how to create a public-private transport system that does not rely on massive public subsidies. In other words, not business as usual.

...In 2005, a mere three years after planning began, clean, energy-efficient, high-capacity buses began carrying passengers down dedicated bus lanes on Avenida de los Insurgentes, the city's main north-to-south traffic artery and one of the world's longest urban avenues. Since then, expansion of the Insurgentes line and the addition of a second line has resulted in about 450,000 passengers each day riding buses running on clean-burning ultra low sulfur diesel fuel along routes currently totaling 51 kilometers (about 32 miles)."

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 in The Atlantic Monthly

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