Mass Transit

FEB 2015

Mass Transit magazine features agency profiles, industry trends, management tips and new product information.

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FEBRUARY 2015 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit | 29 TRANSMILENIO TRANSPORTS 40,000 passengers per direction per hour with a daily carrying capacity of more than two million trips. an overhaul to become more dy- namic system to serve the city. Policies to develop public transport infrastructure and tech- nology need to match the progress of the city — the problem is not the TransMilenio but the fact that the city's politicians have not respond- ed quick enough to the needs of the people they represent. Take the privately owned minibuses, (some of which do not have a cat- alyst convertors) that were to be phased out progressively in favor of more organized forms. In the name of feet efciency, road safety and environmental improvements the mayor's ofce was supposed to have removed these aging and pol- luting feets from Bogotá's streets, at least 12 to 18 months ago. Not only are they still running, in amidst the threat of removal and the obvious disincentive to under- go comprehensive maintenance procedures, they are discharging cessful Public Transport w Needs to Move with the Time Whiting thick black plumes of smoke on the passerby — exacerbating, not re- ducing, emissions and respiratory problems. Such signs are, arguably, the most visible consequence of a city at crisis point. Time more than anything has been the enemy. Political process- es and decision making have been slow and this has contributed to the problem rather than the solu- tion. Te city has grown beyond the reach of politicians playing catch-up with outdated plans that are continually revised, never to get beyond the blueprint. So what can be done? First, any plans for IPTS expansion need to be consol- idated so that action can be taken without further delay. Te same can be said for the much-needed metro where quick-fre decisions and acts, based on years of data collection, talks and reports, are essential, if one is to curtail what is becoming a catastrophe. Secondly, the politicians must work hard, un- der the umbrella of sustainability, to make the city more secure, es- pecially at night, so that people are encouraged to use public transport and the world's largest network of cycle routes, instead of the car. Finding a swif resolution to a complex public transport issue may seem a little risky but there is a sense of urgency for those cit- izens of Bogotá struggling to par- take in the most basic aspects of an adult's life, that is to say arriving on time so to enable productivity at work and getting home earlier enough to appreciate the family. TransMilenio S.A must meet those needs, by using the lessons of the past to move forward. Kai Whiting, MSc, is a British lecturer and researcher based in Bogotá. He's director of the energy engineering undergraduate programme and lead researcher in sustainable energy and Mining at Universidad EAN. Policies to develop public transport in infrastructure and technology need to match the progress of the city ... the city's politicians have not responded quick enough to the needs of the people they represent.

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