Car Use Doubles in Mexico City in Last 7 Years
by Eliza Barclay, Nomad on 01.16.08
Between 2000 and 2007, car use doubled in the Valley of Mexico, the region that includes Mexico City and the surrounding metropolitan area. In 2007, 33 percent of residents said they used cars as a means of transport, compared with 17 percent in 2000, according to a recent study by the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics, known as INEGI. Some 19 percent of cars driven nationwide in Mexico are used vehicles imported from the United States. These vehicles sometimes lack pollution controls that have become standard even in Mexico, contributing to excess air pollution.
Meanwhile the city is trying to improve public transportation options, and is building a second Bus Rapid Transit line, known as the Metrobús, as we've noted in the past. Currently only 74,000 people use the Metrobús daily. :: Via Excelsior
This is a problem that will only continue in the next few years and is a big reason for the need to invest in alternative energies, electric cars and the like. As the developing world gets more affluent, they are going to want to imitate the excessive consumption in places like the US and Canada.
That looks like the line outside every school in town @ 3:00 p.m.. Damn chitlins too good to take the bus I guess. I'm not kidding, a hundred cars per school, all with motors idling. I can't wait until this society runs out of gas.
Just wait for car use to explode in China and India. Its gonna happen and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. They wont be selling many expensive hybrids there.
I was in Mexico in the late 80s to visit. The subway trains are wild. They run on rubber wheels and are quite silent. I don't know what state it is in now but it was very cheap and very crowded with tourists and locals alike.
Maybe it was the warmer climate. I would love to see the NYC subway be so quiet.
The population is huge. The city is in a large valley, almost crater-like and gets little wind to stir the air so pollution tends to hang around. I think the population was like 20 million when I was there?
vsk
A lot of cars are probably bought with remittances from relatives in the US (or bought second hand in the US and exported to family.) Remittances are likely to drop dramatically over the next few years, so Mexico should not rely on that revenue stream. However, this also means more Mexican oil production is used at home, driving up prices in the US.