Last few decades have seen an exponential rise in urban population in Latin America. The sudden explosion of population has produced various challenges such as air pollution, drinking water quality and availability, waste disposal etc. One of the challenges which countries face due to rapid urbanization is transportation. Most of the major Latin American cities are centuries old, hence, the original city plan was devised to accommodate passenger and carriage traffic (author, 102). The automobile boom caused a surge in private transportation leading to congestion of road networks. The city of Bogotá faced the same problems and undertook some novel approaches to solve them.
The first step was to enhance the public transport system so that people prefer it over any kind of private transportation. In the year 2000, a rapid-transit bus system called TransMilenio was launched (author, 102). The system makes use of rapid-loading platforms and large capacity buses which run on dedicated bus lanes. The dedicated bus lanes help in swifter and timely transport. Use of smart cards which integrated the transfer from one bus to another, combined with extensive coverage and low fares made this transport system readily accessible and viable. To increase the public participation, the city put several restrictions on the usage of private cars. Taking advantage of the popularity of biking, the city also promoted biking as an alternative form of transport. Exclusive bike lanes were created throughout the city in compliment with the various biking stations. To promote biking as an alternate means of transport, the city observed its first car-free day in the year 2000 which became an annual ritual (author, 102). All these steps helped in decongesting the major populated areas of the city. It also led to improvement in air quality standard and visibility.
For increasing the usage of public transport system, the first and foremost thing a city can do is to make its public transportation system accessible, cheap, swift and reliable. Bogotá hit all the checkpoints in this regard. Restriction on private transportation can only act as a boosting agent and in itself cannot promote the usage of public transportation. Hence, providing incentives for using a well-developed public transportation has a far better effect than by disincentivizing the private transport. The city of Bogotá carried out its transportation reform in an immaculate manner and now is reaping the benefits of its efforts.
Works Cited
Doe, John. Title of the Book. Vol. 1. City: Publisher, Year. Print.
