Good-Bye to Bogotá's Old Buses?

Passengers board disordered buses on 19th Street in Bogotá.

TransMilenio chief Fernando Sanclemente promised recently that Bogotá's old, chaotic, polluting buses would be removed from the city's streets by April of next year.

Believe it only when you see it. Bogotá's city governments have seldom stood up to the bus companies, and Gustavo Petro's administration seems even more timid than his predecessors'. After all, Petro has even discontinued the policy of junking the very oldest buses.

A woman races for a bus on Calle 19. 

Hopeffully, city officials will fulfill their word this time. And if they do, let's hope that those old, polluting buses aren't simply replaced by less-old polluting buses. Those blue SITP buses and TransMillenio are supposed to replace the old buses. But the SITPs rarely seem to carry passengers. And, increasingly, they pollute just as badly as the old, traditional buses.

It's a lonely ride in a SITP bus.

An improvement? An SITP bus belches smoke near the Central Cemetery.

A clean, ordered, efficient bus system would be a huge step forward for Bogotá. And, in principle, the SITP makes a lot of sense. But, so far, that's not visible in the city's implementation.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours