End of the Road for Rolling Chimneys?

A TransMilenio bus belches smog along the Environmental Axis in La Candelaria today. Has this one covered a million kilometers?

Those highly-polluting buses and trucks popularly called 'rolling chimneys) are a bane on Colombia's

A private bus belches smoke on Carrea 10. Will
these buses be controlled as well?

streets and cause thousands of premature deaths every year in Bogotá alone.

A new law reported on by El Tiempo today is to require exhaust filters in TransMilenio buses with more than one million kilometers under their belts as well as those blue SITP buses built before 2009.

The rules are a step forward for Bogotá officials, who have until now basically ignored air pollution, even tho it causes several thousand premature deaths every year - but they appear to leave huge gaps.

Do we really believe that TransMilenio buses only start polluting after covering a million kilometers? And what about SITP buses built before 2009, which presumably pollute more than the newer ones?

Most of all, what about the private buses, many of which are extremely old and polluting?

Finally, since existing laws are not enforced, what should make us believe that these new ones will be?

A truck belches away. Will they be controlled.

A SITP bus turns a corner with a blast of smoke.

El Tiempo reports: 'Buses to use filters to pollute less.' I'll believe it when I see it.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours