Of Trash and Traffic Jams

Homeless men pick thru garbage outside the
Las Nieves fruit market.

Bogotá has two severe and worsening problems:

Too much trash, and too much traffic. We've all seen the huge piles of garbage on corners, which may have decreased, by haven't disappeared now that the city has supposedly got a new company collecting its waste.

And, just a few days ago, Bogotá's traffic congestion was ranked the second worst in all of South America.

A huge -and routine - traffic jam on Calle 26
in central Bogotá. Wluld a congestion charge help?

Bogotá has attempted futiley to address both crisis with a simple formula: Provide more space. It has expanded the Doña Juana landfill, and even talked about establishing a second one. And, it has spent many billions of pesos expanding urban avenues and intersections, only to have thousands of additional cars crowd those new spaces.

Unfortunately, increasing supply of something only generates more production, leaving the problem as bad or worse.

In the case of Bogotá's garbage, residents who toss trash onto corners and sidewalks have no limit to what they dispose of and no incentive to reduce the waste they produce.

The city's perpetual entreaties to recycle have accomplished little. And recycling is a poor solution compared to not producing the garbage in the first place.

Carrying plastic bottles - which will be used once and discarded - to a store.
Would a deposit keep them out of the landfill?
Would it discourage their use in the first place?

Bags of organic waste. How about paying flower growers to buy them and turn them into compost? That would save space in the landfill while also reducing greenhouse gas pollution.

Tires discarded behind the Central Cemetery. In many places, a deposit paid when a tire is purchased pays for its later reprocessing into something else.

And, in the case of traffic, studies have repeatedly shown that increasing road space only lures more drivers onto the roads.

A garbage truck painted with a slogan urging people
to place recyclables into white bags.

In both cases, the city shoulds employ economic incentives to motivate residents to change their behavior.

An obvious one is a deposit on tires, bottles and other disposable items, which would be used to pay
consumers to return those objects to be reused or recycled, and finance their reprocessing into something useful. The beauty of a deposit is that it also shifts the costs to the products' users instead of society in general.

Recycling sounds idealistic, but is much less environmentally sound than simply not generating waste in the first place. And, most of Bogotá's recycling programs are disfunctional, anyway. Take a peek into most recycling bins, and you'll see regular trash in all of them. And the trash collectors have only one place to dump the contents, anyway. The city urges residents separate recyclables from regular trash and place them in white bags. Nobody does this - and for good reason, since the trash collectors have no separate place to carry recyclables, anyway. And even if people did separate out their recyclables, dogs and homeless people would come by and rip open the bags and scatter the trash, anyway.

And the best way to reduce traffic congestion is to raise driving's cost, by hiking the cost of gasoline or introducing a London-style congestion charge for driving into the center of the city. Bogotá's Pico y Placa law, which prohibits cars from driving three days per week depending on their license plate numbers, has obviously failed to reduce traffic jams, and may even be making them worse.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Another (Dubious) Recognition for Bogotá!

Bogotá drivers and passengers wait...

Colombia has achieved yet another dubious recognition. The analysis firm Inrix found that Colombia has the worst traffic in the region and the THIRD-WORST IN THE WORLD. , expect for Sao Paolo.

In La Candelaria, every evening.

Bogotá has worst traffic than any other regional cityThat's a grim honor, since Colombia is still a developing nation and car ownership rates here are certain to continue growing quickly.

The infuriating thing about traffic trouble is that, unlike a drought, earthquake or flooding, traffic congestion is man-made and completely avoidable. Instead, Bogotá seems to be doing its best to make traffic worse, with subsidized gasoline, free parking and saturation advertising. The media also buy into this, of course, by publishing cheering stories whenever cars sales are strong, apprently not recalling that those vehicles will soon strangle streets and poison our air.

Waiting on 26th Stree.

Traffic jams aren't just bad for making it to appointments on time. They also increase air pollution, contribute to sedentarianism and cause stress and noise.

What can Bogotá do about its terrible traffic? It's simple, if not easy: Raise the cost of driving, both economically and convenience-wise. That means charging more for gasoline, parking and other driving-related things. Enforcing air pollution laws would take a significant number of cars off of the road. And, expanding TransMilenio and bike lanes would make traffic congestion worse. But, by discouraging driving, the policies would encourage residents to leave their cars at home.

However, those policies are also all unpopular, so don't hold your breath.

Carrera 5 in its usual condition.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Car-Free Day

The street behind the Paloquemao market, normally congested and chaotic.

Yesterday's car-free day was a success - if you measure it by the number of cars removed from city streets. Many streets and avenues were bereft of private cars, enabling traffic to flow faster, and reducing pollution.

Calle 26, usually a perpetual traffic jam, was given over to cyclists.

bicyclists abounded.

This year's car-free day was dedicated to pedestrians.

City workers show off information on the benefits of walking.

Still, the day was far from pollution-free. Here was the view from the upper end of La Candelaria at 8:30 a.m.

At 8:30 a.m. a grey haze blanketed the city, as seen from La Candelaria.

And, if cars were restricted, 'rolling chimneys' like this bus still abounded.

One of the car-free day's goals is to motivate car-aholics to try car-free ways of commuting. However, many workplaces make that goal mute by shutting down for the day.

Lots of places just shut down. The Ministry of Technology had its workers telecommute yesterday.

And Paloquemao Market was nearly deserted.

Paloquemao market's usually-crowded parking lot.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Four Bucks for Freedom?

How much would you pay to get out of this mess?A traffic jam on NQS Avenue. 

This morning, two groups of foreigners heading towards the city center called me with the same predicament: they wanted to do a bike tour, but were trapped in immense traffic jams.

One of the groups made it, albeit late. The others arrived in downtown nearly an hour later than planned and

A daily traffic jam in the Santa Fe neighborhood.

missed the tour.

I couldn't help thinking about the congestion charges which Bogotá is considering once again. A few months ago, the City Council voted the charge down without offering any good reasons why - despite two studies finding that such charges were workable and would reduce the city's chronic traffic jams.

The latest version of the proposed law would impose an 8,000 peso fee on vehicles which enter certain congested parts of the city. Drivers will cry and gnash their teeth: 'This is an illegal tax'; 'It's an unfair burden on the middle class'; 'We can't afford it!'

None of those arguments hold water, of course. Those who own cars can afford to pay a few thousand pesos. And, the burdens they are placing on the city thru their noise, congestion and pollution cost all of us much more than 8,000 pesos.

But, this morning's experience demonstrated dramatically why the charge would also be good for those who pay it. One of the people trapped in the traffic jam, an airline pilot from Germany, told me that they'd lost an hour of time in traffic congestion. That's an hour of the lives of 5 people and their driver. And I'm sure it wasn't a very pleasant hour. What's more, congested traffic burns more gasoline - which means money - and produces lots more pollution.

How much does an airline pilot earn? A lot more than 8,000 pesos, which is about $4.00 U.S. per hour.

And there were six people in that car, meaning that the charge came down to much less than $1.00 per person.

That's a tiny price to pay to get back a chunk of your life.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Welcome to Gridlock

Much more of this to come. Cars in a jam on Carrera 30. 

In a grim move for a liveable Bogotá, the City Council voted down a proposed traffic congestion charge.

A daily traffic jam in La Candelaria.

Look forward to a future of ever-worsening traffic jams, noise and pollution. It's a future which will hurt everybody - except for those who sell cars, gasoline and parking lots.

In opposing the charge, a city councilwoman opined that 'Bogotá was not ready for a congestion charge.'

Does that mean that Bogotá IS READY for tens of thousands of additional cars, which will compound traffic jams?

When will Bogotá be ready for a congestion charge? Perhaps a decade or more from now, when a first subway line is finally working? By then, the number of private cars in Bogotá may have doubled, strangling the city.

But congestion charges, which have reduced traffic jams and pollution in London, Singapore and other cities, can do particular good exactly because a city lacks a subway system. The income generated by such a charge would help finance Bogotá's mass transit.

Why did the council dump the congestion charge after months of discussion, despite the support of both Mayor Petro and his temporary replacement Rafael Pardo and two studies which concluded that a charge would work?

I bet that those who profit from traffic jams and air pollution, including car sellers, gasoline vendors and the car parking industry, with their deep pockets, lobbied hard against the congestion charge. Who backed it? Perhaps a few NGOs.

Meanwhile, Colombia continues taking public money away from schools, hospitals and parks to subsidize the diesel and gasoline fuels which are poisoning us and turning our streets into parking lots.

Do those sound like rational priorities? Of course not.

The brilliant cynic Ambrose Bierce defined democracy as 'Three wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.'

With powerful economic interests ready to attack it, a congestion charge won't have much chance until a popular and charismatic leader, who's willing to take short-term political costs, champions the idea. Mayor Gustavo Petro, who seems obsessed with fighting to hold onto power for the sake of holding onto power, isn't that man.

In a May 7 editorial, El Tiempo suggests that the City Council's vote was 'political' and argues that a congestion charge is a necessity for Bogotá. City Hall will introduce the measure again, El Tiempo says. Hopefully, I don't expect much from the Petro administration.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Another Doomed Traffic Scheme

Wasted time. Cars stuck in a traffic jam in La Candelaria. 

The mayor's latest doomed scheme to unsnarl traffic in central Bogotá is to apply the Pico y Placa scheme based on the number of occupants in a vehicle.

The principle is a good one: Encourage visitors to downtown not to do so in space-hogging single-passenger vehicles. Instead, three people are supposed to share a car.

In a city in which only a small minority use private cars, but private cars monopolize 80% of road space, the logic is obvious.

Is anybody paying attention? A banner near the
Hotel Tequendama announces
the upcoming restriction. 

Bizzarely, too, some downtown businesses are protesting the measure, which is supposed to kick in March 4, claiming that they or their customers won't be able to come downtown. Forget that there are lots of other ways to come downtown besides in private cars, including buses, TransMilenio, bicycling and walking.

These cars waiting near the Hotel Tequendama appeared
to contain only one or two passengers.

Their opposition is bizarre and irrational because this measure is actually a relaxation of the despised and failed Pico y Placa law. Cars otherwise prohibited from driving would be able to do so as long as they had three or more occupants, including the driver. (The area affected would extend from the Ave. Comuneros in the south to Calle 26 in the north, and the Ave. Circunvular to the east to Carrera 27 in the west.

However strong its logic, this rule won't be enforceable. Fatigued police transit officers aren't going to take the trouble to count passengers and consider Pico y Placa rules and then write tickets. And, what about all those cars with tinted windows? Those cars tend to belong to the rich, powerful and self-important, who won't likely roll down their windows to let a cop to peek inside.

Altho it would not be easy to implement, Bogotá should also prohibit the unjust, destructive and discriminatory practice of providing free parking to customers, students and employees. Free parking generates huge costs, subsidizes the wealthy at the expense of the poor and promotes wasteful, polluting driving.

The best - and perhaps only - real solution to Bogotá's trarffic congestion is a London-style congestion charge. The Petro administration has talked a lot about this, but not moved ahead on it.

Everybody suffers from too many cars. Here, cars block a TransMilenio bus from advancing. (Someone please tell me why police don't ticket vehicles which stop inside intersections.)

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Car-Free Candelaria?

Schoolchildren walk in La Candelaria's
La Concordia district. Pedestrians in La Candelaria,
where they far outnumber car drivers and
deserve priority. 

New Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro has proposed making Seventh Ave. pedestrian-only during the five months-or-so they expect the demolition and rebuilding of the bridge over 26th St. to take.

"Let's find an advantage in the crisis" of the bridge closure, Petro said.

A pedestrian-only block of 10th
Street today.

The loss of the bridge will certainly create a transit crisis for central Bogotá, since Seventh is one of the major arteries - even tho it slows to a crawl during every 'rush hour.' Banning cars from Seventh Ave.  would anger many businesses, but also bring back the long-time tradition of the Septimazo, the closure of the avenue every Friday evening, when it turned into a long street fair. Last year, the city suspended the Septimazo, without warning or explanation that I heard of. Ideally, closing La Septima from Plaza Bolivar to 26th St. would turn the avenue into a permanent Ciclovia, with bicycles, skaters and walkers breathing relatively clean air.

Not very colonial: Cars idling on Carrera 3
in La Candelaria. 

The Seventh Ave. bridge over 26th St.,
already half demolished. 

Closing Seventh would also give a boost to the much-proposed but never realized pedestrianization of the La Candelaria neighborhood, the city's historic center. See references here and here. So far, the city has proceeded with making only 11th St. west of Plaza Bolivar pedestrian-only. Under Mayor Lucho Garzon cars were banned from several blocks of central La Candelaria. Businesses complained, but the policy created an area of peace and tranquility for pedestrians, who comprise the overwhelming majority of the neighborhood's residents and visitors. But the administration of now-imprisoned Mayor Samuel Moreno suspended this policy, also without warning or explanation.

A truck-motorcycle crash this morning in La Candelaria.
It's a wonder that more pedestrians aren't hit. 

Restricting cars makes lots of sense for La Candelaria, a historical neighborhood frequented by students and tourists, most of whom get around on foot and where motor vehicles' noise and pollution scar the historical atmosphere. During much of the day, the racing taxis and other vehicles, which generally ignore stop signs and expect pedestrians to scurry out of their way, endanger people on foot. During rush hours, when the neighborhood's narrow streets are used as a 'shortcut' by drivers coming to and from other areas, the traffic jams make La Candelaria noisy and poison its air.

A pedestrian darts across a congested Seventh Ave.

We also suffer a litany of car horns and car alarms, the drivers seemingly unaware that people might be sleeping at 11 p.m. or midnight. There seems to be a growing habit of drivers preventively honking their horns as they approach each cross street, to warn any oncoming car planning to sail past the stop sign. So drivers protect themselves and their vehicles from other, law-breaking vehicles by keeping neighbors awake. And don't get me started on the motorcyclists who seem to pride themselves on the decibles they can generate.

My fantasy for La Candelaria: Banning all a limited number of buses, delivery vehicles during certain hours and a certain number of vehicles per household for the car-owning minority. Buses and vans belonging to local high schools and universities would be allowed, as perhaps a few city bus lines. And, some arrangement would be made for taxi service, particularly for older and handicapped residents and hotels.

Pedestrians in La Candelaria outnumber car drivers. 

Besides that, there'd be pedicab and a public bicycle service to carry people to transit stations, parking lots and other destinations outside the neighborhood. They should also employ traffic-calming measures like speed bumps and improve security for the increased number of pedestrians. That'd make the neighborhood more sane and calm and more in keeping with its colonial image. It would also reduce the need for parking lots - and provide more space for more productive uses, such as housing, hotels, universities and museums.


Related posts:

Scenes from 'Car-Free' Day

On Cars and Colombia

A fender-bender today on Seventh Ave. 

Jimenez and Seventh Aves in La Candelaria, a highly pedestrian area. 

Definitely not car-free today. 

Traffic jam on Seventh Ave., which achieves the worst of all worlds. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Traffic Jams Return From Vacation

Nothing moving: Third Ave. in La Candelaria this afternoon. 

With thousands of middle- and upper-class Bogotanos back from vacation and to their usual commutes, Bogotá's monumental traffic jams are back, too. 

These photos illustrate what too many cars do to a city's transit - and what taking cars off the road does for transit. 

This was one of two minor accidents I saw in the traffic jam. 

I'm reminded of an episode I saw in Caracas, Venezuela in 2002, when an oil industry strike transformed the country from an almost free gasoline situation to an almost no-gasoline situation. I was a member of the Foreign Press Association, which employed a receptionist who normally commuted to work in her car by herself from one of the city's outer suburbs. (She, as an upper class Venezuelan, was one of the main financial beneficiaries of Venezuela's insane gasoline subsidy.) Naturally, the huge traffic jams meant that her relatively short commute took hours.

On Jimenez, the Transmilenio buses WERE advancing. 

Then the petroleum workers went on strike, gasoline disappeared, the roads emptied except for buses (and Caracas became much less polluted and more liveable). In practice, the city had turned its streets, avenues and freeways into bus-only lanes. 

Our receptionist hated this, of course, because she couldn't drive her car. But, even tho she had to take three different buses to get from home to the city center, she got to work faster than in her car. 

Naturally, once the strike ended the Chavez government began giving away gasoline again, commuters returned to their private cars, and to their traffic jams.

New Bogotá mayor Gustavo Petro isn't likely to turn the city into a no-car zone (altho I wish he would). But his ideas of bus-only lanes and a congetion charge could go a long way to freeing us from horrific traffic congestion.

Related posts: Why Expensive Car Fuel is a Bargain for Colombia.

Petro's Brave Transit Plan



By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Victory of the Bicycle!

Everybody loses this race: Cars block each other, TM buses and even a cyclist. 

For the second year in a row, bicycle commuters won an overwhelming victory in the University of the Andes commuters race, which pits cyclists against private car drivers, Transmilenio riders and riders of regular private buses.

The commuters started off from three different spots around Bogota and traveled to Los Andes' campus in La Candelaria. The cyclists finished first on all three routes, averaging 21.5 kilometers per hour - leaving them time to sip coffee and read the newspaper before the car drivers arrived, having averaged only 15.5 KPH, barely ahead of the TransMilenios at 15.3 KPH. The regular bus averaged only 13.4 KPH.

Going nowhere: Cars sit still by a TM line
which is supposed to open in early 2012. 

The results, of course, don't figure in cycling's other benefits, including decreased pollution, more exercise and reduced traffic congestion - benefits shared in lesser degrees by forms of mass transit. The private car, which clogs streets and fills the air with fumes, is of course the villain of this story.

The results, are of course, a huge condemnation of Bogotá's terrible traffic jams and a commentary on the insanity of crowding the city's streets with big polluting machines which often carry only one or two people. The situation will only get worse as more cars flood into the city.

Trying on BiciBog for size. (Photo: El Tiempo)

The bicycles' victory comes at a time when both Bogotá and Medellin are carrying out pilot public bicycle projects. Bogota's project, named BiciBog, has been criticized by some transit experts. They say the bikes could be better designed and more durable, and that the stations could be better located. unfortunately, too, it's not clear where some of the planning money went.

Yet, the fact is, that commuters are using the bikes and appear to like them. Hopefully, Bogota and Medellin will both set up public bicycle programs. But for them to really succeed, they'll need to work on several fundamental problems, including reducing Bogotá's pollution and reducing its traffic chaos, both of which frighten non-cyclists from venturing out on two wheels.

Cycling central bogota at night. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours