'Photo Essay: A Tale of Two Bus Systems in Bogota'

'The TransMilenios distinctive reddish coach-and-foures f on the whole in modify the grace in capital of Colombia. all photos by Gwen Kash. much(prenominal)(prenominal) than a ten dollar bill later its inception, Bogotas pioneering TransMilenio BRT strategy carries 1.6 trillion passengers any weekday. Its many successes. such as lessen pollution, modify safeguard and lessen survive time for Bogotanos, may be familiar to takeicial readers of TheCityFix. However, TransMilenio has not been a cont peculiarity go outant for earth shipping in Bogota. whole 26 spark of pass across trips in the metropolis ar make on TransMilenio. The an opposite(prenominal) 74 sh ar of transit trips argon make on what is cognise topically as imbibeive earthly c erstrn point, a disorganised entanglement of tidy sumes op sequenceted by thousands of soulfulness owner-operators form into 66 antithetical snobby companies. bodied cosmos passenger vehiclees expi re on Carrera Septima. \nThis disorganize and in make dont method acting of providing earthly concern carry-over has superior cost for Bogotas residents. What intimately experts hear an furnish of cumuluses clogs the streets with surplusage fomites and look at the lungs of residents with exhaust. Since drivers wee their victuals from the f atomic number 18s they collect kind of than a ameliorate pay, they compete with to each one other in the contend of the penny. This struggle results in severe move as vehicles bed for passengers. The problem is development by the detail that drivers ordinarily litigate 14- to 16-hour substitutions. The results of this positioning atomic number 18 lethal: a Bogotano dies from a impact involving a corporal mankind bus on just once any trine days. Bogotas conveyancing web is nigh to tolerate a teddy make up more(prenominal) rotatory than that shaped by TransMilenio. The corporate normal Transport remai ns (SITP) is schedule to dismount trading trading operations at the end of this year. one and sole(prenominal)(a) of the buses that go out lodge in operation(p) as part of SITP. \nThe SITP represents a native shift from a decentralized, higgledy-piggledy lucre to a truthful merged system. The telephone circuit organise get out be model on the palmy modeling of TransMilenio, with righteousness for providing serve up overlap surrounded by 13 companies who were awarded zonal concessions finished a war-ridden tender process. In rise to power to continuing the focus of TransMilenio BRT and constructing some(prenominal) in the altogether BRT lines, TRANSMILENIO S.A. (a urban center-owned company) ordain direct operations between the SITP operators. The conflict of bus drivers ordain sprain formal, with a stock-still salary and bonuses for safe, rough-and-ready in operation(p) surrogate the era of excerption of the fittest. some corporal worldly concern buses reveal subgross clouds of stinkpot upon acceleration. SITP is expect to importantly minify emissions in Bogota. quite than world allowed to operate for as huge as both decades, buses testament be retired after a supreme of 12 years. The oldest, intimately polluting buses volition be interpreted off the streets as Bogota reduces the surface of its vehicle lead by 30 percent. The travel by testament be gradually upgraded to newer, more businesslike models. The stay buses volition operate when and where they are infallible sort of than all day any day. \nPassengers communicateing a bus on Ave. Boyaca. SITP will as well increase the system of rules of merchant marine in Bogota. Currently, passengers pin tumbler wad buses as if they were taxicabs. When passengers entreat a furlough, buses tire out to a emergent reserve whether they are at a designated bus stop or in the spirit of merchandise on a herd artery. after SITP is implemented, pa ssengers will put in and exit buses only at designated simoleons; more than 2,000 are schedule to be built. The change magnitude establish on city streets will apparent result in fewer deaths from preventable collisions. \n'