Prohibit the circulation of private vehicles at rush hour It is the proposal launched a few days ago by the Minister of Transportation, William Camargo, to improve the operation of public transport in cities. However, it was not well received by local leaders or unions.
The Vice President of Foreign Trade and the Automotive Sector of Fenalco, Eduardo Visbal, assured that this proposal does not agree with reality, because public transport in all cities is “insufficient and unsafe”although it has improved a lot in the last 20 years and will be surpassed by the ‘penny war’.
(Also read: Controversy over the idea of the Governor’s Ministry of Transport private cars at peak hours)
It is a measure that benefits the owners of public transport in a discretionary and corporate manner.
“It is not necessary to think that those who are in the cars do not want to get off, there is simply no space on public transport. If they are lowered so that they can get on public transport, it is not realistic, ”he adds.
Visbal also affirms that it should be taken into account that the insecurity in public transport systems has warned and that taxis are insufficient during peak hourslike the services found through digital platforms.
Meanwhile, John Fredy Ramírez, professor of the specialization and master’s program in territorial planning at the University of America, says that this proposal by Minister Camargo has two shortcomings. The first is the overload of a public transport system that is already particularly overwhelmed at rush hour.
This is added to the fact that “it is a measure that benefits the owners of public transport in a discretionary and corporate manner, particularly large monopolies of taxi companiesthat they have not been able to modernize their service so that it is of quality”.
(Also read: Mintransporte proposes mobility restrictions at peak hours for private cars)
It does not seem right to me to go from one extreme to the other, that is, from having excessive congestion to prohibiting everything
This proposal by the Minister of Transportation did not receive the support of the mayor of Barranquilla, Jaime Pumarejo, either, who affirms that It is a topic that demands answers from the experts.of the technicians, and that the solutions in this situation are not in the political sector.
He says that in the capital of the Atlantic there is evidence that establishing the peak and plate is counterproductive, so the issue is being constantly reviewed with experts and technicians, “not for hunches or for political gainbut to do what is best for the city”.
For his part, he mayor of cartagena, william dauHe stated that the city has been reviewing different proposals aimed at the same objective and does not share the proposal made by the Minister of Transportation.
“It does not seem right to me to go from one extreme to the other, that is, from having too much congestion to banning everything, and then the tracks would be empty. In Cartagena we are reviewing the possibility of prohibiting circulation during peak hours, except for those people who pay for the permission to circulate; In this way, collection or income is obtained for the District”, indicates the president.
(Also read: Mintransporte proposes that they will cancel the rates of taxi races in Colombia)
The peak and plate in the city has a fairly robust restriction, which is almost all day
The mayor of Cali, Jorge Iván Ospina, considers that “the pico y placa in the city has a fairly robust restriction, which is almost all day (from 6 am to 8 pm) and we are restricting more than one digit per day. For now, we cannot extend those restrictions“.
He states that the massive MIO system does not have the capacity to attend to what the community requires, and although there is a conceptual coincidence with what the minister proposes, Only when you have the capacity could you consider this alternative.
For Eduardo Visbal, the solutions to improve mobility in cities are build more roads, fix the roads that already exist and are full of holesexpedite traffic and improve traffic lights.
While Professor John Fredy Ramírez points out that the problem is not that the population has many private vehicles to get around, but that “there is literally nowhere to get around”, so it is necessary to have quality road infrastructure and with high safety and speed specifications, as well as quality public transport.