Added to the traffic and potholes is the lack of bus lines that not only cross from north to south and a forgotten municipal bicycle project.
Of the $830.96 million that the Metropolitan Council approved as quito budget for this 2022, most of it will be allocated to mobility: $516.57 million.
Urban planner José Valverde says that Quito, like all capitals, faces complex problems from mobility As the traffic and the low efficiency of urban transport which – in the case of the Metropolitan District – is the means of mobilizing the 78% of its citizens.
But to these “common” drawbacks are added others such as lack of cross bus lines and the stalled projects of sustainable mobility, as public bike.
Urban transport only from north to south
The manager of the Quito Metro, Efraín Bastidas, acknowledges that in the capital there is a lack of transversal urban mobility. That is to say, that the public transport is meant to go only from north to south.
“In transversality there are almost no lines. If you intend to move in an area, for example, between Monteserrín and El Bosque (north of Quito), which are barely two kilometers apart, you will not find a direct line that will transport you in a few minutes, as it should be.
The challenge of Mobility secretary of the Mayor’s Office Santiago Guarderas is to restructure bus lines and frequencies, until the last quarter of 2022, the period in which the inauguration of the Metro is projected. In other words, they must generate a complementary mobility plan for the Metro, which will move from south to north.
Having complementary routes to the Metro would reduce the time it takes for a person from Quito to reach their destination, according to a survey of Quito How are we goings. On a daily basis, 30% of Quiteños waste between 46 minutes and an hour and a half trying to get around.
Valverde details that waiting almost 11 months for the Metro to be inaugurated represents “an long-term road solution” and highlights that there are actions that can generate a change in a short time. For example, having smart traffic lights “that are calibrated according to vehicle load.”
Public bike in oblivion
The 26 stations of the project BiciQ they are abandoned As well as the more than 500 bikes that have represented approximately two million dollars to the city, since the project was launched from the municipal bicycle in 2012 and who ‘died’ in March 2020.
Although the Ministry of Mobility plans to resume the service, a date has not been set. In addition, it is estimated that at least 70 manual bicycles require repair.
For Diana Defaz, a user of the service, a capital must have alternative forms of mobility and even more so if they are environmentally friendly. “A cyclist allows air quality to improve, but it also helps improve traffic because it is one less car user.”
Defaz says that although there are other services such as scooters, they are still an option for short distances. “It costs a dollar, but for less than five minutes, then it costs you 17 cents per minute,” says the user, who highlights that the bad state of the roads in Quito It is easier to travel by bicycle than on scooters, which are “more unstable”, although he emphasizes that they are at least an option. (AVV)
Budget
Quito
- The Metropolitan Council of Quito approved a budget for 2022 of $830.96 million.
- 44% will be for investment expenses. 13% to administrative expenses and 25% to salaries.
- Mobility will receive the largest item: $516.57 million.
- $317.9 million in works such as the Metro, the construction of the Labrador-Carapungo corridor, bicycle lanes, and the purchase of new trolleybuses.
- The nine zonal administrations and the Regula Tu barrio Unit will receive $36 million.
- In Territory, Habitat and Housing, $21.5 million will be invested.
- In 2021 ($1,033 million), budget execution was less than 60%, the lowest in the last 10 years.
Fountain: Municipality of Quito
