Ever
since the end of October 2013 the traffic in Sao Paulo has gone from something
chaotic to total madness. Due to the fact that purchasing a car nowadays has been
made easy for anyone and everyone, the number of cars on the streets has
increased and this could be one of the major reasons for the madness.
If carpooling were part of the culture, there
wouldn’t be a problem. However, here in Sao Paulo when a car drives by, you
mostly see just the driver and no passengers. The public transportation system
is neither effective nor reliable. For this reason, the mayor decided to
implant many bus corridors (so he named it). In order to do so, he simply
transformed a car line into a bus lane on major streets in the city.
Simple
right? Wrong. It is a simple Math equation. If a street had four lanes where
millions of cars used and there were already traffic jams at rush hour, picture
taking away one of those lanes. The number of vehicles did not drop, on the contrary;
the number has increased for the car industry did not shut down in the
meantime.
You
might be thinking by now that I am selfish and against the system implanted in
the city. Far from it. I am all for going to work by subway, if there were one
that would take me there. Driving to work in the morning is not a big hassle
because I leave home an hour early. However, it seems like each year I need to
increase five minutes. Believe me, five minutes does make a huge difference.
It
took the drivers a while to get used to the changes. If a car is caught in the
bus lane there is a fine. Nonetheless, the opposite is not the same. Sometimes
the buses decide that it is OK to overtake another bus and simply use one of
our lanes. Whenever this happens, I feel like rolling down my window and
screaming: Hey Dude! Move that bus!
I
believe that the measures taken have not helped those who do depend on the
public transportation system. Although the bus lanes are free of cars. The
government has not increased the number of buses on each lane. Therefore,
taking this kind of transportation is stressing; buses are crowded and people
have to stand for hours until they reach their final destination. Not to
mention the dangers they face in falling out when the bus takes off or even
being pick-pocketed.
By
the time the government makes enough subway lines and increases the buses on
the lanes for people to leave their cars at home, I will most probably have
retired. But I am hopeful for the next generation.
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| Google Images |
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| Photo by : Meire Marion |
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