Next Thursday, February 2, 2023, the first day without a car will take place in Bogotáan announcement that caused discontent among the public since the restriction was combined with a week with three odd days.
This means that people with cars whose license plates end in 6, 7, 8, 9 y 0 must keep the vehicle for four days, from Tuesday January 31 to Friday February 3. EL NUEVO SIGLO spoke with the experts Darío Hidalgo, PhD professor of Transportation in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the Universidad Javeriana, and Fernando Rey, civil engineer, professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Universidad Santo Tomás and consultant in transportation systems , about the current usefulness of this measure.
A whim of the District?
Fernando Rey pointed out that “at this point in the state of traffic in Bogotá, car-free day does not bring much benefit to the city and it is causing a number of problems for vehicle owners.”
In this sense, the expert asserts that the Pico y Placa that has just been established by the Bogotá Mayor’s Office has few supporting studies and “in a capricious way” it is strongly punishing the private vehicle as if it were the culprit of the problems that afflict the city.
“The pollution rate can drop because obviously there is less traffic, but the economy is hit, service stations are not going to sell fuel, people who work in the transportation market in terms of spare parts and other products are also affected and all these measurements of the Pico y Placa or the ‘Day without a Car’ are cloths of warm water”, emphasized Rey.
A benefit for citizens?
For his part, the expert Darío Hidalgo assured that the day without a car will be an excellent day and will contribute to both traffic congestion and pollution.
“For most people in the city, car-free day will be a better day because there will be less congestion and pollution. Public transport may have shorter travel times and greater reliability, people who ride bicycles may be more accompanied by other people who opt for the bicycle on that day, ”explained the expert.
He added that the 2023 has a novelty in terms of mobility. “This year we have the opportunity to use the shared bicycle system that the city has as an additional travel option and we also have the largest offer of organized public transport that we have had in the history of Bogotá. Transmilenio renewed its fleet, expanded mobility capacity by 40%, ”he emphasized.
In this sense, Darío Hidalgo asserted that the city can function totally without cars that only a fraction of all the city’s inhabitants have, thus representing an improvement in air quality, low levels of pollution, optimization of vehicular congestion and reduction of accident.
“It is very clear to indicate that the day does not solve anything in itself, the serious problems that the city has are not solved in this way, it simply shows that it can function without a car during a working day and that demonstration should lead us to think about the mobility model that we want to continue promoting into the future. Unfortunately, in the last 10 years, no extensions have been made to the city’s mass transportation network,” the expert concluded.
Figures of the last day
The Bogotá Mobility Secretariat shared with this Medium the figures registered on the day without a car in 2022.
“On the Day without a Car and without a Motorcycle in Bogotá on September 22, 2022, positive results were obtained: 245,775 cyclists were mobilized through the city; in the Public Transportation System, 1,809,155 passengers were mobilized in the Trunk component and 1,945,129 tickets were validated in the Zonal; and more than 4,500 users used the Transmilenio bicycle parking spaces,” the entity explained.
In addition, the Ministry of Mobility indicated that this Friday, January 27, a press conference will be held in which details of the day will be finalized.
For its part, Fenalco Bogotá Cundinamarca pointed out to THE NEW CENTURY that on that day, 60% of the merchants used public transport (taxi, SITP or Transmilenio) during the day; however, 19% of those surveyed stated that they did not leave home; 16% used the bicycle and 12% walked.
In terms of economic activity, the Day Without a Car and Without a Motorcycle left a negative balance: 8 out of 10 merchants assured that sales fell significantly compared to a normal Thursday. Of those, for 40% sales decreased by more than 70%.
This situation is linked to the low influx of people that was evident during the day, on average 40% less than a day with normal mobility.
However, sectors such as bicycles and their spare parts ensured that their sales increased by about 20% and the influx of public increased by 15%.
For Juan Esteban Orrego, this was a foreseeable and expected situation because, as he had stated, the people who must leave are focused on going and returning to their homes. “Even so, we saw that the trade used different alternatives to join the conference, according to the survey, 25% generated commercial strategies to boost sales through digital channels, 14% offered discounts or promotions to those who visited their establishments by bicycle or skateboard. 21% used the day to make rental arrangements or update inventories”.
Given this scenario, Fenalco affirmed that by 2023 merchants will be prepared to mitigate the impact that the day without a car could suggest in terms of sales and income.