Mexico City Plans Car-Driving Ban To Fight Air Pollution (csmonitor.com) 90
An anonymous reader writes: Mexico City plans to implement a car-driving ban from April 5 to June 30 in an effort to fight high air pollution levels. Under the city's new program, all privately owned cars must remain off streets one day per week as well as one additional Saturday per month. The initiative comes after the city issued a four-day air quality alert on March 14, after the city experienced air pollution at double the national acceptance level. "The definitive 'no circulation' program will align with the new rule for vehicular verification that will be presented soon," tweeted federal Environment Secretary Rafael Pacchiano. "In addition to the car ban, the commission is also working on medium-term solutions like improving public transport."
Re:This will never work! (Score:4, Insightful)
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Let me help you with that one. WOOSH!
Only took me the first 15 words to figure out the humor.
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Re:This will never work! (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a good thing, when coupled with affordable, functional public transport, or a city layout which does not depend upon it, sans food deserts and the like. I've never been to Mexico City, so I wouldn't know how many neighborhoods would be adversely affected, and which would get along just fine.
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Re:This will never work! (Score:4, Interesting)
More cities should take a page from Buffalo New York's idea to reduce driving downtown. First, you take the world's most useless mass transit company and you populate it exclusively with degenerate idiots who don't know a schedule from the skid marks on their uniform. You then make it mandatory that they be constantly ever present as an impediment to traffic, yet always late picking up anyone at the designated bus stops by offsetting the actual bus pickup times from the published schedule by roughly fifteen minutes. Complement this with a train system that is a standalone joke all by itself: ( http://metro.nfta.com/Routes/p... [nfta.com] ) That crooked line on the right side of page two is the entire transit line, it's less than ten miles total. Once you get downtown, you'll want to drop rotaries at every other intersection all of them bracketed by traffic lights and some of them with traffic lights actually inside them (I wish I was making that part up). Allow all commercial parking lots to collude and fix prices based on locally occurring events and make sure that every other street is a single lane one way only. Oh remember that transit company from before? We're going to allow them to hire a representative of these same parking companies as a C level employee because what the hell does "conflict of interest" really mean anyway? To top it all off, just in case some individual has the patience of a saint, you'll want to help yourself to a generous portion of government housing right in the middle of everything to make damn sure that the infrastructure is inadequate for the population for the population density. And to ensure a constant stream of harassment from cracked out bums at every corner, why not place two thirds of the cities methadone clinics right there next to your commercially viable property along the main traffic routes and within stumbling distance of everything that anyone might want to go to. This city needs a reset button.
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It would seem like a simple automated solution would be a good idea for this. Combining GPS location gathering with a simple encrypted "kill" chip for the ECM would enable authorities to remotely disallow cars from driving on the car free days inside the target area. It could even allow a driver emergency override that allows the car to function, but alerts authorities to the vehicles location along with the fact it's in an emergency override status so that they could collect their bribes.
FTFY. There's a reason why for anything really important Mexico has to deploy their army instead of relying on local, or even federal, police.
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I wonder how many Mexican cars even have an ECM. I know that they're not quite as old as say in Cuba where it's actually illegal for private citizens to own a car newer than model year 1959, but even so there are many very old vehicles still on the roads in Mexico and it wouldn't surprise me if substantial numbers of them were still (a) carbureted and (b) lacking electronic engine control.
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There's a reason why for anything really important Mexico has to deploy their army instead of relying on local, or even federal, police.
Yeah, you want to use the military when you collect the really big bribes.
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They might as well try to ban breathing! That'd have some success.
I suppose it depends on how it is implemented.
If the city picks the dates and bans all private cars from the roads during those dates... this is absolutely enforceable.
If they let people pick their own dates... not enforceable.
Re:The truth about global warming (Score:4, Insightful)
lies of air pollution
Really? They already have a real problem with that. This is not even about global warming. I take it you've never had to breathe ozone-rich air before. It hurts.
Re: The truth about global warming (Score:2, Insightful)
I've lived in/visited polluted as hell places (China, Mexico City) and I'll tell you, you certain can feel it. Feels almost like going to Quito, Ecuador, where the city is high altitude and you have to breathe harder because oxygen count is lower. But the problem with the polluted cities isn't altitude is high, it's the smog. But in both cases you really will feel it if you're used to breathing the good air of for example the countryside in Europe or USA.
Quito and Mexico's altitude are quite similar (Score:5, Interesting)
FWIW, Quito sits at 2700m above sea level [wikipedia.org], and Mexico City at 2240 [wikipedia.org] — Both cities are in valleys, and the suburbs rise quite higher than their "downtowns" (although Quito is a much smaller, steeper valley). As a comparison, Beijing is 43m above sea level [wikipedia.org]. A completely different picture.
In Mexico City, foreigners that come to visit do feel (lightly) the lack of oxygen, even in our best days pollution-wise. It is clearly not as impressive as what I have experienced, say, in El Alto, Bolivia, at 4070m [wikipedia.org].
The problem with smog is not lower oxygen, but higher irritation due to the other components in our air. In very bad, very polluted days, eyes sting due to ozone and PM10 particles, and it's easy to develop coughing also due to PM10 and airborne sulphur compounds. Carbon monoxyde does not decrease oxygen, but it decreases our body's capability of fully using it.
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Mexico city toll bypass rates can go up now (Score:3)
Mexico city toll bypass rates can go up now but keep under what a bribe to a local cop will be.
Inaccurate summary. (Score:5, Insightful)
So, without RTFA, the summary is misleading. It makes it appear like this program is a novel thing that has never been done.
In reality, Mexico City has been keeping a percentage of vehicles off the road for pollution fighting purposes since 1989. Vehicles stay off the road one working day per week according to their license plate's last digit.
Newer (10 years old or newer) cars were allowed to drive every day. Also, while all cars have to pass mandatory emmissions control, that had no effect on whether they could be on the road (so for instance, a newer but more polluting car would be able to go out every day while an older, potentially less-polluting car would have to stay home one day a week).
Earlier this year a court mandated that the permit to be on the road daily should be tied to the car passing emmissions control. More cars on the road are part of the reason why pollution levels reached a high-enough level to prompt the government to remove all exceptions to the program and have all cars, irrespective of age and pollutant output, stay home one day a week.
Incidentally, this program is part of the reason why there are so many cars in Mexico City: faced with the prospect of not being able to use the car once a week,many families bought a second car to also have coverage on the first car's off-the-road day.
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Increasingly there's another way to get around these days when you are banned from a city centre, or have to pay pollution justified tolls. Other than running a second car.
Drive an electric car. They're usually exempt. (Not sure specifically about Mexico City, but most places.)
Insanely expensive (Score:3)
I know only one person that drives a hybrid car in Mexico City. Yes, they are exempt. But the cars are just too expensive for the population to even consider.
I believe this will be the solution at some point, but nowadays, we are still quite far from it being possible.
Re:Inaccurate summary. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Inaccurate summary. (Score:4, Interesting)
It only penalizes poor people.
If the goal is to maximize the number of cars kept from operating, discriminating against the poor might be the most effective measure. Given Mexico's minimum wage of $5.00/day and the country's level of income inequality (ranked worst among OECD countries), poor people greatly outnumber the rest of the population.
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poor people greatly outnumber the rest of the population.
Except that they don't. Mexico is now about evenly divided between working class and middle class:
Mexicoâ(TM)s middle class 47% of households
http://mexiconewsdaily.com/new... [mexiconewsdaily.com]
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poor people greatly outnumber the rest of the population.
Except that they don't. Mexico is now about evenly divided between working class and middle class:
Mexicoâ(TM)s middle class 47% of households
http://mexiconewsdaily.com/new... [mexiconewsdaily.com]
According to the linked article, fully half of this so-called middle class do not own a vehicle. This flies in the face of the contention that middle-class families will simply buy a second car to work around the restriction. On the other hand, if they don't own a vehicle, the restrictions won't have much of an impact, will they? And I'm guessing it's probably safe to assume that if half the middle class families don't own cars, then car ownership is even lower in the poorer-than-middle-class demographic.
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I live in Mexico City, have lived here for most of my life.
It does help. A lot. Of course, in my opinion, at least.
Buying a second car is not so much of a problem, but for many, finding where to park it every night would be an important deal. Also, paying ~MX$500 (nowadays, roughly US$25-30) for the twice-a-year verification, plus many other recurring costs, can seem like negligible – But it's not.
I believe I am in the middle to upper-middle class socioeconomic group. Still, I make close to the minima
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We do have a good, although quite overcrowded, mass transit system.
Wait for the third train. It's almost always empty.
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Nice to read you, old friend! ;-)
Just adding to your comment: This program has yielded great results since 1989. You can check daily graphs showing the amount of different pollutants over time [df.gob.mx]. I do remember the early 1990s as being terrible. Our air nowadays is mostly-OK... But yes, over 25 years have passed since this program started, and it should be reviewed for the city's newer reality.
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The summary links to three sources. Is that not enough for you?
Re:Reputable source, please (Score:5, Insightful)
People really don't care about the quality of journalism, they just want brand names they can pledge their loyalty to. The CSM is a highly respected organization that does good research and reporting [wikipedia.org].
Anybody who assumes the organization is as messed up as the religious dogma has no credibility themselves.
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The CSM is a highly respected organization that does good research and reporting
I agree with you, but that's a wasted argument to the parent poster.
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Couldn't we pick a more reputable source than the Christian Science Monitor? Geez, this is Slashdot! We don't need articles from the Church of Christ, Scientist, which believes that prayer heals sickness and generally opposes medical treatment. Keep in mind that members of this group have been prosecuted when their children die from being denied medical treatment for otherwise treatable conditions. What's next? Articles from the Flat Earth Society? The Journal of Irreproducible Results? The Onion?
The CSM is actually known and respected for it's objectivity and relative lack of sensationalism, especially on such topics as the Middle East. It's religious aspect was always kept to a single article in the daily version. I would assume they still keep it very limited with their web/weekly publishing. In fact my grandmother was a Christian Scientist and they seem to be about the least evangelical and proselytizing of pretty much any Christian denomination.
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In fact my grandmother was a Christian Scientist and they seem to be about the least evangelical and proselytizing of pretty much any Christian denomination.
The theology is pretty weird, but it's more or less a gnostic Christianity that deemphasizes the supplication and authority worship of mainstream Christianity. The rejection of medicine can be disastrous and the founder was a nut, but it doesn't seem any crazier than any other religion.
My grandfather was one, too, which makes sense in the context of him being a highly independent and intelligent man in a time where religion was pretty much a required part of people's life (ie, he had to pick something). I d
Thank goodness... (Score:1)
No longer any reason to get smog checks? (Score:2)
If the Holo sticker no longer does anything, then why spend the extra money to get smog checks? Won't this remove the incentive for drivers to get lower emission vehicles leaving them with the disincentive of the additional costs for smog reduction with now no benefit for those added costs?
Until now vehicles have been exempt from Mexico City's "no circulation" rules if owners obtain a holographic sticker from a smog-check center certifying them as lower-emission......Environmental Commission of the Megalo
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You are missing some bits.
Every car that complies with the standards now gets a "no restrictions" hologram ("0"). Depending on the emissions level, you might get "0", "1" or "2". A newer car with terrible motor conditions will surely get a higher hologram (which means, more restrictions). I sold last year my 12-year-old car, which was able to get a "0" as I kept it in good shape.
What we have now is a temporary "flattening" of conditions; we will all have effectively-"2" restrictions, as the air was too pol
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What we have now is a temporary "flattening" of conditions; we will all have effectively-"2" restrictions
Where do pure electric cars fall into this scheme; which effectively have negative emissions (If carrying a bunch of extra passengers who would otherwise be driving their own Gas-burning vehicles) ?
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Besides being too expensive, as malditaenvidia already pointed out, they are permanently exempt of the twice-yearly verification every other car must undergo.
Note, however, that they are *not* zero emissions, much less negative emissions: Except for hydroelectric plants, all other electricity generation schemes also carry some sort of pollution tag. Yes, it's usually "freed" in a much less polluted area (is that good or bad?) and I understand it's much more efficient than burning fuel in the motor. But it's
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Yes yes, don't worry, the rich are still exempt from social planning laws.
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Yea, in California EVs get to use the car pool lanes. Even though those lanes are for reducing congestion not for reducing fossil fuel use. Also EVs don't pay their full share of road taxes, as the road maintenance gets a significant portion of their funding from the gas tax. But none of the people working at my local McDonald's can afford an EV, so I guess they don't won't be seeing any of those particular benefits.
air pollution kills more people than crashes (Score:2)
Air pollution from traffic kills more people than collisions. And every one of them is a "hit and run".
To little too late. (Score:2)
People have multiple cars to multiple decals to get around it: http://www.hoy-no-circula.com.... [hoy-no-circula.com.mx]
Is time to go electric and impose emission taxes to factories with strict zoning regulations.