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Sights of Santiago

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Full Post | July 17 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |

HidroAysén Protests

After the national government approved HidroAysén, a system of hydroelectric dams and transmission lines to be constructed in southern Chile, environmental and political groups organized massive demonstrations.

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Full Post | July 17 2011 | School Bus Migrations | 1 Comment » |

Cardinal Samore Pass

The bus ride I took from Bariloche, Argentina to Osorno, Chile, was the most scenic bus ride I’ve ever taken. The route along the Cardinal Samore Pass (named for the Cardinal who helped negotiate a peaceful end to the 1978 conflict between Argentina and Chile) winds along Nahuel Huapi Lake and through the Andes. A couple weeks after I traveled through the pass, it was covered by three feet of volcanic stones ejected from Puyehue-Cordon Caulle.

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Full Post | July 08 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |

Bariloche

I enjoyed a couple of hikes around Bariloche, enjoying the great views and the dogs that would follow me around. Luckily, I left before the town was covered in volcanic ash.

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Full Post | July 08 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |

Tren Patagónico

Pictures from the overnight train ride from Viedma to Bariloche:

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Full Post | July 02 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |

Patagonia Bus Marathon

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Traveling the 1400 miles from Ushuaia to Viedma took about 37 hours by bus. The first leg was especially slow given the four border posts (for the short stretch of the trip in Chilean territory) and the ferry ride over the Strait of Magellan. I took a couple hours to walk around Río Gallegos and stayed for one night in Comodoro Rivadavia to break up the rest of the trip. Traveling in coche cama, which includes food, drinks, and bed-like seats was a treat. I also enjoyed the expansive views of the pampas and seeing some guanacos.

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Full Post | July 02 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |

Sights of Ushuaia

Sights from the southernmost city in the world:

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Full Post | July 02 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |

El Tren del Fin del Mundo

In Ushuaia, I rode the southernmost railway in the world. The Ferrocarril Austral Fuegino was originally built to ferry prisoners from Ushuaia’s jail to logging camps in what is now Tierra del Fuego National Park. Riding it right after the year’s first snow was quite scenic.

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Full Post | July 02 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |

Ferroclub Argentino

Railways played an important role in Argentina’s economic and political development. The Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz National Railway Museum writes, “The railroad, that magical and alluring world of trains, is one of the most transcendental inventions of humanity. In our country, the first rail line was inaugurated on August 29, 1857, just years after this revolutionary means of transit began to run in Europe.”

Much of Argentina’s early infrastructure and rolling stock was built with foreign investment. When Colonel Perón nationalized the railways in 1948, Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz, who had written “railways constitute the fundamental key of the nation,” claimed that Argentina had finally “bought sovereignty.” The country’s golden age of rail did not last long, though some rolling stock was manufactured domestically from 1957 up until 1982. As the current Railway Infrastructure Administration explains:

In the late 1940s, the railway network reached 43,000 kilometers. Railway schools were started, and steam engines, diesel locomotives, and all types of carriages were manufactured. The trip from Buenos Aires to Rosario was covered in 3.5 hours. But that progress came to a halt after the coup of 1955. Argentine railways entered into a gradual and continual agony: the Larkin Plan during the government of Frondizi; the means of “rationalization” of the civic-military coup of 1976, and especially the railway scrapping undertaken by the neoliberal regime of Carlos Menem. During that administration, under the promise of improving services, the lines were privatized or transfered to the provincial governments.

Much of this history is documented in the National Railway Museum as well as a number of Railway Clubs. Members of these clubs volunteer to restore rolling stock and run charters with restored steam engines. The Colonel Lynch branch I visited is home to 88 coaches and 9 locomotives. I especially enjoyed seeing some of the original Line B subway cars.

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Full Post | July 02 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |

Cemeteries of Buenos Aires

I’ve heard it said that it’s more expensive to die in Buenos Aires than it is to live there. The ornate decorations at the cemeteries I visited make me think this might be true.

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Full Post | July 01 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |

Metrobus – BRT in Buenos Aires

At the end of May, the Mayor of Buenos Aires inaugurated Argentina’s first BRT line (English summary here). Metrobus incorporates lines 34 and 166 (operated by the private companies Juan B. Justo S.A.T.C.I. and Empresa Linea 216, S.A.T., respectively), which run along Juan B. Justo Avenue between Palermo and Liniers. The new corridor consists of dedicated center lanes and raised stops.

During construction, neighbors complained about traffic disruptions and the slow pace of work. The city openly stated that taking away general use lanes along the avenue would add to travel time for private automobiles; transit priority is an important part of the municipal government’s Sustainable Mobility Plan.

According to Clarín:

“We were expecting ridership growth of 20% in the medium term, but in the first weeks we halve already come to record more than 15%,” staff of the Secretary of Transportation said. According to their explanation, this is due mostly to people realizing that they can travel more quickly and safely with the dedicated lanes, because the drivers can no longer pass each other nor do they need to brake abruptly in stops or corners. “And, incidentally, this also benefits auto drivers, who now drive more relaxed separated from buses,” they added. According to their statistics, the growth of passengers has been recorded, above all, in Line 34, where 18% more users are now noted.

Despite the protracted construction process (pictures below), the system seems to be gaining ground as an important tool for sustainable mobility in Buenos Aires.

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Full Post | July 01 2011 | School Bus Migrations and Transport | 1 Comment » |

Plan de Movilidad Sustentable

The municipal government of Buenos Aires has developed and begun to implement a comprehensive plan to foster healthy and sustainable mobility options for the city’s residents. From their website:

“We’re working to improve your quality of life. To accomplish this with the Sustainable Mobility Plan, we seek to reorder transit so that all of us can travel in a rapid, safe, and orderly manner in our city, contributing additionally to improved environmental quality. The Sustainable Mobility Plan integrates linked programs which were developed by using the global best practices, the support of recognized professionals in each field of expertise, and the mainstays of managing transportation and public transit: public transit priority, healthy mobility, and roadway safety and design.”

These three pillars have a number of supporting programs that are being implemented successfully:

Public transit priority

• Preferential lanes – counterflow lanes used exclusively by buses and taxis during rush hours have been introduced on many of Buenos Aires’ main arteries, including Santa Fe, Pueyrredon, and Callao.
• Metrobus – the city’s first BRT corridor opened at the end of May
• New Metro stations – fifteen new stations are in planning or construction along four Subte lines

Healthy mobility

• Ecological buses – hybrid buses are being introduced to reduce emissions
• Pedestrian priority – restricting auto access to pedestrian corridors to encourage walking
• Buenos Aires Better on Bike – the city has introduced a bike sharing program and is ambitiously expanding its network of bicycle lanes. Additionally, bike-friendly policies are in place for public transit. Daniel Chain, the city’s minister for urban development, credits these advances with fostering geometric growth of bicycle use over the past months

Roadway safety and design

• Traffic safety and enforcement – This multipronged effort includes improved DUI enforcement, speeding crackdowns, and improvements to scholar transport.
• Efficient parking systems
• Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) implementation
• Infrastructure improvements

The city is doing an impressive job of articulating a comprehensive vision of sustainable mobility, even though progress in making such significant changes can seem to be slow (see the above video – it features porteños praising a mobility improvement and suggesting a change in a different area, only for the video to then show that the suggested change is in fact underway). Working with strong allies like ITDP, Transeunte Argentina, and the Society of Architects is helping to turn this vision into reality.

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Full Post | July 01 2011 | School Bus Migrations and Transport | 1 Comment » |