Latin America's Two Major Opportunities for Urban Mobility during COVID-19

From my window in my Lima apartment, I saw a large black cloud over the Pacific Ocean, near the seashore. I was surprised to see that it was a flock of thousands of birds, possibly stalking a bank of fish under the surface of the water. The spectacle was taking place about two and half miles from my window, but I was able to see it thanks to unusually clear skies in this city.

I also hear birds and leaves rustling in the autumn wind. I have almost forgotten what car alarms sound like, and not because they are (finally) making them less sensitive to the rumble of large buses driving by, but because streets are now empty. And speaking of buses, I no longer hear the ruckus of buses chaotically vying for passengers on the avenue behind my building, with vehicles speeding and braking, conductors shouting out routes and taxis honking their horns.

Despite all the negative consequences, the pandemic has also brought some benefits. The key question now is whether we will be able to enjoy them when the crisis is finally over. Or whether when cleanliness and order will spiral back into chaos when confinement is over.

Quevedo once said that when we claim that any past time was better, we condemn our future without even knowing it. If Latin American urban mobility pre-coronavirus was better than future mobility, then we, the citizens, will be condemned. If the fear of contagion and the need to keep our distance results in panic to use public transport, if everyone who owns a car decides to use it and those who can afford it actually buy one, then pollution and congestion will be much worse than in the past, while transport needs of the majority of the population—who do not own or cannot afford a car—remain unsolved.

Fortunately, authorities around the world are moving fast to avoid these consequences. In cities such as New York, Vancouver or Paris, hundreds of miles of new bicycle routes are being planned for the end of quarantine. And as of this writing, Peru’s Minister of Transport announced exclusive lanes for non-motorized transport, Buenos Aires is considering granting microcredits for the purchase of bicycles in low-income sectors, and Bogota has implemented more than 100 kilometers of new bicycle lanes. If measures are also taken to provide quality and reliability to public transport, coronavirus may be an opportunity for transformation in Latin American cities.

High-quality formal public transport services and sufficient coverage

Many Latin American transport services already require a minimum distance between passengers during quarantine. The challenge will later be to de-massify the massive systems of cities to prevent contagion and resurgence of COVID-19. Peak-hour demand will need to be drastically reduced, which requires close coordination between authorities and businesses to make schedules more flexible and encourage remote work, walking and the use of bicycles and scooters. Unable to control them, the authorities will have to ban informal passenger transport services. For measures to succeed in cities such as Lima—where informal supply covers about 30% of demand—, users must be able to access affordable alternatives, of either safe individual or formal public transport. During quarantine, operators have changed routes and schedules to better serve essential workers. This example of public-private collaboration must be replicated in the new stage, to ensure that public transport systems reach districts where the most vulnerable groups live. In countries of the region, where many of the systems are highly concessional with multiple independent carriers, the COVID-19 era has exposed the public sector’s need to develop standards and protocols, coordinate different stakeholders and provide financial support to ensure supply. In a sector that provides an essential public service, this represents an opportunity for institutional strengthening, multimodal integration, coverage and quality.

Significant improvements in air quality and sharp decrease in congestion

According to previous research, prior to quarantine, three Lima environmental monitoring stations recorded values of particulate matter in the air three to five times higher than the maximums recommended by the World Health Organization. During quarantine, data from the Peruvian weather service show an emission reduction of between 50% and 75% for the same stations. The numbers are too good not to try to maintain them. And, in fact, the measures announced for deconfinement can help achieve this. Incentives for non-motorized mobility together with a likely transition from informal transport will help reduce emissions in cities in the region.

In addition, a significant decrease in hours lost in traffic could be expected: just by calculating the difference between the space occupied by cars and obsolete trucks and the space occupied by people walking or riding a bicycle or a scooter, we can get a good idea of how much traffic flow could improve. To achieve this, authorities and companies must help provide incentives for pedestrians and cyclists, such as providing them with more and better infrastructure, setting speed limits for cars and public transport vehicles, boosting manufacture of bicycles and scooters, or providing financial aid for individuals who want to buy or rent them. Bearing in mind that authorities will play a more proactive role in the organization and security of services and in infrastructure administration for public and individual transport—thus contributing to the order in movement—reducing congestion on Latin American streets could very well become a reality.

How many times have you heard that for your city’s transport to work, it would have to be redesigned from scratch? Well, it’s already happening. COVID-19 is providing opportunities for experiments that were unthinkable a few months ago. In my opinion, this is the great opportunity of Latin American cities to improve quality of life, drastically reduce pollution, congestion and informality of urban mobility.