Mexico City has a lot to teach the world about contraflow bus lanes

Comments · 432

• JO

  @joshumu · 2 months ago

  Contraflow lanes also benefit cyclists by creating a safe way to go against traffic. I live in Mexico City and many of my bike routes take advantage of contraflow lanes.

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• BO

  @bolloggfisch1100 · 2 months ago

  not bus-related, but I'm a tram driver from Vienna and I have noticed the exact same thing on our ring road. Driving against the flow is significantly faster, you don't have to expect every car to slide into your lane by accident and if there is anyone turning left, they will see you and wait from quite a distance away. Very cool to watch your study on smth I notice in my daily job :)

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• BI

  @binchcity6119 · 2 months ago

  I appreciate you being one of those rare youtubers who isn't afraid of methodological honesty

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• DA

  @DanielAbad1 · 2 months ago

  I think you would be interested in discussing the reason why Mexico city has so many counterflow lanes. This was the result of instituting the "ejes viales" system in 1979. It's a very interesting city wide traffic flow system, that moves an enormous amount of people somewhat efficiently. But because all the ejes are one way, they required a counterflow lane to move buses.

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• CA

  @canardeur8390 · 2 months ago

  Tbilisi, Georgia, built contraflow bus lanes on the same avenue and in both directions. <br><br>Worth investigating.

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• VE

  @veschyoleg · 2 months ago (edited)

  We have contraflow lanes in Almaty (Kazakhstan), and now I understand the reason behind their existence. Thank you.

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• BA

  @balamstudios · 2 months ago

  As a note form Mexico city. Ive seen people get hit by that exact bus because they tried to cross &nbsp;middle of the street and were NOT looking both ways

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• SI

  @sinueton · 2 months ago

  I never thought that contraflow bus lanes were a thing to study. 🤯 I think there are not a lot of studies about these lanes in Mexico City because they were never planned to be faster. Sometimes there are just not more streets to put a &quot;going back&quot; route for a bus line. For example, the STE&apos;s Line 1 runs through Eje Central Avenue, and there the traffic runs to the north. The closest similar avenue running to the south is about 20 min walking from Eje Central (not close enough) so the government decided to just put the contraflow bus lane in the same avenue, and the same thing happen on almost every &quot;Eje&quot; Avenue on Mexico city.<br><br>It&apos;s a really interesting discovery that contraflow bus lanes are faster. Great insights and research! 👏👏👏

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• O_

  @o_s-24 · 2 months ago

  When buses have own direction, the police will be attentive not to let anyone park in the bus lane, because it becomes a big hazard. When buses go with flow, the police just thinks that the bus &quot;can overtake&quot; and does nothing. <br>About cities with examples, from personal experience, Tbilisi, Georgia (the real Georgia) has quite a bunch of corridors that fit your criteria. The city has some insanely wide one-way streets, so they better have cf bus lanes. They even have centre-running couter-flow ones. But I don&apos;t know about data access. Also you might want to look into Moscow. Also has a few examples and data might be more available.

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• WA

  @walterdennisclark · 2 months ago

  WHY THEY ARE MORE EFFICIENT IS BECAUSE . . .<br>It is how you make sure no car is ever in a bus lane. THAT&apos;S ALL IT IS. <br>If you can keep cars off that lane going with the flow, they&apos;d be 20% faster too.<br>That means of course cars are slower.

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• JU

  @junovzla · 2 months ago

  contraflow center-running bus lanes became pretty popular here in Venezuela thanks to the Trolebús Mérida and the Barquisimeto TransBarca

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• QU

  @qualitytraders5333 · 2 months ago

  I don&apos;t live in Mexico City anymore but sometimes I have to go to the center of the city. I leave my car in Taxqueña, walk to the closest bus stop, get on (free, because I&apos;m over 60) and get to the center of the city (stop Bellas Artes) in 20 minutes in the restricted curb bus lane, get off the bus, walk 2 streets and arrive at my destination. No need to look and pay for parking that&apos;ll cost me, at least, 10 dollars. Savings isn&apos;t only about time. Time is a question of planning, but money is non-negotionable. So, in my case, electric transportation is free and no parking fees.

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