- Aztec Bike    37 kb by    Navarro , Edgar | cipriano.navarro@gmail.com    Short Outline Mexico City, one of the biggest cities in the World with 27 million people and 6 million cars, has commuting times of about 1-2.5 hours/trip. The government invested 6.5 million USD in ECOBICI, a bike system. In 2012, this will cover 5% of all the trips in the city. Abstract The Metropolitan Area of Mexico City (MAMC) is one of the biggest, most polluted and heavily congested- in the world. About 27 million people inhabit the area, along with 6 million cars. Commuting times are about 1 to 2.5 hours per trip during rush hours, covering distances of 20 to 35 km with an average speed of 15 km/h. The current government (2006-2012) invested 6.5 million dollars (USD) in 2010 in ECOBICI, a public bicycle loaning system which requires a $22 USD annual membership per person. ECOBICI is based on the central zone of the MAMC, which has the greatest density of commerce, offices, services, urban equipment and housing. In 2011, a year after its opening, ECOBICI has over 30,000 users, (currently, there are several thousands of people waiting for a membership) who make 10,000 trips a day, with an average of 20 minutes and 6 km each, at a speed of 20 km/h, which is well over that of other motored transport systems in the city. ECOBICI fights against pollution and the climate change by saving 840 kg of CO2 and 7 kg of greenhouse gases per user per day, due to the substitution of the automobile. It also promotes exercise among its users, preventing obesity, a highly prevalent disease in Mexico. Due to its high demand and success, ECOBICI plans to grow with 2 new stages aiming at 35 000 potential users each, which will represent 30 000 trips daily. At the end of 2012, ECOBICI will have 275 stations, 4 000 bicycles and 100,000 potential users, spanning an area of 21 km2, with the goal of covering 5% of all the trips in the MAMC, taking Mexico City to a new stage in urban mobility. Keywords Mexico, Urban mobility, commuting time, bicycle, sustainable Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2011: LIVEABLE CITIES: URBANISING WORLD, Meeting the Challenge   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper