QCOSTARICA — Increasing the frequency of the commuter train from Cartago, Heredia and Alajuela, establishing more exclusive lanes for buses throughout the day and promoting any other measure that serves to provide better service to users of public transport, are the real solutions to traffic gridlock of the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM).
On the contrary, continuing to build roads and other roadworks would help temporarily mitigate the problems, but at the end of the day, traffic jams will be the norm.
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“The country’s commitment must always be to reduce the number of cars on the roads, that must be our objective, otherwise the problem will never be solved,” according to David Gómez, an expert in sustainable mobility.
“The idea is that users fall in love with public transportation and in this way, leave the car at home,” added the expert.
The worsening of traffic problems that drivers have been facing in the GAM in recent days, is mostly due to a number of road improvement works being carried out at the same time, some in the same area.
One of those works is the replacement of the bridge in the area called Bajo de la Ledezma, a two-lane road that runs from Plaza Mayor in Rohrmoser and La Uruca, but a key artery to alleviate traffic on the General Cañas and the Circunvalacion.
At the same time, improvements to the lanes from the General Cañas to the Circunvalacion, in the area of the water monument, adds to the problem.
Other infrastructure works in Alajuela, mainly in the area of the Juan Santamaria International (San Jose) airport, Heredia, and Cartago, should not surprise anyone.
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All this has earned Costa Rica the reputation of having being one of the worst places to drive when taking into account variables such as traffic jams, gridlock, and poor road infrastructure by the Waze application.
Parallel is the designation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Costa Rica has slow roads in relation to other countries in the region. The IMF report released in mid-2022 takes the average speed for a trip from the capital and another large city located 80 kilometers away.
“Current actions seek to remedy and we hope for improvements, but there is another underlying issue related to the few incentives to massively use public transportation. This is the most viable and economical solution to the problems of population mobilization. At this time, the system needs to promote the presence of more users who decide to leave their vehicles to use the bus more,” said Bernal Rodríguez of the Cámara Nacional de Buses – National Bus Chamber.
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Businessmen from the bus sector, mobility experts, and merchants agree on the need to improve the conditions of public transport to discourage the use of private vehicles.
Teleworking, staggered schedules and expanded train frequency would also help reduce traffic jams.
Currently, the commuter trains make limited runs in the morning and afternoon rush hours only. The service is only on weekdays, and excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.
The bus system is such that all buses lead into and out of San Jose center. On routes to Heredia and Alajuela, for example, buses run part of the same route to their final destinations. Bus stops along the General Cañas, one of the most congested routes, in La Uruca, for example, you can see buses from Alajuela, Heredia, Grecia, Atenas, Orotina and many more.
Silvia Bolaños, chairwoman of the Cámara Nacional de Transportes (National Chamber of Transport), emphasizes that the current situation demonstrates the urgency of prioritizing public transportation. “Buses currently get stuck in congestion along with private vehicles, which results in delays for people who want to get to their workplaces, places of study or medical appointments,” said Bolaños.
In many cases, this promotes the use of illegal services.
The use of exclusive lanes is a necessity at this time and their implementation would considerably improve the times in which buses carry out their route and would comply with the schedules established by the authorities.
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