Professional Documents
Culture Documents
12/30/2015
Source: http://yucatan.com.mx/merida/elecciones-merida-2/mauricio-vila-alcalde-electo-de-merida
Source: http://imco.org.mx/indices/indice-de-competitividad-estatal-2014-las-reformas-y-los-estados/
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Source: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/
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by 2010 we grew to 777,6154 and since 2014 we have been a population of 886,6775. Were
growing.
ISSUES WITH THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
There is no passenger train service in the city yet, only freight trains operate. As we become a
more interconnected metropolitan area with the surrounding sub-urban and rural areas of Kanasn
Umn, Conkal and Uc, we can foresee the need of a train service infrastructure sooner than we
expect. The public bus tariff is around 7 pesos, and in Mexico City, the largest populated city in
the country with above 8 million people, this tariff is sufficiently less as it stands between 4 and
5.50 pesos depending on the distance traveled6. Due to the fact that theres more people in Mexico
City, they achieve economies of scale and hence transit reduces the price of its bus tariffs.
We, on the other hand, are only equivalent in size to about 12.5% of Mexico Citys population,
but we pollute significantly, as 60% of the population uses public transportation7 but nearly all
buses are gasoline-fueled. In addition, only 10% of bus routes are direct routes, almost every busrider uses at least two buses to get to their respective destinations.
Public opinion stands very firmly on an improvement in transportation for the city of Mrida. As
the citizens have pointed out through a research conducted by the Diario de Yucatn (The
Yucatan Journal), the list of our more urgent problems in the city is topped by ineffective
transportation.
People complain of inefficient public transit, badly trained bus drivers, corruption, leakage of
funds gone unreported from the citys transportation budget, and overall increased insecurity.8 The
previous mayor Renan Barrera, stated that nearly 50% of Yucatns population lives in Mrida as
of 2013. If we are to make progress in developing a sustainable city that is growing, we need to
improve our transportation system.
Source: http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3A240
Source: http://www.unionyucatan.mx/articulo/2014/03/28/ciudadanos/merida/zm-merida-aumenta-657-supoblacion-en-2014
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Source: http://www.capital21.df.gob.mx/microbuses-taxis-y-autobuses-mantendran-tarifa-en-2015/
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Source: http://yucatan.com.mx/merida/serio-problema-urbano
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Source: http://yucatan.com.mx/merida/transporte-urbano/problemas-mas-urgentes
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THE PLAN
We must turn Mrida and the overall Metropolitan area into an Eco-city as a long-term strategy.
For this we will need to have a well-planned city layout and public transportation system, operate
on a self-contained economy so that resources needed are found locally in this Metropolitan area
and make the transportation system interconnect the entire landscape in a way that increases
overall productivity and local GDP.
The Metropolitan area comprised of economic activity integrated into Mrida city from Uc,
Conkal, Kanasn, and Umn can be seen in the following figure:
What we need is to build a Rapid Transport system around the city of Mrida that connects these
critical points around the city and that will allow the rapid transit to also go through the city.
Outside/ Surrounding the city and Through the city:
OUTSIDE/SURROUNDING
shown in the same figure above, there is clearly a huge amount of green space that remains without
use and where considerable renewable energy infrastructure can be built to power the entire city
of Mrida and the Metropolitan Area. It is enough area to build an infrastructure for public Rapid
Transit, and also a renewable energy system to power the region. Solar power systems, and Wind
power systems must be built and interconnect through the green areas available in the Metropolitan
Area:
Figure 2: THE ACHIEVABLE RENEWABLE ENERGY GOAL FOR OUR METROPOLITAN AREA
A Domestic Resource Mobilization that is properly applied to invest in the development of this
renewable energy infrastructure in the rural areas close to the city will certainly come with
cooperation from the municipalities which will benefit from this structure. But, it is nonetheless
crucial for this to happen, as it will mean that economic activity and productivity will rise in the
long-term once we have an interconnected Metropolitan Area and, at the same time, when this
infrastructure is built, it is sustained by renewable energy infrastructure for which there is space.
Building a rapid transit system through the city and integrating this with a rapid transit system in
the surroundings will be an ambitious project, and it will require the city to run a deficit in the
near-term to finance it. It will also require the state of Yucatn to aid financially, and we may also
seek the federal government, as they can ask for funds from the World Banks International
Finance Corporation (IFC) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
of which Mexico is a member. The federal government can provide additional support through
SEDESOL, as this development infrastructure project will benefit rural inhabitants in the
surroundings as well. In the long-term this will be a solid investment, which will take the entire
state of Yucatn from number 11 on the ranking for competitiveness, all the way to number 1 in
less than 5 years after this project is finished. The better part is that we will stay on that top spot
for a long time, as long-term strategies work this way. Long-term strategies create improvement
that becomes impossible to reverse, and this is what we should seek to apply within Mrida and
the Metropolitan Area. An infrastructure that is accessible, available, adaptable, and affordable.
Sincerely yours, Jorge A. Fuentes Zapata.
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A special thanks to edX Inc. and the Delft University of Technology for making this analysis
possible, and more specifically to the staff from the department in charge of Next Generation
Infrastructures. Furthermore, thank you Mayor Vila Dosal and City of Mrida for your attention.