Slow Jam
Can Lima Finally Untangle Its Transportation Mess?
Free courtesy of The Rockefeller Foundation
Until very recently, Lima, Peru, a city the size of New York, had no formal mass transit system, relying instead on tens of thousands of private buses. An astonishing 80 percent of the city’s residents use these buses to get around. But while this ride share model is impressive, it has turned Lima’s streets into a chaotic free-for-all. Now the government is trying to get its transportation mess under control, with a new bus rapid transit system at the center of a larger reform effort. But whether formalization will bear fruit in a city that almost instinctively gravitates toward informal solutions remains to be seen. In the third Forefront of the Informal City Dialogues, Manuel Vigo plunges into the mayhem of Lima’s streets and finds a city strangled by too much transit, hoping relief is just around the corner.
- Learn how Lima's transportation woes are crippling the city as the number of buses and private vehicles explodes.
- Explore the city's new BRT system, one part of a larger plan to relieve the city's congestion and pollution.
- Hear from private bus operators who fear that reform efforts will adversely affect their livelihoods.
