Stranded in a Sea of Cars in Mexico City Traffic Damien Cave - The New York Times
go to original September 12, 2013

Stuck in Mexico City Traffic: In a crowded city of 20 million people and about four million cars, congestion is a way of life. (TheNewYorkTimes)

MEXICO CITY — From the top of a tall building on a clear night, the traffic here looks like a stream of light — bright white flowing one way, ruby red the other. On the ground, however, it’s painfully obvious that the opposite is true: nearly everyone is stuck.

How stuck varies, but here in a crowded city of 20 million people and around four million cars, six-hour commutes are not uncommon. Some wedding receptions end more quickly than the time it takes to drive a dozen miles at 6 p.m.

Outsiders tend to be stunned. On YouTube, dozens of videos show visitors marveling at long lines of cars as motionless as a corpse, or drivers shamelessly ignoring red lights while traffic cops watch.

Local residents complain, too, of course. But usually they just endure. Cars are still status symbols here, preferred even when public transport is faster, and drivers have generally come to accept the lost time and dirtier air brought by too many cars on clogged roads.

Read the rest at The New York Times

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