Mexico City Metrobús

Mexico City Metrobús
Founded	2005
Locale	Mexico City
Service type	bus rapid transit
Stops	80
Fleet	97
Web site	Spanish

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Metrobús on its way by Avenida de los Insurgentes crossing Paseo de la Reforma, in Mexico City.

Metrobús is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Mexico City, Mexico. It was officially opened to the public on 19 June 2005.

1 Route
2 Before and after
3 Environmental impact
4 Capacity and traffic
5 2007 expansion
6 Passenger access
7 List of stations
- 7.1 List of stations of Metrobús Line 1 (Insurgentes Line) Indios Verdes - El Caminero
- 7.2 List of stations of Metrobús Line 2 (Eje 4 Corredor) Tacubaya - Tepalcates
8 External links

[edit] Route

The first line covers a distance of up to 20 kilometres, running in a dedicated bus-lane built against the central reservation of Avenida de los Insurgentes. Avenida Insurgentes is the city's main north-to-south arterial route, constitutes a section of the Pan-American Highway, and is reputed to be the longest urban avenue in the world.

This line starts at Metro Indios Verdes, a large multimodal transport node in the Gustavo A. Madero borough. From there it runs south, through Cuauhtémoc and Benito Juárez, before terminating in the La Joya district of Tlalpan borough, providing a total of 45 stations. It was built in two sections, with a split at Metro Insurgentes, the notional dividing point between the avenue's northern and southern stretches, just south of where Avenida Insurgentes intersects with Paseo de la Reforma.

On its route south from Indios Verdes, the Metrobús also connects with Metro stations at Deportivo 18 de Marzo, Potrero, La Raza, Buenavista, Revolución, Insurgentes, and Chilpancingo, providing connections with Lines 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9. The proposed southward extension of Line 7 will also enable that line to connect at the Metrobús' original southernmost station, Doctor Gálvez.

[edit] Before and after

The system replaced 372 standard buses and microbuses that served Insurgentes with 212 articulated buses that run at an average speed of 20 km/h (12 mph), doing 60 km/h (37 mph) as maximum. Doing so, travel times along the corridor are reduced up to 50%.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Environmental impact

Besides addressing the bus service problem, the BRT Metrobús project emerged in the context of the city’s Air Quality Program Proaire 2002-2010. According to Metrobús, annual environmental benefits include a reduction of 35,400 tons of CO₂, 9,700 tons of CO, 206 tons of NOx, and 1.27 tons of PM10.

[edit] Capacity and traffic

According to information from the Mexico City government published in April 2006, the Metrobús carries more than 260,000 passengers daily.

[edit] 2007 expansion

Metrobús station under construction near the intersection of Eje Central and Eje 4 Sur (Xola).

A second Metrobús line was built in 2008, running west to east along Eje 4 Sur. This second line connects Metro Tacubaya, Etiopía, Patriotismo and with the Insurgentes Metrobús at its Nuevo León stop, and was first run on January 2009. The original Line 1 was also expanded with the inclusion of nine new stations in order to achieve full coverage of Avenida Insurgentes.

[edit] Passenger access

View of the part of the extreme southern section of Avenida Insurgentes, taken from a bridge of the Periferico, near the Perisur Mall. Shows Metrobús Station Perisur.

Ticketing is by pre-paid proximity smartcard, which travellers have to pass through turnstiles at the entry to the separated bus platforms. During the early months of the system's operations, limited availability of the cards required a temporary method for access to the system involving purchasing a normal single-trip paper ticket at a cost of MXN$4.50. Starting in October 2005, and with smartcard supply able to cover the demand, access is done exclusively by using the card.

As of 2009, the cost is MXN$5.00 (about € 0.27 or US$ 0.38) An "empty" card can be purchased for MXN$10.00 (≈ € 0.53/US$ 0.75) and "recharged" at the same cost of MXN$5.00 per trip. The smartcard system has generated controversy, especially from sporadic users who complain about the MXN$5.00 fee for an empty card.