Mexico City Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera Espinosa and Metrobus Director Guillermo Calderón announced improvements to the Metrobus system, including the addition of a new line.
The new line, Line 7, will run along Avenida de la Reforma from Indios Verdes to the Fuente de Petróleos, which is located at the intersection of Reforma and Periférico. There will be 90 two-story buses that will transport passengers along this route. In addition, there will be two complementary lines, consisting of 30 smaller vehicles that will run between the Fuente de Petróleos and Santa Fe, and the Fuente de Petróleos and Vasco de Quiroga.
In addition, 38 new buses were incorporated into existing lines. Around 215 million pesos ($11.6 million) was invested to purchase the buses. Of the 38 new buses, all of which are equipped with Euro V technology, 12 are three-car buses with capacity for 240 passengers, which will operate on Line 1, which runs on Avenida de los Insurgentes; 15 are two-car buses with capacity for 160 passengers, which will run on lines 2,3 and 6; eleven are single-car buses that will run on Line 6 around the Villa de Aragón terminal in the Cuchilla del Tesoro and Pradera neighborhoods.
Mancera Espinosa said that Mexico City has the most consolidated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in all of Latin America.
“These buses that are being incorporated into the Metrobus system, especially the three-car buses, respond to a very clear demand, because we can see every day that the Insurgentes line is becoming saturated,” said Mancera Espinosa. “The new buses are going to allow an important reduction in saturation, and people are going to notice.”
According to Calderón, the Metrobus transports around 1.1 million people a day, and on days with Environmental Alerts, that figure becomes closer to 1.5 million.
“Using low-emissions vehicles in the Metrobus system leads to significant reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides, ozone precursors and particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter,” said Calderón.
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