New Guadalajara BRT provides 170,000 with sustainable mobility

With 42 stations and stretching out for 41.5 kilometres, a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor recently opened on the ring road of the Guadalajara Metropolitan area in Mexico. UITP, together with the Secretary of Transport of the Mexican state Jalisco, hosted a hybrid session on 1 March to celebrate the development.

The BRT system, known as Mi Macroperiferico, can service some 170,000 people per day. It provides direct public transport service to the municipalities of Guadalajara, Zapopan and Tlaquepaque. By setting up feeder bus routes, the people of Tlajomulco and Tonalá will also have access to the system.

The project transforms a car-oriented beltway into an inclusive space for people. Well-lit stations guarantee the safety of passengers, while easy access makes sure that people with disabilities can use the BRT. The stations also include bike parking, lactation stations for women and public restrooms.

The governance of the Secretary of Transport of Jalisco headed by the Secretary of Transport Diego Monraz, made this large scale development possible.

But it doesn’t end with the new BRT. The ‘Mi Movilidad’ (My Mobility) project aims to develop a fully integrated public transport system in the Metropolitan area of Guadalajara and its neighbouring cities like Puerto Vallarta and Ciudad Guzmán.

Ultimately, the more than 8 million inhabitants of the Jalisco region, should have access to trains, busses, taxis and even shared bikes with just one transit card. Not only should this improve the ease of using the system, but also help regulate and integrate the region’s informal transport modes.

During the hybrid session organised by UITP on 1 March, the members of the UITP Organising Authorities and Bus Committees shared their view on the positive public transport developments in the region, while committee chair Tom Page and Latin America division president Ester Listovsky congratulated the project.