Eight pedestrians and cyclists died in January under the wheels of city buses – the highest monthly figure on record.
The 80 protesters held up traffic for 20 minutes on Calle Pedro Moreno outside the Jalisco Government Palace, in part to honor the “404 victims of public transport” in the past eight years.
Guadalajara-based NGOs say in the short-term the new law (Ley de Movilidad) designed to modernize the city’s public transportation network will not reduce the dangers to the public presented by outdated buses and errant drivers.
A coalition of several civic organizations has petitioned the Jalisco government to speed up its goal of renovating the metro area’s bus fleet in ten years.
The current plan is to replace ten percent of the fleet each year with new buses. “We can’t wait a decade for this,” read the NGO’s petition, noting five years would be the minimally acceptable target.
Another idea is to designate special “comfortable” buses to specific “saturated routes” at peak times.