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Plan to Reduce Air Pollution Chokes in Mexico City

posted by mrpg on Sunday February 05 2017, @05:31AM   Printer-friendly
from the smog-is-smug dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Decades ago Mexico City's air pollution was so poor, birds would fall out of the sky -- dead. Locals said living there was like smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, according to one report. In response, Mexico City took several steps to try to improve air quality including restricting driving one or two days during the weekdays. The program has had negligible results.

In 2008, the city added driving restrictions on Saturdays in hopes of moving the needle but according to new research by Lucas W. Davis, an associate professor at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, extending the program one more day also isn't working.

[...] To determine the impact of Saturday restrictions, Davis analyzed hourly air pollution data from 29 monitoring stations around Mexico City from 2005 to 2012. He studied emission levels for carbon monoxide; nitric oxide; nitrogen dioxide; nitrogen oxide; ozone; large particulates; small particulates; and sulfur dioxide. None of these pollutants decreased as a result of Saturday driving restrictions.

[...] "People have found other ways to get around the driving restrictions," says Davis. "Some purchase multiple cars, others take taxis or Uber."

[...] "Test every car, test every year. If you have a car that's polluting the air, you can't drive it. Period," says Davis.

-- submitted from IRC

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 05 2017, @07:36PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 05 2017, @07:36PM (#463162)

    Where traditional forms of mass transit aren't rapid enough or won't get you close enough to your destination, there's the 21st Century web-based ride hailing paradigm as a substitute for or an augmentation of mass transit.

    The Uber/Lyft thing, especially if done with electric vehicles, adds another dimension to low-emissions transit and can hypothetically maximize ridership.

    Singapore, noting the agility of the gig economy services, mandated that the existing taxi services
    digitize their ride hailing.

    There are existing models across the globe that are better than what's being done where you are and those can be copied.
    If your government isn't doing that, your government should be replaced with able persons who are keeping up with worldwide developments.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]