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The crown jewel of Bogotáno transportation has to be the modern TransMilenio rapid transit system. In development since 2000, the system operates much like a train system on wheels with large articulated buses ferrying up to 160 passengers at a time between 116 elevated stations on nine lines - complete with express and local service. Special dedicated lanes, or troncales, were added to the middle of existing roads to accommodate the new system, presenting a low cost solution to this city's major congestion problem.
The experience goes something like this: Upon entering a station, passengers purchase smart cards loaded with fares for one or several trips on the system (1500 pesos per trip or about 65 cents.) After tapping your card to a sensor and passing through the turnstile, there are easy to read maps that outline the service provided at that station. Even for non-spanish speakers, the alpha-numeric route system is easy to decipher. Once you've determined what bus you need to take, overhead LED signs update you on the expected arrival time of your bus. Coming from Chicago, where communicating useful information to your paying customers is something that has not yet dawned on the transit authority, TransMilenio is an incredibly refreshing user-friendly system.
The only problem TransMilenio is that it may be too good. About 1.3 million riders use the system each day and during rush hour you can expect buses on heavily used routes to be bursting at the seams. The crush of bodies is entirely bearable, however, when you realize you are whisking past gridlocked traffic at an incredible rate. Efficency has its price.
Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the system is its cost. According to the Transportation Research Board of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the seven phases of TransMilenio development will eventually cost $3.3 billion (USD) and cover almost 400 km of roadway. This number is ten percent LESS than a proposed 30 km subway line. Clearly, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) model, of which TransMilenio is the largest in the world, is an excellent low-cost transportation option for rapidly developing cities on a tight budget.
Just keep your hand on your wallet...
December 1st is World AIDS Day. Those readers who know me are aware that before coming to Colombia I worked in HIV/AIDS advocacy in Chicago. Its an issue I am personally devoted to and hope to find a way to continue my involvement here in Bogotá.
In commemoration of the day, I thought I'd write up what I've learned so far about the epidemic here in Colombia. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 170,000 living with HIV in Colombia. Of these, about 47,000 are women. This translates to a prevalence of about 0.6% in the general population.
Just as in the U.S., gay men and men who have sex with men bear the brunt of the epidemic. In 2002, the most recent year WHO numbers are available, an estimated 19.7% of men who have sex with men in major urban areas are living with HIV. Similar numbers across the globe recently led world leaders to declare at the 2008 International AIDS Conference in Mexico City that entrenched homophobia remains a primary obstacle towards truly effective HIV prevention programming for gay men.
Just as with gay men, the intersection of women and HIV in Colombia mirrors global trends. Lacking other economic opportunities, many women are forced into the sex industry where knowledge and use of protective measures, such as condoms, is far from universal. Furthermore, Colombia's decades-old internal conflict has led to countless instances of physical and sexual violence against women by the armed elements within the country. These factors combine to put many women, especially in rural areas and along the coast, at an increased risk of acquiring HIV.
One of the greatest success stories in the nearly 30 year battle against HIV/AIDS has been the development of highly effective means of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In Chicago, I was proud to work alongside the team that has all but eliminated instances of mother-to-child, or perinatal, transmission in the state of Illinois. Sadly, in Colombia these services are only available to an estimated 6% of HIV-positive mothers.
I have only begun to learn about the domestic HIV/AIDS situation here and my knowledge is indeed lacking. (For example, I have yet to learn anything about Colombia's injection-drug using population.) I hope to continue to uncover more and find a way to become actively involved in Colombia's fight against HIV/AIDS.
