MEXICO CITY

March 13, 2009

Mexico City is the most populace city in the world. After going into town at 8 AM I've no reason to doubt this statistic. We were using the “Autopista” - a toll road with few on and off ramps and no cross streets or traffic signals. The rush hour traffic was world class to say the least. Speeds ranged from 30 to 2 MPH.

Mexico runs on public transportation. A bus ride for instance across Mexico (city) costs less than fifty cents US. The metro, a rubber-tired light-rail system is priced similarly. It moves people through town at a speed of up to 50 miles per hour while virtually nothing in the rest of the city moves at a pace much above 10.

The streets are filled with compact taxis, buses of all sorts and sizes, local trucks and private vehicles – pretty much in that order.
Driving styles in Mexico are distinctly different than in the US. It really seems to be based on a different philosophy. Lines on roads indicate the direction the road goes. Just where one drives in a roadway depends pretty much on the spaces one sees. If you think you fit in the space, and the lines are going generally in the direction you want to go, by all means, stick your car in the space. People are relatively polite, and only honk if they think you are missing out on a perfectly good space in front of you.