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The Context

Home to some 18 million people—and 6 million cars—Mexico City is one of the largest and most congested cities in the world. Even as the city has made huge strides to improve poor traffic conditions and air quality, gridlock and air pollution remain debilitating problems.

With over 600 new cars entering the city’s streets each day, the need for a solution is urgent. For some time now, officials in Mexico City have realized that the key to solving the twin problems of congestion and air pollution is getting people out of their cars and into mass transit. The question is how to promote mass transit that is safe, clean, convenient, and affordable so that more people will choose transit over private cars.

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Mexico City

Mexico City - Componente 3

Emissions monitoring equipment inside one of the buses.

EMBARQ’s work in Mexico co-funded a large World Bank/Global Environment Facility grant called Introduction of Climate Friendly Measures in the Transport Sector. Componente 3 of that project tested the performance of a range of different technologies in the high-altitude, stop-and-go conditions of Mexico City’s traffic. The results of the study showed that, in Mexico City, diesel buses running on ultra low sulfur diesel performed better than hybrid buses running on the same fuel and standard buses running on compressed natural gas. The findings of the study helped guide Mexico City officials in their objective of purchasing the most cost-effective buses for their fleet.