World Streets shares this very funny French ad for a car-sharing company.
The translation of their slogan is “It’s almost your car.” In another ad, the same man is eating a messy sandwich in the car and dripping on himself when someone knocks on the door.
Rhys Thom and I recently visited Mexico City where we met with two researchers at UNAM - Mexico’s National University - who are doing some fascinating research. Robyn Hudson, a charismatic professor, originally from Australia who has been living in Mexico City for quite some time, and her colleague Marco Guarneros, a fellow biomedical researcher, conducted a study comparing the ability of Mexico City’s residents to detect certain smells, with the ability of people living in a Tlaxcala, a neighboring town. Mexico City and Tlaxcala are similar in many respects - they share a similar culture and climate, situated high in the mountains of Mexico. But there is one crucial difference: Mexico City has much higher levels of air pollution.
When compared to their neighbors, people living in Mexico City need higher concentrations of a smell in order to identify it, a clear indication that their sense of smell is deteriorating. Read the rest of this entry »
Awhile back here on TheCityFix, we highlighted a video made by StreetFilms that explored Bogota’s “Ciclovia” initiative. This innovative program closes nearly 70 miles of city streets each Sunday to car traffic and opens them to throngs of runners, walkers, and bikers determined to take back their city (at least for a day).
The idea is slowly catching on all over the world. For example, the video above highlights a similar (though more limited) program in Guadalajara, Mexico…given the happy tune that the videographer chose to use for the clip’s score, it is clear that they thoroughly enjoyed their car-free day!
From what I’ve heard from our experts in Mumbai, the project has had several hiccups like lack of signage, signal systems not working properly, bus breakdowns, and motorcycles and bicycles entering the bus lanes. But overall these are problems that can be fixed with time and bus operations can be improved.
What seems to be a bigger problem than the hitches and hiccups of the system itself is the destructive roll that the media has played, unfairly skewing the coverage of the trial run to make the problem seem worse than it actually is.
In the video below, for example, you can see footage of cars, rickshaws and motorbikes snared in traffic alongside the bus lane. What you can also see, however, is that in every shot with a passing bus, the bus is jammed packed with people. It’s a clear indication that the system is popular among people who are using it.
When you watch the news footage though, you will notice that the journalist never interviews a single bus passenger to see what their satisfaction is with the system. All they show is disgruntled car owners who fume about what the bus rapid transit corridor has done to car traffic. Read the rest of this entry »
A few weeks back we posted a video from SlateV about “The stupidest bike lane ever” which featured a short and poorly thought out bike lane near the University of California Los Angeles. Now SlateV has made a follow up video in response to readers feedback, documenting several other stupid bike lanes. Check out the video above.
Recent Comments