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12/19/2004 Entry: "On why gridlock is undermining Mexico's future"
On Friday I traveled to Guadalajara to meet a distinguished group of people from the second largest university in Mexico. Their campus is a beauty, even by European standards, missing only some historic building at its heart. Since it was the last day of the semester, the place was strangely quiet, awaiting the chaos of graduation day this Saturday.
The meeting itself was truly fascinating and it opened my eyes on how business experts and intellectuals view the struggle of their own country to catch up the more developed economies. Ricardo Lagos, the president of Chile, mentioned during a recent summit that “technology is the sovereignty of the 21st century”. Our hosts echoed that statement mentioning a telling anecdote “a government official of Jalisco was sitting in a conference about how to attract foreign businesses to his region, and he couldn’t help feeling like looking at the sky watching the clouds pass overhead, a metaphor of how Mexico is overtaken by more dynamic countries in this race”.
I was delighted to discover that recognized academic figures share the same concern as I do. So I’m not just a bitter lunatic after all? Mexico must at all cost increase its competitiveness in the years to come or be relegated to the economic backwaters of this world, with all the possible social consequences. Already, Mexico slipped from 31st place to 39th between 2003 and 2004 in the “e-readiness” rankings published by the Economist magazine. Chile on the other hand, remains the leader of the Latin American pack with an honorable 29th position, exceptional for a country whose economy is dominated by industries like fishing and copper extraction.
Foreign and domestic businesses need, amongst other things, a solid communication infrastructure to perform competitively. In this regard, Mexico City offers an absolutely pathetic spectacle. Ask any “chilango” about what he/she dislikes most about his/her home and traffic is likely to come first, or second to crime only. This gives me the opportunity to list a few of my gripes against the road system and its public servants in the capital of Mexico:
- Mexico City is the only place in the world where you can spend 7 horrendous hours in traffic and attend just two meetings in a day. If your first stop is in the South and the second in downtown, you can already stock up with food, CDs and holy patience for hours of bumper-to-bumper sightseeing.
- The Periferico’s second floor was supposed to create more fluid traffic conditions, instead for a seemingly endless time it made it nearly impossible (for people who can’t afford a helicopter ride that is) to reach the South of the city at peak times.
- In most cities, public transportation helps in diminishing the traffic. Here, it’s exactly the opposite: micro-buses stop anywhere on the street to unload their passengers, not minding blocking thousands of irate drivers behind them.
- The best way to tell where the police are regulating traffic is by observing the build-up of congestion in their presence. The dearly beloved “tamarindos” of Mexico City have a tendency to stick their luxury patrol cars in the middle of the most essential arteries of the capital for reasons only known to their superiors, to the extreme distaste of all drivers.
- Street protests are a spontaneous expression of the Mexican democracy motivated by profound reasons, like some employees receiving coupons from a brand of food store they don’t fancy and them blocking traffic to vent their justified anger. This democratic activity is particularly popular on Reforma, which also happens to be one of the most important axis of communication in the city.
- Pedestrians are also characterized by a common death-wish, preferring a hair-rising crossing of a busy street instead of walking 50 yards to safely take a bridge and ensure that their children will see them in the evening.
Does all this sound like good healthy fun? Then please join me in starting your business in Mexico City – but don’t say that I haven’t warned you!
Replies: 2 comments
Once I had a meeting in the deep South of the city, practically on the exit to Cuernavaca. The salesperson who drove me back had her side view mirrors stolen in the morning in front of her home. Her car was only 3 days old, a birthday gift. We had to cross all the city to the Angel of Reforma avoiding death a thousand times. It was a memorable experience!
Posted by Serge @ 12/20/2004 11:30 PM MEX
Try sitting in the bumper to bumper traffic that Serge describes and then parking outside your meeting venue and come out to find that your car has been vandalized with side view mirrors gone. Then try to make your way home and enter the Insurgentes traffic circle without side view mirrors. The other closest image I have of hell is 9/11 or the massacre of the Spanish Armada.
Posted by L'Ombre d'une vague @ 12/20/2004 11:56 AM MEX
