Author(s)

A. Valencia & J. Huertas

Abstract

The metropolitan area of Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia, has a population of around 11 million people. The city has no subway and then public transportation has been an increasing problem. A large number of private and public vehicles result in traffic jams and deterioration of the air quality. To address this problem, during the past few years the local government has been implementing several important measures to organize traffic. The actions taken include: Restriction to the circulation of private vehiclds during four hours a day, two days a week, Restriction to the circulation of vehicles, used for public transportation, 16 hours a day, once a week, Implementation of a massive transportation system (Transmilenio) based on the use of exclusive lanes for brand new buses with large transportation capacity (160 passengers). Even though these actions have been very successful in organizing traffic in the city, the effect of some actions on the air quality of the city has not been quantified. This work addresses that issue. Two methodologies were implemented. The first methodology is based on the use of emission factors for pollutants and the second one on a statistical analysis of the data collected by the air quality network that the city possesses. Data from 14 stations located in different areas of the city during a 14-week period was used to evaluate the second action. Results show that these actions have substantially reduced air pollution in the city.

Keywords