“I have a limited amount of money and I cannot spend that money to favor the 15% population that have a car. I have 1 million residents living on less that US$1 a day and I need to invest in water, sewage, health and education…..I have only three years as mayor to do it.” Enrique Peñalosa – Mayor of Bogota, Colombia 1998-2001

Colombia’s capital city Bogota has a population of just over 7 million, with more than half of the residents working in the informal sector. Prior to 1998, the public transport system was run by a closely-knit “mafia” of vehicle owners who ran a multi billion dollar industry. The individually owned public vehicles would race in the city streets, blocking buses behind them in the rush for passengers, drive on the sidewalks and kill pedestrians in their bid to get to their destinations faster and generally create a large number of accidents on a daily basis. When Enrique Peñalosa became the mayor of Bogota in 1998, he found a US$ 5 billion offer on the table from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to build seven elevated highways in Bogota to “ease” the traffic congestion that beset the city. He rejected it, choosing instead to focus on getting quality of life through a more efficient bus transit system. One of his key goals was to bring order to the chaos as the transport mafia had developed political power in their ability to bring the city to a standstill by going on strike. Assuming, quite rightly, that these owners would be the biggest stumbling block to his vision of a mass public transit system, he engaged them as critical stakeholders and made them shareholders in the new city owned “TransMilenio” bus service that traverses the entire city. The bus system was designed to enhance Peñalosa’s dual vision to bring order to the transport industry and make Bogota an economically democratic city where cars were relegated to the bottom of the pecking order of importance. He said, “Do we dare create a transport system giving priority to the needs of the poor? Or are we really trying to solve the traffic jams of the upper income people? That is really the true issue that exists.”

By this time, urban traffic was taking up 95% of the roads and was responsible for 60% of the air pollution in the city. To ensure success of the TransMilenio bus system, he restricted traffic during peak hours to reduce rush hour by 40% and increased the tax on petrol. Half of the revenues generated by the increase were invested in the TransMilenio bus system that serves hundreds of thousands of Bogota residents daily. The system provides two types of bus services: red buses can hold up to 160 passengers and service the periphery of the city, while the smaller green buses (which can hold up to 90 passengers) drive on surface streets within the city. The buses are equipped with satellite communication devices, which allow the transportation system to efficiently run to capacity. Because of the satellite communication empty buses do not run and produce unnecessary emissions.

Growing up, Peñalosa had been bothered about the distinct social and economic disparities in the capital city. There were no sidewalks for pedestrians to walk on and in the city cars would park on the few existing sidewalks relegating pedestrians to walking on the roads with all the attendant dangers that brought. As he felt very strongly that the public interest should always be put before private interest in order to enhance the quality of life, he embarked on a program to reduce road space and enhance the quality of life for city residents.

“We had to build a city not for businesses or automobiles, but for children and thus for people. Instead of building highways, we restricted car use. … We invested in high-quality sidewalks, pedestrian streets, parks, bicycle paths, libraries; we got rid of thousands of cluttering commercial signs and planted trees. … All our everyday efforts have one objective: Happiness.” Business owners in the city were deeply resentful of Peñalosa’s strategies, as, in their view, reducing access to cars was bad for business. He quips with a smile, “We built symbols of respect, equality and human dignity, not just sidewalks and bike paths. Motor vehicles on sidewalks were a symbol of inequality — people with cars taking over public space.” In Peñalosa’s view building walkways was important as it not only protected cyclists, but it became a symbol that a citizen on a US$30 bicycle was just as important as one on a US$30,000 motor vehicle.

This, in his view, was critical in establishing a democratic semblance to the city of Bogota. One of the consequences of Peñalosa’s egalitarian strategy was a dramatic 70% fall in the city’s notorious crime rate. He believes that perception played a key role in this since the creation of social organization in the city led the residents to believe that the city government was honest, efficient and dedicated to improving their quality of life. As a result the system gained legitimacy in the eyes of the residents and they became more law abiding, denounced lawbreakers publicly and viewed the city government as now having the moral authority to be strict on law enforcement.

Bogota in 1998 is the city of Nairobi in 2014. Maddening traffic, runaway crime, demeaning slum areas, complete and utter disregard for law enforcement by many and a minority car-driving elite that is far removed from the excruciating expense of living in a city for the moneyed. I wish my governor would Google this award winning Peñalosa guy instead of focusing on his torn socks and contributing to harambees in Nyanza province. I was serenaded with fanciful visions of Lee Kwan Yu and the Singapore dream slightly over 12 months ago. Today I still live in the same polluted, congested and crime-ridden Nairobi. Governor: please ask Lupita how you can help make my dreams valid?