Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – Last week, Puerto Vallarta Mayor Arturo Dávalos Peña, city councilors and municipal officials participated in a virtual forum, in which SEDATU presented Mexico’s strategy for facing the challenges of mobility and societal well-being in the so-called ‘new normality.’
Derived from the COVID-19 health emergency, the plan proposes a comprehensive response to the mobility needs of people and goods to reactivate the economy in a healthy, safe, sustainable and caring way.
Called the “4S Mobility Plan for Mexico: Healthy, Safe, Sustainable and Solidarity,” the strategy proposes moving to the new normality by adopting protocols that facilitate day-to-day mobility, contribute to people’s well-being, guarantee access to services and improving distribution of goods, while diminishing our impact on the environment.
Associations, consultants, researchers and activists participated in the preparation of the document, together with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development, Ministry of Communications and Transportation, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources; the Pan American Health Organization office in Mexico, and more than 100 civil society organizations.
During the virtual forum, it was announced that the initiative is structured around four axes, these being Health, Safety, Sustainability and Solidarity, and includes twelve strategies to meet four goals:
1. By 2030, reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases by a third.
2. Considerably reduce the number of deaths and diseases caused by air pollution.
3. Provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible public spaces and green areas, in particular for women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
4. Expand pedestrian infrastructure and public areas, such as widening sidewalks and redesigning pedestrian crossings to minimize user stress.
The document outlines the 12 strategies, which include: guaranteeing clean vehicles and a healthy distance between public transport passengers; expanding pedestrian infrastructure and public areas; implementing bike lanes and promoting bicycle use; encouraging remote work systems in both the private and public sectors; staggering business hours; diminishing the use of cars and motorcycles, while increasing the frequency of public transportation and making it more inclusive and accessible; and improving logistics for the distribution of last-kilometer goods, among other measures.
During the virtual forum, emphasis was placed on greater mobility for pedestrians and cyclists, so it should be noted that this strengthens the municipal government’s plan to create bicycle lanes on various roads in the city, a proposition that is already being developed and will get a boost from the federal government’s new 4s Mobility proposal.
Dávalos Peña explained that in a few days he will be meeting with representatives of several Puerto Vallarta cycling groups, city councilors and municipal officials to fine-tune the master plan that identifies the roads where the bicycle routes will be implemented, the kilometers contemplated, as well as the budget for its safety and signage.
Sources: puertovallarta.gob.mx • greenpeace.org • gob.mx