Executive project for BRT line 2 pushed back

The executive project for the 17.5km second line of Mexico City's (DF) bus rapid transit (BRT) system, Metrobús, will be presented to DF authorities sometime this month, local daily Reforma quoted Metrobús director Guillermo Calderón as saying. DF transport and highway department Setravi was originally expected to hand in the executive project in March for the new bus line, which will run east to west from the capital city's Zaragosa to its Tacubaya district, BNamericas reported previously. The city will take 550 buses off the streets to accommodate this route, replacing them with 64 low-emission buses, each with a 160-passenger capacity, previous reports indicated. In addition, the DF finance department is also expected to present the details of how the project will be financed, Calderón said. Money will be made available on schedule so that works can begin this month and finish as planned in December, the paper quoted Setravi director Armando Quintero as saying. However, the budget for these works must be presented within the next two weeks in order for the buses on the new line to be acquired in June as planned, the paper reported. The DF congress approved 350mn pesos (US$32.1mn) for the project, with additional funding to be determined once the executive project for line 2 is finished, according to previous reports. The deadline for the executive project had previously been moved up from June so that the first and second lines of its Eje 4 Sur network could be completed by year-end, after which Setravi plans to add 10 new routes to the system over the next six years, previous reports indicated. The first route, running 24km north to south along the Insurgentes Sur avenue, has already been added, and will be complemented by an 8km route currently under construction by company Rioboo. This route has proven financially feasible throughout its 22 months of operation, collecting 22mn pesos in revenue for March, up from its monthly collections ranging from 20mn-21mn pesos when operations first began in June 2005, Calderón said. However, investors in this first line have complained that they are only receiving 10mn pesos in monthly revenue from its operations, instead of the 15mn pesos in monthly revenue promised to them by DF officials, and that user tariffs were not increased after the first year of operations, as was supposedly promised to them by city officials, Reforma reported.