The evolution of alternative transportation in the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires: an indicator of stratification processes of mobility

Resumo

During the last decades a remarkable process of genesis and consolidation of alternative forms of transportation has been verified in the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires (RMBA). It responds to a set of factors, among which the emergence of vulnerable mobility linked to both the deterioration of accessibility and the degradation of public transport. However, these conditions also derive from larger processes that profoundly altered the metropolitan and national socio-territorial structure. Thus we see the consolidation of a society markedly dual, with deep wealth-poverty gaps and in which the hypermobility-immobility contrasts constitute distinctive features. Our paper presents empirical data and inferences following the hypothesis that a stratified mobility phase has been consolidated in the RMBA, which associated with processes of socio-territorial segregation, reinforces the preexisting fragmentations. With the goal of describing and interpreting the emergence and consolidation of alternative transportation in the region, the study provides an overview of the main characteristics of daily mobility, from the 1970’s to the present referred to both, traditional and alternative mass modes (legal and illegal). We also consider broad political guidelines, urbanization processes and sociodemographic characteristics prevailing in the different sectors or districts that make up the metropolis. In order to support these arguments, we analyze several secondary and primary sources: official sector statistics, field observation, interviews and specific studies on the subject.