Worse Trafffic?

[MorganF]

Has anyone else noticed that traffic has gotten substantially worse just over the last couple of weeks?

Traffic is usually worse here in good weather: but not this much.

Does anyone have a theory to explain why? Maybe:

1 - subway strikes/issues leading to more car usage
2 - rich getting richer leads to them buying more cars
3 - poor getting poorer leads to cars getting repaired less thus breaking down more
4 - import bans lead to fewer parts to repair cars thus more breakdowns
5 - government is doing an unusually large amount of infrastructure 'improvement'
6 - more traffic lights breaking down and not getting repaired
7 - increasingly lawless and aggressive culture leads to more driving accidents

Morgan

 

[nicoenarg]

Has anyone else noticed that traffic has gotten substantially worse just over the last couple of weeks?

Traffic is usually worse here in good weather: but not this much.

Does anyone have a theory to explain why? Maybe:

1 - subway strikes/issues leading to more car usage
2 - rich getting richer leads to them buying more cars
3 - poor getting poorer leads to cars getting repaired less thus breaking down more
4 - import bans lead to fewer parts to repair cars thus more breakdowns
5 - government is doing an unusually large amount of infrastructure 'improvement'
6 - more traffic lights breaking down and not getting repaired
7 - increasingly lawless and aggressive culture leads to more driving accidents

Morgan

If by the "rich" buying cars you mean the middle class trying to save what's left of their savings by "investing" in an automobile, then yeah I think that's what's going on. Also financing now is easier, I believe, than it was before. There is a lot of new "infrastructure improvement" in the downtown area these days.

7. I don't think the culture has changed that much in the last couple of years.

 

[Wander]

1. Could be that Subway strikes lead to more car usuage or has people thinking "I'll take the car just in case the subway isn't working later"
2. Rich people getting richer? Possibily. Still, they were never big fans of Public Transport anyway. Usually travel to their offices in massive cars alone, breaking all the rules on the way, causing bottle necks when they need to get back into lane.
3. I suppose the traffic jams make some cars overheat and thus it is quite common to see cars breaking down, but there is also a huge amount of new cars on the road and I'm pretty sure that a lot of people have been able to upgrade from an old banger to a new or better vechicle.
4. Don't think so, although some people probably would blame Moreno or Cristina for the traffic.
5. The City Government are presently doing lots of road repairs in many barrios. This always seems unplanned and without any thought of the effect that it could cause. As a driver, I seem to have one street blocked off and when I need to turn down the next possible street in the same direction that too is blocked!! With just one lane less on one of the main streets into Downtown cause havoc. There has also been comments that some of the old one way main streets like Santa Fe, which are now two way traffic, causes people to use the smaller roads to try and get into the city center faster. Santa Fe use to have 4 lanes (5 unofficially) into Downtown and this has been reduced to two. Everything is concentrated downtown too! Tribunales, Banking, offices.
6. Definatly have seen more traffic lights not working (and the police not working too). The new Metropolitan Police haven't got any idea how to direct traffic and where have they all gone anyway?
7. Plenty of knocks, people stopping anyway they want. Mothers pull outside a school to let their children out, putting their own kids lives in danger. Delivery trucks pulled up anywhere even though they are supposed to delivery between a range of early morning times. People driving down the hard shoulder of the motorway and expect to be let back in when the hard shoulder stops.


Looking forward to January and February when people go on their holidays, I just wish that the traffic would be like that all year!

 

[AngelinBA]

I put it down to December madness, Happens every year in the leadup to Christmas, don't know why exactly but it just does. Way more people on the streets in general, and a lot more impatience and aggressiveness as well. I think people have about 20 things they have to complete that day and they're not going to let something trivial like a queue of 10 other cars get in their way.
We normally do anything we can to avoid going to main city areas during this time, it just gets crazy.

 

[glasgowjohn]

Happens every year in every big city in the world

I believe it's a social disease called Christmas shopping and Christmas partying.

Substitute the word Holiday for Christmas if you are not a Christian.....

 

[Gringoboy]

We used to have two cars, so we sold one and the one we had left is now driven almost exclusively by my wife (to be).
I now go almost everywhere by motorbike or bicycle.
Public transport here is so utterly appalling, not to mention unappealing that I choose not to use it.
Hang on, maybe that's why there's so much traffic?
Last weekend we went out to eat with friends (a rare occurrence) and we HAD to drive from Olivos to Colegiales.
I elected to drive, just for a laugh.
Never again.

 

[lamarque]

The problem is that there are more and more cars in the streets, every year the automovile companys are having new selling records so, there are more and more cars. Anyway i think that the diference you are feeling is more related to the time of the year and all the big discount for argentine credit cards that make people go here and there to buy with the 40% discount that apear all around the city in this time of the year, i think is that because that is one of the reasons i go more around the city in this part of the year to buy buy and buy with discounted prices.