A practice collision in Mexico City killed one particular person and injured not less than 59 others on January 7, in keeping with early reviews from Reuters and the Associated Press. The quantity is now as much as 106 injured, in keeping with El País (hyperlink in Spanish). The crash pinned 4 passengers within the wreckage, together with one of many practice conductors who was later rushed to the hospital with grave accidents.
The conductors, or drivers, of the Mexico City Metro confronted scrutiny after the crash, with individuals suggesting conductors are endangering others by being on their telephones and chatting on WhatsApp. But practice operators say that social media apps and their private telephones have truly been important to the secure operation of Mexico City’s Metro system, which lacks working radio comms.
Go learn this staggering report from Rest of World, which explains how one of many busiest subway techniques on the earth runs on WhatsApp because of the Mexican authorities’s failure to keep up its public transportation. Despite the capital metropolis’s metro ferrying 4.6 million per day, on common, the federal government refuses to pay for correct upkeep; funding dropped by 40 p.c from 2018 to 2021.
That might arguably have one thing to do with the worldwide pandemic, however the metro’s upkeep woes return not less than 20 years, in keeping with RoW:
Four present and former Metro staff confirmed to Rest of World that because the early 2000s, their private cellphones have turn into their most important type of communication — first by way of calls and presently by way of WhatsApp. “It is the way everyone is talking — from fellow operators to inspectors to station managers,” Jaime mentioned.
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Conductors are given radios to speak, however they don’t work correctly; to make issues worse, neither do the metro’s autopilot techniques. You see, Mexico City’s metro drivers had been initially solely meant to be there as a fail-safe in case the autopilot went down. Conductors had been employed to manually gradual and cease the trains — which usually journey round 44 miles per hour — however the system was designed to run mechanically going again to the Nineties. And many years later, these getting older (unmaintained) techniques have fallen into disrepair:
For years now, drivers have mentioned that the Metro system’s defective automated pilot program has compelled conductors to function lots of the trains manually. To do that, they have to be in shut contact to keep away from collisions, and employees say the trains’ radio-based communications system is less than the duty. So as a substitute, they usually have to make use of their very own cellphones and WhatsApp chats to coordinate with the management heart.
It’s seemingly that WhatsApp emerged as the principle type of communication between conductors given the recognition of the messaging app within the nation. Indeed, nearly all of individuals in Mexico use WhatsApp to remain in contact, affordably.
Because when mobile or cell information is spent, individuals can connect with public WiFi — free in Mexico City — and proceed messaging family and friends. And coworkers, too, it appears. At least for Metro conductors who attain their bosses, supervisors and plenty of different individuals tasked with protecting the metro going safely by way of WhatsApp. Just think about what would occur if the app went down.
Rest of World says that conductors “have parallel FaceBook chats to maintain communication.” While that’s considerably comforting, it’s nonetheless terrifying to assume that the Mexico City metro system is reliant on cell telephones and messaging apps. All as a result of the Mexican authorities gained’t pay sufficient for upkeep, which has had deadly penalties such because the collapse of the overpass in May, 2021.
The low value of the metro in CDMX could have one thing to do with it, as RoW notes. Each journey is $5 pesos, or about $0.27 at present change charges. 1 / 4 per experience is absurdly low cost to us within the U.S., the place metro rides in cities like New York value $2.75. But even at its present metro fares, Mexico City is making $23 million pesos per day on common, or over $1.2 million American. That has to be sufficient to purchase working radios.
Source: jalopnik.com