Border report: Transit in Tijuana is still a thorny issue

Musicians, writers, artists, designers, dancers, cyclists, architects and mobility activists occupied empty bus stations in several parts of Tijuana on Saturday in an unusual public protest. Their goal: to draw attention to the city’s desperate need for a modern transportation system.

Promoted by the collective Mover la Ciudad – Move the City – the citizen action caught the attention of motorists and pedestrians walking past stations in a number of tourist, shopping and government districts near the US-Mexico border.

By briefly taking over the stations, participants hoped to shine a spotlight on a bus rapid transit system for Tijuana that was supposedly launched in 2016 – but never delivered on the promise. Known as the Sistema Integral de Transporte de Tijuana, or SITT, the route runs 23 miles (37 kilometers) with 45 stations from the U.S.-Mexico border along Avenida Revolucion, to the Rio Zone and along the Via Rapida highways linking the Tijuana River Canal flank.

“As a concept, it’s very interesting,” says Elizabeth Hensley Chaney of Alianza por la Movilidad Activa, a Tijuana-based nonprofit that promotes alternatives to cars, such as safe bike routes, pedestrian access and public transportation. The SITT “promised a solution to mass mobility in the city,” she told me. “Why is it that at launch they predicted more than 50,000 people would be transported per day and we don’t see more than 500?”

Hensley and fellow Alianza director Daniel Gomez served as coordinators for the day’s activities, which included dance performances, exhibitions, a youth wind ensemble concert and a fashion show featuring emerging Tijuana designers. Also involved were La Escuela Libre de Arquitectura in the city’s Zona Norte, the Tijuana Economic Development Council, and Tijuana’s head of planning, Nora Márquez, who gave a talk on public space.

Transport a thorny issue

Tijuana’s main thoroughfares are often clogged with vehicles as residents prefer cars to buses. Public transportation in Tijuana has been a thorny issue for decades, and travelers have long had to contend with a disorganized and costly system of buses, microbuses and collective taxis. Unlike San Diego, the city’s public transportation is controlled by private companies operating under government concessions. And over the years, politically powerful transportation unions have repeatedly defied government efforts to reform the system.

I was covering the city in 2016 when it looked like City Hall had finally made a breakthrough and secured support from private bus companies to launch the SITT. Ten of the fourteen companies agreed to form a consortium to operate the system under a thirty-year concession with the city.

But even then, on that warm August morning, as Mayor Jorge Aztiazaran led a tour of the new system with VIP passengers and members of the media, taxi drivers pressing for more permits began attacking the bus and tried to drive it outside the block city hall. It didn’t look like the SITT was going to be a smooth ride.

Municipal councils have come and gone, but the SITT has remained stagnant as mayors have avoided taking on the politically powerful transportistas.

The city is in the process of transferring the system to the state government. During a public appearance last month, state transportation chief Jorge Alberto Gutierrez called the SITT a “pending project,” and said only two buses currently operate the route. Moving forward means addressing legal, financial and technical issues, he said.

Saturday’s protest marked the second time “Mover La Ciudad” took over SITT stations. Rodolfo Argote Bribiesca, an architect from Tijuana, said he came up with the idea to organize a protest in the empty stations one day while stuck in traffic. He started talking to friends and colleagues, and interest quickly grew. In early 2023, they began meeting weekly to plan their first event of last year.

While the protests focused on the SITT, Argote said the delays are emblematic of a broader problem in the city: a series of public projects launched with great hope that are falling prey to corruption and political pressure.

“This frustration is not only directed at the government, but also at the citizens,” he told me. “So many failed projects and no one is saying anything,” Argote said.

In other news

New mayors: As Mexico’s next president, Claudia Scheinbaum, begins a six-year term on Tuesday, six mayors in Baja California will also launch three-year municipal governments. Like Scheinbaum, they are members of the Mexican ruling party MORENA. Ismael Burgueño, the new mayor of Tijuana, has already made connections in San Diego. On Friday, he visited the offices of the San Diego Association of Government (SANDAG), where he was welcomed by Nora Vargas, chair of SANDAG and the San Diego Board of Supervisors. On September 21, Burgueño, a former elementary school teacher and MORENA party leader in Baja California, threw out the first pitch at a Padres baseball game at PETCO Park.

Outgoing mayor of Tijuana under scrutiny: Outgoing Mayor Montserrat Caballero has been the subject of news articles questioning her purchase of a property reportedly worth more than $800,000 (in US dollars) in an exclusive area of ​​Playas de Tijuana. The story was first reported by the Tijuana website Plural.Mx. Caballero told reporters last week that the property was purchased with her earnings and “great help” from her husband, a U.S. citizen. In a letter published Saturday in the Mexican newspaper Reforma, she said the value of the property was closer to $80,000. Caballero is a former member of MORENA who was expelled after being accused of supporting a candidate from a rival party in the June 2 elections.

US Fentanyl Traffickers: Drug cartels are using American citizens to smuggle fentanyl into the United States, and according to recent news reports, the San Diego border is a major corridor. The phenomenon has been reported in recent weeks on KPBS-FM, the New York Times and the CBS news program 60 Minutes. According to the US Sentencing Commission, in fiscal year 2023, 86.4 of those convicted of fentanyl trafficking in the United States were US citizens.

From undocumented migrant to federal legislator: A San Marcos woman who spent 20 years as an undocumented immigrant in the United States has returned to Mexico as a federal lawmaker. San Diego Union-Tribune’s Alexandra Mendoza tells the story of Maribel Solache’s remarkable journey.

Explorer, historian, photographer: Harry Crosby, a longtime San Diego resident who explored some of the most remote areas of the Baja California Peninsula, died on September 12 at the age of 98. Crosby was a historian and photographer and the subject of a 2022 documentary, “The Journeys of Harry Crosby,” co-produced by Isaac Artenstein of Cinewest and the San Diego History Center.

San Diego-Tijuana Jazz Festival: The first annual San Diego-Tijuana International Jazz Festival takes place Friday through Sunday. It offers performances in Tijuana, San Diego and Escondido. Please see the event website for a full schedule.

Edge Blur: Architects from San Diego and Tijuana will discuss the challenges and opportunities of working in a region that spans two countries during a panel discussion Oct. 16 at the World Design Capital Pavilion in Balboa Park from 5 to 7 p.m.

Foodies take note: The annual Baja Culinary Fest takes place October 16-20 in Tijuana. Events include special dinners on October 16, 17 and 18, a state culinary competition on October 19 and a “Gastronomic Expo” on October 19 and 20 in the Caliente Stadium parking lot. Current information will be posted on the Facebook page.