Forty Minutes

Took me 40 minutes to drive from La Cristina to the light in San Antonio. Never got over 5 mph.

Holy crap! That is insane.

Our yoga teacher needed an hour recently to make the same trip.

If it's this bad now, what's it going to be like in peak high season?

Much worse, me thinks.

I've seen lots and lots of snow bird cars from Canada. I think we're almost at the high season.

Gamina wrote:I've seen lots and lots of snow bird cars from Canada.  I think we're almost at the high season.

I'm seeing plates from all over the U.S. Today from New York and Pennsylvania. Quite a few lately from California and Oregon. Not just Snowbirds.

Gamina wrote:I've seen lots and lots of snow bird cars from Canada.  I think we're almost at the high season.

High high season hits January when the people who have to be home for the holidays can leave and the ones who can not bear the two coldest months of the year head down for the sun. As bad as it is now, this is just the first wave. I think we need to count on it getting much worse.

Yep, this is just the swell before the tsunami. swell. . .

Pueblo Magico, hahahahaha  Widening the highway during peak season hahahaha

ferret wrote:It would be soooooo nice if the buses would get their butts off the road when they're stopping to drop off and pick up passengers.
I'm not saying that's the entire problem but it sure is blocking traffic unnecessarily.

And it would also be nice if cars would let the buses back on the road, so that they can try to keep to their schedule!  That's why some of the bus drivers don't pull off to the side, because no one is kind enough to let them back in! I take the bus all the time, and it irritates me when I see cars with one or two people in it, thinking that they are more important than a full bus load of people!

suegarn wrote:

ferret wrote:It would be soooooo nice if the buses would get their butts off the road when they're stopping to drop off and pick up passengers.
I'm not saying that's the entire problem but it sure is blocking traffic unnecessarily.

And it would also be nice if cars would let the buses back on the road, so that they can try to keep to their schedule!  That's why some of the bus drivers don't pull off to the side, because no one is kind enough to let them back in!  I take the bus all the time, and it irritates me when I see cars with one or two people in it, thinking that they are more important than a full bus load of people!

I think this is a chicken/egg dilemma. You say maybe bus drivers don’t want to pull over because car drivers don’t let them back into traffic. Car drivers don’t want to let buses in front of them because then they are stuck behind the buses that won’t pull over to let passengers off and on.

Front end loaders, obreros, dump trucks, etc., that should be gone in a while, are now in and out along the Carretera , between Javier Mina and Colon.
For me, the most aggravating, is the illegal left hand turners, double parkers, slow witted parallel parkers, people lost in  space when the light turns green, and jaywalkers.
They come in ahead of (or should I say, behind) the bus drivers, who try to keep things moving when they are not letting people on and off,

Nothing is going to get much better as long as a roadway for serving a few small villages is carrying as least ten times more traffic.
So far, no solution. Anything been proposed?

I want to say a word for the Chapala Bus drivers - I think as a rule they are courteous and good drivers. I see a few that go too fast through my village, but as a whole I believe they are very good drivers, polite, and respectful. I could NEVER do that job, all the distractions, traffic, people honking at them . . .a thankless job.

I also happen to have a friend whose dad is/was a Chapala bus driver. I met her long ago when she hunted me down to ask about a call I was on with the Cruz Roja ambulance for a kid who got pushed under the Chapala bus in front of the Chapala plaza. Luckily, the kid only lost his foot and not his head. Her father was emotionally paralyzed to drive a vehicle again and unable to work and earn money for the family. She asked me for some words to tell him.

He finally recovered enough to work again and one day a couple of years later he was driving west along the carretera when two scumbags decided to race. One of them pulled out in front of his bus and forced him to swerve into the cyclopista barrier and have a bad accident.

Another time a friend and I stopped to help teenage victims of a horrific head on accident in front of Las Fuentes with an old la bomba vehicle and a Chapala bus. The kids had passed on a blind rise in the road directly into the path of the oncoming bus. One was DOA, another was actively dying, and another was trying to die. The bus driver fled but his girlfriend stayed with the bus.

I encourage you to think twice before complaining about the Chapala bus and try putting yourself in their position for just a nano second.

Trailrunner, where did THAT come from? One poster said part of the traffic problem was the buses that did not pull over to let passengers off and on. Then there was some discussion of why that might be which included the car drivers’ role and how bus drivers deserve respect. Next thing we know we got a rant from you about a kid losing a foot, teenagers dead and dying, a traumatized bus driver, and a call to stop complaining about bus drivers. It was over the top and not actually an appropriate response to the discussion preceading it. I hope you feel better now.

The point and purpose of my post, ferret, was to give the bus drivers a brake!
Not that teenagers will be teenagers.

Even if all the drivers of all types of vehicles were sensible and courteous......the problem remains:  this level of traffic requires a massive solution or we will always be crawling along during low or high season, so my question remains: Have the Powers That Be come up with a prospective permanent solution?  I heard some suggestions about going around the towns on the mountain side, but the problem there is land ownership and grade.  Anyone with more information?
Lacking a real solution, we may need to keep a supply of audio books in the car to lessen our frustration. It's what many commuters on the Los Angeles freeway system did in the normal gridlock there.

You can take the back roads from SAT to west Ajijic. No need to be on the caraterra when it's that busy.

The village is getting more crowded too. ..

Well not until you get right into the heart of Ajijic. The outskirts never have anyone. I take the back roads all the time.

CanuckBob wrote:You can take the back roads from SAT to west Ajijic. No need to be on the caraterra when it's that busy.

Yes, you can, and I often do when returning from shopping in SAT. The drawback is the condition of the streets, where potholes and topes are numerous in La Floresta. A tradeoff.