Road traffic in Mexican territory was alleviated from the covid-19 pandemic with a recovery of 105%, compared to 2019, the year prior to the health contingency, revealed Ingrid Avilés, director of Waze Mexico.
“With data from September, at the Mexico level we are already at 105%, that is, 5% more than our baseline, which we took in 2019”, referred the manager of the Latin American country in an interview with EFE.
Entities are not recovered the same
Avilés acknowledged that the recovery of traffic does not behave the same in the different geographical areas of Mexico.
He explained that, in Jalisco, western state with 120% progressis one of the entities that operated with higher levels than the rest of the country, even during the health contingency.
Another example is the northern city of Monterrey, which has now recovered 100% of its mobility, according to data collected by the application, one of the arms of the multinational Google.
Meanwhile, the director of Waze Mexico reported that Mexico City has not yet recovered its pre-pandemic flows, with a level of between 85% and 90%.
Mexico is not the only country
He pointed out that this phenomenon of increased transit is not exclusive to Mexico, since European countries also show a recovery in their transits of up to 180%, almost double what was prior to the pandemic.
“In general, there has been a significant acceleration in mobility,” he said.
Avilés recalled that, in the first months of the health contingency, between February and March, kilometers driven by the “wazers” through their mobile application reduced by up to 70%.
“It was quite radical, but, on the one hand, we think it was good because it was the product of these so-called ‘lockdowns’ (enclosures) that occurred globally and we saw this same phenomenon in users in the United States, in Europe, in Israel,” he commented.
The head of Waze Mexico also said that mobility “is closely linked” to commercial activity.
“A lot of mobility through our app is for doing business. It is used by the person who goes to buy at the supermarket, who goes to the bank, etc. We see an important correlation between mobility and economic activity”, he expressed.
Routine changes and essential workers
For this reason, he maintained that the changes that came with the pandemic, such as the temporary closures for some activities and businesses, also caused endless damage to the routines of Mexicans during 2020, when the new coronavirus was detected.
Avilés narrated that while many employers opted for teleworking, essential workers maintained their routines and dynamics, being the ones who sustained the little traffic that remained during the closures of the activity.
“In 2021, we started to see an evolution, and people starting to move more and I think the most key moment that we saw was at the end of 2021, when the restrictions practically disappeared,” he added.
Seasons with more flows
For Waze, there are very marked dates of upturns in Mexican mobility, such as the commercial events of Buen Fin and the Hot Sale, and social events such as the return to school or the start of summer vacations.
He said that another “critical” day is December 17 because “everyone is buying gifts” for another “critical moment”, December 23, a day of much consumption and travel in preparation for Christmas.
He said that the return to classes marked peaks in Mexican traffic of 58% in the first weekwhile it climbed to more than 60% for the next one, since “dads and moms go out and leave the children and others.”
Among other dates, Avilés recalled that the end of the year is also a day of many flows, while November is historically the busiest month.
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