Field Research into Mexico City’s Urban Health Revolution via Transportation
Published 08/12/2026 in Scholar Travel Stipend
Written
by Callaway Pate |
08/12/2026
In the global discourse on public health, infrastructure and transportation are often relegated to the background. Seen merely as the stage upon which medical interventions occur. However, as the world approaches the mid-point of the decade in 2026, Mexico City has emerged as an interesting case study for how infrastructure and transportation closely correlate with the health of the city’s residents. For the Milken Foundation, whose mission is to accelerate measurable progress in worldwide public health, this represents a compelling investigation for how the evolution of transportation and its electrification can serve as a crucial instrument of public health.
Upon visiting Mexico City my goal was to make use of as many transit options as possible to thoroughly explore how the local government has expanded the options for residents to commute and how those options impact public health. Whether the Metro, Metrobus/Mexibus, Cablebus, or rideshare I experienced a multitude of transit options that provide access to the city’s economic centers to the approximately 24 million people that call the city home. When public transportation in Mexico City was originally conceived the city’s population was around 4 million people and they mainly made use of an old tramway system that crisscrossed the city, traffic jams were commonplace, and the bus system wasn't enough to fulfill all the commuter demands. (Monroy, 2018). In 1969, Mexico City opened train Line 1 from Zaragoza in the east to Chapultapec in the west.
I believe the most compelling era of Mexico City’s subway expansion came with the foresight exhibited in the development of Metro’s Line 9 in 1987. The original intent behind the line’s development was to avoid saturation on the parallel Line 1. This came at a time when the area was developing into an international business center, drawing thousands of people to the line every day. According to the World Bank, in the 1980s prior to the opening of Line 9, Line 1 saw daily ridership of approximately 900 thousand people every day (Midgley, 1999). Following the opening of Line 9, that ridership was split between the lines with 500 thousand on Line 1 and 400 thousand on Line 9. This split led to reductions in congestion and commute times, two items that on a daily basis have significant impacts on an individual’s physical and mental health. During my travel to Mexico City, I visited Line 9 where the effects of the foresight of yesterday’s urban planners is still evident today with limited congestion and wait-times between trains.
A true highlight of transit innovation in Mexico City comes in the form of the Cablebus. The significance of this transit option lies in the adversity overcome by engineering and the low-income communities it connects to opportunities. Three Cablebus lines operate that soar over the streets of Mexico City to the peripheral neighborhoods that populate the city’s mountain side. In this phase of my trip, I wanted to explore the time to commute from Cuautepec at the end of the Cablebus Line 1 (perimeter) to Indios Verdes on Cablebus Line 1 (central) during rush hour. I was surprised by the efficiency of the Cablebus system during afternoon rush hour. What was a 45 minute, 10 peso trip to Cuautepec became a one hour, 400-peso trip in an Uber. The difference to me was night and day in terms of time and cost. The difference is further exasperated by the roughly 100 thousand people who make use of the Cablebus system every day, reducing congestion on the road, reducing commute times, and connecting millions to the city’s economic centers (Ionescu, 2025). Even if this is not the most efficient route every day, I believe that if it proves useful to my fellow travelers and me on this single occasion, it validates the tangible benefits the Cablebus presents to public health via reduced commute times and economic stressors.
Enroute to the Coyocan Market, I got to explore another form of transport that speaks volumes to the efforts to electrify transportation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions while offering efficient mass transit. Mexico City’s Transportes Eléctricos has a vehicle count of approximately 540 buses servicing the Tren Ligero which runs from Tasqueña in the north to Xochimilco in the south. They run off 600V DC parallel overhead power lines which is a great thing in helping reduce the air pollution here in Mexico City. For each passenger mile in a car 0.47 pounds of CO2 are emitted. Comparatively gasoline-operated bus transport averges 0.39 pounds of CO2 emitted per mile (CBO, 2022). At a glance although bus transit is less impactful on emissions than cars, the difference is truly exacerbated when we explore electrification of those buses driving the greenhouse gases emitted close to zero. The 360 thousand daily riders of the Transportes Eléctricos are part of a ridership group contributing to a reduction of air pollution and CO2 emissions throughout the Mexico City metropolitan area to the benefit of the area’s public health. However, in the context of the 20 million vehicle trips via public transport taken every day there is still much room for growth for this mode of transportation (WBG, 2013).
When initially planning this research trip to Mexico City I hadn’t fully considered the importance of education in the process of improving public health via transportation. Exploring the exhibits of the Museo Interactivo de Economía (MIDE), I learned about a compelling history of innovation not only in local transportation but also for the greater Mexican infrastructure. What stood out to me most was an exhibit titled “Movimiento de la Economía” which described the importance of infrastructure in the movement of mass goods throughout Mexico. The exhibits in MIDE share many similarities to that in the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD) in describing the interconnection between health and economics.
For the Milken Institute, whose mission is to accelerate measurable progress in worldwide public health, Mexico City represents an important opportunity to investigate the multifaceted relationship between transportation infrastructure and health. By analyzing how shifts towards cleaner, more efficient transit options impact health indicators, my aim was to highlight transportation electrification as a crucial instrument for public health advancement. This investigation underscores the importance of integrating urban planning, environmental policy, and health strategies to create cities that not only move people efficiently but also promote healthier, more equitable living environments. As global urbanization accelerates, Mexico City’s experience may serve as a valuable blueprint for other metropolitan areas seeking to harness the power of infrastructure and transportation to improve public health outcomes on a broader scale.
References
Monroy, Marco. “HISTORY OF THE MEXICO CITY METRO.” Urban Rail, Feb. 2018, https://urbanrail.net/am/mexi/mex-history2.htm/
Midgley, Peter. “Urban Transport in Asia.” World Bank Document, Mar. 1999, https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/950571468776084413/pdf/multi-page.pdf/
Ionescu, Diana. “Mexico City Cable Cars Soar Above Gridlock.” Planitezen, 25 Aug. 2025, https://www.planetizen.com/news/2025/08/135869-mexico-city-cable-cars-soar-above-gridlock/
Congressional Budget Office. “Emissions of Carbon Dioxide in the Transportation Sector.” Congressional Budget Office, Dec. 2022, https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58566/
World Bank Group. “Mexico City Open Database Improves Transit Efficiency, Helps Commuters.” World Bank Group, 5 Nov. 2013, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/11/05/mexico-city-open-database-improves-transit-efficiency-helps-commuters/
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