Our personal data is being collected every day by the technology we use. We know there are privacy terms (that many of us doesn’t read, just accept them) telling us the use that they will give to our data, and maybe they use it for another purposes that are not established in the terms. In other words, the companies that we granted the access to our data know who we are and what are we are doing, and maybe they’re sharing it with another companies. Remember that fantastic clothes you were searching one hour ago, that was transformed in a recommendation add about that items linking to an online store (probably Amazon), or searching about cool places in a city in Europe that became in an add linking to a page where you can get tickets to travel. Look into the section «My Activity» in Google Maps to know where you were being at a certain time.

That data was capture probably using a device (smartphone or computer), now imagine more data being capture as you move, what places you like to frequent more, what kind of transportation you use more and what streets you use to move and being categorized as a «probably burglar» or a «good citizen», well now that’s possible and is being tested in the streets of Amsterdam, it is being used to reduce the number of crimes in the city and to make them more secure.

The data is being capture using small traffic lights that detect the MAC address of smartphone or the device you have connected to the internet. You can say you are smart enough and leave the device at home, but probably the identify you using facial recognition with the smart cameras of the city, and let’s be honest, we can live without our smartphone, everything is so connected nowadays that we have to use our gadgets to do (or even in an easier way) a lot of things.

You can see this article for read more about this.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/01/smart-cities-data-privacy-eindhoven-utrecht

In the past few weeks I used the public bus transport system frequently in Guadalajara after two years and a half (I got my first car and used bus a very few times) because of the fuel crisis we were suffering, I ran out of gasoline and the Uber prices were about 3-4 times the base price. I don’t have any problem using this kind of transportation like many people do (some people find like the bus is for the poor).

I would like to start using the public bus more often if it has better units. Let’s be honest, the vast majority of buses in the city are old, rusty, dirty and they left a lot of smog all the way (some are regulated, some not) and if there were a better distribution of the routes. My fist day waiting for the bus, it took like 30-40 minutes to the bus to pass, and I saw another route in the same street passing 7 times, around 5 minutes per bus. Those things have to be improved, because the main benefit of more people using the buses is less traffic in our city, which results in less contamination, less time that takes to go from one point to another.

200 People in 177 Cars

We have to adopt the culture of the more developed countries and start using the public transport more, because of it benefits to our city and environment. Also, the government has to start changing the units for ones that uses renewable energy (e.j. electricity), regulate and apply fines to those ones that left a lot of smog. There are even cool apps that notifies you in what time a bus route is going to arrive at your bus top, one is Transit (https://transitapp.com/), in México is only available in CDMX, but probably will expand to more cities.

MiBici is a public prepaid bike system that right now is very used in Guadalajara, I find it very useful for short distances, also the user is doing exercise while using it, not to mention that is also eco-friendly. A month ago was implemented in my natal city, Mazatlán, making it the first city in the state, and the pretend to expand to the rest of the cities. Both systems can work with an application. Grin is another transporting app, but this uses scooters.

With all this stuff of everything connected maybe will see new ways of transportation in the next year, and let’s hope they use renewable energy and are eco-friendly.

https://www.milenio.com/mileniotv/estados/mazatlan-implementara-sistema-de-bici-publica

https://www.mibici.net/es/

https://ongrin.com/

On January 2019 there were a crisis in Guadalajara. Nearly the 90% of the distribution of gasoline was cut as a consequence of the battle versus the «huachicoleros»

El Colegio de México (México: El Colegio de México, versión electrónica <http://dem.colmex.mx/>, consultado el 20 de mayo de 2017), señala que el término huachicolero alude a la ‘persona que se dedica a bajar fruta de los árboles utilizando un cuachicol o huachicol’ y al ‘delincuente que se dedica a robar gasolina perforando los oleoductos que la conducen’

– Academia Mexicana de la Lengua, http://www.academia.org.mx/espin/respuestas/item/huachicoleroA

A lot of people were frustrated because in order to fill gasoline, they had to wait a minimum of 2 hours in a gas station, (this time takes in consideration that the station was opened and the pipe already discharging gasoline at the time they arrived). So basically you had the variables in order to gasoline.

Gas Station Opened
Pipe Discharging Gasoline
Number of liters discharged enough to fill all the cars before you

Not to mention that the vas majority of gas stations were rationalizing the gasoline, they were dispatching by car just 20 liters, and in some cases, 40.

The people living in Guadalajara saw the caos that this fight was causing, but was for a good cause, right? Besides that, we also realized how attached are we to this fuel, I can’t imagine what would have happened if it had been a vital product, like water or food.

These past days made me wonder that the caos around the city would have been less if more citizens had electric cars, but the caos itself shouldn’t be considered as a reason to switch to an electric car, that switching has to come by oneself, to realize that is time to switch to a renewable energy. But another thing comes in my mind, I think our city is not prepared to handle a considerable number of electric cars around the city. I just saw the charging station that is located in the parking of Plaza Andares, it is the only location that I know, but you know how it is, is the government starts to see that the number of electric cars in the city is increasing, and by request of the citizens, the number of charging stations in the city will increase to meet the demand.

But for now, let’s hope another gasoline crisis does not hit our city