Population Overload Around the World: Part I

More than 50% of the world's population now live in urban areas. Here are a few ways that over-populated cities around the globe are dealing with clogged channels of transportation.

Sao Paulo, Brazil

As one of the most populated cities in the world, Sao Paulo faces more than 6 million vehicles on the road each day with an equal amount of daily commuters on its subway. With so much congestion, timely transportation is of great demand.

Cachorros locos are motorcycle messengers who make their living weaving through lanes of traffic to make speedy deliveries. These "mad dogs" hold one of the most dangerous jobs in Sao Paulo with approximately 1-2 dying each day.

For the city's elite business executives, helicopter service has become a necessity for staying competitive in business dealings. Sao Paulo has one of the second largest private helicopter fleets in the world.


Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo has almost become synonymous with over-population. Thankfully, the city's locals have found a sensible solution for getting to work on time.

As much as 15% of the city's workforce bike to work every day. That's an impressive figure considering that only half of 1% of workers bike to work each day in New York City. Biking in Tokyo proves to be faster than the car or the subway, and it is the norm to see bikers in business formal attire. You can also find entire families on a bike too.

One quirky bit of infrastructure that has formed because of Tokyo's bike force is the bicycle parking lot.

Check out the Japanese bicycle vending machine that has made its way into the basement of homes and office buildings.


Beijing, China

Back in the 90s, China's urban population got around on the bicycle. Twenty years later, the nation's city dwellers are getting around on the bicycle 2.0: the e-bike.

There are currently 125 million electric bicycles in China today. Costing approximately US$295 and cruising at speeds of 20-50 km/hr, these bikes are becoming China's fastest growing form of transportation. Just how environmentally friendly are they? 我不知道 (translation: I don't know) since they do consume electricity created from coal-powered plants and they run on lead batteries. Yet, there are currently 25 million cars in China, and I certainly don't want to know what the situation would look like if our e-bike riders suddenly decided to purchase an automobile.


The examples above were taken from the in-flight documentary Urban Planet.