Why do countries with low vehicle ownership rates still have bad traffic?

Question

Colombia has 111 cars per 1000 people and Bogotá has some of the worst traffic in the world and traffic is terrible in a lot of the country’s cities. But the United States has 806 vehicles per 1000 people, and yeah there’s traffic, but it isn’t eight times worse than Colombia. Where does traffic come from in low vehicle ownership countries?

[Source](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Vehicles-Per-1000-People_02162024.jpeg)

In: Other

Answer 1

Because traffic is induced. If you want to reduce traffic, you have to build other ways for people to get around or – better yet – build your civilisation in such a way that getting around is entirely optional.