Mi Macro Periférico is the second BRT line in the Guadalajara metropolitan area. It runs on 41.6 kilometres (25.8 mi) along the Anillo Periférico Manuel Gómez Morin from its crossing with the Artesanos Avenue until the Solidaridad Iberoamericana Avenue, commonly known as Carretera a Chapala (Road to Chapala). It has a total of 42 stations between Carretera a Chapala and Barranca de Huentitán. The line has connections with line 1 and line 3 of the Guadalajara light rail system, lines 1 and 4 of SITREN and Mi Macro Calzada.[1]
Its main stations are: "Independencia Norte", which connects with the first BRT line, "Mi Macro Calzada", "Periférico Norte", which connects with Line 1 of the light rail and Mi Transporte Eléctrico, "Periférico Belenes", which connects with Line 3 of the light rail, "Vallarta", which connects with Line 1 and 1B of SITREN, and "Periférico Sur", which connects again with Line 1 of the light rail.
History
In 2013 the government of Aristóteles Sandoval presented the proposal of retaking the BRT project in Guadalajara with the Peribús, a line of articulated buses that would run along the Anillo Periférico, from Carretera a Chapala until the Tonalá Centre with a route of around 70 kilometres (43 mi).[2] The idea entered planning stage, and in 2015 it was formalised, stating that it would have 97 stations on which around 182 buses, 12 metres long, would service. It was expected to have a demand of 170,000 daily passengers, the operation would be joint between SITEUR and the Alianza de Camioneros de Jalisco.[3]
The complexity of the project caused the construction and operation plans to be delayed, and in 2016 it was speculated that the project would not be taken further during Sandoval's administration due to a lack of budget.[4] That same year the initial project was cut, by tracing a route between the Belisario Domínguez Avenue and Carretera a Chapala, thus the project only got as far as 41.5 kilometres (25.8 mi) instead of the initial 70 km (43 mi). Even then, Sandoval's intention stood, assuring that it would move 370 thousand daily passengers.[5] Due to budget, construction, and infrastructure issues, the project was paralysed.[6]
In February 2019 the state government, headed by Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, inserted in the state budget an entry for 200 million pesos to begin the repaving works of Periférico with the objective to retake the works of the Peribús, using as a base the 41.5 kilometres trace proposed in 2016.[7] In November 2019, the works for the first stage of the transport system started, which by the time got renamed to Mi Macro Periférico,[8] said project was inaugurated on 30 January 2022, by the state governor. The system has connections with the lines 1 and 3 of the light rail, the line 1 of Mi Macro and the lines 1, 1B and 4 of SITREN.[9]
Routes
To decongest the main trunk (T01) two more trunks were made, the second trunk (T02) departs from the northern terminal (Barranca de Huentitán) until Chapalita Inn, the third trunk (T03) departs from the former station until the southern terminal (Carretera a Chapala). The line also has three complementary routes, which enter the stations and on certain sections leave the confined lane to service on nearby colonies as normal buses. Thanks to the trunks and complementaries system, the system is able to handle a minimum headway of 3 minutes, as mentioned by the head of SITEUR. This line will not have an Express service like the first line.[1][10]
Trunk 01
Trunk 01 stations
Las Pintas | Artesanos | Adolf Horn | Toluquilla | 8 de Julio | San Sebastianito | Periférico Sur | Terminal Sur de Autobuses | ITESO | López Mateos | Agrícola | El Briseño | Mariano Otero | Miramar | Felipe Ruvalcaba | El Colli | Chapalita Inn | Parque Metropolitano | Ciudad Granja | Ciudad Judicial | Estadio Chivas | Vallarta | San Juan de Ocotán | 5 de Mayo | Acueducto | Santa Margarita | La Tuzanía | Periférico Belenes | San Isidro | Centro Cultural Universitario | Constitución | Tabachines | La Cantera | Periférico Norte | El Batán | La Experiencia | Rancho Nuevo | Lomas del Paraíso | Independencia Norte | Zoológico Guadalajara | Barranca de Huentitán
Trunk 02
Trunk 02 stations
Zoológico Guadalajara | Independencia Norte | Lomas del Paraíso | Rancho Nuevo | La Experiencia | El Batán | Periférico Norte | La Cantera | Tabachines | Constitución | Centro Cultural Universitario | San Isidro | Periférico Belenes | La Tuzanía | Santa Margarita | Acueducto | 5 de Mayo | San Juan de Ocotán | Vallarta | Estadio Chivas Ciudad Judicial | Ciudad Granja | Parque Metropolitano
Trunk 03
Trunk 03 stations
Las Pintas | Artesanos | Adolf Horn | Toluquilla | 8 de Julio | San Sebastianito | Periférico Sur | Terminal Sur de Autobuses | ITESO | López Mateos | Agrícola | El Briseño | Mariano Otero | Miramar | Felipe Ruvalcaba | El Colli | Chapalita Inn
Complementaries
For the complementary routes dual-units are used, just like those that currently run in the Express route of Mi Macro Calzada. This is to allow transfers from street-level to station-level and vice versa without leaving the unit and without needing to pay again.
The route C98 of Mi Transporte Eléctrico also functions as a feeder route of Mi Macro Periférico, since, like the other feeder routes, when boarding from/to route the payment system also makes a 50% discount. This route runs all over the north, east, and new east Anillo Periférico, with two destinations: the University Centre of Tonalá, in the municipality of the same name, and the Guadalajara International Airport, located on Carretera a Chapala in the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga.[11]
