First Workshop on Mobility and Urban Accessibility for Implementing the Maya Train in Playa del Carmen

Within the framework of the Maya Train Project, the National Tourism Promotion Fund (FONATUR), acting in conjunction with the Institute for Transport Development Policy  (ITDP) as part of the Study of Accessibility and Sustainable Mobility to Incorporate Maya Train Stations, organized the First Workshop on Mobility and Urban Accessibility for the Implementation of the Maya Train in Playa del Carmen.

It was attended by state and municipal  government officials, NGOs and academicians, whose knowledge of the region is certain to enrich the accessibility and sustainable mobility study for incorporating the Maya Train’s Playa del Carmen station.

The welcoming remarks were delivered by Mr. Gonzálo Peón Carballo, Director of the ITDP’s Mexico Program, Ms. Lilí Campos Miranda, Municipal Mayor of Playa del Carmen, the Head of the FONATUR Office in Cancún, Mr. Raúl Bermudez Arreola, FONATUR’s Deputy Manager for the Maya Train Area, Mr. Arie Geurts Novoa, and the Technical Coordinator of the Agency for Strategic Projects in the State of Quintana Roo (AGREPO), Mr. Alejandro Aznar Rodríguez. 

The aims set forth in the workshop addressed the following topics:

• Disseminating the components of the accessibility study for Maya Train stations drawn up by the ITDP.
• Making participants familiar with and strengthening their capacities regarding the different urban accessibility concepts put forward in the study, particularly the Sustainable Mobility Guidelines.
• Sharing the conclusions of the diagnosis with participants, along with the accessibility analysis and identified proposals for the development of sustainable mobility networks.
• Receiving feedback from participants regarding perceived issues.
• Identifying the main current and future mobility projects linked to the Maya Train in Playa del Carmen, while also assessing the train’s main setbacks and possible benefits.

General information on the Maya Train project was shared through a digital presentation showing some of the headway made in researching and planning for this railway project, which is designed to cover the states of Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Tabasco and Chiapas. 

The results of the workshop were as follows: 

• Generating greater familiarity with the scope of the mobility study undertaken by the ITDP. 
• Improving and increasing technical and professional capacities regarding urban accessibility and the Sustainable Mobility Guidelines. 
• Developing and strengthening the diagnosis regarding mobility in Playa del Carmen. 
• Generating collective knowledge of mobility and accessibility regarding the Maya Train station in Playa del Carmen.
• Identifying accessibility issues with the Playa del Carmen train station.

The different topics were addressed through four working groups: Pedestrian Mobility System; Bicycle Mobility System, Public Transport System, and Street Pacification. In them, participants contributed their ideas and experiences and conducted a group analysis listing the drawbacks, opportunities, ideas and desires for the future station to improve infrastructure designed to benefit all of Playa’s residents. 

“After providing background information on the aim of this workshop, we were asked to work in four groups made up of representatives of different sectors of the Solidaridad municipality. In the groups we put forward the current situation in our municipality and the different social, ways and customs, economic and mobility issues. We broadened the topic to include the entire municipality, not just the area around the future Maya Train station in Playa del Carmen. The workshop was concluded and the organizers collected the information compiled by each group to include it in their mobility studies”, stated Ms. Leticia Ferreyro, the Supervisory Director of Municipal Mobility.

The event was also attended by Ms. Teresita Flota Alcocer, Territorial Ordinance Secretary, the Municipal Administrator, Mr. Adrián Pérez Vera, the founder and coordinator of Bicineta Projects, Mr. Javier Reséndiz Fernández de Lara, and the traffic safety specialist, Mr. Paco de Anda.