And, in so far as the transport characteristics of Lima are much more similar to those of Bogot than they are to those of Buenos Aires, it is possible to argue that city size is less important than other factors in determining the nature of transport problems. Whatever their size, Latin American cities share certain organizational and management problems. A particular problem is that all large Latin American cities rely excessively on their roads. Private car ownership is rising in practically every Latin American city and everywhere the bus dominates the public transport system. In this sense, the problems of the mega-cities are no different from those of most other large Latin American cities.
Traffic congestion begins whenever the bus system becomes saturated.
This is determined less by the size of the city than by its shape and land-use structure, which, in turn, dictate the frequency and direction of most journeys. As a result, all Latin American cities suffer from severe traffic congestion, air pollution, too many accidents, and lengthening journey times. In so far as new kinds of solutions are adopted to remedy traffic problems, mega-cities show few differences from other large cities. The building of motorways tends to fragment urban space. Paulo suffer particularly badly from this process, so does Caracas.