Categoría: News & Events

BRT Centre of Excellence will publish a book

As a capstone for 5 years of investigations, the BRT Centre of Excellence is working on a book describing the results obtained by our researchers. The goal of the book is to tie all of our multidisciplinary research projects together to illustrate how BRT isn’t a particular mode or set of operational challenges, but a […]

New roles for our Director in Chile's government

Last March, Chile had a change in national government, which brought two new roles for Juan Carlos Muñoz, the Director of our Centre: he is now the Personal Advisor to the Director of Dirección de Transporte Público Metropolitano (Santiago’s Public Transport Agency) and he is also a member of the Board of Directors of Metro […]

TransCarioca bus rapid transit (BRT) arrives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Source: EMBARQ Rio’s newest BRT corridor is expected to serve 450,000 passengers each day Rio de Janeiro’s newest bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor, the TransCarioca, began operations on Sunday June 1, 2014. This newest addition to Rio’s already well-developed BRT network will connect the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood to the Tom Jobim International Airport. President […]

In New Delhi, A Rough Road For Bus Rapid Transit Systems

Source: Mike Ives for Yale Environment 360 High-speed bus systems in crowded urban areas have taken off from Brazil to China, but introducing this form of mass transit to the teeming Indian capital of New Delhi has proven to be a vexing challenge. On a recent weekday evening, buses of all kinds were packed even […]

New website: Designing Bus Rapid Transit Oriented Development

In the Fall of 2013, graduate students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) collaborated on the design of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors. Working in cross-disciplinary teams of architects, designers, engineers, and planners, we sought to expand thinking about BRT, considering its potential not only as […]

For Lima, There's No Simple Path to Re-Regulating Public Transportation

Source: Jordana Timerman for CityLab The city’s historic transport free-for-all is starting to change, but a lot of people could get left behind. Even among South American cities, Lima is infamous for its traffic issues. Chaotic congestion, high rates of fatalities, and a deregulated, confusing transportation network are all hallmarks of the Peruvian capital’s urban […]

San Bernardino's New sbX Green Line is Latest Example of True BRT in the US

Source: ITDP. Photos by Omnitrans.org For residents of San Bernardino, California, the future is here. Monday marks the opening of the eagerly anticipated sbX Green Line- bringing bus rapid transit through some of the city’s highest demand areas. With state of the art technology and corridor design, the new system offers area residents many financial, […]

Opinion Pieces: Operating Cost Efficiency of Bus vs. Train

Opinion Pieces: since 2007, Prof. David Hensher has written an opinion column in the Australasian Bus and Coach magazine, where he monthly discusses a lot of different transport-related hot topics. In this section we are revisiting these columns. Photo: rtd-fastracks.com May 2012 I recently undertook a comparison of the operating costs of the railways in Sydney […]

MOVE BRT: A new path for urban mobility in Belo Horizonte

EMBARQ Brazil celebrates the launch of Belo Horizonte’s first bus rapid transit system Source: EMBARQ Having launched on March 8, 2014, Belo Horizonte’s first bus rapid transit (BRT) system – MOVE – has already had significant benefits for the city’s residents. Aiming to test its efficiency, a local press team traveled the same route by […]

Volvo workshop at Gothemburg

Juan Carlos Muñoz and Darío Hidalgo, Director and member of our BRT Centre of Excellence, were invited to a small workshop organized by Volvo Buses in Gothemburg. Both had been invited to the same workshop last year. It was held on February 4 and 5 at the Rosared mansion located outside Gothemburg, Sweden.

The purpose of the Workshop was to analyse the role a company as Volvo should play in the development of Bus Rapid Transit Systems.

El propósito del Workshop consistió en analizar el rol que una empresa como Volvo debe jugar en el desarrollo de sistemas tipo Bus Rapid Transit y en él participó la plana mayor de ejecutivos de la empresa. El profesor Muñoz fue invitado en su rol como Director del Centro de Excelencia BRT, junto a otros cinco invitados externos a Volvo.

El profesor Muñoz transmitió que lo que se necesitan son soluciones de movilidad que van más allá de los buses que se emplean. De hecho, los mismos buses pueden ser símbolos de un sistema exitoso, mientras en otro caso pueden serlo de un sistema fallido. Así, el desafío para Volvo es pensar más allá del bus (think out of the bus). Una empresa de ese nivel no puede conformarse con desarrollar excelentes buses, sino también pensar en todos los otros elementos que los convierten en una solución integral. El profesor Muñoz presentó el estado de la industria del BRT y elementos críticos que Volvo podría considerar incluir como parte de su oferta integral de movilidad.

Buenos Aires, Argentina Wins 2014 Sustainable Transport Award

Source: ITDP

Two nights ago, the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, became the 2014 winner of the 9th annual Sustainable Transport Award. The City is receiving this international honor for their improvements to urban mobility, reduction of CO2 emissions, and improvement of safety for pedestrians and cyclists in the past year. The award was received by Buenos Aires Secretary of Transportation Guillermo Dietrich, saying the success of the Buenos Aires proves that «you can dream of a sustainable city».

The awards were hosted by former Transportation Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, former Janette Sadik-Khan. Also in attendance were representatives from the three honorable mentions: Mr. Lee Jae-Joon, the 2nd Vice Mayor of Suwon, South Korea; Mr. Akash Tripathi, Collector for the iBus in Indore, India; and Mr. Wang Youping, director of Project Management in Lanzhou, China.

In 2013, Buenos Aires gave its 9th de Julio avenue, the widest avenue in the world, an impressive transit makeover. The city replaced several of 9th de Julio’s more than 20 lanes of car traffic with bus-only lanes for a high-quality bus rapid transit (BRT) system. The BRT has 17 stations along the median, accommodating 11 bus lines and improving travel for 200,000 passengers per day. In addition, Buenos Aires opened a new 23-kilometer BRT corridor, Metrobus Sur, and has transformed dozens of blocks in the city center into an environment that encourages walking and cycling over driving, and promoting a culture that prioritizes people over cars.

Walter Hook, Chief Executive Officer of ITDP, praised the city’s work, saying “the downtown area, known as the microcentro, is a completely new pedestrian experience. They city reconstructed the streetscape with seating, bollards, way finding, and redesigned intersections that give priority to the pedestrian. This sends a powerful message that this is a city for people, not just for cars.”

Each of this year’s honorable mentions were notable for implementing big changes in mid-sized cities. Indore, India won for for the successful implementation of iBus, the second true BRT corridor in India. iBus has set a new standard for public transport in India, providing a safe, efficient and high quality bus system for 30,000 passengers per day. The city has also fighting political pressure and an order of the High Court to open bus-only lanes to private car traffic. Mr. Tripathi, accepting the award, spoke hopefully that the city will prevail in preserving the dedicated lanes, as many in the governement have seen how well the system «is working for the common man».

Suwon, South Korea has made long term improvements to its cycling and walking infrastructure following the the 2013 EcoMobility World Festival. These improvements include wider sidewalks, cycle lanes, and creation of five “pocket parks”.

Lanzhou, China’s BRT system, which began operation this year, is the second highest capacity system in Asia, after Guanghzou, China (itself a past STA winner). Commenting on the city’s innovative and context specific station design, Ms. Sadik-Khan said the Lanzhou, BRT «has it all!». Lanzhou was also notable for its integration of Transit-oriented Development projects along the corridor.

ITDP congradulates all of the honorees for their leadership and vision in building sustianble cities.

The Sustainable Transport Award finalists and winner are chosen by a Committee that includes the most respected experts and organizations working internationally on sustainable transportation. The Committee includes:

• Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
• EMBARQ, The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport
• GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit)
• Clean Air Asia
• Clean Air Institute
• United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD)
• Transport Research Laboratory (TRL)
• ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability

Established in 2005, the Sustainable Transport Award has been given annually to a city that has implemented innovative and sustainable transportation projects in the past year. These strategies must improve mobility for all residents, reduce transportation greenhouse and air pollution emissions, as well as improve safety and access for cyclists and pedestrians. Finalists are selected by an international committee of development experts and organizations working on sustainable transportation.
 
 
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Less is more: BRT and metro avoid expansion of road infrastructure

Source: The City Fix by Sudhir Gota

 
In the realm of conducting transport economic and environmental assessments, the option of “doing nothing,” or “no project/investment,” is considered as the baseline for all projects. A baseline is a reference pathway against which the impact of a project is measured. Potential benefits of a project are always compared to the “do nothing” option – scenarios of inaction – before a decision is made. However, the notion that it’s possible to “do nothing” is a myth: the demand for transport is so strong in many countries that inaction entails the business-as-usual of building more roads. Considering this reality in baseline assessments could be a game-changer for sustainable transport projects, like Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and metro, that would allow their benefits to shine even brighter in assessments.

Doing nothing: An outdated baseline for sustainable transport projects

No city has managed to sustain “doing nothing” as the cornerstone of its policy making. We can examine the “do nothing” concept in simple terms: if the total ridership of a proposed project – BRT or metro, for example – is 10 million over 20 years, the baseline would be the same amount of trips traveling in different modes of transport without the project. However, it’s illogical to assume that the same amount of existing roads would accommodate such a drastic increase in traffic volume without expanding or adding a suitable alternative. Indeed, the normal course of action for developing cities is to increase road supply to combat congestion. Thus, in practice the “do nothing scenario” actually implies “doing something” – increasing supply to sustain projected traffic. Incorporating this “supply increase” concept into the baseline has the potential to radically alter the project evaluation approach of sustainable urban transport options.

Impact of BRT and metro projects

In order to investigate the implications of road supply increase without implementing a suitable alternative, let us consider some public transport BRT projects: Ahmedabad, Cebu, Guangzhou, Pimpri, and metro projects: Chennai, Bangalore, Ho Chi Minh and Metro Manila.

All of these systems were justified based on mode shift – by shifting the projected vehicular trips, including those made on buses, to more efficient modes of public transport. The vehicle travel they prevented ranged from 2 to 25 billion over 20 years. All these projects assumed those trips would occur irrespective of a BRT or metro implementation in the baseline. However, it’s impossible for the baseline to accommodate billions of vehicle kilometer travel increase without also proportionally increasing road supply. This necessary increase in infrastructure is a cost of not implementing BRT or metro projects, which needs to be quantified.

Avoided infrastructure by BRT and metro implementation

In order to make the most conservative calculation of avoided infrastructure, I have considered Singapore’s approach to road expansion. Singapore does not follow the traditional approach of increasing road space as congestion increases. From 1991 to 2012, the vehicle kilometer travel increased by 2.2% while road supply (lane kilometers) only increased by 1%. Singapore has limited land supply, so road widening is only carried out when all other options fail. Considering Singapore’s experience with road supply increase, and translating its ratio on projected vehicle travel into a project baseline for any BRT or metro project, allows a conservative computation of infrastructure increase in the absence of new public transport project.

 
Both BRT and metro systems save substantial potential investment in expanding roadways. Avoided infrastructure due to construction of BRT and metro can range from 100 to 1,000 lane kilometers for different projects, based on the intensity of avoided travel.

The average avoided road space for a BRT and metro are two and three square meters per ridership, respectively. This is a conservative calculation modeled on Singapore’s experience, which doesn’t consider the impacts of road widening, such as parking space, increased traffic, and more. In terms of costs, BRT projects costs five to twelve times less than costs due to road expansion. With the addition of this single parameter to the baseline, cost effective projects would become economically viable, and benefits like emission savings, fewer road accidents, and positive health impacts due to less pollution would get more attention from policymakers.

 
The potential savings in terms of avoided infrastructure from implementing sustainable transport projects like BRT or metro systems are vast. Including a measurement of these savings in decision making processes has the potential to radically alter our perception of worthwhile urban transport projects. In light of growing requirements for transport financing, including this parameter would give more cost effective, sustainable solutions a boost.
 
 
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Opinion Pieces: Avoiding the Peak

Opinion Pieces: since 2007, Prof. David Hensher has written an opinion column in the Australasian Bus and Coach magazine, where he monthly discusses a lot of different transport-related hot topics. In this section we are revisiting these columns.

March 2012

Why is it that so many people who have the opportunity to travel outside of the very highly congested peak periods, especially in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane where congestion is getting worse, opt to still put up with the 7.30-8.45am peak of the peak period in the daily commute? This seems to me to be a very important question, since as little as a six percent reduction in car traffic during these periods can make the difference between stop/start and relatively free flow?

There are many reasons why people still do this, and we are talking about individuals who could indeed exercise the opportunity for more flexible trip times. But research I have undertaken suggests that many more people could begin earlier or later, work a little at home before starting later and still be productive, and all with the support of their employer. It is the fear of the unknown that drives a reckless commitment to the peak of the peak for at least enough people to make a difference to congestion on the roads.

As an example, I have been experimenting with travel in Sydney. I used to leave home at 6.45pm for my commute to the University and it took typically 60 minutes. On a good day we might get it to 45 minutes and on a bad day it is often 90 mins. So after getting tired of this, I started leaving home at 6am and my travel time was always 45mins with little travel time variability. Then I looked at a later start, leaving home at 9.30am, which gave me a 35-40 min trip almost every day. However, and most importantly, I would still get up and be at my computer by 7.15am, get all the emails (including spam) out of the way and do a solid 90 mins of productive undisturbed work before heading into the official office most relaxed and free of traffic congestion. I have found that I am doing as much productive work as before, but often exceeding what I did before. Is there a tinge of guilt by not being seen in the office at my previous time of 7.30ish? There was in the beginning, but not anymore. I am contributing far more, still doing all my duties and in contact by email, skype, phone as required.

So if more people at least experimented this way, I believe that they would have the approval of the employer, they would be less stressed, more productive and take pressure of the governments infrastructure needs budget.
 
Food for thought.
 
 
 
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Opinion Pieces: Pricing and Revenue Allocation

Opinion Pieces: since 2007, Prof. David Hensher has written an opinion column in the Australasian Bus and Coach magazine, where he monthly discusses a lot of different transport-related hot topics. In this section we are revisiting these columns.

March 2012

Attracting people to public transport will always be a major challenge, and in many situations where we promote the maintenance of a particular percentage modal share, we appear to be doing no more than fighting to keep the share at around 10-15%. The real ‘enemy’ is the car and despite claims to the effect that total car kilometres are dropping a little bit, public transport initiatives are at best protecting government objectives in respect of overall modal shares. This is admirable, but hardly enough if we really want to grow modal share and reduce car use.

Hindsight is a nice thing to have, but how often have we all indicated that we will never make public transport more attractive until we make the car less attractive, and at the same time we must have a much wiser view of what kinds of public transport services will be sufficiently attractive to enough current car users for them to switch out of the car. I suggest that the following common sense views are consistent with initiatives that are necessary if we are to rebalance the modal shares to give public transport a better future:

1. Recognise that Australian cities are low density with a significant number of origin and destination pairs being circumferential (i.e., not radially centric).
2. Recognise that public transport will not attract current car users unless it can deliver connectivity and frequency that will make a non-marginal difference to door-to-door travel times at times that suit.
3. Investing in a few transport corridors in cities will have very limited impact on road traffic congestion.
4. Public transport that is not spread widely in a metropolitan area will not have a noticeable impact on public transport modal share.
5. Spending heavily on one or two public transport projects is unlikely to impact on traffic congestion unless the services have a large physical geographic coverage.
6. Continuing to avoid a serious review of road pricing will support the relative attractiveness of car use (despite the levels of traffic congestion in many cities).

To add some light on what might happened if we introduced an additional road pricing charge on top of existing charges for car use, I evaluated, using ITLS’s transport planning model system (called TRESIS), what might be the outcome if we had a 10c/km charge for cars in Sydney. We find that this reduces overall car use by 6%, which is enough to remove most of the bad traffic congestion in the Sydney Metropolitan Area. This will give car users some serious travel time savings per trip, while at the same time contributing over $3bn per annum that can be used to fund new public transport investment.

In the discussion paper released on 24 February 2012 by Transport for NSW on the Long Term Master Plan it is stated that “Road pricing schemes internationally have different objectives. In considering what pricing mechanisms should be used or whether they are appropriate the road pricing debate needs to centre on the objectives that we are seeking to achieve, the extent to which they will achieve the priorities identified for the future and the impact on the customer who is paying for the service being delivered, including the quality of the service that is provided. Governments and communities around the world are all grappling with the issue of road pricing and what role it plays in supporting a more sustainable transport system.” (Section 8.2.2, page 92). If one of the objectives is to reduce traffic congestion so as to make our cities more livable while investing into public transport, then the example above must surely show real promise in achieving that outcome – it delivers quicker trips on the road while funding much needed public transport. Is there another set of instruments that can achieve this? I doubt it.
 
Food for thought.
 
 
 
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Complete Street Model featured in new Metrobus corridor

Source: ITDP

Setting a new standard for BRT in Mexico, Line 5 of Mexico City’s Metrobus system officially opened November 5th with a ceremony presided over by Mayor Miguel Mancera. Line 5, first announced in June 2013, is the first Metrobus corridor featuring a “Calle Completa” (complete street) model, integrating bike lanes and pedestrian friendly features. The new corridor is part of Mexico City’s overhaul of transport and development plan to create a denser, more livable city.

ITDP Mexico director Xavier Treviño praised the opening, saying “with this project, Avenue Eduardo Molina has become a best practice of the ‘complete streets’ strategy, which provides adequate space for all uses, and gives priority to pedestrians, public transportation, and bicycles.” ITDP served as a consultant in the design process, and has worked closely with Metrobus officials throughout the construction of the project. Advocacy by ITDP for the inclusion of bike-friendly features and corridor extension helped shape the development of Line 5 from its early phases.

Line 5 is notable as the first complete street BRT in Mexico City. In addition to bus lanes with state-of-the-art stations, signal prioritization at intersections, and biarticulated, low emissions buses, Line 5 incorporates 20 kilometers of bike lanes, bike parking at stations, and numerous pedestrian safety measures. The system is expected to reduce travel times by 40%, and have significant impact on carbon reductions.

The use of a complete street model is an exciting advancement for the Metrobus system. Previous Metrobus lines 1, 2 and 3 have been high-quality BRT corridors, all ranking Silver on the BRT Standard. Line 5, by adding in bike paths and pedestrian friendly spaces, simplifies intermodal connections, supports safety measures for all travelers, and addresses the “last mile” problem. Lowering these barries makes public transportation more attractive and more useful, in turn creating a healthier, more livable city.

Mexico City has made significant strides in recent years toward establishing a more sustainable, people-oriented environment. The local government has supported progressive policies and programs that have greatly reduced the city’s reliance on personal vehicles, including opening the EcoBici bike share in 2010, reforms in parking regulation on public space, and continued expansion of Metrobus, which first opened in June 2005 with a 20km corridor.
 
 
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New Analysis Shows Bus Rapid Transit Improves Quality of Life in Cities

[caption width="450" align="alignleft"] Photo by Benoit Colin/EMBARQ.[/caption]Source: EMBARQ

Research highlights Bogotá, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Istanbul
 
Editor’s note: See the new video, “Bus Rapid Transit: Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts”
 
Washington, DC (December 10, 2013) — New analysis of four iconic cities shows that commuters can save millions of hours of travel time by shifting to bus rapid transit (BRT) systems. The report from EMBARQ, the World Resources Institute program for sustainable urban transport and planning, draws primarily from case studies conducted in Bogotá, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Istanbul. Findings from Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts of Bus Rapid Transit System point to BRT’s capacity to improve quality of life by reducing travel time, improving local air quality, curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and preventing road fatalities and crashes.
 
BRT is a city-based high-speed bus transit system where new and efficient buses travel on dedicated routes. As of October 2013, over 29 million passengers ride BRT daily in 163 cities, with an additional 143 BRT systems currently being implemented or expanded. BRT is a growing transport solution around the world, both in developed and developing countries.
 
“New research on the broad impacts of bus rapid transit demonstrates the potential for cities to achieve environmentally, socially and financially sustainable urban mobility,” said Holger Dalkmann, Director of EMBARQ. “Results from fast-growing cities that are implementing sustainable mobility around the world strengthen the case for BRT as a response to the challenges of urban transport.”
 
Key report findings show:

• In Istanbul, the average passenger on Metrobüs saved 28 workdays per year in reduced travel times;
• In Johannesburg, commuters stand to save an estimated 73 million hours by shifting to BRT between 2007-2026. The travel time saved is equivalent to over 9 million 8-hour workdays;
• In Mexico City, 2,000 days of lost work due to illness were prevented by reducing local air pollution and emission on the Metrobús Line 3. Additional benefits including prevention of 4 new cases of chronic bronchitis and two deaths per year will save an estimated USD $4.5 million over 20 years;
• In Bogotá, the city will save an estimated $288 million in avoided traffic injuries and fatalities between 1998-2017.

Recommendations in the report include steps for policymakers, technical experts and financing bodies to maximize the benefits of BRT projects. Of special note are national and municipal transport policies, physical and operational system design, and effective financing mechanisms.
 
“Our analysis shows the wide variety of benefits BRT can have on quality of life,” said Dr. Robin King, Director of Urban Development and Accessibility for EMBARQ and co-author of the report. “In addition to saving people thousands of hours on the road, BRT is safer and causes less pollution than business as usual. With the findings and methodology we present, city officials can make better informed choices when shaping the future mobility of their cities.”
 
BRT has received considerable interest from institutions financing infrastructure and transport projects, including HSBC, which supported this research and the accompanying video.
 
“With sustainable mobility, cities can become more successful and attractive to business and citizens. BRT offers the means to connect people to economic and social opportunities in a sustainable way for long term growth in cities,” said Graham Smith, Director of Export Finance at HSBC.
 
EMBARQ is also releasing the short video Bus Rapid Transit: Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts focused on the key benefits of BRT outlined in the report. The video features interviews with technical experts, planners, government officials, and BRT users.
 
 
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Award to our real-time control of transit systems project

A project for real-time control of transit systems with data from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), which is being developed by our Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile team, obtained the second place –out of 16 participants- in the Mexico regional category of the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC). Being held for the 10th time this year, the ESNC is part of a leading global network of experts in GNSS, and the competition is aimed to innovative solutions and high potential products and services that rely on GNSS. The transit control tool, which has been awarded a technology transfer subsidy from the Chilean government, seeks to regularize transit operations and address the phenomenon known as bus bunching (two or more buses of the same line arriving together at a bus stop). This enhances the level of service experienced by users as well as allowing bus companies to have a smoother and more stable and efficient operation. The software is in the process of implementation in some of Transantiago (Santiago´s bus transit system) lines.
 
 
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Winners of the BRT Workshop Masters Thesis Fellowship

Our BRT Centre of Excellence invited the students enrolled full-time in the MIT-PUC BRT Corridor Design Workshop (Aug-Dec, 2013) to apply for a Masters Thesis Fellowship. Qualified students were invited to submit proposals for Fellowships to support Thesis Research directly related to some aspect of the work undertaken as part of the BRT Corridor Design Workshop.

Three students were selected for these fellowship:
 
LUCÍA VALENCIA VARGAS, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Architecture, Design and Urban Studies Faculty, Master in Urban Project
Home city: Leon, Mexico.
Reasons why you chose to participate in the BRT Workshop and whether and how it has made you think differently about BRT and urban development strategies: The BRT Workshop was part of the program of the master in Urban Project that I am studying. Prior to the Workshop, we had one semester of preparation and research on the item so in fact it has been almost a year of learning how a BRT system works and its potential for improving the quality of life and space in the city. This work has tought me a lot about BRT systems and the connectivity dilemmas, but especially has made me see the BRT system as a serious possibility to improve the quality of life and equity not only in the direct area of influence of the corridor but of the whole city. To achieve this goal it should be an integrating project with high quality public space associated and immersed in a strategic plan that should be able to potentiate their benefits.
What do you hope to achieve with your research project? Based on the premise that the BRT stations are expected to cause an economic and real estate development around them, and that it should be capitalized to improve the quality of public space and the quality of life, with this research I hope to be able to determine what would be the best design of a BRT stop and the services and amenities associated with it which could cause a greater positive effect on urban regeneration in the particular case of the corridor project of the Grand Avenue (Gran Avenida-Santiago).
For me there are two main objectives: one is to be able to contribute on a vision of the corridor of the Grand Avenue that could overcome the obstacles so we can finally see this corridor physically carried out one day. The other is, eventhough considering that each case should be analyzed particularly, be able to raise a possible general strategy of design for the BRT stops and associated amenities aimed at achieving a successful urban regeneration.
What do you hope to do after you finish you Masters degree? I hope to be able to continue learning, experiencing and proposing on the possibilities of the BRT as urban project that improves the public area and the landscape of the city in pursuit of a better quality of life and a fair city. I would like to do this both from the academy and the professional activity.
 
 
RINAL CHHEDA, MIT, Master of Science in Transportation
Home city: Mumbai, India
Reasons why you chose to participate in the BRT Workshop and whether and how it has made you think differently about BRT and urban development strategies: The opportunity to participate in a project that extends to a global scale, studying corridors in Chile and Boston and chance of understanding how the planning and strategy in both cases would be different, is what mainly attracted me to the BRT workshop. Both the sites had unique and different set of challenges that needed to be addressed keeping in mind the local attitudes.
The workshop has changed my way of thinking towards urban development projects. Firstly, it emphasized on how a corridor design extends far beyond the corridor to create a livable space keeping in mind aspects ranging from housing, economic development, transportation and finance. The various case studies that teams presented showed precedents from across the world indicating scope for creativity and innovative thinking in making the process successful. BRT (and any other urban development project) has ripple effects that reach far beyond the immediate areas where they are implemented.
What do you hope to achieve with your research project? The crux of my research is to identify how transit oriented development (TOD) changes people’s mode choices. In many cases, transit usage is connected to user’s perception of the transit system and if we can change that perception by some types of TOD then we could decrease people’s auto-dependency. I want to find out if there are some TODs that help to achieve a high transit mode share (alternatively, fewer auto trips or lower auto mode share). I want to develop a model for people’s mode choices based on these TODs.
What do you hope to do after you finish you Masters degree? After my Masters degree, I want to work at the World Bank or at a public transportation agency where I will be able to apply my expertise to projects that will make an impact on people’s lives and continue learning from the process.
 
 
NATAN WAINTRUB, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, School of Engineering, Master of Science in Engineering
Home city: Santiago, Chile
Reasons why you chose to participate in the BRT Workshop and whether and how it has made you think differently about BRT and urban development strategies: I chose to participate beecause I find it really interesting to work on the subject of making more liveable cities by mixing Engineering, Architecture and Urban Planning. It is a problem that can be better attacked by working together instead of each discipline by itself, as it is ussually done. Particularly in this workshop I have realized the potencial of BRT systems in creating and transforming the cities. It can help in the development of the city by the generation of activities around it, instead of only helping people to move from one place to another.
What do you hope to achieve with your research project? With my research I plan to find and value the incentives that real estate developers should consider in the decision of developing a project. Also, I intend to discover how do the projects over a transport axis impact the decisions of the real estate developers.
I expect that the results will lead me in the creation of tools that aloud local and regional government to manage the parameters that the real estate developers found relevant. In this way, an integral development around public transport corridors of bus or subway could be achieved (Transit Oriented Development, TOD).
What do you hope to do after you finish you Masters degree? after I finish mi Masters degree, I plan to work as a consultant or researcher in subjects were transport engineering and urbanism are involved.
 
 
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Keeping Cities Moving

Source: Credit Suisse

More and more of the world’s people are living in (sub-)urban settings. This is stretching many mass transport systems to the breaking point. Sustainable transport expert Dario Hidalgo says governments need to rethink public transport, focusing on quality, safety and integration.

Richard Hall, from Credit Suisse: How did you get into mass rapid transit (MRT) and bus rapid transit (BRT)?
Dario Hidalgo: After completing a PhD in urban transport planning in 1997, I joined Mayor Enrique Peñalosa’s team and worked on planning the TransMilenio bus system in Bogotá. The government had initially wanted a metro, but it became clear that a BRT network could be built more quickly and at lower cost. It was part of a large-scale urban transformation in my home city and was an instant success. I have since been involved in more than 20 projects worldwide – including in cities in Mexico and others as diverse as Lima, Accra, Istanbul and Indore.

The TransMilenio BRT project in Bogotá has become quite famous. Why?
TransMilenio is a low-cost, high-impact system. The first phase (40 km) was completed in just three years (1998–2000). It captured international attention due to its high capacity – more than 40,000 passengers per hour, per direction – and an innovative public-private partnership model. The city builds the infrastructure, and local entrepreneurs (currently seven groups with nearly 2,000 buses) own and operate the fleet – profitably and without subsidies. Today the BRT is 106 km long and carries more than two million passengers a day. Its success helped mainstream the concept worldwide. Our database indicates that 150 cities have BRT and bus corridors; 115 of these have been created since 2000.

Can you describe some of the typical pitfalls you face when building a BRT network?
Experience around the globe shows the great potential of BRT, but planning, financing and organizational difficulties should not be papered over. The important thing is not to rush into implementation until all the planning has been thought through. Also, every city is unique, so copy/ paste doesn’t work. Most of the obstacles are institutional rather than technical. Such projects are inherently complex as they involve aligning a baffling array of interests. Strong political leadership and well-crafted communications are essential. One of the big advantages of BRT systems is that they can frequently be realized within an elected leader’s term of office.

A new report written by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and EMBARQ is titled «The Life and Death of Urban Highways». Your thoughts?
Traditionally, urban transport planning has been all about moving cars, not necessarily people. As a result, most cities in the world have focused on expanding road networks. The result has been appalling. Clearly, creating more roads does not solve congestion; it brings more cars to the streets. It’s like trying to fight obesity by expanding the size of our pants! Several cities – Seoul, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver – have actually begun removing urban highways and replacing them with public-transport infrastructure. We urgently need to reallocate funding from urban parking and highways to sustainable transport.

Where are you currently involved in BRT projects? How important is it to be on site?
We support sustainable mobility and urban development initiatives in Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Turkey, India and China. We also work with researchers from Chile, USA, Portugal and Australia via the ALC-BRT Centre of Excellence and support 30 Latin American transit agencies in their quest for quality and integration. On-site meetings are particularly important when it comes to convincing decision makers.

Where are the biggest BRT projects today?
The construction of a 150 km BRT network in Rio de Janeiro in preparation for the FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, and the expansion of Metrobús in Mexico City from 95 to 200 km are two notable examples. The introduction of BRT in Mumbai and Bangalore may be among the most challenging, and capacity enhancements in the saturated corridors of Bogotá and Istanbul will certainly be major undertakings. We expect around 30 cities to introduce BRT in the next five years, primarily in Asia – but also, in the near future, Africa.

How is MRT/BRT changing mobility patterns in both the developed and developing world?
We have observed a cultural shift in Europe and, increasingly, the USA. People used to aspire to live in a house in the suburbs and commute. Today, more and more people want to live in the city itself – in denser, mixed-use areas. We don’t know how this trend will evolve in the developing world, but mass transit planning provides an excellent opportunity to influence the future shape of cities. Places such as Copenhagen, Curitiba and Singapore show how successful strategies that dovetail land use and transport planning can be. We must adapt these models to fit the needs of rapidly emerging economies. This needs to happen fast before car-centric urban sprawl takes root. Interestingly, the Chinese cities of Wuhan and Hangzhou have set up the two largest bike-sharing programs in the world (90,000 and 60,000 bicycles, respectively). Hangzhou plans to expand to 175,000 bikes by 2020. It’s a revolution on two wheels! China now also leads the world in metro systems, with Beijing and Shanghai already surpassing London as the longest networks.

Public transport usage is very high in Latin America. In US cities, it accounts for just 3–4 percent of urban trips. How do you see this evolving?
Transit ridership is growing rapidly in the USA. More people are choosing urban lifestyles. In the major urban centers a culture of membership rather than ownership is emerging thanks to social networks and car-sharing programs. In Latin America, on the other hand, we see the opposite trend: a growing middle class is now able to own more cars and motorcycles, and public transport usage is declining in most cities. The key in Latin America is to improve service and safety, which may require subsidies, and to introduce congestion charging and parking management schemes.

How do you see the future of MRT/BRT as cities expand and technology develops?
Some of the key innovations are in vehicle technology. Trains are becoming lighter and more efficient; buses are catching up with cleaner propulsion technologies such as natural gas and hybrid electric. The overarching goal must be to create multimodal, integrated public-transport networks with «last mile» connectivity to onward transit services as well as car and bike sharing. Mobile user interfaces, which are improving all the time as smartphone penetration rises, play an increasingly important role here. Smart ticketing systems, including electronic purses, are likewise becoming available on mobile devices. I see these technologies being further integrated and refined rather than some fame-changing innovation turning everything on its head.

Can you describe your most unusual MRT/BRT journeys?
Crossing the Bosporus Strait and jumping on and off the fast and frequent Istanbul Metrobüs; gliding through The Strip in Las Vegas on a shiny golden bus-cum-tram; and rattling through hectic and historic Mexico City in a hybrid bus. My most surreal experience was sharing a train carriage with 700-plus people in Mumbai, which has the world’s highest throughput suburban rail system.

Dario Hidalgo has spent the last 24 years helping local and national governments in Latin America, Asia and Africa plan sustainable public transport systems. He publishes regularly in academic journals and holds training courses worldwide. Dr. Hidalgo is based at NGO EMBARQ’s office in Bogotá, Colombia.
 
 
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New Postdoctoral Research Position in Public Transport Modelling

The Department of Transport Engineering and Logistics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, host of the BRT Centre of Excellence, is currently looking for a postdoctorate or experienced researcher to work in our research group. We have a number of ongoing projects on different public transportation issues in which the successful applicant could participate, leading some projects and collaborating with other researchers at the BRT Centre on others. Individuals with research interests in any area regarding public transportation, ranging from the most strategic to the most operational aspects are especially encouraged to apply (i.e. planning, design, financing, economics, demand modeling, operations and control).

The researcher can also work with the new Centre for Sustainable Urban Development – CEDEUS currently being developed as a collaborative project between our department and other areas of the University. We welcome applicants with the ability to carry out interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects and an interest in the role transportation plays in urban sustainability.

Job Description: We are seeking applicants with a PhD or industry experience in an area related to public transport. Candidates need not be fluent in Spanish at the moment of applying; we welcome applications from within and outside Chile. They must exhibit excellent oral and written communication skills and an aptitude for teamwork. It is advantageous to have earned a Ph.D. in a public transport related field, with a demonstrated research potential. While industrial experience is desirable, a strong commitment to rigorous and relevant research is essential. We offer the attractive opportunity of a job working in the field of public transport within an international and interdisciplinary academic setting.

Requirements: Applicants must hold a Ph.D. in related discipline or be about to complete it. It is important that the applicant be able to work collaboratively, and international experience is desirable. Review of applications starts immediately and the positions will remain open until a successful candidate has been found. The position starts in the beginning of 2014 and is for a period of 2 years; however, this is flexible for the right candidate.

Information and application: To apply, interested applicants should forward their CV including a publication list, contact details of three reference writers and a one page description of their experience and research interests related to this position. Please send application information and/or request more information by sending an e-mail to Prof. Juan Carlos Muñoz (jcm@ing.puc.cl).
 
 
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Video: simple solution for subway station

Our Director, Juan Carlos Muñoz, explains a simple solution to a congestion problem in a subway station at Santiago, Chile.

 
 
 
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Embarq Brazil’s Director Toni Lindau receives Brazilian Presidential Medal of Honor in Minas Gerais

Source: Embarq

On September 12th, EMBARQ Brazil’s Director, Dr. Luis Antonio Lindau, was awarded the President Juscelino Kubitscheck Medal of Honor, by the Governor of Minas Gerais, Antonio Anastasia, and the former president’s daughter, Maria Estela Kubitschek. The award is named for President Kubitschek, who, among other things, is credited with envisioning and building the city of Brasilia. Lindau received the award in recognition of EMBARQ Brazil’s work to improve public transport in the city of Belo Horizonte.

Lindau was named to receive one of the most notorious state honors by the governor of the State of Minas Gerais and the mayor of Belo Horizonte, Marcio Lacerda, in recognition to EMBARQ Brazil’s work in partnership with BHTrans – the public organization responsible for transport services in Belo Horizonte. EMBARQ has worked on the project since 2010, aiding with BRT project development in the state capital, which will be launched early next year.

About 60% of EMBARQ Brazil’s recommendations on the Road Safety Audit reports were accepted by the city. Thanks to EMBARQ’s work, the Belo Horizonte high capacity bus system will be safer for the population.

«I welcome this Medal of Honor with huge satisfaction as recognition for the work developed by the EMBARQ Brazil team with BHTrans in the past years to implement a high quality BRT system in Belo Horizonte,” said Lindau as he accepted the award. “It’s been such a pleasure to work in partnership with a city like Belo Horizonte, whose Mayor prioritizes sustainable transport and urban mobility with the competent technical BHTrans staff. I appreciate the honor and assure you that we will keep working to improve the quality of life for the welcoming people of Minas Gerais», thanked Lindau.

The traditional ceremony that honors the former President occurs every September 12th in Diamantina, Minas Gerais, hometown of Juscelino Kubitschek. President Kubitscheck envisioned Brasília and made it a reality in 1950. «Kubitschek led the most important structural changes in Brazilian history, especially on transport infrastructure and energy; he had those goals even before being President,» said Geraldo Alckmin, governor of São Paulo and the speaker for the occasion.

The governor of Minas Gerais, Antonio Anastasia, granted the honor to 120 people and organizations that have provided relevant services to society, contributed to the improvement of governmental organizations, and aided the City, State or Country development.

 
 
 
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On the move: Pushing sustainable transport from concept to tipping point

Source: The City Fix, by Dario Hidalgo and Heshuang Zeng.
 
This is the third post of the “Sustainable Urban Transport On The Move” blog series, exclusive to TheCityFix. Preparation of this series was possible thanks to a grant by Shell. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the authors.

In previous blog posts of this series we focused on the need for a paradigm shift in urban mobility and the changes in the demand side for urban mobility spurred by generational changes. Starting with this post, we’ll feature selected “supply side” sustainable mobility solutions. These emerging solutions for the transport community will help address the vast challenges we are facing: increasing road fatalities, air pollution, physical inactivity, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We’ll take stock of whether we are making progress beyond rhetoric from a solutions perspective rather than from the impact side – an approach that is heading most countries in the wrong direction.

Where are we now? Let’s use a model to answer that question.
 
 
“Diffusion of Innovation” theory as a basic framework for sustainable mobility solutions

The “Diffusion of Innovation” theory from Everett M. Rogers can serve as a basic framework for examining sustainable mobility solutions. We will locate where various mobility solutions are in the innovation adoption curve, and whether they have crossed the critical point at which implementation is unstoppable, known as the “tipping point”.

The “Diffusion of Innovation” theory is generally used to explain the process by which an innovation is communicated over time among members of a social system. The social system subject to innovation is comprised of individuals that can be categorized into five categories: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards (See Figure 1). Each category of individuals acts to influence the next group through idea diffusion.
 

 
 
Process of idea diffusion: Reaching the “tipping point”

The process of idea diffusion does not always occur naturally. In many social systems there is a gap between early adopters and early majority, which was coined as “the chasm” by Geoffrey A. Moore in Crossing the Chasm. Bridging that gap does not always happen gradually. There are cases in which the change is sudden. Once the innovation “crosses the chasm”, it is considered to have reached a “tipping point”. After this point, growth continues at an exponential rate until reaching the early majority of the population. Adoption then slows down as late majority and laggards still resist change.

This is the path the automobile followed throughout the changes of the last century. Inventions were rare during the last part of the 1800s, and only about 2,500 vehicles sold in the U.S. in 1899 by thirty different manufacturers (innovators). The tipping point occurred when Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908, the same year General Motors was founded. Mass production and standardization helped cross “the chasm”, and by 1913 a total of 485,000 automobiles were sold (early adopters). In 1927 the Model T was withdrawn from production, but 15 million units had already been sold: “automobility” had become a reality.
 
 
Translating idea diffusion to the scaling-up of sustainable transport

In sustainable transport development, idea diffusion can be seen as the scaling-up process that takes place across various geographies, mainly through the replication and adoption of new concepts from one city to another. The tipping point will occur when the adoption process accelerates from few cities to many cities, so that what were just a few iconic projects becomes the widespread norm.

When adapted to sustainable transport, the four stages of idea diffusion are:

• Emerging: The period when new ideas/concepts are developed and applied by one or two cities
• On the rise: The time when the new solution/ideas are gradually applied into a small number of other cities, or accepted by a small number of users
• Tipping: the period where the adoption rate changes from few cities or a small number of users per year to exponential growth
• Mainstreaming: Continuous steady growth after the tipping point

 
Where are sustainable transport solutions located in the adoption curve?

In our upcoming blog posts we will examine five areas of tranport: car restrictions and pricing approaches, mass transit, shared mobility, urban design for access, and multimodal integration. Through consulting with experts with on the ground experience in sustainable transport deployments around the world, we will determine where they are located on the 4-stage advancement curve. Although we won’t be exhaustive, we will try to represent the most relevant concepts in sustainable urban transport, with a focus on policies avoiding personal motorized transport, and shifting demand towards public and shared modes.
 

 
 
Significant literature review and web research has helped us qualify the status of these five areas of transport. Here is a sneak-peak at our research:
 

 
 
Many emerging concepts in sustainable transport that show potential to be adopted by a larger number of cities in the near future are on the rise, including congestion pricing and vehicle quota systems. Some concepts are undergoing tipping growth toward becoming mainstream, like bikesharing, bus rapid transit (BRT), and smart tickets. Still others that are already mainstream in industrialized economies are now emerging or tipping in developing regions, such as low emission zones, carsharing, and metro.

A “new normal” is underway. Most of the concepts we’ll review have or are in a process of crossing the proverbial “tipping point”. Whether this paradigm shift will maintain its momentum is uncertain, since it will require generous enabling policies and finance, as well as developments in the private sector. Keep an eye on this series to find out the latest information and discussion on sustainable urban mobility.
 
 
 
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Bus Rapid Transit Workshop: Experiences and Challenges

Julio Briones*, Chilean transport engineer, discusses his recent participation in the BRT workshop at Oxford. He highlights the very comprehensive approachs presented for designing, building, and operating Bus Rapid Transit projects. He also stresses the central importance of understanding the personal motivations of metropolitan political authorities in order to successfully achieve more support for pushing bus reforms.
 
In September, I participated along with twenty-four other professionals from South Africa, Australia, the UK and Germany, in the Bus Rapid Transit workshop that the BRT Centre of Excellence conducted at St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, immediately following the 13th International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport. Seven experts from internationally recognized universities and public transport organizations gave a very comprehensive view of BRT projects, showing not only technical and economic aspects, but also political and managerial issues.
 
This is a very brief summary of the presentations, highlighting the topics that were particularly interesting for me. Darío Hidalgo, from EMBARQ, presented the historical development of BRT in various cities of Colombia, Brazil, India, and China, revealing interesting insights and lessons for adapting BRT to the unique conditions such as the availability of road surface for building this kind of projects. Nigel Wilson, an MIT professor, focused on customer experience and automated data collection, showing a very innovative methodology which he developed for Transport for London using data from electronic cards to generate matrices of trips in public transport. Juan Carlos Muñoz, from Catholic University of Chile, analyzed the problems of near-capacity operations, presenting a very practical toolkit of measures that can be employed to prioritize bus traffic and improve the level of bus services under differing conditions. Also, he presented his research on regularity in bus headways, showing through a simulation the difficulty of keeping homogeneous headways between buses and how to deal with this problem using advanced fleet management techniques.
 
Rosário Macário, from the Technical University of Lisbon, presented the regulatory and institutional framework required for successful public transport reforms, paying particular attention to the primary pitfalls of competitive tendering processes such as, over-specification of services, and the setting of very rigid contracts. David Hensher and Corinne Mulley, from The University of Sydney, presented their recent research on perceived barriers that militate against BRT projects, posing questions regarding the opportunities to gain support for BRT from users, non-users, and political authorities. Finally, Chris Zegras, from MIT, focused on the broader interaction between public transport and city form, challenging the known study by Newman and Kenworthy that high density cities work well in terms of sustainability. The problem with this view is that it assumes that people will spend less time in travelling; ignoring the fact that people will have more time to do more activities that would require more trips.
 
In the final phase of the workshop, there was a very interesting discussion on the political feasibility for BRT projects. Some participants and speakers argued that mayors should opt for BRT because of its rapid implementation. BRT can be created, executed, and delivered in one term if there is political will as evidenced in Bogotá, where Mayor Peñalosa was able to implement a BRT project called Transmilenio during his term. I think that this argument cannot be as easily generalized for at least three reasons. First, many cities do not have a metropolitan political authority. In the absence of a mayor, achieving cooperation for a metropolitan scale project as BRT will be difficult for borough authorities. Also, if there is no mayor and the national authority is responsible of transport policy in cities, the amount of effort that a leader would be willing or able to put into BRT projects will depend upon how salient public transport policy is compared to other programs like education, health, or housing, with which the president has to work. If public transport is less important than other policies, voters will not punish a presindent for lacking a good performance in this area. Second, BRT projects do not take just one term of 3 or 4 years to materialize. In my experience, this time significantly depends upon the time required for expropriations which could last between 8 to 12 months. To my understanding, this process took less time in Bogotá because the streets where this project was located were wide enough that a large number of expropriations could be avoided. Finally, for mayors, materializing BRT projects is not just a matter of political will of maximizing public interest, but maximizing political support to be reelected. If design and implementation of a BRT project takes longer than the term of the political authority of the city, the mayor will not be able to use BRT as a signature achievement for gaining support for reelection. Also, the populace is never happy when their lives are disrupted during the construction phase of a project. Hence, I think that a better understanding of private interests of political authorities is fundamental to successfully sell them feet-on-the-ground ideas of public transport reforms.
 
To sum up, this workshop was an excellent opportunity to meet, learn, and discuss with internationally recognized professors and practitioners from different countries, the real-world barriers that we have to deal with in order to promote effective public transport reforms in our cities. I sincerely recommend BRT Centre of Excellence workshops to professionals working on public transport reforms. I think that for future workshops, more time should be provided for discussion among participants. Also, metropolitan politics and governance aspects should be more thoroughly considered as they play a central role in the decision-making process for successfully designing and implementing BRT and other public transport projects.
 
* Julio Briones works for Ministry of Transport of Chile and teaches Transport Policy at Catholic University of Chile. MSc in Transport Economics, Catholic University of Chile, and MPA in Public and Economic Policy, London School of Economics.
 
 
Here you can find the links to all the presentations from the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Workshop: Experiences and Challenges:

• Workshop Introduction
• Theme 1: Technological Improvements in BRT and BHLS
• Theme 2: Automated data collection – a new foundation for analysis and management
• Theme 3: The costumer experience
• Theme 3b: Users perspective of integrated transit systems
• Theme 4: Flexible capacity operations
• Theme 5: Regulatory and contractual aspects
• Theme 6: BRT vs. LRT Moving beyond emotional bias
• Theme 7: Broader interactions, public transportation and city form

 
 
 
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UN-Habitat launches Global Report on Human Settlements 2013: Planning and Design for Sustainable Urban Mobility

UN-Habitat launched its biannual flagship report, the Global Report on Human Settlements 2013 – Planning and Design for Sustainable Urban Mobility at World Habitat Day, in Medellin, Colombia and London, U.K. (Please see downloadable version of the Abridged version and the Full-text of the report).

Juan Carlos Muñoz and Dario Hidalgo, members of our CoE, are co-authors of Chapter 3: Metro, Light Rail and BRT.

The report is significant because it brings together in a very comprehensive manner (300+ pages and over 30 case studies), what the current status of sustainable urban mobility is. The report unequivocally makes the message that sustainable transport is not about about avoiding the negative effects of transport such as air pollution, climate change, road safety or congestion but that sustainable transport is important first and foremost because of the enabling role it has for economic and social development.

 
 
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Event wrap up: Thredbo 13

The 13th International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport
15-19 September, 2013 / Oxford, UK

This conference reviews the latest international developments in competition and ownership in land passenger transport, with reference to key political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental trends. The main emphasis is on public transport, but the role of reforms in road pricing and of other policy instruments to discourage car use as part of an integrated package to grow demand for public transport is also central to the conference.

Several members of the CoE participated in the event, that has a Workshop-based structure which “maximizes” interaction among participants. During the conference, the CoE run a workshop devoted to BRT, that provided an update on BRT systems around the world and considerations of related concepts such as Corridor Dedicated Transit. By the end of the Workshop, a plenary talk was giving summarizing the main discussion and findings. Below you can find the presentation of this plenary:
 
 

 
 
The following papers were presented by CoE members:

• Evolution of public transportation PPPs in Latin America: the role of BRT in Mexico City and Santiago de Chile. Onesimo Flores and Chris Zegras.
• Barriers to implementing BRT systems. Luis Antonio Lindau and Dario Hidalgo.
• Cost efficiency under negotiated performance-based contracts and benchmarking – are there gains through competitive tendering in the absence of an incumbent public monopolist? David A. Hensher.
• An automated data driven performance regime for operations management, planning, and control. Dominick Tribone, David Block-Schachter, John Attanucci and Nigel H.M. Wilson.
• Incentive schemes, provision of quality and monitoring: the case of the public transit system in Santiago de Chile. Patricia Galilea and Marco Batarce.
• Drivers of Bus Rapid Transit systems – influences on ridership and service frequency. David A. Hensher, Zheng Li and Corinne Mulley.
• BRT versus heavy rail in suburban Sydney: comparing successive iterations of a proposed heavy rail line project to the pre-existing BRT network. Geoffrey Clifton, Corinne Mulley and David A. Hensher.
• Comparative analysis of six Latin American transit systems. Juan Carlos Muñoz, Marco Batarce and Ignacia Torres.
• Policy packaging in BRT projects: a methodology for case study analysis. Luis N. Filipe and Rosário Macário.
• Public transport integration in Bogota and Cali, Colombia facing transition from semi-deregulated services to full regulation citywide. Dario Hidalgo.
• Transatiago, five years after its launch . Juan Carlos Muñoz, Marco Batarce, Dario Hidalgo.
• Revisiting regulatory reform for bus operations in Latin America. Laurel Paget-Seekins, Onesimo Flores Dewey and Juan Carlos Muñoz.
• Institutional analysis of urban public transport systems: the case of New York City. Maria Spandou and Rosário Macário.
• Open access for railways and transaction cost economics – Is the European approach appropriate for all of Australia’s train operations? Rico Merkert and David Hensher.
• Metrobuses in Sydney: how high capacity and high frequency services are benefiting the metropolitan fringe. Corinne Mulley and Chinh Ho.
• Exhaust emissions of transit buses: Brazil and India case studies. Erin Cooper, Magdala Arioli and Aileen Carrigan.
• Risk management in Public Private Partnerships: The case of the M4 tollroad in Australia. Demi Chung and David A. Hensher.

 
 
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Before and after: video highlights advances in Rio de Janeiro’s TransCarioca bus rapid transit system

Source: The City Fix

In anticipation of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, host city Rio de Janeiro is hard at work expanding and improving its transportation infrastructure and urban environs for the influx of athletes, fans, and visitors.

Eager to showcase progress made in the transport sector, the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic City initiative recently released a video showing before and after footage of the development of the TransCarioca bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor, scheduled for completion in December of this year and set to begin operation in early 2014.
 

 
TransCarioca will be Rio’s first high-capacity BRT corridor serving a North-South axis, connecting Galeão International Airport, on Governor’s Island, with Barra da Tijuca — site of the 2016 Olympic Village — on a dedicated, 39-kilometer long corridor. In a leap for transport integration, the TransCarioca will connect BRT, subway, and train systems. Beyond the two international sporting events, it is estimated that approximately 400,000 people will benefit daily by the system, including commuters from the neighborhoods of Curicica, Taquara, Madureira, Vicente de Carvalho, and Vila da Penha.

The newest corridor will join Rio’s first BRT system, TransOeste, which opened in June 2012. TransOeste runs 56 kilometers along a roughly Northwest-Southeast axis, with 74 stations and intervals between buses averaging a minute and a half. In addition to TransCarioca and TransOeste, the city of Rio plans on seeing two additional BRT corridors to completion by the 2016 Olympics: TransOlímpica and TransBrasil, totaling 150 kilometers of exclusive lanes for high-capacity buses.

“In 40 years I have never seen so much change,” expressed Oscalina Santana da Silva, an elderly resident who lives along the corridor. When it opens early next year, the 73-year-old will no longer need to walk a long distance in soaring temperatures to catch two buses to reach his doctor’s office. The corridors represent a dramatic change in the daily commute experience of users, cutting travel times in half and offering a more comfortable urban mobility option for all.

To learn more, read the latest news, explore 360-degree views of project areas, and watch video updates, check out Rio de Janeiro’s interactive Olympic City website.
 
 
 
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Interview to David Hensher and Corinne Mulley: Public transport innovations offer a way out of the jam

Source: The University of Sydney News

It’s a familiar sight: roads packed to the horizon with cars barely moving at all. Whether in Sydney, Lisbon or Chile, traffic jams are part and parcel of urban life.

But now there may be an alternative, with new research in efficient and sustainable public transport being conducted by David Hensher and Corinne Mulley at the University’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies.

As part the network Across Latitudes and Cultures – Bus Rapid Transit (ALC-BRT), Professor Hensher and Professor Mulley are collaborating with partners from Chile, Portugal, Brazil and America.

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is a system of enhanced bus services that combines dedicated bus lanes with quality bus stations. With faster delivery and greater network coverage than rail-based transport for the equivalent financial outlay, BRT offers a sustainable solution to public transport, especially in developing countries.

In South American countries, where levels of car ownership are significantly lower than in Australia, BRT has proven popular with commuters who depend on public transport to get to work. Professor Hensher and Professor Mulley’s work in South America includes delivering workshops to ensure successful BRT implementation.

Professor Mulley says: «In the lead-up to the Olympic Games in Brazil, new BRT infrastructure has been hugely successful as it offers more reach and coverage than rail-based transport.»

Despite the success of BRT in other parts of the world, Australian cities have not warmed to it. Professor Mulley says: «There’s a common perception that light rail is better on emissions than buses, but new buses can actually be zero emission vehicles.»

Professor Hensher adds: «Our research shows that the public perceive BRT as offering much better network coverage than rail based systems.»

Professor Mulley says: «With Australia’s comparatively low-density territory and high rates of car use, we don’t get to see BRT at its best. However, BRT forms the backbone of public transport routes in places like Sydney’s M2 corridor and in Brisbane, where there is more than one bus every two minutes. The success of BRT means that we could possibly implement better public transport in areas like Sydney’s northern beaches.»
 
 
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The Metro Bus System comes to Lahore, Pakistan

Source: The City Fix

This year we celebrate a positive development coming out of Pakistan, overlooked by mainstream news: an advanced bus system in Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city. In years past, Lahore, capital of Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab, was a city where urban public transportation was virtually unknown. For the more than 11 million residents and commuters of the Lahore urban area, the only transportation options were motorized rickshaws, private buses, minibuses, or taxis.

On February 11, 2013, Lahore began operating Pakistan’s first Bus Rapid Transit or BRT system, officially known in the city as the Metro Bus System (MBS). A catalyst in the development of urban transport in Pakistan, as well as in South Asia, the new Lahore Metro Bus System continues the deployment of advanced bus systems in South Asia, first pioneered in cities like Jakarta, Indonesia and Bangkok, Thailand. The advanced bus system in Lahore exemplifies how knowledge sharing positively impacts urban transport.

Lahore before: a densely populated area without solid public transport

Prior to the installation of Lahore Metro Bus System, the densely populated metropolitan area of Lahore, growing in population at a rate of 3% per year, was without a solid public transport option. In the last decade and in the same region of the world, less than 600 miles away, the city of Ahmedabad, India, was already at work on establishing their own sustainable transport system. The implementation of the Ahmedabad Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) in 2009 would then further accelerate the spread of advanced bus systems in Asia.

Lahore after Metro Bus and beyond

Opponents to the Lahore Metro Bus System originally estimated the cost of construction at RS 70-80 billion (US$ 713-815 million) and used this figure to criticize the plan to build an advanced bus system. About a year after construction began, the system has launched, and the economic reality of Lahore’s bus system is much different than what naysayers projected. The finance minister for the Punjab Region, Shahbaz Sharif, announced at the opening ceremony of MBS that the actual system cost of came to RS 29.8 billion (US$ 303.6 million), significantly lower than original estimates.

Launched on February 11, 2013, the bus system spans a 27 kilometer-long corridor linking the suburbs of Gajju Matah and Shahdra to the main city center of Lahore. A fleet of 45 articulated buses (each 18 meters long) transport up to 12,000 passengers per hour, from 27 stations on the route. With the first month of ride fare waived as a promotion, citizens lined the corridor on the opening day, in an atmosphere of celebration and fanfare. Dignitaries and officials from Metro Bus System boarded for an inaugural ride, accompanied by their counterparts and collaborators from Turkey.

Collaboration, locally and with international firms, is key to making things happen

Tasked with overseeing this project from March 2011, the Punjab Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency turned to a fellow Islamic country and world leader in the development of sustainable transport for guidance, modeling their system after the Istanbul Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). Lahore’s MBS planners found a recognized private partner with similar experience in the Turkish al-Buraq Company. The partnership inspired investment from the Turkish firm, Platform, which has been contracted to operate the MBS in Lahore. Through its partnership with Turkey, Lahore has demonstrated the type of peer-to-peer collaboration advocated by EMBARQ and other groups.

At the MBS inaugural ceremony, Turkish deputy prime minister Bekir Bozdag expressed interest in building a stronger business relationship with Pakistan and collaborating on additional MBS corridors in Pakistan.

This type of international, peer-to-peer collaboration promises not only immediate benefits for cities developing sustainable transportation solutions but establishes long-term economic partnerships that facilitate best-practice sharing, and inspire the spread of advanced bus systems to other cities and countries.

Paving the way for advancement in Southeast Asia

Lahore’s implementation of — not only the first mass public transportation system in Pakistan, but a bus rapid transit system — signal exciting possibilities for the development of additional bus systems in Asia. Other countries in the region considering advanced bus systems are Sri Lanka (in the city of Colombo), Bangladesh (Dhaka) and Nepal (Kathmandu). As the Lahore-Istanbul relationship demonstrates, cities in the planning and pre-planning stages, such as Colombo, Dhaka and Kathmandu, should not have to “reinvent the wheel” when it comes to the implementation of advanced bus systems; rather, they should take up where their peers have left off and further research their project for the benefit of their local context and for next generations of advanced bus systems around the world.

Opportunities to share knowledge are increasing, through organizations like Asia BRTS. On the website, visitors can monitor regional developments and best-practice sharing and find more information and additional, region-specific resources for reference. Asian localities interested in the planning and construction of the Lahore MBS can find an in-depth presentation from Dr. Nasir Javed (the Urban Unit, Lahore) and additional resources from the organizers and partners of the Asia BRTS conference, such as the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology University (CEPT, in Ahmedabad), EMBARQ, and the Indian Ministry of Urban Development.
 
 
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Beyond a bus system: Complete streets to revitalize Santiago, Chile

Source: Dario Hidalgo, member of our BRT CoE at TheCityFix

In 2006 Santiago, Chile implemented a public transport reform that reorganized the capital city’s buses into an integrated system with its already successful metro. The well intentioned reform was initially a disaster. Delays, overcrowding, long waits, and unreliable service caused widespread frustration, spurring protests in Chile’s capital. The failures of Transantiago led many to abandon public transport, driving personal vehicles to work instead. As I wrote in 2007, the concept was good but “the devil is in the details.” Santiago had been ambitious, but the new system was poorly designed, ignoring basic good practices for an advanced bus system, such as median stations with advance ticketing and fully dedicated bus lanes.

Over the next few years, the Chilean government worked hard to fix its mistake – by 2010 the system was rated favorably by users. Delays and overcrowding ceased, but poor reliability, fare evasion and a bad image remained. As a response, the national government announced plans to overhaul of the surface transport using a “complete street” approach to bus corridors throughout Santiago de Chile.

One of the first corridors to implement new design concepts and participatory planning is Alameda Boulevard, the most emblematic corridor of the city and the country. The boulevard, actually named Avenue Bernardo O´Higgins, honors the leader of the Chilean liberation from Spain 200 years ago. The Chilean government is taking the “complete streets” project very seriously, as a beacon of cutting edge, multimodal integrated transport and urban revitalization.

This time, they aren’t taking any chances. Along with the newly formed Metropolitan Directorate for Urban Transport (UTPM), Chilean leaders are consulting several parties that were left out of the process in 2006, including several national government agencies and the Greater Santiago municipalities of Lo Prado, Estación Central, Santiago and Providencia.

They are also consulting urban planning and public transport experts, that were contacted via our BRT CoE, to make sure they get the “details” right. Urban design experts from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico joined Santiago’s authorities in envisioning an urban redevelopment concept for Alameda.

Over several days focused on design, the team developed the concept for an urban project that goes beyond bus operations. Using a “complete street” approach, we envisioned an 11 km (6.9 mi) corridor that will prioritize pedestrians, bicyclists and bus users, and will be better integrated with the existing Metro Line 1. The central park, an important icon for Santiaguinos that has fallen into disrepair, will be rejuvenated; and the historic buildings along the boulevard will receive attention. Good practices for advanced bus systems have also been followed – the plan calls for relocating the bus lanes from the curbside to the median, building stations with prepayment and level boarding, and connecting these stations directly with the underground Metro.

Improved express services and systems control will enhance the passenger experience. Carolina Tohá, the Mayor of Santiago, knows that this is more than a busway. She explained, “this project can be very beneficial […] it is expected to look at the city in all aspects, not just as a public transport improvement.”

The project is expected to be ready in late 2016, and has many challenges to face before its completion. Like many other projects, this visionary new corridor will require political leadership, technical capacity, and adequate funding. When it is finally completed, it will be an example for Latin America and the world, of how a city can go beyond transit to a holistic, accessible, integrated urban space: a “complete Alameda” for the people of Santiago.

The list of experienced public transport consultants shows how serious Santiago is about getting the details right. Among the experts were Pedro Szasz and Paulo Custodio, designers of several bus systems in Latin America, Africa and Asia; Salvador Herrera, Luis Zamorano, Claudio Sarmiento, and myself from Embarq and Embarq Mexico; André Jacobsen from Latin America’s Integrated Systems and BRT Association SIBRT; and Juan Carlos Muñoz, Ricardo Giesen, Rocio Hidalgo, Margarita Greene, Juan Carlos Herrera, and Marco Batarce, professors of engineering and architecture from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and members of our Centre.

Santiago’s Directorate for Urban Transport, with the support of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, organized the design charrette. With the help of these organizations, we walked and used the buses and the metro in the corridor, looked at the data and previous proposals to understand the issues, and then put our heads together to suggest the best possible urban project for the historic corridor. By involving multiple institutions at the national and local levels and design experts in the early stages of the planning process, Chile is setting itself up for success.
 
 
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BRT Workshop in Rio de Janeiro

Source: EMBARQ Brasil. All photos from EMBARQ Brasil.

Our Centre of Excellence hosted the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Workshop: Experiences and Challenges on July 12 in the Auditório Rio Ônibus at Rio de Janeiro. Organized by EMBARQ Brazil, sponsored by Fetranspor and VREF (Volvo Research and Education Foundations), the course brought together about 40 participants between professionals, operators, entrepreneurs and researchers of RT systems. Juan Carlos Muñoz (BRT CoE), Luis Antonio Lindau (EMBARQ Brazil) and Lélis Teixeira (Fetranspor), opened the meeting which was attended by international experts in the area.

In order to present the key issues in the design and successful implementation of BRT, the team of speakers was composed by Dario Hidalgo (EMBARQ), Luis Antonio Lindau (EMBARQ Brazil), Nigel Wilson (MIT), Juan Carlos Muñoz and Ricardo Giesen (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile), and Rosario Macario (Technical University of Lisbon), all members of our Centre.

The first speaker of the morning, Hidalgo pointed out the main features and brief history of BRT systems and BHLS the world. The expert showed how the BRT systems become popular in recent years, from data presented by BRTdata.org platform that gathers information on BRT and bus lanes around the world. Besides from Brazil, currently India and China stand out because of their investments in transportation on wheels. «However, it is interesting to note that the BRT needs to be developed in accordance with the conditions of each city» says Hidalgo to cite the Metrobus in Mexico City, where the recent Line 4 has a different concept from the rest of the system, through narrow roads with lower vehicles.

At the end of the presentation, the expert from EMBARQ praised the effort of Rio de Janeiro in the construction and service quality of Transoeste BRT and added: «We hope more mayors opt for BRT. For its rapid implementation, is a system that can be created, executed and delivered in the same term, if there is political will, of course».

Besides the quality, it is important to pay attention to safety. For Luis Antonio Lindau, a correct design of a BRT system can save many lives. «Being in a BRT today is much safer than being in a car», he says. According to the expert, well designed BRT projects can reduce 30% to 70% the number of accidents on roads where the corridors are implemented. To avhieve this goal, it is necessary to look again at the basic issues of road safety still in the design phase, many aimed at the Traffic Safety on Bus Corridors, produced by EMBARQ Brazil.

Lindau drew attention to some eminent risks as bus lanes in counter-flow and lack of signage for pedestrians and motorists. For the specialist, the solution is to prioritize the pedestrian ways at the implementation, with signs, walkways, etc.

Research to know users

Nigel Wilson, professor and researcher at MIT, talked about the importance of observing the user experience. «Customer satisfaction surveys are essential to map people’s wishes in relation to the system. Thus, we go from a the static view of the operator to a dynamic and real view of the user», he explains. For the expert, the great tool that we have today is the smartphone. The device helps to gather data and has applications that make life easier for those who use public transport systems.

Then Wilson presented comparative numbers of a research conducted in the public transport systems of London and its challenges. The expert noted that pre-payment cards such as the Oyster in the English capital, facilitate data collection and can complement field research or those made ​​via the internet.

In the afternoon, data and users continued to be the focus of the presentations. Ricardo Giesen and Juan Carlos Muñoz, both researchers at PUC, talked about the importance of uncovering and use numbers effectively. «We need to transform data into information» said Giesen. The expert showed methodologies to manage the operation of the system and thus map its efficiency as well as the behavior of users.

Muñoz presented effective solutions that make transportation more efficient, and therefore more attractive. One idea that has been adopted by some Brazilian cities is the exclusive route for public transport, taking the bus congestion caused by excessive private cars. High capacity bus, strategically placed stops and prepayment were other possible measures aimed to streamline the operation of the system. «Rethinking the system stops the bus, using express lines, can substantially improve the quality of service» said Juan Carlos. Finally, the expert showed simulation results of the vehicles frequency optimization research.

Contractual and regulatory aspects

The last presentation of the workshop was given by Rosário Macário, from the Technical University of Lisbon. The expert showed the impacts that occur in the structure of urban mobility when designing a new system, from the contractual view. According to Rosario, there are several factors that converge to a successful deployment that must be thought of holistically. «It takes a strategic view and not just operational. Integration with other modes of transport, for example, is essential to meet the need of people who use a system», she explains.

Rosario pointed to possible political challenges and economic risks to the implementation of systems. The institutional hierarchy, can sometimes become a barrier for the projects to be executed in a reasonable time and with quality. Also contracts must be conducted carefully and detailed with managers and operators to ensure the organization’s legal system.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Presentations available to download:

• Juan Carlos Muñoz: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Workshop: Experiences and Challenges / Future of BRT: Flexible Capacity Operations
• Dario Hidalgo: BRT and BHLS Evolution Worldwide
• Luis Antonio Lindau: Bus Rapid Transit and Traffic Safety
• Ricardo Giesen: Fare Collection in the Broader Payments Environment
• Nigel Wilson: The Customer Experience
• Rosário Macário: Regulatory and Contractual Aspects

 
 
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Why talking cars will be good for buses

Source: The Atlantic Cities
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected at some point later this year to make a milestone decision on whether future cars in America will be required to come with «connected vehicle» technology. In layman’s terms, this refers to the capacity of vehicles to communicate wirelessly with one another and with fixed infrastructure («I’m changing lanes,» «an accident just happened,» «I just slammed on my brakes»).
 
The concept conjures a futuristic world of chatty cars in which our vehicles might do a better job of interacting with each other than we do as drivers. But the prospect is not so far in the future. And some of the biggest beneficiaries may not be cars at all, but riders of public transit.
 
This is the theory of University of Arizona researchers Wei Wu and Larry Head. They’ve been simulating an idea called “bus lane with intermittent priority” – or BLIP – that would use connected vehicle technology to solve one of the bigger challenges posed by Bus Rapid Transit systems. Cities around the world are increasingly turning to the relatively affordable transit solution to move more passengers on dedicated bus lanes without the unpredictability of traffic congestion or the cost of constructing railways.
 
One problem with BRT, though, is that plenty of drivers aren’t eager to see whole lanes of busy roadway blocked off exclusively for bus use. So this is where connected vehicle technology could come in. If buses and cars could communicate with each other, drivers could use BRT lanes when buses aren’t around.
 
«As the bus moves through the network,» Head explains, «it broadcasts a message that says, ‘Here I am, I’m a bus. Here I am, I’m a bus. Get out of my lane.’»
 
A bus moving down a busy street, for instance, might project that message to vehicles within 300 yards of it. This is an animation, courtesy of Head and Wu, of exactly what this might look like:

blipvideo from The Atlantic Cities on Vimeo.

The animation assumes that not all cars in this near future would have connected vehicle technology. Those older models would be barred from the bus lane; connected cars (in green) would have access to it. In the animation, cars that have just been alerted of an approaching bus turn red (and then green once they’ve moved out of the way). Cars traveling safely behind the bus are blue.
 
The whole idea suggests that technology could help us become smarter sharers of roadway. In turn, that also means we might need less of it to efficiently transport more people.
 
 
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Professor David Hensher wins the Smart 2013 Premier Award

At a gala dinner in Sydney attended by over 500 people on Thursday 27 June 2013, Professor David Hensher, Founding Director of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS) in the Business School at The University of Sydney, and member of our BRT Centre of Excellence was recognised with the Smart 2013 Premier Award for Excellence. It is presented every two years to an individual in recognition of outstanding contribution to the profession of supply chain management in Australia.

Described as the Golden Logies award in Supply Chain Management previous recipients are:

• 1995 John David, MD of David’s Holdings
• 1997 Gerry Hatton, MD of Mannesman Dematic Colby
• 1999 Major General Des Mueller AO, Vice Chief of Defence Force
• 2001 Dr John Gattorna, Managing Partner at Accenture
• 2003 Chris Corrigan, MD of Patricks Corp
• 2005 Keith Campbell OAM, National President of LAA
• 2007 Roger Corbett, CEO of Woolworths Ltd
• 2009 Lindsay Fox AO, Founder & Director of Linfox
• 2011 Air Vice Marshall Marg Staib AM, CSC, Chief of Joint Logistics Command

Presenting the Individual Award for Excellence award, the Chair of the Awards Committee (Allan A. Murray CSM) stated that the selection was based on “an individual who has more than 10 years in Procurement, Supply Chain or Logistics, has made a significant contribution to their field, and has demonstrated innovation and creativity (other than the traditional supply chain improvements), including business model innovation, innovative ways to reach new markets and creating opportunities for people engaged in supply chain.”
 
 
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Lima advances in its program of complementary public transport corridors (in Spanish)

Por Darío Hidalgo.

Lima Metropolitana avanza en la implantación de un sistema de corredores complementarios para mejorar las condiciones de operación del transporte público en las principales vías de la ciudad. Este sistema, intermedio entre el transporte convencional de buses y los corredores segregados de alta capacidad, complementan el sistema BRT Metropolitano y el Tren Eléctrico – en ampliación, con expectativa de desarrollo en 4 líneas.

El concepto es muy valioso, y puede entenderse como una solución intermedia, en la medida que avance la implantación de los corredores de transporte masivo. El sistema de corredores es fundamental eliminar la competencia en la vía por los pasajeros, mejorar las condicines de la flota, mejorar la utilización de los buses con una operación más eficiente, dignificar las condiciones laborales de los conductores, y aumentar la capacidad de verificación de las autoridades sobre la presentación del servicio.

El proyecto avanza en su etapa de planeación y gestión, con expectativa de apertura de licitaciones de operación en las próximas semanas. Fue parte central de la discusión durante el Foro de Sistemas Integrados organizado por la Fundación Transitemos y la Municipalidad de Lima. Al mismo tiempo, fueron presentadas experiencias internacionales útiles en la planeación y gestión de la reforma promovida por al adminsitración de la alcaldesa Susana Villarán de Lima. Se resaltaron las experiencias de Santiago, Patricio Pérez (Coordinación de Transporte de Santiago, MTC Chile); León, Amilkar López (Dirección General de Transporte de León, Guanajuato, México); Bogotá – Darío Hidalgo (EMBARQ), y de tendencias regionales Paulo Mota (Belo Horizonte, Brasil).

La información del evento, incluídas las presentaciones se encuentra disponible en en el sitio web del evento.

El foro resaltó la necesidad de este tipo de reformas, como parte del desarrollo urbano sostenible de las ciudades; pero mostró también que se trata de procesos muy complejos, que requieren una decisión política fuerte y con continuidad en el tiempo, y una buena preparación técnica y acompañamiento en implantación. En Lima en particular, hay dos áreas fundamentales donde puede complementarse el trabajo realizado por el equipo de Protransporte y la Municipalidad de Lima: mejorar el diseño del proceso de implantación y avanzar en soluciones de infraestructura para agilizar el tráfico de los corredores y facilitar la integración entre los distintos servicios. Compartir experiencias desarrolladas por los miembros de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Sistemas Integrados SIBRT, y del conocimiento recabado en nuestro Centro de Excelencia ALC-BRT es muy valioso para avanzar con éxito en estos procesos.
 
 
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Jaime Lerner: Architect of possible dreams

Source: SIBRT
 
In an exclusive interview, Jaime Lerner talks about the challenges that public transportation is facing in Brazil and his expectations for the III SIBRT Conference.
 
The architect and urban planner Jaime Lerner – former Mayor of Curitiba for three terms and former Governor of Paraná for two terms – regards large urban center problems with a unique point of view. For him, the voice of the majority that repeats and reinforces the discourse that large cities are doomed to failure when it comes to urban mobility is a blurred vision of the city, «it is like a body receiving people’s life; not just a group of concrete and roads».
 
Today, the man who launched his gaze over the city of Curitiba by creating new models and concepts of urbanization in 1971, is now dedicating his time to Jaime Lerner Institute, he is also a consultant for the UN as regards urban matters and is the President of architectural firm that bears his name.
 
Elected in 2010 by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential thinkers, Jaime Lerner believes the private car in the future will look like cigarette nowadays: «It can be used, but it is recommended not to do it so that you will not annoy people.”
 
Invited as a keynote speaker at the Third SIBRT Conference of Best Practices in Latin America (Belo Horizonte, June 4-7), Lerner said, among other things, about his ideas for urban mobility success, the benefits of investment in surface transport – especially BRT – and the importance of changing paradigms of people who «do not change their concepts if there are no better alternatives.» So he proposes a quality public transport and viable for all.
 
Check out the interview:
 
SIBRT – What are the main deficiencies of the public transport systems in major cities in Brazil?
Jaime Lerner – The main deficiency is the lack of trust of people in public transport, which makes them opt for the private car. In my opinion, Brazil is a country that has the best of the conditions to solve problems regarding urban mobility: we have the technology, funding programs and the recent willingness to cooperate public transport companies, which are ready to improve. This is the good time to make things change!
 
SIBRT – What are the most urgent measures to remedy these deficiencies – or at least minimize them?
Jaime Lerner – What is missing to complete this positive scenario is a political decision including technical commitment to overcome the current barriers. The system should be integrated so that it can satisfy people’s needs. The secret is to have a metro that operates well and which is integrated with effective bus routes services and other surface solutions. We have to use everything. The bus is now responsible for 70%, 80% current transport.
The government often does not know what he wants and, often, it is difficult to convince people that there will be improvements. The vision of the city should also be reconsidered: it is necessary for people to have an integrated view of the city, as it is a structure of life, work, leisure, all together. I cannot think of the place of residence, place of work, entertainment apart from one another.
 
SIBRT – The expression «metronizar» the bus is yours: What does that mean exactly?
Jaime Lerner – It means giving to the bus the same performance as the subway, where the user pays his fare outside of the station – and not inside the bus – which speeds the entry of passengers. Accelerating access through boarding at the same level and reserved lanes for buses is a way to provide more convenience, comfort and safety. And above all, ensuring frequency is very important to enhance credibility. With the bus you can reach a frequency of one minute, with subway it is not possible.
People simply will not believe in an alternative if the latter is not better. We have to provide a high quality system to change the paradigm. The car will be like smoking in the future. You can have a car, but you will be advised not to use it in order not annoy people.
 
SIBRT – What are the main assets/differences of surface transport?
Jaime Lerner – The big asset is the cost, which is 50 to 100 times less per kilometer compared to the subway. Moreover, the implementation speed is 2 to 3 years. The operation pays the cost, if well planned i.e. there is no need for subsidies and it is not necessary to sacrifice generations to provide a quality transportation system.
 
SIBRT – Do you believe that surface transport is the future of urban transportation in Brazil and in the world?
Jaime Lerner – The future is on the surface, but it is essential that each BRT implementation is well operated integrated to land use and growth of cities. Brazil is the country that has the best know-how in BRT system – system which is currently implemented in 156 cities all over the world, such as Bogota and Mexico City, in Europe, China and the U.S.
For example, I do not believe in the expression “transport corridor”. I prefer to use transportation axis integrated to urban planning. The corridor has no relation to land use.
 
SIBRT – In your opinion – why the transport sector is still not considered as a priority in public policies in Brazil?
Jaime Lerner – I think there is a reaction against simple solutions from the government. In Brazil, this is not possible. We live in a false dilemma: either the car or the subway. The reality is that we cannot think of a single type of transport. It is very difficult to have a subway system like in Paris or London, which were deployed for more than 100 years. What we know is that in São Paulo it-self, 84% of trips are made on the surface. Then it is necessary that the surface is well made. In some cases, in Brazil, BRT implementation has not been done with an integrated view of the city.
 
SIBRT – Curitiba is a world reference in public transport thanks to the implementation of BRT over 30 years ago, during your term. What factors determine the success of this model that has already been adopted worldwide?
Jaime Lerner – Curitiba worked with an integrated view of the city, which began to be designed with the structure: life, work, leisure and mobility which all worked together. What we did was to use this concept, and most importantly, make good use of the land. Therefore, we are the benchmark.
 
SIBRT – In June, the Third SIBRT Conference of Best Practices in Latin America will be held in Belo Horizonte. What are your expectations for the event?
Jaime Lerner – My expectation is that the implementation of BRT systems in Brazil occurs more rapidly. The great resistance came from bus operators. This resistance no longer exists. I hope that this Conference will promote an action plan in the cities and that cities will contemplate their systems with more quality. This needs to happen now!
 
 
 
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Visit to Boston for Unconventional Wisdom Conference

Our director, Juan Carlos Muñoz, visited Boston at the beginning of May to participate in the «Unconventional Wisdom: Learning in International Development Practice» conference, organized by MIT. The conference is organized around intensive face-to-face dialogues and discussion – between policy makers, urban planners, academics and students – focused on case studies such as urban regeneration in Medellin; post-disaster coordination in Haiti; transportation reform in Chile; and poverty alleviation technologies in the Philippines. Speakers included Joan Clos, under Secretary General, United Nations Executive Directr, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT); Aníbal Gaviria Correa , Mayor of Medellin, Colombia; and Paul Altidor, Haiti’s Ambassador to the US. They were joined by leaders from governmental and non-governmental agencies, global development institutions and academia.

Juan Carlos presented the case of the transportation reform in Santiago de Chile, Transantiago:
 
 

 
 
During the same week, a meeting was organized between members of the CoE participating in the MISTI project «Designing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridors». They are working on the workshop that is being carried out between graduate students from MIT and PUC. The participants of this meeting were:

• City of Cambridge: Susan Clippinger and Jeff Rosenblum.
• City of Somerville: Sarah Spicer and Brad Rawson.
• MassDOT: Scott Hamwey.
• MBTA: Erik Scheier.
• MIT: Chris Zegras, Mikel Murga, John Atanucci, Clara Suh, Anson Stewart, David Block-Schachter
• PUC: Juan Carlos Muñoz, Rocío Hidalgo, Rosanna Forray.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Preview: Chengdu BRT stations and elevated road (video)

Source: GoChengdoo

 
 
A preview of the elevated Second Ring Road and BRT stations was released on January in the form of digital still renderings and a video.
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The video gives a brief introduction to the system, or just fast forward to 3:45 to watch a bird’s eye view lap of the entire ring, starting from Rennan Lijiaoqiao, all set to a dramatic score.

 
 
Some highlights:

 
 
 
– There will be 28 stations along the 28.3 – kilometer track, spaced approximately 1 kilometer apart.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
– Six stations — Hongpai Lou, Kehua Bei Lu, Dong Da Jie, Jinsha, North Railway Station, and Jianshe Bei Lu — will feature distinct design characteristics, such as the golden sun bird unearthed at Jinsha that is an official emblem of the city.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
– The other 22 stations will be located at (counter clockwise, from the north): Shanghuo Dadao, Southwest Jiaotong University, North Yingmenkou, North Shuhan Lukou, Funan New District, Guanghua Dadao, Qingshuihe, Shaoling Lu, Lidu Lu, Zijing Bei Lu, East Rennan Lijiaoqiao, East Lake Park, Chengren Gongjiao Station, Longzhou Lu, Lianhua Xiaoqu, Niushikou, South Shuangqiaozi, North Shuangqiaozi, Wannianchang, Jianshe Nan Lu, Taoxi Lu, Sanyou Lu, and Gaosuntang.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
– All stations except for the East Rennan Lijiaoqiao station will be on the elevated roadway.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
– Every station is within 120 meters of another public-transit station.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
– Adjustments will be made to the 90 bus stations currently lining the Second Ring Road so that they integrate with the BRT stations for ease of transfer.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
– The system will have an operational capacity of 250,000 passengers per day.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
– The buses will run at an average speed of 25 kmph.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
– The entire system is expected to be in operation this June.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Draft Report: To Withstand Storms, Build a Bigger Bus System

Source: WNYC

To better survive the economic impact of big storms like Sandy, New York needs a «world class» bus rapid transit system. That’s one of the major recommendations in a draft report commissioned by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on how to rebuild New York infrastructure post-Sandy.

Bus Rapid Transit — basically, fast buses which run on segregated lanes where users pay off board — mimics a subway system by planning bus routes that can run almost as quickly through streets as trains can underground.

Such a system could be less vulnerable to floods and more able to restart service after big storms. It would also be able to connect neighborhoods that would otherwise be stranded by subway service disruptions.

«A world class BRT network would enhance the resilience and redundancy of the overall transit system,» according to a draft copy of the report which was leaked to the New York Times. The report contained no specific recommendations for funding the system.

It also doesn’t address the thorny political question which frequently accompanies BRT proposals — that of of turning over road space traditionally used by cars to buses only.

The recommendation is part of a set of proposals drawn up by the NYS2100 Commission, one of three large commissions set up by Governor Cuomo to address rebuilding New York in the wake of storm Sandy, which caused over $30 billion in damage. The two other commissions, on emergency response and preparedness, delivered their findings directly to the governor last week. No word on when the final 2100 report will be presented to the Governor, or whether or how he’ll adopt its recommendations.

BRT advocates, like the Institute for Transportation Development Policy, argue that BRT can be built far more quickly and cheaply than subways. The Second Avenue subway has been under development for half a century, by contrast.

«Financial support from the State would be welcome in helping to bring New York City’s ongoing bus system improvement efforts closer to world class ‘gold standard’ BRT,» said ITDP CEO Walter Hook in a statement. «A world-class BRT system would not only have fully dedicated lanes that keep the buses separate from traffic, and off-board fare collection, but also beautiful iconic stations with platforms that allow people to step directly onto the bus.»

The NYS2100 commission is co-chaired by Rockefeller Foundation Chairwoman Judith Rodin and financier Felix Rohatyn. (Rockefeller also funds Transportation Nation.)

The Governor’s office didn’t comment on the draft report, and an MTA spokesman, Adam Lisberg, said the report’s recommendations had not been shared with the MTA.

During storm Sandy, the MTA’s temporary «bus bridge,» which replaced subway service during the period when all the East River tunnels were flooded, came as close to New York has seen of having a true BRT. Though there were long lines to board the buses, the buses, aided by police officers stationed at every corner, zipped through city streets. The ride from the East Village to Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn took about 12 minutes.

The city has also installed several «select bus service» lines, which adopt some features of BRT, including off-board payment.

«BRT corridors that serve as connectors to the subway system would provide riders with muliple options for connections and access to the core,» the report said.

The draft report suggests creating a bus line that would run the length of southern Brooklyn, connecting the D, F, B and Q lines, and a east-west corridor connecting neigborhoods like Bedford Stuyvesant to lines that run through Brownstone Brooklyn, Midwood, and Coney Island.

The draft report notes that transit ridership has increased 60 percent since 1990, but bus line speeds overall have decreased by 11 percent.
 
 
 
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New Postdoctoral Research Position

The Department of Transport Engineering and Logistics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, host of the BRT Centre of Excellence, is currently looking for a postdoctorate or experienced researcher to work in our research group. We have a number of ongoing projects on different public transportation issues in which the successful applicant could participate, leading some projects and collaborating with other researchers at the BRT Centre on others. Individuals with research interests in any area regarding public transportation, ranging from the most strategic to the most operational aspects are especially encouraged to apply (i.e. planning, urban studies, design, financing, economics, demand modeling, operations and control).

The researcher can also work with the new Centre for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS) currently being developed as a collaborative project between our department and other areas of the University. We welcome applicants with the ability to carry out interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects and an interest in the role transportation plays in urban sustainability.

Job Description: We are seeking applicants with a PhD or industry experience in an area related to public transport. Candidates need not be fluent in Spanish at the moment of applying; we welcome applications from within and outside Chile. They must exhibit excellent oral and written communication skills and an aptitude for teamwork. It is advantageous to have earned a Ph.D. in a public transport related field, with a demonstrated research potential. While industrial experience is desirable, a strong commitment to rigorous and relevant research is essential. We offer the attractive opportunity of a job working in the field of public transport within an international and interdisciplinary academic setting.

Requirements: Applicants must hold a Ph.D. in related discipline or be about to complete it. It is important that the applicant be able to work collaboratively, and international experience is desirable. Review of applications starts immediately and the positions will remain open until a successful candidate has been found. The position starts in the beginning of 2014 and is for a period of 2 years; however, this is flexible for the right candidate.

Information and application: To apply, interested applicants should forward their CV including a publication list, contact details of three reference writers and a one page description of their experience and research interests related to this position. Please send application information and/or request more information by sending an e-mail to Prof. Juan Carlos Muñoz (jcm@ing.puc.cl).
 
 
 
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The Limits of Bus Rapid Transit: A Cape Town Case Study

Source: The Atlantic Cities

Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, has been touted by its proponents as something close to a miracle for cash-strapped cities, capable of easing congestion and improving public transportation without breaking the bank. By separating buses from the irregularities of traffic and dramatically decreasing passenger load times, BRT can approach the same capacities and speed as costlier rail service. By filtering out the main components of delay—traffic and on-board payment—buses can travel faster, maintain reliable schedules, and potentially turn a profit.

In the 1970s, the city of Curitiba in Brazil demonstrated how dedicated lanes—the iconic pre-payment tubes came later—tapped the latent potential of buses to transport millions of people a day more affordably than rail. Instead of building subway-related infrastructure for $90 million per km (or $144 million per mile), local officials prioritized the new buses on existing streets for $200,000 per km (or $320,000 per mile). The costs savings are startling and worth restating: it was 99.8 percent cheaper to roll out BRT in Curitiba than build a subway.

Since then, BRT has been enthusiastically deployed in 147 cities spread over six continents. But as developing countries in Africa and Asia have pumped millions of dollars into new buses, reengineered streets, and stylish loading stations, the results have been disappointing in cities like Cape Town, New Delhi, and Bangkok. Local officials in these cities are finding considerable resistance from drivers and private transit operators, lower than projected ridership, and ballooning costs that threaten the long-term viability of their BRT programs.

Cape Town’s MyCiTi Integrated Rapid Transport system is a world-class BRT system in miniature (one that I was able to observe on a recent unrelated research trip funded by VREF). With only phase 1A operational, MyCiTi serves three trunk routes and additional feeder lines. On the trunk routes, passengers enjoy modern buses, striking pre-boarding payment depots that eliminate passenger bottlenecks, contactless card payment, clear signage, and journeys along newly engineered red lanes that ensure predictable travel speeds free from congestion in neighboring mixed traffic lanes during peak hours.

Newer and more advanced doesn’t always mean better. The innovations of BRT, namely lane separation and pre-payment, are strategies to avoid delays caused by traffic and high passenger loads. When those conditions don’t exist, BRT doesn’t guarantee improved travel speeds. Research from the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Transport Studies shows that the time required for MyCiTi buses to align with pre-boarding payment depots only saves time when approximately five or more passengers enter and exit. When passenger loads fall below five, which is the rule rather than the exception along the primary trunk route, MyCiTi buses idle longer at stops and operate slower than traditional buses.

When Curitiba introduced BRT to the world in the 1970s it only separated its buses from traffic. It wasn’t until the 1990s that it decided to add pre-boarding payment depots. As daily ridership increased from 50,000 to over 2,000,000, it made sense to reduce the time spent waiting for passengers to enter and pay as they boarded the buses one at a time. Cape Town doesn’t even have half the bus ridership Curitiba did in the 1970s. Daily ridership has risen from about 6,000 to 20,000 daily rides since MyCiTi’s launch, but there’s still a long way to go before pre-payment begins to yield meaningful travel time savings.

International consultants and local advocates built MyCiTi to an idealized standard that’s inappropriate for Cape Town. In trying to replicate Bogota’s TransMilenio BRT system, the South African government has contributed nearly $900 million to build and run MyCiTi through its Public Transport Infrastructure and Systems Grant program. Much of this money has been used for one-time capital expenses, such as the construction of ineffectual pre-payment depots and the reengineering of roads.

Cape Town feels the financial burden of MyCiTi. Since 2010, the city and federal governments have spent $20 million to operate MyCiTi, but generated only $4 million in revenues. MyCiTi’s inability to sustain itself financially has delayed needed network expansion and alienated private operators who are supposed to run and manage the system over the long-term.

The University of Cape Town’s Roger Behrens, Herrie Schaelkamp, and Pablo Salazar-Ferrero argue that the ongoing uncertainty surrounding MyCiTi threatens the city’s ability to negotiate with minibus-taxi owners—the proposed future operators of MyCiTi according to the original plan—which in turn hinders efforts to expand services as promised, build ridership, and reach public transportation-dependent users marooned in low-income, densely populated townships like Khayelitsha, which is 20 miles southeast of downtown and home to over 500,000 residents.

BRT has great potential to revolutionize the image and efficacy of public transport in the 21st century, but officials need to show greater sensitivity to city-specific context rather than chasing a technological ideal. What worked in Bogota is not working in Cape Town. Public transportation riders will be better served when their public servants continuously monitor, revisit, and tweak these new systems.

 
 
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Opinion Pieces: The need for a set of effective performance measures

Opinion Pieces: since 2007, Prof. David Hensher has written an opinion column in the Australasian Bus and Coach magazine, where he monthly discusses a lot of different transport-related hot topics. In this section we are revisiting these columns.

February 2012

One of the challenges of public transport service delivery is the measurement of performance and compliance with contractual conditions. These challenges were the main focus of a workshop on performance measurement and compliance at Thredbo 12 (Durban South Africa September 2011). The types of performance measures, incentive and penalty regimes, benchmarking and the associated risks in performance measurement were discussed. Other relevant issues included items such as public transport sustainability, transparency in decision making, innovation (e.g. engineering choices regarding technologies), and the overall benefit of public transport to society. It was also pertinent to consider what evidence exists about the wider impacts of transport interventions on macro policy goals (e.g. the environment, reduction in accident rates, traffic volumes, mode switch etc.); the benefits of integration within the transport system and between transport and related economic sectors.

After 3 days of debate and discussion a number of key recommendations were put forward which I believe represent a healthy direction for performance measurement and benchmarking in each State in Australia. The workshop identified nine critical key responsibility areas (KRA) and a key example of a key performance indicator (KPI):
 

 
The workshop concluded that stable frameworks lead to partnerships and trust (and this is where the government sector should take the lead). In terms of KPIs it was concluded that a simple and relevant KPI regime when implemented leads to informed design of contracts which leads to feedback / continues process (government sector). However, it is recommended that the set of KPIs need to be in the contract but levels need to be in schedule (government sector). Setting up appropriate structure to manage performance regime (government sector) is not just for compliance but also to assist operators.

This lead to a series of recommendations:

• Performance measures should be simple and practical but still informative
• Who has control over these KPIs? Policy, regulators expectations? Who bears the risks?
• We need to understand the relationships and obligations of parties / trust
• There should be minimum standards to address the backlog with respect to establishing performance measurement regimes, particularly in the context of creating a formal market which encourages public transport measurement and compliance
• There remain fundamental issues of data availability / integrity / relevance
• Further work is required to establish how much information can be released back in to the market

I acknowledge the contribution of John Nelson and Rico Merkert who co-chaired the workshop.
 
Food for thought.
 
 
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30 years of transport in Latin America: 15 years back, 15 years ahead

Source: The CityFix, by Darío Hidalgo

Fifteen years ago, Latin America passed a tipping point on the road to becoming a global leader in advanced bus systems, proving that municipalities can inspire meaningful change through a combination of leadership, institutional support, and funding. Today, Latin America has fifty cities with advanced bus systems – bus rapid transit (BRT) and bus corridors – moving close to sixteen million passengers every day (BRT Global Database). Most of the advances happened in the last fifteen years, inspired by the remarkable experiences of the cities of Curitiba, Brazil; Quito, Ecuador, Bogotá, Colombia; and México City. Several barriers have been overcome in the process, but there is still a long road ahead. Latin American cities need to adequately address key institutional and financial barriers to continue advancing integrated public transport systems and providing examples for the rest of the world in the next 15 years and beyond. Cities need to reinforce their efforts in two key areas: the first being quality and associated subsidies for operation, and the second being systems integration. These ideas were shared during a presentation by EMBARQ at the World Bank, on February 27, 2013. The presentation was part of the Sustainable Development Network (SDN) Week 2013, in which the World Bank brings together its staff from all over the world to advance knowledge and enhance dialogue with country members and external partners. EMBARQ’s presentation illustrated the example of Bogotá and how it has influenced other cities and countries in the region. It also highlighted some outstanding issues in the process of expanding bus systems into city-wide integrated public transport networks. In the session, experiences in transport institutional reforms in Romania and India were also presented.

Leadership of Latin America in bus systems: the experience of Bogotá and its influence

Fifteen years ago, the city of Bogotá, Colombia, changed its priorities from moving cars to moving people through the creation of investments and institutions for non-motorized and public transport. Bogotá created pedestrian spaces and bikeways, started controlling the use of cars by placing administrative restrictions and increased fuel taxes, and implemented a bus rapid transit (BRT) system inspired from Curitiba, Brazil. Today, after 15 years of implementation, Bogotá has been able to keep the share of public transport above 70% of total trips, increased non-motorized transport from 8% to 13%, and reduced private car use from 18% to 15% — all while personal income continued to increase. One key outcome of this initiative has been the reduction of traffic fatalities from 1,200 to 500 a year.

Since the reforms in Bogotá, 117 cities around the world have adopted advanced bus systems; a large number of them directly finding inspiration in Bogotá. This inspiration resulted in advanced systems in many cities in Mexico (León, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Guayaquil), but also in Lima, Peru; in Lagos, Nigeria; in Cape Town, South Africa; in Ahmedabad, India; and in Guanghzou, China to name a few. Latin America is championed advanced bus systems in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Perú, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Panamá, Guatemala, and experiencing a strong growth in Brazil in the wake of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
 
Although the reform is “work in progress,” it has shown interesting results: in 2012 we saw the introduction of BRT in the historic district of Mexico City, with Metrobus Line 4; the introduction of the first BRT corridor, Transoeste, in Rio de Janeiro; and the expansion of the TransMilenio BRT in Bogotá. These and other systems have achieved large gains in travel time, safety and reliability, as well as reductions in energy consumption and emissions, and improvement to the urban landscape.
 
Despite the advances in Latin America, there have been common issues. The two key areas for improvement are the quality of service, and the integration into full-scale integrated transport systems.
 
Raise the appeal of bus systems by improving quality of service and funding
 
Better quality of service is important to keep these systems attractive to the public, and offer them as a real alternative to cars and motorcycles. To provide this quality of service, bus operators have been required to pay for new buses, and pay for advanced systems for fare collection and control systems outside of their base revenues from the sale of tickets, or “fare” revenue. This difficult financial planning has resulted in very high occupancy levels, more passengers charged resulting in higher revenues to pay for the investments. Latin American systems were planned for 160 passengers in articulated buses, which mean more than 6 standing passengers per square meter. This is not acceptable for everyday commuters, and several systems have witnessed declining user acceptance levels because of the lack of quality of operations.
 
Latin America can look to European cities such as Stockholm, Sweden; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and Copenhagen, Denmark as models for attention to quality, as well as to Singapore and Shanghai in China where the capture of value from land development and vehicle property fiscal tools finance operations beyond revenues from fare collection. This approach of additional sources of funding is needed in Latin America to increase the level of comfort and the overall number of passengers using public transport.
 
Looking toward city-wide integrated public transport
 
The second area of improvement for Latin American advanced systems is in the integration with other modes of transports. As advanced bus corridors developed, they also lacked the connections with other public transport services. Some initiatives for citywide public transport integration are ongoing. Santiago, Chile, implemented a citywide reform in a process that ultimately proved painful. Nevertheless, five years later the city has solved most of the issues, after deciding to subsidize operations permanently and renegotiating the contracts with private providers of bus services, to better align incentives and introduce improved controls. Transantiago has undergone full integration with a high quality metro and impressive reductions in air pollution, and greenhouse gases emissions. Traffic accidents involving all sorts of buses have declined in half over the past five years, from more than 6,000 to less than 3,000 according to national statistics (CONASET).
 
The example of citywide public transport integration in Santiago is being now attempted in Cali, Medellin, and Bogotá, in Colombia and has been announced in México, Lima, and Quito. Assuring the delivery of a service of quality throughout the user experience of the transport system is the key to these efforts. Most Brazilian cities have already advanced integration, as a result of a strong private sector and solid government institutions, and are expected to continue advancing integration during the next years.
 
The global model for advanced integration remains in Europe, in places like Madrid, Spain (Consorcio de Transportes de Madrid), London, England (Transport for London) and Paris, France (STIF). Operations of metro, trams, suburban trains, BRT, and local and regional buses are managed under consolidated institutions, which plan and fund operations and investments in public transport networks in an integrated way.
 
The next 15 years: peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange
 
International stakeholders like the multi-development banks and international NGOs are instrumental in the process of technical and operational assistance to bring public transport improvements to more cities in Latin America. These stakeholders need to continue their support and increase knowledge sharing to build on the strong base of experience from the past fifteen years. One of the most important ways to build capacity is through peer-to-peer collaboration.
 
With peer-to-peer collaboration and initiative in public reform, Latin America has an unparalleled opportunity in the next 15 years to remain a leader in the development of advanced public transport systems and build upon its historic success.
 
For more information, please see my presentation on Public Transport Reform in Latin America.
 
The author encourages feedback, comments, and questions from readers.
 
Benoit Colin and Elise Zevitz also contributed to this piece.
 
 
 
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Volvo Buses gathers BRT experts as part of future city solution strategy

We were asked by Volvo Buses (through VREF) to organize a short Workshop to the Executive Directors of Volvo Buses in Gothenburg. The Workshop was finally delivered on February 11 and 12 in the Rosared Mansion, 40 kms away from Gothenburg. The Centre was represented by Rosario Macario, Haris Koutsopoulos, Darío Hidalgo, Ricardo Giesen and myself. We had two other speakers: Joaquin Losada, one of the owners of the multinational bus operation firm Fanalca, and Graham Smith from HSBC (the only bank that has an office specially devoted to BRT projects). The Workshop was attended by around 15 of the most important executives in Volvo buses. The Workshop was very vivid, raising a great discussion on what the role of a leading firm like Volvo should be to support a successful BRT industry. We invited them to get involved beyond their role of producing and selling the buses the cities need, since the same great buses can be part of a failed or of a successful system. We need Volvo to think “out of the bus” and collaborate with cities on other aspects that are crucial for delivering a mobility solution that reaches the expectations. For example, infrastructure, interaction with pedestrians and bicycles, management, control, etc .

This is the text Volvo shared internally about the workshop:

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is not a one man show. It is a solution that involves stakeholders such as city planners, authorities, banks, bus manufacturers and bus operators. As part of the Volvo Group city solution strategy, Volvo Buses gathered this week key stakeholders and experts to discuss, share best practices and inspire to the next step in further developing Volvo Buses BRT strategy.

BRT solutions are growing on global basis, and operate today in 149 cities. Additional 84 cities are in the planning phase, which is a great opportunity for the Volvo Group. «Bus Rapid Transfer is a corner stone in Volvo Buses long term strategy towards sustainable bus transport solutions. We have a leading position globally within this area», says Håkan Karlsson, CEO, Volvo Buses.

«Historically we have a strong presence in BRT solutions in South America, but now we need to expand our BRT plans to other parts of the world. I think megacities in Asia have huge potential from a mass transportation perspective along with smaller European cities where the purpose is more related to improving quality of life in the city centre» he continues.

«It will however require a business approach that focuses on the total offer and solution and we need to get involved outside the bus. I am very satisfied with the seminar and it will serve as a base for developing and concretizing the next step in Volvo Buses BRT strategy».

Participants in the meeting were among others Fanalca Group, HSBC, Volvo Group, EMBARQ, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Anneli Hulthén, Mayor and Chairman of the City Executive in Gothenburg.
 
 
 
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BRT Knowledge Sharing in Asia, the Latin American Way

Source: The CityFix

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, along with CEPT University, launched the Asia BRTS Conference that was held on September 6-8, 2012, with the goal of improving knowledge, sharing experiences and advancing the concept of bus rapid transit (BRT) in India and across Asia. Currently, more than 25 Asian cities have implemented BRT systems and bus corridors, with varying degrees of success; and many more are at different stages of planning and implementation. The conference comes at a critical point in the evolution of BRTs in Asia. Recognizing that while existing debates have focused on architecture and engineering, there is a lot to learn from successful cities about engaging stakeholders, branding and communication, network selection, and operations planning.

The conference had local and international experts, including those from the Ministry of Urban Development, the Asian Development Bank, the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities, the Latin American Association for Integrated Transport Systems and Bus Rapid Transit (SIBRT), the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), and EMBARQ. The Asia BRTS Association (ABA) was launched as an international network of Asian cities, transit authorities, operators, policy and decision-makers, technical institutes, and the public transport manufacturing and service industry.
 
 
 
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Transjakarta buses to be much more flexible soon

Source: The Jakarta Post

The Transjakarta Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) will operate more articulated buses to cope with the increase in people using public transport, an official says.

Ten of the new articulated buses — manufactured by Chinese bus manufacturer Zhongtong — went on the road last week in Corridor 1, the route between Blok M in the south and Kota in the north.

An articulated bus can accommodate up to 160 passengers, while a normal single bus can only transport 85 passengers.

“We will cut waiting time with these buses. Some of the old buses will be retired and replaced with these new buses,” Transjakarta chief Muhammad Akbar said on Saturday.

“The new buses should balance the expected increase in Transjakarta passengers this year,” he said.

At the moment, Transjakarta carries 320,000 passengers per day.

Corridors 1 and 8 (Lebak Bulus to Harmoni) will have 66 new “flexible” buses early this year.

Another 36 buses will run on the new Corridor 12 (Tanjung Priok to Pluit via Manggadua in the north of the city) that is expected to open this January.

The natural-gas-fueled buses are equipped with closed circuit television (CCTV) to ensure the safety of passengers.

“CCTV footage can be used as an evidence should any crime occur in the buses. It is also useful for the drivers to monitor the passengers,” he said.
Fika Rahmi, 23, a Transjakarta passenger, said that the CCTV would be very useful to prevent crime and sexual abuse of female passenger using the service.

“Even though the buses already provide female-only spaces, they are cramped most of the time, and the passengers are intimidated, be it from harassment or pickpockets. I think CCTV will help prevent these things happening in the future,” she said.

“However, these new facilities should be looked after by the passengers. The interiors of most of the buses nowadays are wrecked, the doors are jammed and the overhead straps are detached. I don’t know how long these CCTV cameras will last if the passengers don’t change their attitude,” said the advertising agency employee.

Lariza Adisty, 23, hopes the new articulated buses will cut the waiting time and be less crowded.

“One of the reasons that people are reluctant to travel with Transjakarta is because the buses are overcrowded most of the time. It’s not as comfortable as it could be. It is really not much different from the non-air conditioned minibuses,” she said.
 
 
 
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London in motion

Source: Jay Gordon
 

 
This visualization merges all 16 million daily transactions made on London’s Oyster card with vehicle-location data from the city’s 8,500 buses to infer the travel histories of that day’s 3.1 million Oyster users. After inferring the times and locations of each bus boarding and alighting, bus and rail transactions are combined to reconstruct each cardholder’s daily travel history.
 
Each pixel represents a 100-meter square section of Greater London, and the brightness of each of the three RGB color components indicates the number of riders in one of three categories. Green indicates the number of passengers in the transit system, whether on a bus or in one of several rail modes. Blue indicates the presence of riders prior to their first transaction of the day or after their last: it is assumed that the location of a rider’s first or last transaction approximates their place of residence. Red indicates cardholders who are between transit trips, whether transferring, engaging in activities, or traveling outside the transit system.
 
By matching Oyster transaction records to data from the iBus vehicle-location system, buses are shown to traverse the street network at their observed speeds, and their brightness reflects the number of passengers on board. Rail customers tap their cards when entering or exiting stations, but their waiting times and choices of line and transfer location are not known (in this version). Rail passengers are therefore shown traveling in straight lines at constant speeds, interpolated between their entry and exit taps.
 
For more information about the algorithms and software underlying this visualization see the thesis, which was written while a member of the MIT Transit Research Group with the invaluable support of Transport for London.
 
 
 
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U.S. Department of Transportation Announces $32 Million to Build Silver Line Bus Rapid Transit in Grand Rapids

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration
 
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced last October an agreement to provide $32 million for the city of Grand Rapids to build the Silver Line bus rapid transit (BRT) system, which will offer faster and more convenient access to major downtown employers along the city’s busy commercial corridor. FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff was joined by Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, Kentwood Mayor Richard Clanton, Wyoming Mayor Jack Poll, and local officials at a signing ceremony in Grand Rapids.

“President Obama is committed to bringing more transportation choices to Michigan and across the country,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Bringing a new bus rapid transit service into downtown Grand Rapids offers efficient, affordable access to jobs, medical care and educational opportunities for thousands of area commuters, students, and seniors.”

The new Silver Line will be operated by Interurban Transit Partnership, known as The Rapid. The 9.6-mile route will serve major employers, including St. Mary’s Medical campus, the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and the Cook-DeVos School of Nursing, which together employ about 29,000 area residents. Compared to non-BRT service, the new Silver Line will be faster because it eliminates the need for a transfer between stops and uses dedicated bus lanes for much of the route.

“The Silver Line is a great example of bus rapid transit that’s done right,” said Rogoff. “The new service will shave commuting times nearly in half for many workers traveling to and from the Medical Mile, while helping to reduce congestion on US 131.”

The Federal Transit Administration is providing approximately $32 million to The Rapid for the nearly $40 million project, including $19 million through its Capital Investment (Small Starts) Program and $13 million through its Bus and Bus Facilities grant program. The remaining cost is covered by state funding.
 
 
 
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Rio de Janeiro Works to Improve Road Safety on Transoeste BRT

Source: EMBARQ

Experts recommend measures to reduce traffic safety risk.

During the first week of September, a group of 20 EMBARQ specialists and international experts visited the Transoeste bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor in Rio de Janeiro to analyze the road safety conditions of the stations, the corridor, and its surrounding areas.

EMBARQ network staff worked together with road safety expert Carsten Wass on a road safety inspection to help decision makers identify safety issues along the BRT corridor and stations. The goal was to propose effective measures to reduce the risk of crashes and save lives.

A formal document of analysis and recommendations will be delivered to the city’s Secretary of Transport.

On the first day, the experts visited Transoeste’s Center of Operations and analyzed data about the crashes in the BRT area. Later, they were divided in three groups, each of them responsible for a stretch of the corridor, for field analysis on the following days. During the field inspection, the groups talked to technicians from Rio de Janeiro’s Municipal Secretariat of Transport and Rio’s Traffic Agency. At the end of each day, the three groups gathered to list and discuss the main safety problems found along the corridor.

The experts had an official meeting at Rio’s Municipal Secretariat of Transport to present the problems identified during the inspection and make recommendations for safety improvement.

The meeting also included EMBARQ Brazil’s President and member of our CoE, Toni Lindau, and the director of Strategic Relations and Development, Rejane D. Fernandes.

Carlos Maiolino, Rio’s Sub-Secretary of Transport, welcomed the group. Carsten Wass facilitated a presentation to sum up the main problems found by the technicians.

Maiolino thanked EMBARQ for the inspection and committed to do an internal evaluation based on the final report’s recommendations. “The areas that present risk to people’s safety will be reviewed and transformed,» he said.

Since 2010, EMBARQ Brazil has been working closely with Rio de Janeiro to make public transport safer, more efficient, less polluting, less time demanding and to provide a better quality of life to Rio’s population.

EMBARQ Brazil conducted a road safety audit of Transoeste corridor in 2011, when the corridor was still in the design phase. Since then, the project has improved. After the system was launched, new challenges related to safety arose.

“Transoeste is an incredible system, that is integrating a part of the city. But we noticed it needs some little adjustments, especially focused on people,” said Claudia Adriazola, EMBARQ’s director of Health and Road Safety.

“It’s a unique chance to have so many experts, coming from all around the world, to exchange knowledge. It is an important work”, Carsten Wass said.

Avenida das Américas, the street where most of the 56 kilometers of Transoeste are installed, is traditionally one of the roads with the highest number of crashes in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

In 2011, before the BRT was implemented, Avenida das Américas registered 15 fatalities and 742 injuries.

Although the BRT system has been organizing the traffic in the area, crashes still happen. Local inhabitants are not used to the new system and behave in a dangerous way. For example, pedestrians walk in the BRT corridor; cyclists use it as a cycleway; drivers do not respect traffic lights and zebra-crossings; and many pedestrians cross the street in risky areas. Also, the design of stations and the corridor have gaps that make it easy for people to adopt risky attitudes.

«People know what they have to do in traffic. For example, they know they shouldn’t cross when the light is red, but they do it because sometimes they do not measure the danger. For this reason, there must be physical barriers to prevent them to take risky attitudes,» said Adriazola.
 
 
 
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Opinion Pieces: A Community of “Experts”- The Citizen Panel

Opinion Pieces: since 2007, Prof. David Hensher has written an opinion column in the Australasian Bus and Coach magazine, where he monthly discusses a lot of different transport-related hot topics. In this section we are revisiting these columns.

January 2012

We now have a suggestion that a community of people drawn randomly from the population may be able to add value in helping public infrastructure organizations find ways through the maze of complexity in prioratising infrastructure that will make a difference.

As I engage in the debate on how we can improve the infrastructure we have, transport in particular, I come up against a major barrier about the definition of infrastructure which seems to focus on a restricted definition of major projects (indeed Infrastructure Australia’s current definition of major infrastructure projects is based on a $100m plus cost outlay). Anything below that at present is not considered, and hence State governments are ‘forced’ to come up with high cost ‘solutions’ if Infrastructure Australia is to assist.

Some ideas I have been promoting (at least for discussion) seem to have fallen on very deaf ears. These include ensuring that all bus lanes are truly uncontaminated by merging along their pathway with mixed traffic (killing off any gains in time saving and service reliability of buses), growing the number of buses massively in order to deliver real gains in public transport connectivity and frequency that is sufficiently substantial to be attractive to current car users (something I argue is unlikely to be the case with very expensive single corridor projects such as heavy rail projects in various capital cities).
 
Food for thought
 
 
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Rajkot City Launches BRT Pilot Corridor

Source: ITDP

Rajkot, a fast-growing city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, launched a BRT pilot corridor last October, which replicates the world-class Janmarg BRT in Ahmedabad. The new corridor, called Rajpath, runs parallel to the 150 Feet Ring Road, a rapidly developing area with new shopping malls and residential construction.

Rajpath is a major step toward a formal public transport system in Rajkot, a city of 1.6 million. Rajpath features BRT best practices such as median stations and at-level boarding. Electronic ticketing with smart cards is planned but not yet implemented. Planners also chose to follow Ahmedabad’s approach to contracting and institutional oversight by retaining a private bus operator who receives payment on a per-kilometer basis.

The Rajkot Municipal Corporation made several trips to Ahmedabad, during which ITDP India presented on the value of developing a gold-standard BRT. ITDP team shared information on best practices with RMC staff and shared concepts they had worked on for Pune BRT which eventually lead to Rajkot changing its design. Initially, the Rajkot BRT, Rajpath, was planned with curbside stations and intended to operate using regular buses, emulating the Delhi BRT but Ahmedabad’s example proved a stronger one. ITDP played a key role in the creation of Ahmedabad’s Janmarg BRT system, the best practice example in the region.

Rajkot BRT system integrates the best practices of Ahmedabad BRT, like at-level boarding, off-board ticketing, high-quality median stations and performance based bus operations contracts, with high-quality pedestrian and cycling infrastructure based on Delhi BRT corridor design. RMC is also exploring increased density along the corridor to allow more residents to live and work near BRT stations. Currently, RMC is conducting trial runs of Rajpath BRT on a pilot 11 km corridor. There are plans to expand the system to three corridors and a total length of 63 km.
 
 
 
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