Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil An Information Summary Leroy W. Demery, Jr. Senior Associate, Carquinez Associates • • December 11, 2004 Copyright 2002–2004, Leroy W. Demery, Jr. All rights reserved, except as provided below. Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004 1 Use Policy. Our goal is to make information on publictransit.us widely available. You are welcome to quote and use excerpts from publictransit.us documents, provided you credit the authors. Most documents are posted in HTM or PDF format. Contact us at [email protected]if you need other formats. Just let us know how you plan to use it. Comments and suggestions are also welcome. P.O. Box 6076 Vallejo, CA. 94591-6076 (707) 557-7563 (707) 557-6735 fax A web-based publication of www.publictransit.us
43
Embed
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil · 2020. 1. 18. · Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil An Information Summary INTRODUCTION The transit system in Curitiba, Brazil, has attracted
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, BrazilAn Information Summary
Leroy W. Demery, Jr.Senior Associate, Carquinez Associates • ! ! ! ! • December 11, 2004
Copyright 2002–2004, Leroy W. Demery, Jr.
All rights reserved, except as provided below.
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 1
Use Policy. Our goal is to make information on publictransit.us widely available. You are welcome to quote and use excerpts from publictransit.us documents, provided you credit the authors. Most documents are posted in HTM or PDF format. Contact us at [email protected] if you need other formats. Just let us know how you plan to use it. Comments and suggestions are also welcome.
P.O. Box 6076Vallejo, CA. 94591-6076(707) 557-7563 (707) 557-6735 fax
A web-based publication of
www.publictransit.us
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ! 3
1. CONTEXT: THE COUNTRY & CITY ! 4
2. THE CITY – ADDITIONAL DETAILS! 7
3. CURITIBA TRANSIT SYSTEM DETAILS! 11
4. CURITIBA TRANSIT OPERATION & RIDERSHIP! 17
5. CURITIBA PERFORMANCE STATISTICS (1993) ! 24
ALL SERVICES (SYSTEMWIDE):! 24
EXPRESS (BUSWAY) SERVICES:! 26
DIRECTO (SPEEDYBUS) SERVICES:! 27
6. CURITIBA TRANSIT REVENUES & EXPENSES! 29
7. CURITIBA TRANSIT: UNCERTAIN PROSPECTS! 31
8. UPDATE – DECEMBER 2004! 36
9. Author’s comments ! 38
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: ! 39
PRIMARY CURITIBA REFERENCES: ! 39
PRIMARY CURITIBA REFERENCES - UPDATE: ! 39
OTHER CURITIBA REFERENCES: ! 40
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES: ! 41
BUS RAPID TRANSIT WEBSITES: ! 41
U.S. BUS RAPID TRANSIT PROJECTS & PROPOSALS: ! 42
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 2
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, BrazilAn Information Summary
INTRODUCTIONThe transit system in Curitiba, Brazil, has attracted worldwide attention for remarkable accom-
plishments with limited resources. In the U.S., Curitiba has become the veritable poster child
for “bus rapid transit.” However, the most recent news is less than favorable: traffic is declin-
ing, a "vicious cycle" of fare increases has set in, a monorail project has been canceled owing
to lack of financing, and the city has announced that it will study replacement of buses with
“electric tramcars" – that is, surface light rail transit (LRT) – on the two busiest busways. Curiti-
ba’s mayor announced in 2003 that the Metrô Leve (“Light Metro”) project would proceed. The
purpose of this paper is to summarize available information and provide references and links.
This paper was not written as a critique. However, the author does state what he believes to be
true when appropriate. A good place to start: it is clear that definitive information on virtually all
aspects of transit planning, operations and management has been published. Few if any sig-
nificant details of operations or finances are kept secret, as evidenced by citations found in the
references below. The principal impediment to the flow of information appears to be the lan-
guage barrier: Recent events (in the Middle East) have highlighted the disadvantages that
Americans face with regard to information not available in English. It seems fair to say that few
Americans, other than those of Portuguese or Brazilian ancestry, have a working knowledge of
Portuguese (or are aware that Brazilian Portuguese differs considerably from that of Portugal).
Much information of interest on public transportation in Curitiba is available only in Portuguese,
in reports and documents that are probably circulated only in Brazil, and then, perhaps only in
Curitiba.
The author hopes that others with information and statistics on Curitiba's transit system will
share their findings as the author has done here.
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 3
1. CONTEXT: THE COUNTRY & CITYCuritiba is a clean, attractive city that enjoys significantly higher per-capita income than the na-
tional average. However, important national indicators contrast sharply with those associated
with the U.S. and Canada.
In terms of "purchasing power parity," U.S. income per capita was 5.6 times that of Brazil at
2000 (CIA World Fact Book; see:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook.
GDP per capita was 40 percent greater in Mexico than in Brazil at 2000. Personal income is
distributed very unevenly in Brazil; about 25 percent of the population must survive on U.S.$1
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 4
Table 1. GDP Per Capita (1999) US Dollars
Passenger Autos per Thousand People
Central Government Expenditure Per Capita
(1993) US Dollars
Brazil $6,300 81 $949
Canada $21,700 429 $4,568
United States $30,200 476 $5,744
Sources: New York Times World Atlas - 2000. The Illustrated Book of World Rankings;Armonk,
NY: Sharp Reference, 1997. Statistical Abstract of the World,Detroit: Gale Research, 1996.
Figure 1. Figure 2.
per day or less. Few if any "industrialized" countries have a less-equitable distribution of per-
sonal income. According to the U.S. State Department, the "top" 10 percent earns 48 percent
of the national income. An estimated 17 percent of the workforce nationwide earns less than
the legal minimum of $105 per month (less than $1,300 per year). In Curitiba, bus operators
Curitiba celebrated the 30th anniversary of the opening of its first busway services on Septem-
ber 20, 2004. Among those participating were Mayor Cássio Taniguchi and Jaime Lerner, who
was Mayor in 1974. He, Taniguchi and other planners made a test trip over the line on the night
before opening.
"When we made that trip before dawn, we knew that we were innovating," Lerner said.
The busway plan evolved, Lerner recalled, "with the contributions from various persons at IP-
PUC."
"We did not have the resources for a metro and so implementation, without question, would
have been long delayed," he added.
Planners concluded that the speed and comfort necessary for successful mass transit could be
provided on surface-level alignments.
"It did not have to be a subterranean solution, nor an expensive one," Lerner said.
The first lines were built to serve the structure of urban growth envisioned in the city’s master
plan.
"This was a structure of life and work together. This structure included planning for land use,
transport, economic activities and housing together. And the provision of transport that would
be needed were we would have greater density," Lerner said.
Taniguchi, who participated in early planning, said, "Many people did not understand the im-
portance of what we were doing in the city at that time."
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 36
"We received all sorts of criticism. The difficulties were many," Taniguchi said.
Taniguchi noted that, since opening, the system has been upgraded and new services imple-
mented. "We are constantly innovating, with creativity," he said.
"The system is not exhausted," Taniguchi said. "We have developed new projects incremen-
tally, new changes to make it better. This has occurred in the past and occurs through the pre-
sent."
Surface-level public transit, Taniguchi explained, has the ability to stimulate development.
"From surface transport, citizens see everything that goes on along their street. They discover
the city, identify opportunities, form an identity with the municipality. If traveling underground,
you lose such contact," Taniguchi said.
At the end of 2004, the newly-elected Mayor of Curitiba, José Alberto ("Beto") Richa, an-
nounced his support the Metrô Leve project. Richa also stated his intention to implement the
project, described as “already approved,“ during the "coming year." The incoming administra-
tion also intends to conduct a public debate on the future of transit in Curitiba (Gazeta do
Povo, Prefeito deixa legado de projetos para o transporte coletivo, November 14, 2004).
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 37
9. AUTHOR’S COMMENTSAs stated above, this paper was written to summarize available information on public transit in
Curitiba, and to provide references and links. It was not written as a critique; in particular, it was
not written to critique the decisions made by Curitiba planners.
However, the author has stated what he believes to be true when appropriate. A good place to
conclude:
Descriptions and evaluations of Curitiba’s transit system seldom address the issue of relative
labor expense. This is true in particular of certain narratives that are best described as "hagiog-
raphy."
The greater "expense" of rail transit development, referred to above, is "capital expense." Curi-
tiba planners certainly knew well that labor expense, in terms of annual person-hours per
passenger-km, would be greater. In other words, construction of LRT or metro lines along the
structural axes would have required more capital, but less annual labor input per passenger-
km.
Over a 30-year period, the cumulative labor input for a Curitiba transit network including rail
trunk lines would have been less than the current network has consumed. The monetized cost
of this "excess" labor consumption, within the context of the Brazilian economy, was less than
it would have been elsewhere: for example, within the context of the U.S. economy.
The "trade-off" between capital investment and annual labor input – in other words, lower an-
nual labor costs in exchange for a higher level of capital investment – is an important concept
in economics. Substitution of capital for labor is a long-established practice in "developed"
economies. This is obviously not practical if the necessary capital cannot be obtained, but the
issue does not go away.
Rather than "do nothing," Curitiba pursued an innovative strategy that maximized the use of
available resources. The net social benefit certainly offset any excess labor cost that might have
been incurred within the context of the Brazilian economy. In other words, Curitiba’s leaders did
the best they could with what they had, and Curitiba’s citizens reaped the benefits.
However, it is unwise to the point of foolishness to ignore the labor-cost implications of the
"Curitiba Model" in the context of high-wage "developed" economies.
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 38
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:The author expresses sincere appreciation to Allen Morrison, E. L. Tennyson, P.E., Richard F.
Tolmach and Tom Wetzel who provided useful input and feedback during preparation of this
paper.
PRIMARY CURITIBA REFERENCES:Rabinovich, Jonas, and John Hoehn, A Sustainable Urban Transportation System: The "Sur-face Metro" in Curitiba, Brazil (United Nations Development Programme Working Paper No 19, May 1995) http://www.wisc.edu/epat/.energy/.metro/index.html; long paper with a great deal of information.
The city of Curitiba’s official website has an English page on transportation http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/pmc/ingles/Solucoes/Transporte/index.html.
Números do Transporte Coletivo ("Statistics of Public Transport"), in Portuguese http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/pmc/a_cidade/Solucoes/Transporte/rit.html.
The official website of the Curitiba city government has timetables for individual bus lines http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/pmc/destino.asp?destino=/pmc/cgi-bin/urbs/index.asp; under "CONSULTAS horário de ônibus," click "Cidade de Curitiba"). It also has maps for individual lines http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/pmc/destino.asp?destino=http://urbs-web.curitiba.pr.gov.br; click "Consultar Linhas," then click again when this choice appears against the line-green background).
Gazeta do Povo ("Gazette of the People," Curitiba newspaper) has a website, with archives back to 1999 http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br.
The superb Electric Transport In Latin America website (Allen Morrison) http://www.tramz.com provides much information on Latin American urban transport. The website includes the full text of Morrison’s 1989 book, The Tramways of Brazil – A 130-Year Survey http://www.tramz.com/br/tto/01.html. This includes an outline of the history of Curitiba’s former town tramway http://www.tramz.com/br/tto/6PR.html. (The online version does not include the maps and photographs that appeared in the print version.)
PRIMARY CURITIBA REFERENCES - UPDATE:Bondenews is an online news service, covering Curitiba and the federal state of Paraná, in Por-tuguese http://www.bonde.com.br/bondenews .
“PMC 2004,” short for “Prefeitura Municipal de Curitiba 2004,” refers to a news release by the city government, Sistema de transporte de Curitiba comemora 30 anos, dated September 20, 2004 http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/Noticia.aspx?not=3472 . Other references from this source are presented in full.
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 39
OTHER CURITIBA REFERENCES:Birk, Miya L., and P.C. Zegras. "Integrated Transit Planning in Brazil," "The Bus System" 1993 http://sol.crest.org/sustainable/curitiba/part4.html.
Cayford, Joel, "Impressions From Curitiba – Brazil" http://www.ecocitymagazine.com/jc/curitiba.doc.
Cervero, Robert. The Transit Metropolis: A Global Inquiry. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1998.
"Curitiba: An Innovative Bus City," Buses International, December 1997 http://www.busesintl.com/news/dec97newsletter.html.
"Curitiba, Brazil: Three decades of thoughtful city planning," Dismantle.org http://www.dismantle.org/curitiba.htm.
"Curitiba Ecocity: Personal Reflections on ‘The Most Livable City in South America,’" Develop-ment Bank of Japan http://www.dbj.go.jp/english/IC/active/hot/curitiba/01.html
"Curitiba: Integrated Transportation Network," Sustainabity Action Group Exchange http://www.sage-rsa.org.uk/sage/, search site for Curitiba Case Study.
"Curitiba Transport System in Brazil, The: An Example of Universal Design within Developing Economies," Disability World http://www.disabilityworld.org/01-02_01/access/curitiba.htm.
Dezenski, Elaine K., "Curitiba visit underscores FTA’s commitment to BRT," METRO, February 2001 http://www.metro-magazine.com/brt_pdf/MET0201Curitiba.pdf.
"Efficient transportation for successful urban planning in Curitiba," Horizon, http://www.solutions-site.org/cat7_sol110.htm.
"Examples of Projects, Programmes, and Initiatives," The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), http://www.rec.org/REC/Programs/SustainableCities/Transportation.html.
Friberg, Lars, "Innovative Solutions for Public Transport; Curitiba, Brazil," http://www.sustdev.org/transport/articles/edition3/SDI3-9.pdf.
Hensher, D. H. A bus-based transitway or light rail? Continuing the saga on choice versus blind commitment. Road & Transport Research, Vol 8 No 3, September 1999 http://www.transportroundtable.com.au/smart/hensher.pdf.
Herbst, Kris, "Brazil's Model City: Is Curitiba too good to be true?" Planning, September 1992.
"Issues in Bus Rapid Transit, 3.0 The Curitiba Experience" http://www.fta.dot.gov/brt/issues/pt3.html.
Gardner, G., P. R. Cornwell and J. A. Cracknell, The performance of busway transit in develop-ing cities (Research Report 329). Crowthorne, England: Transport and Road Research Labora-tory, 1991.
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 40
Levine, Lenny, "Bus Rapid Transit Duels with Rail, " METRO, January 2000.
Major, Michael J., "Brazil’s busways” A ‘subway’ that runs above the ground," MassTransit, May/June 1997.
Meadows, Donella, "The Best City in the World?" In Context, Fall 1994 http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC39/Meadows.htm.
Meadows, Donella, "The City of First Priorities." Whole Earth Review, Spring 1995. Summary: http://www.globalideasbank.org/BI/BI-262.HTML.
"Orienting Urban Planning to Sustainability in Curitiba, Brazil," International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) http://www3.iclei.org/localstrategies/summary/curitiba2.html.
Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc., Transit and Urban Form, Volume 2 (Transit Co-operative Research Program Report No 16). Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, 1996.)
Private Urban Transit Systems and Low-Cost Mobility Solutions in Major Latin American Cities. International Transit Studies Program, Report on the Spring 1998 Mission. Transit Cooperative Research Program, Research Results Digest Number 33, April 1999 (sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration and the American Public Transit Association). http://gulliver.trb.org/publications/tcrp/tcrp_rrd_33.pdf (large file, 3.8 MB)
Rabinovich, Jonas, and Josef Leitman, "Urban Planning in Curitiba, A Brazilian City Challenges Conventional Wisdom and Relies on Low Technology to Improve the Quality of Urban Life," Scientific American, March 1996.
Smith, Neil, and David H. Hensher, The Future of Exclusive Busways: The Brazilian Experience. Sydney: Institute of Transport Studies, University of Sydney, 1998.
Vallicelli, Liana, "City of Curitiba, Brazil," Atlantic Planners Institute (Canada) http://www.atlanticplanners.org/whatnew/conf99/curitiba.htm.
White, Ron, "L.A. In High Gear With Bus System," Busline, September/October 2002.
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES:"Curitiba's "Bus Rapid Transit" – How Applicable to Los Angeles and Other U.S. Cities?" http://www.lightrailnow.org/facts/fa_00013.htm.
"Curitiba's "Bus Rapid Transit" Operation: A Critical Look Relative to Actual American Transit Experience." http://www.lightrailnow.org/facts/fa_cur02.htm.
"Neal Peirce on Curitiba's "Bus Rapid Transit": Blind Naiveté Gets Taken for a (Bus) Ride" http://www.lightrailnow.org/facts/fa_cur01.htm.
BUS RAPID TRANSIT WEBSITES:"Bus Rapid Transit Central" http://www.homestead.com/brtc/files/.
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 41
"International Bus Rapid Transit Initiative," International Institute for Transportation & Develop-ment Policy (ITDP) http://www.itdp.org/news/BRT_English.html.
"New Bus Rapid Transit Institute" (Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Berkeley) http://www.its.berkeley.edu/news/busrapidtransit.html.
U.S. BUS RAPID TRANSIT PROJECTS & PROPOSALS:BOSTON: "MBTA SILVERLINE" http://www.allaboutsilverline.com/.
DETROIT: Bray, Thomas, "Can Brazil bus system work in Detroit?" Detroit News, November 28, 2001 http://www.detnews.com/2001/editorial/0111/30/a13-353313.htm.
"Climb Aboard the Rubber-Tire Railroad," Great Lakes Bulletin http://www.mlui.org/pubs/glb/glb11-00/glb11-0021.html.
"SpeedLink: A Rapid Transit Option for Greater Detroit" http://www.semcog.org/mac/speedlinkfinalreport.pdf (2.3mb – takes several minujtes to down-load).
HARTFORD: "Connecticut Department of Transportation, Bus Rapid Transit Demonstration Project New Britain --- Hartford Busway" http://www.fta.dot.gov/brt/docs/hartford.pdf.
"San Fernando Valley East-West Transit Corridor Final Environmental Impact Report February, 2002" http://www.mta.net/trans_planning /CPD/sanfernado_valley/default.htm [this link is no longer active].
"San Fernando Valley Metro Rapidway," http://www.mta.net/projects_plans/rapidway/default.htm
"Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project Final Environmental Impact Report August 1, 2002" http://www.mta.net/trans_planning/CPD/midcity/wilshire_brt/default.htm.
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 42
SAN FRANCISCO Bay Area: "Bay Area Rapid Bus Proposal" http://www.mtc.ca.gov/projects/blueprint/bp_rapidbus.htm.
"projectEXPRESS: Bus Rapid Transit" (Transportation Choices Forum), see: http:// www.projectexpress.org/rapid.shtml [this link is no longer active].
"Revolutionizing Bay Area Transit . . . on a Budget: Creating a State-of-the-Art Rapid Bus Net-work" (Transportation and Land Use Coalition) http://www.transcoalition.org/reports/revt/revt_home.html .
SAN JOSE: "Line 22 Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Improvements" http://www.vta.org/projects/line22brt.html.
SEATTLE: "BRT for the Puget Sound Region: Current Status and Future Potential" http://www.globaltelematics.com/BRTforPugetSoundRegion.pdf.
WASHINGTON, DC (Dulles Corridor): "Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)" http://www.dullestransit.com/es/deis/alternatives/brt/index.cfm
Bus Rapid Transit in Curitiba, Brazil December 11, 2004! 43