A Worldwide State-of-the-Art Analysis for Bus Rapid Transit: Looking for the Success Formula

This paper’s intended contribution, in terms of providing an additional angle in the existing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) state-of-the-art knowledge spectrum, is a dual one. On the one hand, it provides a detailed description of the mode, re-defining BRT as an overall concept by identifying, discussing, and categorizing in a systematic way its strengths and its weaknesses in comparison with rail-based solutions and conventional bus services. On the other hand, it presents in detail a number of selected scheme-oriented applications from around the world, looking into some of the basic ingredients behind BRT’s success (or failure) stories. This is a scientific effort that could inform the reader about the current status of BRT internationally and about the challenges and opportunities that exist when trying to materialize BRT’s potential as an effective urban passenger solution that could challenge the merits of more conventional mass-transit options

The equity impacts of bus rapid transit:A review of the evidence and implications for sustainable transport

The paper offers an analysis of empirical evidence on the equity impacts of operational Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in the Global South. The focus is on vertical equity, i.e. whether BRT systems achieve progressive benefits for poorer segments of the population. Findings from Africa, Asia, and Latin America all suggest that BRT does offer significant benefits to low-income groups, in terms of travel time and cost savings, access enhancement, and safety and health benefits. However benefits are often skewed toward medium-income users and thus less progressive than they might be. Two primary reasons for this are insufficient spatial coverage and inappropriate fare policies. While many features of BRT potentially allow it to deliver pro-poor outcomes, such outcomes only materialize if BRT implementers pay specific and sustained attention to equity. The paper identifies key issues that need to be addressed to steer BRT implementation toward more socially sustainable outcomes—including better integration with other transit, paratransit, and nonmotorized transport services, and with the housing sector

Transport and Health: A Look at Three Latin American Cities

Transport is associated with environmental problems, economic losses, health and social inequalities. A number of European and US cities have implemented initiatives to promote multimodal modes of transport. In Latin America changes are occurring in public transport systems and a number of projects aimed at stimulating non-motorized modes of transport (walking and cycling) have already been implemented. Based on articles from peer-reviewed academic journals, this paper examines experiences in Bogota (Colombia), Curitiba (Brazil), and Santiago (Chile), and identifies how changes to the transport system contribute to encourage active transportation. Bus rapid transit, ciclovias, bike paths/lanes, and car use restriction are initiatives that contribute to promoting active transportation in these cities. Few studies have been carried out on the relationship between transport and physical activity. Car ownership continues to increase. The public health sector needs to be a stronger activist in the transport policy decision-making process to incorporate health issues into the transport agenda in Latin America

Transportation planning and development in Bogota: Balancing the urgent and the strategic

Planning priorities in Bogota have historically focused on demographic, economic, and urban development needs with partial consideration of municipalities in its vicinity. Bogota is a frequent reference in local and international urban research from the optics of transport, urban planning, and urban development. Bogota shows important inequalities in access to housing throughout the territory. Bogota’s concentration of economic activities in the expanded center of the city is well-documented in the literature and has both positive and negative consequences. The functional configuration of Bogota has determined the main infrastructure developments for urban mobility in the city. Vision Zero in Bogota has been adopted as a cross-cutting issue with a shared responsibility of citizens and the state. Bogota’s history of urban development and transport policy continues to be an interesting case for analysis and reference in the planning of large-scale urban settings

Urban Sustainability in the Global South and the Role of Integrated Transport Solutions - Experiences from Latin America with a Focus on Chile's TranSantiago

Achieving urban sustainability will be a major challenge in the coming decades. Especially in the Global South the dramatic increase in urban population is demanding intelligent policy solutions in order to prevent urban collapse. Integrated urban transport systems that provide for intelligent mobility solutions play a key role in the search for sustainability. Latin America in particular has seen the implementation of visionary urban transport systems in the cases of Curitiba and Bogota, where Bus Rapid Transit has emerged as a promising transport mode for developing cities with limited funding opportunities. This research thesis portrays and analyses Santiago de Chile's new integrated transport system, TranSantiago, and identifies three key components, which have been neglected in the case of Santiago and that are essential in the context of achieving urban sustainability - visionary leadership, institutional stringency and widespread public participation. TranSantiago must be considered a total failure when compared to the initial aims and objectives, taking into account the huge social cost and the lack of environmental or economic benefits that the system overhaul has created

Mobilising Youth: A study of school learner mobility in Claremont, Cape Town

South African cities have been shaped by the country's colonial rule, followed by the era of Apartheid. During Apartheid the majority of South Africans were forced to live on the periphery of cities far away from opportunities that were found in city centres, causing stark social, economic and spatial polarisation. Since the end of Apartheid many, including planners, have been attempting to address these imbalances across the country. One of these imbalances includes access to educational opportunities. There is a clear lack of research on learner transportation within South African cities and receives very little attention in legislation and policy. Learner mobility is therefore the focus of this study and the research aims to identify barriers to learner mobility and ways in which spatial planning can respond to these barriers. Objectives of the study therefore include identifying barriers and exploring learner mobility patterns and travel experiences. To conduct the study, surveys, field observations and a spatial analysis was undertaken within a local precinct in Cape Town, namely Claremont. Surveys were distributed to learners within the area in order to gather data on learner mobility patterns. The guiding spatial plan for Claremont, the Southern District Plan was critiqued and analysed along with the findings from the surveys to identify the barriers to learner mobility and the ways in which spatial planning can respond. The research revealed that the dominance of the private motor vehicle, the inability to integrate land use and transport planning, safety while travelling and the lack of youth participation in planning are the four critical issues that need to be addressed to improve access to education across Cape Town and overcome the barriers to learner mobility. If the interface between land use and transport planning could be implemented correctly and for the right reasons, with safety and youth participation in mind, social equity, spatial equity and increased accessibility to education can become a reality. It is hoped that this research be a useful contribution to begin the shift of the South African city to one that is more inclusive of its children through the use of spatial planning and can increase learner mobility and access to education

Transport, Urban Development and the Peripheral Poor in Colombia: Placing Splintering Urbanism in the Context of Transport Networks

In rapidly growing cities the evolution of utility and communication infrastructures has enabled the creation of ‘premium networked spaces’ exclusively for wealthier groups thus deepening already large social inequalities. By the same token, in a context of spatially concentrated income-earning opportunities and other urban functions, as well as limited purchasing power, accessibility to adequate means of connectivity with the rest of the urban fabric can be a determining factor in overcoming conditions of poverty for residents in physically marginal areas. Using the case study of Soacha, a municipality adjacent to Bogotá, Colombia’s capital city, we explore the evolution of vulnerable populations in peripheral informal settlements in parallel with the development of transport networks in the decade 2000-2010. Drawing on the splintering urbanism thesis we examine the apparent mismatch between the evolution of informal settlements and transport networks with the aim of identifying the effects of an uneven provision of material infrastructures and services for mobility on marginalization. We observe central elements in the structure of the networks of connectivity between Bogotá and Soacha, identifying the main gaps that lead to a fragmented set of connections. We develop a set of criteria for planners and policy makers in search of a better informed analysis of transport supply and policy development praxis for poor peripheral populations in similar regions and contexts

Conscious mobility for urban spaces: case studies review and indicator framework design

A lack of data collection on conscious mobility behaviors has been identified in current sustainable and smart mobility planning, development and implementation strategies. This leads to technocentric solutions that do not place people and their behavior at the center of new mobility solutions in urban centers around the globe. This paper introduces the concept of conscious mobility to link techno-economic analyses with user awareness on the impact of their travel decisions on other people, local urban infrastructure and the environment through systematic big data collection. A preliminary conscious mobility indicator framework is presented to leverage behavioral considerations to enhance urban-community mobility systems. Key factors for conscious mobility analysis have been derived from five case studies. The sample offers regional diversity (i.e., local, regional and the global urban contexts), as well as different goals in the transformation of conventional urban transport systems, from improving public transport efficiency and equipment electrification to mitigate pollution and climate risks, to focusing on equity, access and people safety. The case studies selected provide useful metrics on the adoption of cleaner, smarter, safer and more autonomous mobility technologies, along with novel people-centric program designs to build an initial set of conscious mobility indicators frameworks. The parameters were applied to the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon in Mexico focusing on the needs of the communities that work, study and live around the local urban campus of the Tecnologico de Monterrey’s Distrito Tec. This case study, served as an example of how conscious mobility indicators could be applied and customized to a community and region of interest. This paper introduces the first application of the conscious mobility framework for urban communities’ mobility system analysis. This more holistic assessment approach includes dimensions such as society and culture, infrastructure and urban spaces, technology, government, normativity, economy and politics, and the environment. The expectation is that the conscious mobility framework of analysis will become a useful tool for smarter and sustainable urban and mobility problem solving and decision making to enhance the quality of life all living in urban communities

Rethinking Sustainable Urban Mobility for emerging cities in Latin America : The struggle of increasing automobility in Lima and Bogotá

Due to the great need of improving sustainable urban transport and mobility in emerging cities in Latin America, development assistance in the form of Sustainable Urban Mobility planning is currently carried out by national European development agencies and partnerships. This type of assistance is commonly based on successful European experiences and approaches in the field, aiming to decrease both greenhouse gas emissions, poverty and inequality and in the same time to improve accessibility, quality of life and sustainability for the urban citizens. Whilst the model being successful for these purposes in Europe, the emerging nature and different mobility culture of cities in Latin America have experienced different outcomes of Sustainable Urban Mobility planning. The theoretical discussion of this thesis is based on a critical assessment of Modernisation theory and its manifestations in the urban transport sector. The theory would describe the European model of Sustainable Urban Mobility as the “modern”, whereas the mobility paradigm of emerging cities is “yet to be modernised”. This thesis argues that instead of applying the European mobility paradigm on emerging cities, the concept of Sustainable Urban Mobility and its planning models and guidelines need to be contextualised in order to reach the desired outcomes. Through qualitative content analysis of original data from interviews with grassroot level activists, representatives of civil society and non-governmental organisations in the cities of Bogotá and Lima, this thesis shows that the urban structures and mobility culture in the cities differ significantly from the ones in Europe, that lead to different outcomes when applying the European approaches of Sustainable Urban Mobility planning in the cities. The most critical finding is that due to different socioeconomic urban structures, a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and increase of accessibility cannot be reached simultaneously in a short-term timeframe, as the poor people in the outskirts currently cannot afford other transport modes than non-motorised “sustainable” transport. Challenges such as urbanisation and corruption are often considered the main problems for the implementation of sustainable transport measures in emerging cities. This thesis shows that instead of solely focussing on these challenges, one should criticise the non-contextualised methods in use for encountering them and suggests a preventive approach for urban development. The conclusion follows: It is not only the guidance documents in use for development assistance in the field of Sustainable Urban Mobility that needs to be contextualised, but the whole concept