PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION


During the past few decades most city planners around the world, said Architect Carlos Ceneviva, prepared for growth by analyzing traffic volume; so larger streets, avenues, and overpasses were built to alleviate traffic problems. However, Curitiba creator's team took a different approach. In 1972, the team closed down their busiest streets, dedicating more spaces for people. As Hitoshi Nakamura states, "The philosophy was to have cars, but never be dominated by them." The creators of Curitiba's public transportation system planned for people to drive fewer cars and enjoy the city.
Curitiba has over a one hundred-year of history in public transportation. The first system was a tram pulled by a mule during the imperial time in 1887. From 1910, Curitiba grew faster, so in 1912 an electrical tram replaced the mule-tracked one. In 1928, the first bus circulated through city streets. The system became so successful that private companies started exploring the business, so Mayor Ney Braga proposed legislature to control it. His plan created the Selective Zones, which exist to this day.
In 1974, the existing system did not meet the city's growing demands. Under the first Mayor Jaime Lerner administration, a team of architects and civil engineers implemented the Trinary Road System and its dedicated Lane Buses, which is known in the United States as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), first of its kind in the world designed by Architect Rafael Dely. In 1979, Lerner established the Rede Integrada de Transporte (RIT), which consists of an integrated system where citizens pay once to go anywhere, in the city. In 1980, the articulated bus replaced the smaller Express buses in the dedicated lanes, increasing the capacity of the system. In March of 1991, the Tube Stations and Speedy Bus (Ligeirinho) appeared in Curitiba's streets.
The Speedy Bus, designed to travel long distances without stop, and Tube Station that made possible embarkation and debarkation at level with fare collected outside the bus, increased the number of people using the system. Most users were car owners who found public transportation reliable, easier, and cheaper. In 1992, the Biarticulated buses, a short train on tires (They are twenty-five meters long and have five doors transporting up to 270 passengers), became another option.
In 1980, the city of Strasbourg, France put out a public awareness campaign in favor of public transportation showing three images to make the public aware of the number of buses, cars and trams needed to transport 215 people. At that time, 174 cars were needed, three buses, and one tram. Today, just one of Curitiba's Biarticulated bus carries 270 passengers. If the system were adopted world-wide, imagine how much less gas, pollution, and traffic congestions there would be. Imagine cities around the Monterey and San Francisco bays connected with Speedy Buses, making travel and commuting easy, fast, inexpensive, and less polluting. Perhaps we could eliminate more ugly overpasses in San Francisco and San Jose. The cities would be much more pleasant to look and live in. Don't you think?
The Curitiba Transportation system has been adopted partially in Los Angeles, Seattle, Honolulu, Boulder, Reston, and was successfully tested in New York. However, they are not as effective and efficient as Curitiba because, according to Jaime Lerner, the system must be adopted in its full extent. Partially as it has been, it does not work in its full potential. Only Bogotá, Colombia, has adopted the complete system.
The Biarticulated Buses and its dedicated lanes are like an above ground subway system, said Architect Carlos Ceneviva, with the advantage of lower installation cost per square kilometer. For example, it costs US$100 million per square kilometer for a subway system versus US$ 3 to 8 million, depending on street development, for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. If BRT is less expensive solution, and a comparable competitor, why invest in more expensive? Curitiba's transportation is an auto-sufficient system that paid itself quickly, run by private companies, regulated by the city.
Reducing consumption has become important for human survival. Reducing oil consumption could decrease motive to start war for example. However, alternative renewable fuels such as the Brazilian alcohol fuel and biodiesel (Ethanol and others in process), which cost less and are less polluting than gasoline would not help us reduce traffic congestion. The world has to reduce the number of cars running or traffic will be more and more unbearable. Public transportation is the solution.