sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

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3. Transport
The social and environmental dimensions of public transit must be taken fully into account in public
transportation planning processes. Proper planning guarantees connectivity between human communities
and sets up a network that manages land use and the economy of the territory (UNCRD, <strong>20</strong>11b).
A number of interesting public transport improvement initiatives have been launched in the
region in cities such as São Paulo, Quito, Cuenca, Guayaquil, Bogota and Medellín (see box I.9).
However, most mass urban transit systems in Latin America and the Caribbean are still inefficient and fall
short of the needs of a large part of the population, and the situation is worse in semi-urban and rural
areas. This is one of the reasons why the number of privately owned motor vehicles has soared, since people
cannot rely on the urban inter-urban and international transportation and cargo system in the region for
<strong>sustainable</strong>, good, efficient, on-time service , (see figure I.21).
Box I.9
INITIATIVES FOR IMPROVING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS IN THE REGION
Various cities in the region have made changes in their urban transport systems in the past few decades in an effort to
improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion, with varying degrees of success. A few examples are outlined below:
Curitiba: The rapid transit bus system of Curitiba was introduced in 1972. The system covers routes
totalling 64.6 km and a demand of 560,000 trips per day. Provision is being made for exclusive bus lanes, ticket
payments at designated stations and larger-capacity vehicles.
Quito: Using Curitiba’s experience as a model, Quito developed a similar, but smaller, system. In 1995, it
began to construct a network of three main rapid transit routes. This system now encompasses 37 km of privately
and publicly operated bus routes and transports 400,000 passengers each day. One of the system’s drawbacks is the
lack of operational or fee-based integration of the three major routes.
Bogota: The TransMilenio rapid transit system, which was launched in <strong>20</strong>00, has 84 km of routes and
transports around 1.4 million passengers per day. Bogota’s system boasts a number of major innovations that
support its claim to being the most robust transit system in the world. It has express buses that do not stop at every
station, which has reduced transit times and increased the transit system’s capacity, measured on a per hour and per
direction basis. This system has also recently been integrated with non-motorized transport (bicycle parking
facilities at stations), which has considerably increased the system’s reach and reduced the pressure on feeder
systems. The introduction of the TransMilenio system has reduced the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by an
estimated 134,000 tons per year (UNEP, <strong>20</strong>10). In view of the success of TransMilenio in Bogota, Colombia plans
to introduce similar systems in another seven cities in the country.
Mexico City: the Metrobús system was built in order to supplement the city’s extensive subway system.
The Federal District has constructed three major lines covering a total of 60 km that serves a demand of 260,000
trips per day. While the project’s explicit objectives do not include the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, it has
nevertheless cut traffic-related emissions by 10% (50,000 tons per year). This is equivalent to nearly 0.25% of total
transport emissions in Mexico City and thus points to a quite significant achievement for a small-scale project of this
sort (Schipper and others, <strong>20</strong>09).
Santiago, Chile: The introduction of the Transantiago system has overhauled the entire public transit
system in Santiago, Chile. Although the system was plagued with difficulties in its early days, at this point, three
<strong>years</strong> after its launch, it has reduced traffic congestion and travel times. The gains in terms of time savings are
estimated to exceed the amount of the State subsidy received by the system.
Source: F. Pardo, “Los cambios en los sistemas integrados de transporte masivo en las principales ciudades de América Latina”,
Project Documents, No. 229 (LC/W.229-P), Santiago, Chile, Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC), <strong>20</strong>09; United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Perspectivas del medio ambiente:
América Latina y el Caribe, <strong>20</strong>10; L. Schipper and others, Considering climate change in Latin American and
Caribbean urban transportation: concepts, applications, and cases. Final report, Berkeley, University of California at
Berkeley, June <strong>20</strong>09; V. Pardo, M. Pedrosa and R. Triviño, “Impactos de la aplicación de proyectos y medidas de
transporte bajos en carbono: análisis del caso Transantiago. Informe final”, Santiago, Chile, Economic Commission for
Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), unpublished.