Population, territory and sustainable development

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Box XI.7
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 kilometres 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 kilometres 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 2000, has 84 kilometres 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, 2010). 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 kilometres 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, 2009).
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 years after its
launch, it has reduced traffic congestion and travel times. The annual savings in terms of travel times are estimated at
194,304,000 Chilean pesos, while the savings in terms of the reduction of emissions are estimated at 18,815,000 pesos.
The State subsidy for the system is substantial, but its sustainability is not guaranteed. The programme’s social and
environmental dividends have been substantial but are not always clearly perceived by the public. Indeed, the system
still bears the stigma of its rough start-up and still has its weaknesses. The authorities are still working on improving
and consolidating the system. Reforms are under way; more time is needed to assess them.
Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Sustainable development in Latin America and
the Caribbean 20 years on from the Earth Summit: progress, gaps and strategic guidelines (Preliminary version)
(LC/L.3346), Santiago, 2011.
The report estimates for the first time the net internal migration rate for nearly 1,500 cities based
on censuses from the first 10 years of the 2000s and some 950 cities with census data from the 1990s. The
findings can be surprising, because more than half of the cities experienced net emigration. The estimates
make it possible to distinguish between exchanges with other cities and exchanges with the rest of the
system of human settlements (rural areas and small cities, i.e., with less than 20,000 inhabitants) and
show that this loss is almost always due to exchange with other cities and not to a “return to the
countryside”. These figures partially cloud the optimistic interpretation of slower population growth in
cities. A decline due to net emigration suggests that sending cities are inferior to receiving cities in some
way, meaning that the former might encounter difficulties in taking advantage of slower population
growth. Worse yet, since migration is age-selective, sending cities can experience negative impacts
similar to those identified in rural areas: premature population ageing, high dependency ratios and a
smaller demographic dividend or none at all.