POLICY UPDATE
ernments, and a rise in the number
of bus manufacturers and technology providers. These changes are already being seen in countries like
Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico.
New information systems that
enhance bus quality and performance are also coming on line. For
instance, passengers using select
BRT systems are now able to plan
their route online and to receive
real-time information about bus arrivals on their cell phones. At the
same time, global positioning systems and advanced control systems
are improving system reliability.
But challenges remain for BRT
implementation.
First, there is the political hurdle.
A mayor needs to be firmly committed to the concept. Inevitably,
detractors and opponents—some
of them quite powerful politically
and economically, such as private
bus operators and car users—will
emerge. In Quito, Santiago and Bogotá, private bus owners and operators—afraid they would be pushed
out of their routes by the new systems—staged protests against the
local BRT.
Bogotá car owners—organized by
community and business groups—
The second difficulty is
institutional, both in the public
and private sectors. The public
sector needs to develop new
institutions and attract a labor
force to manage and work on
these relatively complicated and
technical systems. For its part, the
private sector must develop formal
companies with the capacity to
retain and train drivers, mechanics
and operational personnel.
Finally, cities need to find new
revenue sources to support construction and maintenance of BRT
infrastructure, such as transfers
from state or national governments,
new taxes, bonds or privatizations.
One key decision remains:
should governments provide
subsidies for students, the elderly
and the poor so that they can
use the more expensive BRT
system? Santiago and São Paulo
subsidize public transportation
riders, including those who use
the BRT. In Quito and Guayaquil
the system offers discounted
fares for students, elderly and the
handicapped, using the revenue
from their overall fare collections.
But subsidies largely remain out
of the question, since systems typically operate on tight budgets that
rely on the revenues generated by
user fares.
Other issues seen in BRT systems
across Latin America and other developing countries include lack of
maintenance, insufficient user education, low quality of service, high
occupancy levels, and safety and security concerns. These issues are
mostly the result of institutional
and financial constraints and are
not intrinsic to the BRT concept.
But still, overcoming these issues
is critical for the future of BRT systems and will only come with
political leadership, adequate
funding levels and good planning
and management.
A PROMISING FUTURE
BRT operations will continue to
grow, with innovation and adaptation of existing models in cities
around the world. But progressive
policies and greater knowledge
sharing are still needed to address
present and future challenges.
One initiative, the Asociación Lati-noamericana de Sistemas Integra-dos y BRT (SIBRT) established in
2010, provides a forum for agencies
to share experiences on how to foster BRT system development. In addition, the Center of Excellence in
BRT, a research institution established in Chile in 2010, seeks to advance best practices in BRT design
and implementation.
These types of new forums offer
an important space to address
critical issues, such as high
occupancy levels, which must
be resolved for the BRT model to
become an increasingly important
transit alternative in a budget-constrained environment.
Urban areas must find new solutions to traffic. With the right
tweaks to its BRT systems, Latin
America can be a model for transportation planners.
Darío Hidalgo, PhD, is director of
research and practice at EMBARQ,
the World Resources Instituteś Center for Sustainable Transport.
Natural Disasters
PREPAREDNESS PAYS OFF
KATHRYN WADE
Readiness is everything when disaster strikes. In the Carib- bean, where the annual six-month hurricane season is in effect
through November 2011, readiness
can mean the difference between
life and death, between chaos and
composure.
In late October 2010, when Hurri-
cane Tomas savaged St. Lucia with
fects of the storm were devastating,
with widespread damage to crops,
homes, water supplies, and infra-
structure. Remote communities
were unreachable by the lead disas-
ter agencies based in the capital city
of Castries, including the island’s
National Emergency Management
Organization (NEMO) and the St.
Lucia Red Cross.
