Rio forecasts a mobility plan for the Olympic Games in July

Line 4 of the subway, VLT and BRTs, Transolímpica and Transoeste. The expectation of the Rio de Janeiro City Hall and the Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro is that all of these modals settled in the legacy plan for the Olympic Games of 2016 will be operational during the period of the competition. Accordingly to the mayor Eduardo Paes, the Public Transport Plan, which shows the way the integration will be performed and determines the Olympic Bands (that will be adopted in order to transport athletes, managers and authorities), will be announced in July.  

“VLT and BRT will be ready, working, for they are the centre of the mobility plan that we will present in July”, said Eduardo Paes. “The plan settles, for example, the connection of the subway with the BRT in order to get to the Parque Olímpico da Barra. It settles the connection of trains with BRTs in order to get to Deodoro. All working to meet the Olympic Games”, said the mayor during the release of the update of the Public Policy Plan for the Olympic Games in the last Friday (04/24).

The line 4 of the subway will provide the connection between the Southern Region of Rio de Janeiro and the region of Barra da Tijuca. Accordingly to the Chief of Staff of the Government of Rio de Janeiro, Leonardo Espíndola, the work continues normally, without setbacks. There will be 16 kilometres of extension and six stations, besides a cable-stayed bridge that will cross Lagoa da Tijuca, the only section where the trains will be visible in the surface.

“It is a work that generates nine thousand jobs and that will benefit 300 thousand people per day”, says Espíndola. Three out of the 15 trains have already been delivered to Rio de Janeiro and 10 thousand meters of rails have already been installed. “The work is following its schedule and will be fully operational before the 2016 Olympic Games”, said Espíndola, who also highlights the refurbishment of six railway stations as part of the investments in mobility settled in the legacy plan.

Contingencies

Beyond the use of new modals, the mobility plan settles measures in order to assure that the city operation gets adapted to the fact that there will be up to 400 thousand foreign tourists in Rio due to the Games, accordingly to the forecasts of Embratur. 

“The Olympic Games require contingencies. We are going to purpose school vacations in August. We’ve been talking with several sectors and economic activities in order to shutdown throughout this period as well. I’ve already asked this to the Judiciary Power. The City Hall and the government of the State will try to provide vacation periods for services that are not essential”, said Eduardo Paes. Additionally, the city might decree a holiday in August 5th and 18th of 2016. The first date is the opening of the Olympic Games. The second one is the triathlon competition, which requires the blockade of several streets.

Another resource potentially available, although removed for now as a possibility, is the no-drive day system. “I sent to the City Council a project that allows the City Hall to determine the no-drive day system, but this is not even in our city mobility plans. It is part of an exceptional situation, yet needs to be predicted”.

Get to know each one of the interventions

Port VLT

Integrated to the subway, trains, ferryboats, BRT, conventional bus lines and the cable car of the region of Providência, the VLT will have 28 kilometres of length, with 32 stops. The VLT will provide the connection of the Port Neighbourhoods to the Downtown, including the Airport Santos Dumont, passing through the surroundings of the Novo Rio Bus Station, Praça Mauá, Rio Branco Avenue, Cinelândia, Central do Brasil Station, Praça XV and Santo Cristo. The forecasts are that 300 thousand passengers will be served per day.

 
Transoeste

Inaugurated in June 2012, it benefits around 190 thousand passengers per day. The bus rapid transit system that connects Santa Cruz and Campo Grande to the Alvorada Bus Station, in Barra da Tijuca, already reduces passengers’ journey time in up to 50%. Now, the work of Bench 0 is being performed, which consists in the section Alvorada Shopping Città América  and the connection with the Jardim Oceânico for the integration with the Line 4 of the subway network. When this section is completed, the quantity of benefited passengers will reach 230 thousand, the BRT extension will reach 59 km and the total number of stations will be 66.

Transolímpica

The BRT Transolímpica will serve 70 thousand passengers per day and reduce the journey time between Barra and Deodoro in 54%. With 26 kilometres length (13 kilometres of express roads) and 17 stations, the Transolímpica BRT will be connected with Transcarioca, in Curicica, and with Transoeste, in Recreio dos Bandeirantes, besides being connected to the trains of SuperVia, in Deodoro.

Fonte:  Brazil 2016