Over the last years, the Brazilian automobile fleet increased much higher than the population growth. While the population had an increase of less than 20% since 2000, the car number increased much more in the same period of time.
Nowadays, there are almost 50 million automobiles transiting through the country, more than 33 million buses, trucks and other vehicles types. It is no coincidence that the urban mobility is a recurring subject on the discussions about life quality in the big cities, a major factor to the increase of productivity and the economical development of the country.
A study conducted by Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) reports that it is necessary to invest almost 230 billion reais – or almost 5% of the country GDP – to eliminate the infrastructure deficit regarding urban mobility on the 15 biggest Brazilian metropolitan areas.
As it might be expected, the areas with a bigger demand have a higher population. Almost 35% of the value calculated by BNDES corresponds to investments needed in São Paulo; 18% in Rio de Janeiro; and 11% in Belo Horizonte.
Several factors boost this kind of works. An example is the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the Rio 2016 Olympics, next year. BNDES calculates that approximately 50 billion reais will be invested in urban mobility between 2015 and 2018.
São Paulo has 31 kilometers of underground lines and 57 kilometers of monorail – which will double the network current extension.
For Rio, there are expected investments for the underground lines and Bus Rapid Transit (BRTs). This solution, a pioneer in Curitiba in the 1970s, is considered one of the fastest and cheapest ways for solving the mobility problem of the big metropolises.
Other Brazilian cities, like Belém, João Pessoa, Goiânia, Brasília, Recife, Fortaleza and Vitória, are also betting on the modern BRTs.
According to the BRT Data project, that gathers information about this transport system, there are bus rapid lines in almost 200 cities in the world. More than 150 of them have lines that were installed after 2001. “In places like Mexico City, which have many lines, the BRT services are so well evaluated by the population as the subway system”, said Luis Antonio Lindau, director of WRI Brasil Cidades Sustentáveis organization.
It is not hard to understand the benefits of the public transport over the individual transport. Lindau estimates that a Lane with 3.6 meters wide allows a transport of up to 1,200 people per hour when using cars. By using a bus, this number can reach 15,000 people.
The time – and Money – savings is clear. “Part of the urban mobility problem can be solved on the wheels, with less complicated works than we imagine”, said Lindau.
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