{"id":15531,"date":"2014-05-27T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-05-27T09:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=15531"},"modified":"2015-12-23T22:41:39","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T01:41:39","slug":"rios-brt-system-olympic-legacy-or-fragmentation-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=15531","title":{"rendered":"Rio’s BRT System: A Tool for Legacy or Fragmentation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In a country that has seen the number of cars more than double<\/a> in the last decade, and in what is now Brazil’s most congested city<\/a>,\u00a0Rio de Janeiro’s\u00a0four planned BRT (Bus Rapid Transit)<\/a> lines are referenced\u00a0as the<\/em> critical strategy\u00a0in reaching the city\u2019s goal<\/a> to increase total trips taken on high-capacity public transportation from the current rate of 18% to 60% by 2016. Funded as part of the 2016 Olympic \u201cLegacy Projects\u201d intended to serve Rio long after the Games, the transportation system is already a source of\u00a0much controversy.<\/p>\n

The original BRT system was pioneered in the Brazilian city of Curitiba in the 1970s. BRT is characterized by dedicated bus-only lanes, fares paid off-bus, elevated bus stations flush with bus doors, high-capacity vehicles, and frequent service–all of which combined significantly reduce inefficiencies that add to travel time. BRT systems are known to offer\u00a0many of the efficiency benefits of rail transport at a fraction of the cost. World Resources Institute program Embarq<\/a> describes BRT as a \u201clow-cost sustainable urban transportation solution,\u201d and collaborated with the city government on Rio\u2019s lines. Curitiba\u2019s model has inspired 160 cities<\/a> around the world to adopt BRT, with lines currently being implemented in Brazilian cities including Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre.<\/p>\n

In Rio, there are four lines planned and in different stages of development. The\u00a0TransOeste<\/a> runs 57km between Santa Cruz, West Zone and Barra da Tijuca and was inaugurated in June 2012. The 39km TransCarioca<\/a> line connecting Rio’s\u00a0international airport and Barra da Tijuca is slated to open before the World Cup next month. While city government officials said in March that the TransCarioca was then\u00a088% complete<\/a>, they also said in April that the project\u2019s expense is now estimated at R$1.9billion, running 46%<\/a>\u00a0over the initial budget of R$1.3 billion, as reported by The Rio Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0TransOlimpica<\/a>\u00a0will run 26 km from Deodoro, North Zone, to Barra da Tijuca. However, the exact route remains unclear. Finally, the\u00a0TransBrasil<\/a> will link Deodoro and Rio’s domestic Santos Dumont Airport near downtown Rio. This final BRT line is planned as 32 km including express corridors along Avenida Brasil (a main transport artery), with a 900,000 daily capacity. Both routes are expected to be in operation for the 2016 Olympics, yet Rio\u2019s lack of preparedness<\/a> for the Games means much doubt remains. Work on the sporting site at Deodoro is yet to commence and a court order<\/a> in January suspended bidding for the first set of construction works on the TransBrasil.<\/p>\n

\"Rio's<\/a><\/p>\n

Criticism of the BRT system in Rio<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the growing popularity of BRT in global urban development, there remain questions about Rio’s system and the way the city government is carrying out the project. Gabriel Oliveira, a researcher for ITDP Brasil<\/a> (Institute for Transportation & Development Policy) says that Rio\u2019s BRT could, if planned correctly, constitute an effective system choice for historically transit impaired districts. Chris Gaffney, a professor of urbanism at the Fluminese Federal University, says that the chosen routes for the BRT lines are not a solution for Rio\u2019s dire transportation needs<\/a>. Gaffney references a 2003 traffic study that showed how all of the major daily flows in Rio come from the North and West to downtown, South Zone, and part of the\u00a0North Zone, which together concentrate 60% of Rio\u2019s formal employment sector. Instead of building mass transportation to serve this need, all of the BRT lines run through the Olympic ring of Barra da Tijuca<\/a>, the center of real estate speculation<\/a> in Rio.<\/p>\n

Mayor Paes said at a recent debate<\/a>\u00a0that the BRTs would improve mobility for the urban poor in the North and West zones. On that note Gaffney agrees, but their publicly-expressed views end there. \u201cFor me the only logic that would justify [the BRTs]\u00a0is to bring poor, relatively immobile people to Barra to work for the expanding upper-middle class,” says Gaffney. “It is a geopolitical strategy to fragment the city on the one half, isolate people on the other half, and to funnel them into a place of abundant informal sector employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/a>Gaffney argues that BRT will also end up doing the opposite of one of its main goals: getting people out of their cars. \u201cBRT maintains a dependence on wheel-based transportation. If you look at the TransCarioca line, in addition to the BRT lane they have expanded car lanes from four to six.\u201d Not only will this expansion of lanes lead to increased congestion, it is also a serious safety hazard. Many sidewalks along BRT lines will be shortened from a width of 3 to 1.5 meters in order to meet capacity targets, for which there needs to be a high speed bus passing in either direction every 15 seconds, says Gaffney.<\/p>\n

Accommodation for cyclists is also a concern. \u201cPoor pedestrian accessibility leads people to walk or bike in the bus lanes, or cross in conflictual areas,\u201d says Oliveira of ITDP Brasil. He\u00a0commends the availability of bike-parking facilities at the BRT stations, but laments the lack of integrated bike lanes and protective infrastructure for cyclists. Eight people <\/a>have already been killed by accidents on the TransOeste, Rio\u2019s first BRT line to be inaugurated.<\/p>\n

Construction of BRT lines has led to the eviction and displacement<\/a> of entire communities, including Largo de Campinho<\/a>, Vila Harmonia<\/a>, Restinga<\/a> and Vila Recreio II<\/a>. In 2010, Gaffney estimated a total of at least 10,000<\/a> homes, businesses, and public spaces would be forcibly removed. There have already been thousands of removals, with two more lines not even begun. In the case of Recreio II, the vacated land has sat unused<\/a> after city authorities deemed the uprooting of the community necessary for the TransOeste. Those displaced now deal with much longer commutes<\/a> from the distant Minha Casa Minha Vida<\/a> apartments they were moved to, all for a project that’s supposed objective is to improve urban mobility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas In a country that has seen the number of cars more than double in the last decade, and in what is now Brazil’s most congested city,\u00a0Rio de Janeiro’s\u00a0four planned BRT (Bus […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":14783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,335,452,1329],"tags":[225,986,606,272,11,327,545,5,744,409,40,383,980,1306,81,43,591,200,38,39,21],"writer":[1175],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-policies","9":"category-rio20","10":"category-by-international-observers","11":"tag-barra-da-tijuca","12":"tag-bicycle-use","13":"tag-brt","14":"tag-mayor-eduardo-paes","15":"tag-forced-evictions","16":"tag-legacy-myth","17":"tag-mobility","18":"tag-olympics","19":"tag-policy-critique","20":"tag-public-transportation","21":"tag-restinga","22":"tag-santa-cruz","23":"tag-social-legacy","24":"tag-transbrasil","25":"tag-transcarioca","26":"tag-transoeste","27":"tag-transolimpica","28":"tag-transportation","29":"tag-vila-harmonia","30":"tag-vila-recreio-ii","31":"tag-west-zone","32":"writer-stefan-johnson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15531"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=15531"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=15531"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=15531"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=15531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}