{"id":21492,"date":"2015-04-20T11:01:49","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T14:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=21492"},"modified":"2016-04-20T22:04:16","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T01:04:16","slug":"brt-line-in-cascadura-reduces-transit-access-and-forces-businesses-to-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=21492","title":{"rendered":"BRT Line in Cascadura Reduces Transit Access and Forces Businesses to Close"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

For more than 50 years, Bar Caldo Cana has been a successful business in Riachuelo Square in the neighborhood of\u00a0Cascadura, in Rio’s\u00a0North Zone<\/a>. Andr\u00e9 Silva dos Santos has worked there for seven years as the owner and 48 years before that under the mentorship of his father. The bar is his\u00a0life\u2019s work and the only means of financial support for his family.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0August 2014, Cascadura suffered major transportation changes that jeopardized his business. The City launched\u00a0several bus lines<\/a> passing through Recreio, Jacarepagu\u00e1, Madureira and some West Zone<\/a>\u00a0neighborhoods through the TransCarioca\u00a0Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)<\/a>\u00a0line.<\/p>\n

The Municipal Transportation Secretariat launched the BRT lines in 2012 to replace certain customary bus routes with traffic-free journeys intended to increase capacity while dramatically reducing travel times. The BRT lines constitute the main means\u00a0through which the city aims to reach its\u00a0goal<\/a>\u00a0of increasing\u00a0total trips taken on high-capacity public transportation from the current rate of 18% to 60% by 2016, and they have been heavily marketed as part of the 2016 Olympic legacy.<\/p>\n

But the legacy has yet to reach neighborhoods like Cascadura, which instead has lost most of its customary bus lines\u00a0to the South Zone, Central Rio and Barra da Tijuca. Vans providing transportation throughout the community were also eliminated and train lines were reduced.<\/p>\n

It is widely reported by residents of traditionally underserved areas\u00a0across the city that to build demand for the BRT, the City cut customary routes residents depended on and which were often favorable to the BRT.<\/p>\n

\u201cCascadura is abandoned, the square has become\u00a0a drug addict hub,\u201d Dos Santos\u00a0said. \u201cThere used to always be movement and people [here], I used to open at 4am and now I\u2019m opening at 6am. My sales\u00a0have gone down by 90%.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Andr\u00e9<\/a><\/p>\n

Before the implementation of the TransCarioca BRT line, Cascadura\u2019s business center was located in Riachuelo Square, a bus station that provided transportation for thousands of neighborhood residents. The buses journeyed to locations such as Rio’s South Zone\u00a0and central\u00a0areas. According to Jos\u00e9 Fernando Silva, social educator in Cascadura, the bus station\u00a0provided customers to hundreds of businesses in the area including bars, restaurants, and street vendor stands. Now, the square is dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the implementation of the BRT in Cascadura, there was a socio-economic decline, the bars shut down, the street vendors closed shop,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n

Eduardo Torres was forced to close his bar of almost 10 years and leave Cascadura\u00a0in\u00a0debt and anger. According to him,\u00a0the Prefeitura shut down the vans collective that provided transportation to and from several communities in Cascadura and brought business to the square. Then it took away the buses and now, some trains don\u2019t even stop in Cascadura anymore. Certain train lines that used to stop in the neighborhood now pass through, and residents have to take two trains just to get to the next station over.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot one person from local government has come here to give us some satisfaction,\u201d he said. \u201c We don\u2019t have any projects here, everyone is closing their shops, and today is my last day here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geraldo da Cunha Lucas has worked as a street vendor in the square\u00a0for 6 years to support his wife and children.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my case, I made\u00a0more or less R$300 to R$350 (US$100 to US$115) every\u00a0day,\u201d he said. Now\u00a0he makes around\u00a0R$80 to R$90 (US$26 to US$30). “It\u2019s not just me, but all of the street vendors here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creuza Jos\u00e9 Correia, a street vendor who has worked in the square\u00a0for 40 years, said not only is she losing clients, but as a resident of Cascadura she sees neighbors and friends who work outside of the area\u00a0struggle to get to work. Now the\u00a0nearest bus that takes anyone to the South Zone\u00a0is in Madureira, over four miles\u00a0away, she said.<\/p>\n

\"Creuza<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very sad because we\u2019ve worked here for a long time and [the elimination of the bus lines] has disturbed our work…We lost our clients,\u201d she said. \u201cCascadura is done…It totally affected the financial life of all of us here. I depend on this business.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are bus cards such as the Bilhete \u00danico Carioca that allow commuters to make up to three transfers between buses, including the BRT, in two and a half hours for the price of only one ride. However, those without the cards now pay for three or four rides to get to work, since the BRT requires switching at stations and the use of more buses, whereas previously\u00a0one or two buses from Pra\u00e7a Riachuelo could provide the same service.<\/p>\n

Silva said: \u201cThere was no planning or warning of the removal of the buses or even our alternative transportation (vans that go to and from communities in Cascadura). The population was not consulted. They didn\u2019t think of the impact it would have on our urban mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Miguel<\/a><\/p>\n

The skeleton of a burnt car and garbage on the pavement are now the landscape of the square. A few buses remain and take residents to the West Zone, but the buzz of movement has completely disappeared.<\/p>\n

Miguel Silva de Moura, president of the Luiz Carlos Prestes Neighborhood Association\u00a0in Cascadura, said transportation is one of the many neighborhood problems Rio’s mayor\u00a0has ignored.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t give credibility to the neighborhood\u00a0association,\u201d he said. \u201cHe makes decisions without hearing the residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas For more than 50 years, Bar Caldo Cana has been a successful business in Riachuelo Square in the neighborhood of\u00a0Cascadura, in Rio’s\u00a0North Zone. Andr\u00e9 Silva dos Santos has worked there for […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":21667,"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":[1736,1288,335,452,336,1329],"tags":[606,1610,109,427,1518,327,673,545,618,37,409,1611,1011,200,365],"writer":[1453],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-1736","8":"category-highlight","9":"category-policies","10":"category-rio20","11":"category-violations","12":"category-by-international-observers","13":"tag-brt","14":"tag-cascadura","15":"tag-community-business","16":"tag-economy","17":"tag-kombi","18":"tag-legacy-myth","19":"tag-misplaced-public-priorities","20":"tag-mobility","21":"tag-neighborhood-association","22":"tag-north-zone","23":"tag-public-transportation","24":"tag-riachuelo-square","25":"tag-right-to-come-and-go","26":"tag-transportation","27":"tag-zero-participation","28":"writer-elma-gonzalez"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21492","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\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21492"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=21492"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=21492"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=21492"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=21492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}