Bus Rapid Transit - Curitiba's attraction to the world
The City of Curitiba in Brazil has long been touted as a model city with inspiring urban planning and notably efficient transportation. This is with good reason. To understand the system it is important to look at the planning process behind the success of Curitiba.
Curitiba, located south of San Paolo, is a cultural center of Brazil, with a population of around 1,750,000 and a growth rate of 0.96%. When combined with the population of the entire Metropolitan Region of Curitiba (RMC), the population reaches up to 3,200,000. Curitiba’s effective transportation system and city planning allows this large number of people to commute through the city with little congestion.
Integrated planning and zoning have divided the city land use in order to promote development and growth in a disciplined structure, with the majority, 58% for residential areas and 17% for environmental and historical preservation. The rest is predominately for the commercial and service areas. The urban planning process in Curitiba began in 1943. The first public transportation plan, referred to as the Agache Plan, was a radial plan which placed downtown Curitiba as the center of the city with development and public transportation spiraling out from that point. In 1966, this plan was abandoned in favor of a linear system. At this time, the population had grown significantly to 500,000 and a linear transportation system with development and transportation following along large intersecting roadways to better accommodate this growth. In 2004, this plan was further improved upon by implementing new urban tools and policies, while maintaining the linear guidelines of the 1966 plan.
The majority of Curitiba’s transportation is through a network of buses consisting of 82km of dedicated bus lanes in 13 municipalities with over 2270 buses. There are 30 bus terminals and 347 tube stations across Curitiba totaling to around 20,850 trips per/day with over 2,380,000 passengers a day. This is all done using a single fare system in order to be affordable to everyone. One of the main benefits of this system is that it significantly cuts down on congestion. The linear planning in the city allows for the flow of traffic to be easy and fast. The buses also are given dedicated lanes that run centrally, which they predominately travel in; other traffic is delegated to outside lanes. Integrated terminals along the streets connect citizen streets effectively to bus lanes which allow for easy access to public transportation. The city has subsequently developed up around these bus routes, a quick look at Curitiba will show that the majority of the large buildings and commercial centers have developed and run parallel to these linear transportation routes and follow the routes along the city. This means that the important areas of the city are all easily and quickly accessible. There are a large variety of buses which follow the different dedicated routes which further allows for specificity, and easily access any part of the city. These include the circle line and conventional buses which function as local buses with a capacity of up to 70 people. There are also feeder buses and inter-district buses that can hold up to 160 people. The most recognizable buses are the express buses, which are bright red and stretch extremely long in order to accommodate 270 passengers throughout the major stops of the city.
One of the new projects in Curitiba is the development of the Green line. This line is 18km in length, reaching across 23 neighborhoods, affecting 287,000 people. The name Green line is given due to the 21,000sqm of green area that surround the green line, with 5,200 of trees alone planted in this area. 18km of bikeways have also been added in the green area, running through many parks and in conjunction with the bus routes. This line has effectively integrated bikeways, land use, road networks, and the promotion of environmental policies. The bikeway infrastructure in Curitiba, Pedula Curitiba, is also being further improved in others ways as well. The city is offering many incentives for bikes as a means of transport. Existing bikeways and older bikeways are being maintained and recovered to be effective for public use and to form a large biking network. In the central area of the city there are 28 bike racks and 20 public bike stations along defined bike routes. Curitiba also excels in the area of Historical Preservation. Heritage Buildings are preserved and local custom are given priority in the city. When new buildings are built in proximity to Heritage sites, they are stacked up and given space restrictions in order to preserve these sites. Going along with this Curitiba also values environmental preservation with over 34 recognized public parks and wood areas.
Curitiba municipality has also stated that it has plans to further improved urban mobility and integrated transport and work to provide more affordable housing. In addition, the Curitiba municipality plans to further promote economic and social developments with environmental controls and sustainability in mind. They will do this through diagnosis, evaluation, and discussion with the community via public hearings and online information sessions. The Curitiba subway system is also in the municipality’s plan for improvement. The current subway system runs parallel to and under the North, South Axis routes to the center of the city, covering a distance of 19km. The subway system can currently accommodate 282 passengers per car with 5 cars per train, totaling to 1,100 passengers. With a traveling speed of 17 km/hour and a max speed of 80 km/hour, traveling the whole system takes around 38 minutes. There are talks to extend this system however there are some concerns over the actual public use of the system.
In addition, to all of this Curitiba is also preparing to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup which will surely test the transportation system.
Many cities/local governments in Asia have been inspired by participatory and strategic planning system of Curitiba and its successful public transport system which makes Curitiba an attractive place to visit.
