Looking forward

Bus Rapid Transit: End of trend in Latin America?

“…Innovation and technology will play a significant role in the next generations of bus systems (Munoz and Paget-Seekins, 2016). One critical concern is the use of diesel buses, which despite advances in emission control technologies, are not considered green.…”

“…There is still a large potential, and eventual need, for new implementations and growth of existing systems. Very importantly, BRT corridors should be considered part of multimodal integrated mass transit networks, not isolated systems by themselves (Munoz and Paget-Seekins, 2016). Political debates between transit alternatives have affected new implementation and expansion of transit services, with negative impacts on cities.…”

“…Data of BRT across Latin America and five short case studies, conducted across Curitiba, Quito, Bogotá, Mexico City and Santiago, are then used to find elements that created problems in expanding and maintaining systems in these cities. The selected cities have been recognized as very relevant in the development of BRT (Levinson et al, 2003; Munoz and Paget-Seekins, 2016): Curitiba has been regarded as the first to implement large-scale bus corridors; Quito was the first city outside Brazil that replicated the BRT; Bogotá was the first very high-capacity BRT; Mexico City has shown continued expansion over two decades; and Santiago is a relevant case study on large-scale transit transformation, including bus corridors. The information from global studies and the selected case studies is then used to discuss the technical, financial, institutional, and political elements that may be preventing the evolution of BRT.…”

“…Multiple reviews regard BRT and its European counterpart, Buses of High Level of Service (BHLS), as innovative concepts to complement rail systems in large cities or provide the backbone of public transport in medium-sized and small cities (Levinson et al, 2003; Wright and Hook, 2007; Diaz and Hinnebaug, 2009; Finn et al, 2011; Hidalgo and Gutiérrez, 2013; Munoz and Paget-Seekins, 2016). BRT has been showcased as an alternative to improve mobility, reduce harmful emissions, and improve access to low-income areas (Carrigan et al, 2014; Venter et al, 2018).…”

“…Most of the growth in implementing such systems occurred in the last 20 years. This type of bus systems has become a new way of providing medium and high-capacity transit (Munoz and Paget-Seekins, 2016), and is bringing mobility, environmental, social, and road safety benefits to the cities in which they have been implemented. Nevertheless, BRTs have also faced important difficulties worldwide, such as problems during roll-out (Lindau et al, 2014), persistent congestion, and low user ratings.…”