The Rio's transport legacy: pre- and post-Games resident perceptions

Abstract

PurposeThe Rio 2016 Olympic Games required a significant investment in the public transport systems, connecting four city's areas and providing different types of impacts and legacies for their hosts. The purpose of this paper is to examine resident perceptions of the public transportation issues in the Rio host city before and after the Games. Key factors underpinning transportation issue outcomes are identified.Design/methodology/approachData were collected among Rio local residents by using a pre-Games (n = 504) and post-Games design (n = 421). The cross-sectional and longitudinal data were assessed at both time periods. An exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors, and a confirmatory factor analysis analysed the psychometric properties of the constructs proposed. Subsequently, MANOVA and a series of ANOVA tests (one-way and paired samples) were performed to analyse the differences in perceptions before and after the Games.FindingsResults revealed a five-factor model of public transportation issues perceived: planning, infrastructure, insecurity, information and urban mobility. Resident perceptions for four factors (planning, infrastructure, insecurity, urban mobility) increased from pre- to post-Games, meaning that they have a more negative perspective about those issues. In contrast, the findings suggested an improvement in public transport information perceived between the period before and after the Games.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the academic literature related to discussing the Olympic legacy by providing evidence of how hosting the Olympics may lead to social exchange with negative outcomes on transport legacy. The findings of this study can be used as valuable information for future event organizers, local authorities and governments.

Does the Olympic legacy perceived in the host city influence the resident support after the games?

“…Evaluation of transport legacy. This construct included a 15-item scale proposed by Ribeiro and Almeida (2020) to assess the transport structural legacy in Rio de Janeiro due to the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Transport legacies were measured using five constructs: planning, infrastructures, insecurity, information, and urban mobility.…”

“…Although second-order modelling was used in prior studies to examine these relationships among constructs (Rocha et al 2017, Ma andKaplanidou 2017), the transport legacy on each dimension perceived may vary. For example, aspects of infrastructures and urban mobility may be more strongly associated with resident quality of life (Ribeiro and Almeida 2020). Thus, further research should be conducted to explore the impact of each construct in the model of support for sport mega-events.…”

Host city transportation issues: conceptualization, scale development, and validation

“…First, they extend earlier studies in transport planning (e.g., Pereira, 2018) by providing evidences that the perception of residents in host cities is influenced by transportation issues in those host cities. Similar to Cheng and Jarvis (2010) in Singapore, and Ribeiro and Almeida (2020) in Brazil, the host residents evaluated the transportation issues above their initial expectations, resulting in an imbalance in the social exchanges. In addition, the raised importance of this concept within the Olympic lexicon has become a key component of the bid and planning process of the Games (Kassens-Noor, 2013).…”

“…As a result, it is important that event hosts consider risk management strategies including creating Olympic Intelligence Centers to monitor information and coordinate responses, forming international Olympic Security task forces to share information between nations, increasing the use of digital surveillance (Kassens-Noor and Fukushige, 2016), and implementing robots to prevent unauthorized access. With regards to available information at the host city, LOC's should promote press releases and public information measures to better inform the local communities, such as train the civilian guards about transport services and how to use language services while offering free Internet access at public transport stations (Ribeiro and Almeida, 2020). Moreover, actively promoting social media sites throughout the year may help engage local residents and promote the communication about the transport system changes.…”

“…In addition, our sample is skewed toward young, and high-education-level people of the city, when compared to the Brazilian population. Further research should explore larger samples that represent participants from different regions of the city and include the non-host resident perspective (Ribeiro and Almeida, 2020).…”