5 things the public transport sector has learned from 50 years of BRT

The world’s first BRT was actually meant to be a metro. But in 1974, Jaime Lerner, architect and then-mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, decided that the city could get more bang for its buck with a bus network. But how do you “metro-ise” the bus?

To celebrate 50 years of BRT, public transport professionals from all over the world joined UITP’s seminar in Curitiba to celebrate the city’s innovations that inspired nearly 200 cities around the globe to implement BRT.

During the seminar, participants took part in division meetings, discovered insights in six sessions, heard from both the current and incoming mayors of Curitiba, and got a behind-the-scenes look into the BRT networks of Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba.

Here are just five things that we learned during the UITP international BRT seminar:

Brazil is still showing the world how to make BRT a success. During a technical visit, participants heard Rio de Janiero’s story; one which shows that investment and political will can get things done. Rio’s public transport network serves some 6 million people, but after the inauguration of the BRT system in 2014 it began to decline. By March 2021, 46 stations had closed and the fleet size had declined by 70%.

A new administration under Mobi-Rio and $400 million later, and the BRT is back to serving the city’s people. Today, just over 520,000 daily passengers travel on any of the BRT’s four corridors, as explained by Maina Celidonio, Secretary of Transport for the City of Rio de Janeiro. What’s more, the BRT network has even improved upon 2019 ridership levels, which is not the case everywhere.

“Curitiba is a lighthouse of good ideas and innovation”, said Ilana Lerner, Director of the Jaime Lerner Institute and daughter of the famed mayor. It was the case when the BRT launched in 1974, and it still is the case today.

“It’s not just a vehicle, it’s the philosophy of the city”, noted UITP Secretary General Mohamed Mezghani. The BRT’s structured lines “directed the growth of the city”, sparking employment corridors and high-density residential housing. In short, a people-first approach to get the city moving, not one that puts vehicles first.

Demand for efficient and quality urban public transport like BRT is growing, and it knows no borders. Richele Cabral from Semove told participants that there are 26 ongoing BRT projects in Brazil and more than 50 in the planning or proposal stages.

And in the Asia-Pacific region, Bertrand Goalou from the Asian Development Bank shared how BRTs, metros, and LRTs across the region will increase in network length more between 2020-2030 than between 2000-2020. Essentially, the world’s future promises more and more rapid urban transport like BRT.

Discover the seminar presentations (members only)

Jaime Lerner pioneered BRT out of the desire to build a high-capacity metro system, but without having the necessary investment to do so. That need still drives cities around the world today, given that BRT presents a significant time and financial advantage. Romain Bonifay, the Director of Projects for ARTM, pointed out that in Canada a new BRT system can take just three years from planning to launch.

And it’s not just the speed to construct BRT – CEO of Sarawak Metro Mazli bin Mustaffa stated that Kuching’s new hydrogen-powered ART will go as fast as 70km/h. That makes BRT rapid, not to mention high-capacity. Zeynep Pınar Mutlu, the Deputy General Manager – İETT in Turkey, shared how fleet upgrades mean that each double-articulated bus can carry 270 passengers instead of 180.

The future of BRT is always evolving. While Curitiba was the first city to implement BRT, nearly 200 have followed. Along the way, public transport professionals create efficiencies – and it’s at events like the seminar in Brazil where we can learn from each other’s insights. It is also where we honour innovations, with awards several members and participants such as the event’s hosts CWBus.

For instance, Bogotá’s Transmilenio is a famous example of BRT. And Claudia Puentes, the regulator’s Deputy Business Manager, shared an amazing statistic: compared to 1999, Transmilenio now runs twice as many trips using under half the fleet. Integration with other modes of transport, a focus on connecting informal neighbourhoods, and a positive public-private-partnership have all been key to Transmilenio’s success – and to the BRT claiming a 34% modal share.

BRT will continue to be important to hundreds of cities and millions of people across the world. And as Renée Amilcar, UITP President, said in her speech at the event: