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Report n°6: Urban Public Transport

The Transmilenio: an excellent cost-effective solution

In Bogotá, the performances of the integrated bus-based system are quite remarkable: the system provides 900,000 journeys per day. Commercial speed has more than trebled; it has risen from 5/8 km/h to 28 km/h, with the effect of dividing by two the average time spent in public transport which is now some 35 minutes, an excellent performance in a conurbation of that size. Commercial speed has been accompanied by very high frequency, particularly during the rush hour, when vehicles have a very short headway since as many as two or three buses can be observed per minute in each direction.

Another remarkable observation is the relationship between this efficacy, the success it has generated and the cost of the system: some 500 articulated buses were bought for $100 million, the exclusive right-of-way cost a little under $220 million for 42 km, i.e. an average cost of $5.5 million per km, which is to be compared with the 20 to 25 million per km for a French tramline! Equipment and infrastructure for the "TransMilenio", not counting re-use of what was already there, cost an average of 8 million per kilometre for 40 km and 60 stations, i.e. 20% of the cost in Europe for the commissioning of one kilometre of exclusive right-of-way for a tramline.

What appears even more extraordinary to European eyes is that the "TransMilenio" runs at the risk and peril of its operators, at a very low fare price even in comparison with average earnings. A passenger doing a round trip daily six days a week, using individually bought tickets, would spend $17 per month, for an income of $285, i.e. 6% of the monthly budget, a figure which is close to what prevails in western Europe. It must be said that the absence of any alternative to public transport for 70 to 80% of the Colombian population has ensured ridership proportionate to the amount spent on upgrading, by modal shift from walking, inefficient individual transport and lack of mobility for part of the population who were deprived of any access to the conurbation's labour market. In other words, this means that the public transport system plays a social role of paramount importance since it opens almost the entire labour market and urban resources to a low-income population at an accessible price. In terms of comfort, the gain in accessibility which can be evaluated at one hour per day, is to be related to an 8 to 10 hour working day, to which had to be added 2 to 3 hours travelling time. This means that the duration of the working day and commuting time has been reduced by 8 to 10%.

In a developing country, this is a social and economic issue of the first order which furthermore makes no concession to environmental considerations despite their importance in a conurbation located at an altitude of over 2,500 metres where the effects of carbon dioxide at ground level are high because of the low oxygen content of the air. Measures made in Bogotá show a reduction of nearly 40% in atmospheric pollution, because of the reduction in road traffic and traffic jams. The modal shift of the private car to public transport was evaluated at 10% of the "TransMilenio's" ridership (which does not of course mean the road traffic has been reduced by 10%).

In view of the efficiency and profitability of the BRT system, the city has made plans, which will be implemented progressively, to provide a full network of close on 400 km exclusive right-of-way to service over 6 million trips per day.

The amount of traffic carried by Bogotá's BRT is a source of astonishment for European city authorities; it transported 900,000 passengers in 2003. The capacity of Bogotá's exclusive right-of-way is comparable to that of a dedicated track for an intensively used tramline, or even that of a metro line, with 30 to 40,000 passengers in each direction at peak times. This implies, as we have already mentioned, very high frequency of passage, up to 4 passages per minute and per direction for articulated vehicles each of which takes 160 passengers. This very high capacity rests of course on the availability of a great number of vehicles and drivers.

This model of intensive service provided by bus with exclusive right-of-way was designed and progressively tested in Curitiba, Brazil, over 40 years ago, closely connected to territorial planning favourable to the construction of lines structuring a bus network. The Bogotá model, limited to the sole issue of travel and the use of public space, is a model that can be exported. It can be useful for cities in developing countries or Latin America, also in Asia, but could be as useful in industrialised countries, in particular in the United States and Canada, e.g. Los Angeles, Ottawa and Toronto, New Delhi (India) and Santiago (Chile), which already have metro lines but are considering or already constructing BRTs. The difference between the cities in developing and developed countries is of course their degree of affluence, but the resources required for the construction of metro or regional rail networks (RER) in an economic context where public finances are already strained are such that in the final analysis, financial considerations are more closely related than would appear initially. There are several other characteristics which are common to all these cities: morphology and in particular the existence of urban road corridors, a medium degree of density, which are strong points in favour of BRT pertinence, and in particular an excellent cost-of-investment to service-provided ratio.