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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Transit_ion



Building Rapid Transit infrastructure is arguably, one of those most overlooked and contentious urban planning issues,which can prove to be quite disastrous for the growth of a city.The lack of a reliable transit is even more fatal for the developing countries, which are struggling with high rates of  poverty, population growth and have to deal with the problem of accommodating millions of commuters entrapped in the frustrated and desperate need of getting to and from work.

 On the contrary, all of the developed countries (excluding the United States where the historic emphasis has been on building highways instead of rapid transit) recognize the importance of an efficient, sustainable, fast and reliable public transit system which should cater to people from all  financial, social and cultural backgrounds.  The environmental benefits of public transport are numerous.There is a viral picture (below) going rounds on internet about an experiment conducted in Germany demonstrating the space required to transport 60 people via cars, bus and bikes.










The answers to these questions were provided by the Mayor of Curitiba, Brazil in 1972. Mayor Jaime Lerner, came up with the brilliant idea of developing Bus Rapid Transit System(BRTS). Lerner, who had a background in Architecture and urban planning, brought his expertise to his rapidly growing city. He accommodated growth without the usual repercussions associated with it, such as sprawl and congestion. Since then his ideas have been applied from Bogota to Mexico City to Istanbul. "Bus rapid transit is the name given to sophisticated bus systems that have their own lanes on city streets. These systems use bus stations instead of bus stops, a design feature that allows passengers to pay before boarding the bus. This allows for faster, more orderly boardings,similar to those of metro or light rail systems."


The main reasons why cities are opting for BRTS are its cost-effectiveness and convenience while being user-friendly and green. Building a heavy rail system, like subway costs 10 times more than the BRTS whereas, the Light Rail Transit found in most European countries mounts up to 4 times more than the estimated costs of the BRTS. Also, BRTS can be installed in just 2 years whereas subways can take up to ten years to build. A short video below explains the operating costs of various transit options.

Perhaps, the biggest challenge transit planners will face is how to make the affluent classes (which are owners of 90 percent of the single occupancy vehicles in the developing world) use the public transport. The car owners in developing world consider it a taboo to travel on public transport and people who do use it feel humiliated due to their lower social class.  The challenge here is to make people use the public transport without feeling bad about themselves or those around them.This transition is what will be the hardest to achieve in my opinion.  This challenge was also voiced by the  ex-mayor of Bogota, Enrique Penalosa, in his tweet that went viral and gave us one of the most insightful quote about urban transit planning. Following is that tweet, translated into English,