IDES3221-2011: August 2009

Extracted from Wikipedia:

The city of Curitiba, capital of the state of Paraná in Brazil, is considered to have one of the best examples of urban planning worldwide. Its 1968 Master Plan proposed the Trinary Road System, which uses two one-way streets moving in opposite directions which surround a smaller, two-lane street where the express buses run on dedicated lanes. Five of these roads form a star that converges on the city centre. In 2007 Curitiba was listed among the "15 Green Cities" in the world.

Curitiba's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system uses enclosed platform stations that allow easier entry and exit of passengers into the double-articulated buses (270 passengers capacity). Passengers pay as they enter the stations, so there is no need to pay inside the bus, speeding up the service. Once inside the "fare-paid area" passengers can interchange to other services at no extra cost. Rapid boarding and alighting is facilitated by step-plates which bridge the gap between the platform and the bus once it has docked.

One survey showed that the introduction of the BRT reduced about 27 million car trips per year, saving about 27 million liters of fuel annually. 28% of BRT riders previously traveled by car.

Compared to eight other Brazilian cities of its size, Curitiba uses about 30% less fuel per capita, resulting in one of the lowest rates of ambient air pollution in the country.

Today about 1,100 buses make 12,500 trips every day, serving more than 1.3 million passengers, 50 times the number from 20 years ago. Eighty percent of travelers use the express or direct bus services. Best of all, Curitibanos spend only about 10 percent of their income on travel, much below the national average.