The president of URBS (Urbanização de Curitiba SA), Mr. Gregorio Roberto da Silva Jr., outlined the challenges facing the transport system of this Brazilian city, pioneer in BRT systems.

He talked about the integration of urban planning and transport as their structural approach that will culminate in the revitalization of green areas with the creation of the Linha Verde (old highway BR-116 that divided the city into two).

Some of the challenges mentioned were:

• Better integration between authorities and private transport companies;
• Tariff modeling: both in the implementation of different pricing schemes, and in terms of the share of cost and revenue with the private companies.
• Implementation of underground Metro and all that it involves (mode integration, tariff schemes, etc…)

In addition, some pilot initiatives that are taking place such as Brazil Green Light were exposed. It consists of transmitting the traffic light phase (green / red) and its duration to a device installed on the bus, so the driver can adjust the vehicle speed, and thus improving safety, average speeds and reducing route time and fuel consumption.

The conference took place in Citram, held by Regional Transport Consortium of Madrid (CRTM) last May 6th.

Diadro has great experience in transportation projects in Brazil (check here some examples), and in BRT projects, such as Demand study for the COSAC system, Lima (Peru)