Urban Mobility Observatory to incorporate several Bolivian cities

(La Paz, September 05, 2011). CAF –Latin American development bank– presented the first Urban Mobility Observatory (UMO) in Latin America and the Caribbean to the municipal and national authorities and representatives of international cooperation agencies and universities of La Paz and Santa Cruz. This is an initiative of CAF’s that came about so that countries might have access to solid, reliable, and updated information on the transportation and mobility sector.

“Public transportation systems are key elements that define the dynamics of urban development. For that reason, mobility in cities becomes a determining factor for economic productivity and the quality of life of the populations,” stated Emilio Uquillas, CAF’s director in Bolivia.

He further commented that, with the UMO, CAF offers a tool that will allow persons responsible for urban transportation in each municipality to learn about the best practices and good policies being implemented in large and medium-size metropolitan areas in the region and also about experiences in other countries that are not recommended.

At the encounter of national and local authorities and representatives of other related agencies, information was given on the method of analysis used to determine the mobility of persons in cities and on proposals that exist in order to continue working in the future. “Through the Mobility Observatory, CAF complements efforts with technical support for the conceptualization, design, and implementation of investment projects for the development of urban transportation systems,” added Uquillas.

The first phase of the work performed by the UMO consists of information for 15 metropolitan areas in nine countries of the region. In gathering the data, account was taken of 11 variables, among them: socioeconomic data, infrastructure, mobility, public transportation, fares, energy, and pollution. The workshop for presenting the UMO was attended by Vice-minister for Transportation Edwin Marañón, who proposed that, in addition to La Paz and Santa Cruz, other department capitals be included in the CAF Observatory, in particular, the municipality of Cochabamba, bearing in mind that it is also a metropolitan city that already has traffic and congestion problems.

Also present were Eduardo Vasconcellos, a Brazilian urban transport and road safety consultant, and Nicolás Estupiñan, CEO of CAF’s Office of the Director for South Region Analysis and Sectorial Programming.

René Chávez, the person responsible for La Paz Municipality’s Mobility and Transportation Program, explained that this municipality was already taking steps for CAF’s UMO to include the metropolis of La Paz in its second phase.

Data

The cities that took part in the first phase were: Buenos Aires (Argentina); Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (Brazil); Santiago (Chile); Bogotá (Colombia); San José (Costa Rica); Mexico City, Guadalajara and León (Mexico); Lima (Peru); Montevideo (Uruguay); and Caracas (Venezuela). The cities proposed by CAF for inclusion in the Observatory during the second phase are: Brasilia, Fortaleza and Recife (Brazil); La Paz and Santa Cruz (Bolivia); Pereira (Colombia); Quito (Ecuador); San Salvador (El Salvador); Panama City (Panama); and Asunción (Paraguay).

Some facts

The studies performed by the UMO reveal a number of interesting facts, for example that, out of the large metropolitan areas considered, Lima (Peru) seems to be the one that has the most complex supply of public transportation and is also the one that faces the most difficult conditions.

They also reveal that nearly 214 million trips a day are made in the metropolitan areas, most of them on foot (28%) or using public transportation (43%). In some metropolitan areas, the use of automobiles is high, such as in Buenos Aires and São Paulo. In the public transport segment, buses and microbuses meet most of the demand (68 million trips a day), followed by subways (14 million trips a day). Every day, rides on the major means of transportation consume some 45 million liters of gasoline and alcohol and 13 million liters of diesel.

The UMO is an analysis tool that makes it possible to:

• Identify the main characteristics of transportation and the urban areas it serves.
• Improve our understanding of how transport relates to accessibility, mobility, and urban development.
• Improve the capacity of local bodies involved in decision-making with regard to investment, production, and social control when it comes to formulating and implementing urban transportation policy.
• Promote the exchange of information and good practices among transportation systems and their cities.
• Orient debates on the subject and permit the participation of relevant actors.
• Act as a catalyst for support actions to allow cities to finance projects and strengthen their capacities.
• Establish regional cooperation networks of professionals, authorities, associations, and users.