How to Improve Mass Transit Systems

This article was also published in Portafolio

Over the past 20 years, Colombia has made significant strides in implementing efficient urban transport systems. For more than to decades, the country has implemented several public policies and novel economic and operating models that have helped honor some of the outstanding debts with its cities, especially in terms of the reorganization of public transport and ending the “cent war.”

Since the creation of the National Urban and Mass Transport Policy in 2003, the government has focused on streamlining various privately-operated projects yielding deficient service levels and high environmental and social impacts. Included in the policy are two strategies toward solving the urban transport issue. The first consists in the deployment of the Integrated Mass Transport System (SITM) in cities with more than 600,000 inhabitants, while the second aims to improve transport in cities with fewer residents through the Strategic Public Transport System (SETP), which is intended to improve service and implement a series of traffic management measures. The plan was inspired by the experience with SITM Transmilenio, which started operations in Bogotá in December 2000, and operated using the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme.

The challenges facing Colombia are also shared by many countries in the region. Every day, some 20.5 million people across 55 Latin American cities use the BRT systems, representing 63.6 percent of users worldwide. Such transport systems have proven to boost the quality of life of people in cities, as well as establish a relationship between land use and mixed and balanced urban development and provide a real opportunity to integrate with other more sustainable modes. Beyond their economic, social and environmental contributions, organized urban transport systems open up the possibility of planning urban development and mobility in an integrated way.

While much progress has been made in recent years, public transport systems in Colombia and Latin America continue to face challenges in their quality of service, coverage and accessibility. Overcoming this historical deficit is essential, considering that people are at the center of any public policy on urban mobility. Efficient transport systems are essential for mobility and have a positive impact on the quality of life of their users. In addition, improving public transport is crucial to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing sustainable living conditions.

In addition to building infrastructure, Colombia’s cities face the task of strengthening their institutions, optimizing their processes and improving coordination with other partner entities. Officials are also yet to work out certain kinks toward network integration, including physical integration with the other components of the system, e.g. buses, subways and cable cars, as well as and fare schemes. Additionally, it is necessary to align city planning and land-use practices with integrated development of sustainable mobility, while maintaining mass transport as the backbone of urban areas. Once the system is built, the resources needed for the operation and maintenance of the infrastructure must be guaranteed, always being aware of the difficulty of achieving the system’s self-sustainability, but also relying on alternative sources and funding, such as real estate value capture, demand management tools and other non-fare-related income.

To that end, in addition to funding Bogotá’s SITM Phase 2—including its backbone, the SITM Suba Ave. project—and Phase 3, which centers around 26th St. and 10th Ave., CAF has provided $70 billion toward the deployment of Montería’s SETP project, whose total cost is calculated at $150 million.

New technological breakthroughs emerge rapidly and the region’s cities will need to prepare to seek novel financing instruments and renewable energy sources, as well as replace fleets in favor of less polluting vehicles, promote the development of information and geolocation systems, manage demand, capture land value, and implement passive and active safety elements to improve road safety and the development of micro-mobility and non-traditional modes. Such are necessary elements to improve urban transport services and the quality of life of citizens.