Curitiba: Transforming city with bus transit

Curitiba is the capital city of the State of Parana in Southern Brazil. The city is located about 250
kilometers south-west of Sao Paulo. Currently, it has a population of more than 1.8 million (2015)
distributed over an area of about 430 sq.km and a total metropolitan area population of over 3.2 million.

Transportation-land-use integration was adopted early in Curitiba to address the rapid population
growth and to keep the city from becoming an uncontrollable, sprawling metropolis (Parsons
Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc., 1996). In 1964, Curitiba prepared, the “Preliminary Urban Curitiba”,
a plan that evolved over the next 2 years to become the “Curitiba Master Plan”. Parallel to the evolution
of the plan, in 1966, Curitiba created a planning institute , to develop, supervise, monitor, and to
continually update the Master Plan (Karas, 1985). The Master Plan directed Curitiba’s growth along
proposed bus lanes called “Structural Axes”, by creating articulated densities along the corridors.
Curitiba’s integrated transportation system plays an important role in the realisation of this Master Plan.
It is a system of median bus ways along the five “structural axes” complemented by “direct” express
service on parallel arterial roads, and by an extensive feeder bus network.

Transforming City with Bus Transit

The BRT in Curitiba was key in the transition of the city from a radial to a linear model of urban growth.
The transport system is based on the major radial corridors of the city or the “structural axes”. Each of
the structural axes was developed as a “trinary system” comprising three roads. The central road of the
three contains a two-way bus-way that feeds into transfer points called “terminals,” and also provides a
limited number of traffic lanes. Approximately at the distance of one block from each side of the central
bus-way/service road, a one-way traffic road with three or four lanes is developed for use by private
vehicles. Intensive high density land-use development has been permitted and encouraged on the block
between the bus-way and the main traffic roads on either side. This land-use form creates a
concentrated, high demand for transport services along a narrow corridor that can be met efficiently by
a track-based public transport service – the bus-way. The bus-way system along the five structural axes
is only a part of the Curitiba city-wide bus mass transit system. The system, termed the Rede Integrada
de Transporte (RIT – Integrated Transport Network), provides a hierarchy of types of bus service, which
include city bus-ways, inter-district express service and feeder network, all operated under an
integrated tariff system. Curitiba achieved its intended compact development, independent of private
vehicles, using policies and practices in majorly four arenas- land-use planning, public transportation,
parking policies and institutional mechanisms.

Land-use Planning
Several land-use policies emerged in the city which helped to bring out the best of the “trinary road
system”. These included:

• The master plan allows only high-rise (10 to 20 story buildings) and mixed development along the BRT
corridors. Also, large-scale shopping centres are only allowed in transit corridors.

• Land within two blocks of the bus-way has been zoned for mixed commercial-residential uses. Beyond
these two blocks, zoned residential densities taper with distance from the bus-ways. It brings together
various land-uses in walkable areas within short distances from the transit station.
 • The zoning prescribed by the structural axes has a combination of control and incentives. This
includes various bonuses to develop as planned; incentives to transfer development rights; firm control
over location of large scale development (such as large shopping centers); provision of incentives to
developers to increase residential density close to the transit corridors; and development of transit
terminals with a wide range of facilities.

As one move further away from the corridor, buildings become shorter, less dense and lastly it turns
into predominantly residential areas. This land-use planning has led to greater number of people staying
within the first zone and the density gradually decreasing towards the feeder corridors. City planners
took the opportunity to use infrastructure as a tool in dictating the orientation of spatial growth, instead
of taking the more common approach of scrambling to make the infrastructure meet pre-existing
demands.

Public Transportation
The public transportation system (RIT – Integrated Transport Network), provides a hierarchy of types of
bus service, which include city bus-ways, inter-district express service and feeder network, all operated
under an integrated tariff system.

 The bus-way system has been instrumental in driving land-use development and has been
used to stimulate development along the structural axes. The buses run frequently and reliably,
and the stations are convenient, well designed, comfortable, and attractive.
 Travel demand for the bus-way system is generated because in the central business district
(CBD) while traffic access is limited by traffic management, methods bus-ways enter and cross
through it (bus-only access, pedestrianisation, parking controls, etc.).
 The BRTS offers many of the features of a subway system at the low cost of a bus system. This
includes vehicle movements unimpeded by traffic signals and congestion, fare collection prior
to/boarding, quick passenger loading and unloading. To attract passengers, transit stops for
the BRTS was constructed with the look and feel of train station with handicapped access
equipment at all stops.
 The BRTS uses articulated buses that offer higher seating capacity as compared to conventional
buses to avoid the problem of a low drivers to passengers ratio in the city.
 The inter-district express and the bus feeder services integrated into the bus-way attracts
commuters from the suburbs as well as parts of the city not covered in the BRTS network
through interchange terminals and stops.

Parking Policies
Parking policies have assisted in shaping travel demand, particularly to/from the central area in
Curitiba. Some policies are-

 On-street parking is limited in location and duration

 City’s central area is partially closed to vehicular traffic
 Off-street parking is expensive
 Within structural corridors, development must provide off-street parking

Institutional Mechanism
The organisations involved in the implementation of the BRTS are the city government (Curitiba
Municipality); research and urban planning institute (IPPUC); public transportation corporation (URBS)
and private bus operation firms. The inherent structure of the organisations and institutional policies
help the system function efficiently.

 An auxiliary to the city’s executive branch of government, the Curitiba Institute of Urban
Planning and Research – IPPUC (Instituto de Pesquisa e Planejamento Urbano de Curitiba) was
responsible to plan and test solutions. Due to the dual responsibility, new plans were
generated, tested, accepted by the community, and put into practice quickly. The population
began to trust the ideas of the Institute, and this trust has largely been responsible for changes
in the mentality of the city’s inhabitants.
 Work based on the Master Plan in 1965 was financed by the Development Company of Parana
and by the Curitiba municipal government’s Department of Urban Development. Operation of
the bus system is financed completely by bus fares, without any public subsidies. The Inter
American Development Bank, the private sector, and the Municipality of Curitiba financed the
north-south Bi-articulated Bus Line project (approved in 1995).
 The municipal government collects detailed operational information, audits the
implementation and collects income received from the whole system, and pays the operators
for services rendered in real costs. Detailed regulations establish the rights and obligations of
the operating companies, define the faults and penalties, and seek to eliminate waste while
constantly improving the quality of service. This arrangement ensures the fair distribution of
income among operators and prevents unhealthy competition among drivers over specific
routes.
In addition to the land-use-transport sector, Curitiba has also followed enlightened policies on housing,
environment, waste recycling, social matters (particularly for the young), and other initiatives.

 Areas outside the transit corridors are zoned for residential neighbourhoods. Also, public
housing for low-income families are built along the transit ways.
 Single fare system of ticketing subsidises cost of commute for long distances (mostly used by
low-income population residing in the periphery of the city over shorter trips. Besides being
socially just, the system facilitated the implementation of fare integration between different
companies.
 In spite of having the potential to raise funds for a heavy rail or subway, Curitiba built on its
previous bus systems network and developed a BRT system to guide development, and in the
process developing a low-cost public transportation system.

Lessons Learned
Long term vision, strong leadership and flexibility in the plan has lead to the success of TOD in Curitiba.
By utilising the existing corridors for BRT and adopting measures to intensify development along these
corridors, Curitiba established a public transit system at relatively low cost. Through the use of public
transportation and land-use instruments, the local governments effectively directed population growth
to establish compact dense settlements independent of private vehicles.

The decision to rely on buses was perceived as a more flexible and affordable public transport solution
than rail transit for a medium-sized developing city of Curitiba. Both the development of the city and the
bus rapid transit system are the result of policies established over the last 30 years on land-use,
parkway, transit management and operations, and community participation in the city. But, in recent
years Curitiba’s BRT is facing issues due to road accidents, opposition to high fares and thereby decrease
in ridership. URBS, the city agency in charge of managing the system, has failed to adapt to changes in
usage patterns and evolving demographics. Curitiba’s planning method concentrates on the formal city,
not considering the “region”, leaving thousands of low-income residents with no choice but to establish
illegal settlements in the absence of affordable housing. This also makes most of the planning
interventions that Curitiba is known for – public parks and green spaces, pedestrian streets,
preservation of the historic district – inaccessible to many of the suburban (and usually lower income)
residents.

The highest density in Curitiba’s TOD zone is 294 persons/hectare or 93 DUs/hectare indicating to a
household size of 3.1 members. The same density in India translates to 418 persons/hectare. Curitiba
also illustrates the significance of a feeder system to support the main transit system. Clearly, many of
the larger Indian cities already have the densities to sustain a TOD along existing transit corridors. But a
strong last mile connectivity network is lacking in many parts of the country (Mahadevia, Joshi, & Datey,
2013).