Modelling for performance measurement of bus rapid transit systems in Brazil

Abstract

Urban transit has a significant role in the recent social, economic and cultural society evolution, and it is one of the activities of greatest importance and concern in relation to urban administration and planning, since the issue involves more than half of the world's population. Considering the troubling situation of urban transportation, various activities have been planned to improve the conditions of urban mobility for bus rapid transit (BRT) systems. The responsible for these systems need tools capable of proactively indicate the operational conditions. The aim of this study is to propose a model for measuring the performance of BRT transportation in Brazil that assists administrators in the efficient management of the system, by using concepts that can indicate the competitiveness level in the sector. The instrument was applied to analyse the situation of 12 Brazilian cities with more than one million inhabitants that have BRT systems. It was found that the city of Curitiba has the system with the best installed conditions in the country, and whose evaluation was considered 'satisfactory', followed by Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Sao Paulo, with an acceptable reliability level.