2010 Sustainable Transport Award Nominations

Headline

Cali improves city’s livability by implementing a revolutionary mass transit system

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Reasons for Nomination

Mainly, the development of the MIO system as the backbone of a mass transit system for the entire city is a development which has improved citizens’ livability enormously by reducing their travel times and providing them door-to-door services with a top-of-the-line BRT with trunk, trunk-feeder and regular feeder services. The MIO system is part of a broader plan called the Territorial Ordainment Plan, which emphasizes mass (and thus public) transit over private vehicles. The MIO has also been designed as a fully integrated public transport system for the entire city (SITM) rather than a main or complementary public transport mode. Also, the full SITM is planned to have 100% coverage, and was chosen over an LRT system that had been proposed in the early 2000s which would only cover 20% and was expected to have a much higher fare than the current MIO. The MIO system is complemented by TDM measures such as a plate restriction from 7-10am and from 5-10pm.

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Impact and significance

The newly inaugurated MIO system doesn’t have measurable indicators of improved livability, but it serves 110,000 trips daily which is 46% of the public transport demand of the city (as reference, TransMilenio’s 84 kms serve 19% of public transport demand in Bogotá). Plans for 2010 are to cover 100% of the public transport demand in the city. The system has raised commercial speed of public transport to 30 km / h, and has a maximum headway of 4 mins between vehicles. It also uses Euro III technology engines in its buses, and its 18 meter buses can carry 145 passengers (5 people per square meters, compared to Pereira’s and Bogotá’s standards of 4 and 6 respectively). Regarding the regular buses that were scrapped by the implementation of the system, 2019 vehicles leaving the system were “exchanged” for 470 incoming vehicles for the system. This significantly reduced emissions and improved the efficiency and road space availability for the entire city and its transport system as a whole. In future, the system is expected to be complemented by cablecar services to the hilly sections of the city. A significant characteristic of the MIO system is that it has been a product of lessons learned from local experiences such as Bogotá and Pereira’s but also of international examples which have found new ways of providing a high quality service in mass transit. The existence of 3 types of services is a testimony of such improvements.

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Transferability

The process undertaken by the city in implementing a full and integrated transport system, the difficulties that were overcome during the planning process, and the success in planning, designing and implementing a system in a city where people did not believe this could happen are useful. Specifically, the implementation of three types of services (trunk, trunk-feeder and regular feeder) is most useful for many cities to take a look. Also, the creation of a new organization to manage the system was a huge step forward and should be shown to others in the process of planning a BRT system.

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Background

The oversupply of public transport vehicles (previously 23,156 buses, 46% over what was actually needed), the war of the cent, high accident rates and inefficiency of the system are described by the planners of the system as the main obstacles that were overcome when developing this system. Confronting a “public transport mafia” and making them part of the new system was also a huge step in implementing the MIO and SITM. A complex problem that was overcome was a contractual issue with the technology providers which delayed startup of operations for some months. An interesting issue was that operations were provided for free during the first 4 months of operation.

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Supplementary web links

http://www.metrocali.gov.co/

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Nomination Comments

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