(Editor's Note: The TransMilenio Bus Raipid
Transit system in Bogota, Colombia's capital, will celebrate its first birthday in
December, and ridership already is outstripped planners' projections. Dario Hildaig
TransMilenio's deputy general manage supplied the facts and figures cited below.)
By George G. Wynne
Director, International Programs
In only three years, the TransMilenio Bus Rapid Transit system of Bogota, the capital
of Colombia, has progressed from the blueprint stage to operations that serve the five
million commuters and residents of the metropolitan area. The system entered revenue
service last December.
From 18,000 riders on its first day service-Dec. 18, 2000-the BRT service currently
carries almost 600,000 passengers each weekday, and daily ridership expected to top
800,000 early next year. This enormous ridership means the TransMilenio is one of the
world's largest BRT systems, second only to Curitiba, Brazil, which started the trend
son40 years ago and now transports about 1.3 million passengers daily.
TransMilenio is a public/private system, designed for operation by private contractors
under government oversight, using 470 Volvo and Mercedes articulated buses and 300
standard feeder bus built in Brazil and assembled in Colombia. As of mid-October, 364 of
tl160-passenger articulated buses were service; the vehicles cost an average $200,000
each. The standard feeder bus can carry up to 80 passengers, and come with strict
operational and environmental requirements.
The system runs without any operating subsidy from public authorities TransMilenio is
designed for 100 percent farebox recovery. Given that it is privately operated, any
increase in revenue from expanding passenger totals goes the operators. Likewise, if costs
increase demand declines, the private operate are required to absorb the risks and losses.
The national and city governments are covering capital investments only.
According to Deputy General Manager Dario Hidalgo, demand for the service is now higher
than anticipated, and is expected to reach more than 800,000 every working day by the
first quarter of next year. "Hence, farebox recovery might be over 100 percent,"
he noted.
TransMilenio is comprised of four components: specialized infrastructure, efficient
operations, advanced billeting, and a new institution for system planning, development,
and control. Public institutions provide infrastructure, planning, and control, while
operations and billeting are contracted out to private companies.
The system's infrastructure includes exclusive bus lanes based on the Curitiba model
designed for trunk line services, roads for feeder buses, stations, and complementary
facilities, with an average investment of $8 million (U.S.) per mile. Trunk buses use
central lanes of existing streets, longitudinally segregated from the general traffic. The
system is complemented with integrated feeder buses on local streets.
Stations of the trunk lines are closed facilities, located in the median at an average
distance of 500 meters. They have from one to three berths and vary from40 meters to 180
meters in length. The system also includes pedestrian access infrastructure (sidewalks,
plazas, over-passes), as well as bus maintenance and parking facilities.
Express and local service trunk lines are used to maximize service supply. Ex-press
services stop at selected stations only, providing fast service to users and better use of
the fleet, while local services stop at all stations. This combination al-lows the system
to carry up to 45,000 passengers per hour per direction.
Private providers carry out system operation, with strict conditions set forth through
concession contracts with centralized control. Transmilenio operators are consortia of
traditional local transport companies, associated with national and international
investors that own the buses and hire drivers and maintenance personnel. Concessions were
awarded through open bidding processes and payment related to the route kilometers served
by each operator.
The billeting system is also privately operated. It includes production and
distribution of smart cards and acquisition and installation of turnstiles and validating
systems, passenger information, and money handling. A concession contract was awarded
through an open bidding process. The money collected from card sales is deposited in a
trust fund, which has the mandate to pay the operators according to the rules set forth in
the concession contracts.
To assure operations and work out is-sues of expansion and maintenance, the system
created a new public company known as TransMilenio S.A. Its structure is very small, given
that it performs its charter through third parties, and its operation is funded with 3
percent of the ticket sales and-ancillary activities.
TransMilenio S.A. operates a control center that allows service and passenger access
supervision. Each articulated bus is equipped with a Global Positioning Satellite system
and a processing unit that reports its location every six seconds. The control center also
receives information from turnstiles that report the number of passengers entering and
leaving the system. Supply of buses and service demand are then coordinated, and
contingencies managed in real time.
Starting from Scratch
As recently as January 1998, the components required to initiate the TransMilenio
system did not exist. A project for immediate implementation was not available, and no
existing institution was capable to put the plan into effect.
System implementation required de-tailed technical, legal, and financial design;
creation of a new public entity in charge of system planning, development, and control;
overcoming resistance to change from traditional operators and small bus owners;
development of the infrastructure; contracting and starting up the operation; and
earmarking local and national funds for system expansion.
After three years of preparation, the system entered operation on Dec. 18, 2000. As of
early October 2001, the system was pro-viding 540,000 paid trips per weekday in23 miles of
exclusive lanes, with 54 stations 364 articulated buses, and 110 feeder buses. System
productivity is very high: nine passengers per mile, 1,807 passengers per day per bus, and
201 miles per day per bus.
Goal achievement became evident after just five months of operation, when TransMilenio
reported a 93 percent reduction in fatalities from traffic accidents; a 40 percent drop in
some air pollutants; a 32 percent decline in travel time for users; passenger acceptance
level of 88 percent; and ticket cost equivalent to 36 cents U.S. without operating
subsidies.
By the end of the first quarter of7002, daily ridership is estimated at more than
800,000 in 26 miles of exclusive lanes, 62 stations (including four terminal and three
intermediate integration stations), 470 articulated buses, and 300 feeder buses. The
system will be gradually expanded to 22 corridors covering 242.5 miles of exclusive lanes,
planned for implementation in a 15 -year span. Work on the first 7.5 miles of the
expansion is expected to begin early next year; bids for operators are now open, and
Hidalgo said he expects that 210 additional articulated buses will be needed to move an
additional 200,000 passengers daily.
TransMilenio is based upon, but goes far beyond, the successful experiences of the
Brazilian cities of Curitiba, Porto Alegre, and Goiania, and Quito, Ecuador. The system
incorporates advanced technologies for billeting and control, and a sustainable private
participation scheme.
The city government and TransMilenio are organizing an International Seminar on the
theme of "TransMilenio: The Experience of Bogota" scheduled for Nov. 14 to 16.
Colombian national and local government agencies and private companies that have been
involved in the planning and realization of the project will make presentations on each
activity that was needed to create this new mass transit system. Simultaneous translation
into and from English will be available. For more information, contact Hidalgo by e-mail
at dario-hidaigo@transmilenio.gov.com.
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