Curitiba's Integrated Transit Network

Contact: Maria do Rocio Rosário
 
IPPUC (Instituto de Pesquisa e Planejamento Urbano de Curitiba)
Urbanizaçaõ de Curitiba (URBS)
ICLEI case study

The City of Curitiba, Brazil, began addressing the challenge of rapid growth in the 1960s. In stark contrast to many other Latin American cities at the time, however, Curitiba's transportation plan did not call for highways and the dismantling of neighbourhoods. Instead, it integrated transportation and land use planning: growth was directed to designated corridors that would be well served by public transit.

Arterial roads containing public transit rights-of-way were complemented by high-density zoning. Today, these arterial roads cover 60 kilometres and are met at terminals by 300 kilometres of bus feeder lines. In total, the Integrated Transportation Network (RIT) between Curitiba and its surrounding area covers 900 kilometres of routes in eight municipalities. But the user pays only a single fare on this system. This "social fare" means that shorter trips pay for longer trips, reaching low-income people in the suburbs. The system is entirely financed by these fares and without any subsidies. A 1990 laws dictates that revenues can only be used to pay for the system. This avoids fare inflation.

Urbanizaçaõ de Curitiba, a public/private company, runs all aspects of the system. The buses themselves are owned and operated by 16 private companies that are not paid per passenger but per kilometre. Through municipal laws governing bus maintenance, and through subway-like station design, the system is fast and clean.

Today, despite Curitiba's metropolitan population having reached 2.3 million, and the city having one of highest car ownership rates in Brazil, 1.9 million passengers use system daily. Curitiba has the highest public transit ridership of any Brazilian city.

Other initiatives complement Curitiba's bus system. These include: a pedestrian and a bicycle path network; incentives to preserve greenspace; preservation of historic neighbourhoods; and recycling and garbage collection programs.

Curitiba's transportation system was the first of its kind in the world and remains one of the only to link public transit to land use regulations. It has since been replicated in numerous other cities around the world including Quito and Bogotá. A US FTA pilot program for 10 American cities is based on Curitiba´s system.