Rede Integrada de Transporte

History

Public transportation in Curitiba has over one hundred years of history. The first system was a tram pulled by a mule during the imperial time in 1887. From 1910, Curitiba grew faster, so in 1912 an electrical tram replaced the mule-tracked one.

By the 1960s, Curitiba's population ballooned to 430,000, and some residents feared that the growth in population threatened to drastically change the character of the city.

In 1964, Mayor Ivo Arzua solicited proposals for urban design. Jaime Lerner, who later became mayor, led a team from the Universidade Federal do Paraná that suggested a reduction of private vehicle traffic in the downtown area and a convenient and affordable public transit system. The plan also sought to concentrate development along the bus routes to maximise the benefit of the high capacity system.

This plan, known as the Curitiba Master Plan, was adopted in 1968. Lerner closed 15 November Street to vehicles, because it had very high pedestrian traffic. The plan had a new road design to minimize traffic: the Trinary Road System. This uses two one-way streets moving in opposite directions which surround a smaller, two-lane street where the express buses have their exclusive lane. This concept was first adopted in 1979, with the North–South Trunk Line (RIT).

Five of these roads form a star that converges to the city centre. Land farther from these roads is zoned for lower density developments, to reduce traffic away from the main roads. A number of areas subject to floods were condemned and became parks.

In 1980, the last line was building and the Rede Integrada de Transporte was created, allowing transit between any point in the city by paying just one fare. This part was inspired of the National Urban Transport Company a system that was created by the government of the neighboring country of Peru.

In 1996 the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) praised Curitiba as "the most innovative city in the world".

Key components of RIT development over time

The system has introduced a number of developments since in commenced as shown in the table below:

Routes

• Express (Expresso Biarticulado): these are large high-capacity buses that have exclusive traffic lanes, spreading radially from the city centre in 5 directions. They are treated as an "above-ground subway" because of their speed, capacity and frequent service. They have bright red colour schemes and operate with tubular shaped stations. Passengers pay to enter the stations. This allows very quick boarding and disembarking.
• "Ligeirão": they operate the same routes as the "Expresso Biarticulado", but there are less bus stops than the Express bus, which makes the bus ride even faster.
• Inter-neighbourhood (Interbairros): these are green buses that travel outside downtown. Lines 1 and 2 circle the city centre, the latter with a bigger radius. Lines 3 to 6 are important connections between some neighbourhoods.
• Direct lines (Linha Direta): commonly called ônibus ligeirinho (quickie bus), these are silver buses designed to be the fastest links between two points. They cover large distances with few stops. They link with tube stations.
• Feeder (Alimentador): these are local bus lines and are painted orange. All of them link one passenger terminal to a neighbourhood and feed the express buses and other RIT lines with passengers. Large windows allow better sightseeing.
• "Downtown Circulator" (Circular Centro): these small white buses are designed to circle the city centre, and are used by pedestrians as a quick way of getting to the other side of the area.
• Regular routes (Convencional): these yellow-colored buses operate radially from the city centre.
• Interhospitals (Interhospitais): these white buses circle the town and link the main city hospitals.
• Tourism line (Linha Turismo): these colourful buses focus on the city's attractions. Paying R$50.00 / US$9.30 (2021) allows one to get on and off the bus five times, at the attraction of interest.

Transit centers

Curitiba has 21 transit centers, where it is possible to transfer between routes for free. Most of them are connected by bus lanes and offer riders great flexibility.

• Bairro Alto
• Barreirinha
• Boa Vista
• Boqueirão
• Cabral
• Caiuá
• Campina do Siqueira
• Campo Comprido
• Capão da Imbuia
• Capão Raso
• Carmo
• Centenário
• CIC
• Fazendinha
• Hauer
• Pinheirinho
• Portão
• Santa Cândida
• Santa Felicidade
• Sítio Cercado
• Vila Oficinas

Awards and recognition

In 2010 the RIT received an "honorable mention" for the Green Line (Linha Verda) at the Sustainable Transport Award's of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). The Green Line is also only one of twelve BRT routes across seven systems around the globe to be awarded the Gold BRT Standard by the ITDP in 2013. The remaining five RIT routes were given the Silver Standard making the RIT one of the few systems with all routes having either a Silver or Gold ranking.

Criticism

Despite the success the system has been subject to criticism. Overcrowding is common at peak times and none of the routes extend beyond the municipal boundary of the city which forces passengers in the generally poorer outlying suburbs to have to change buses and pay two fares. The system has also faced declining patronage and lost 14 million users between 2008 and 2014 while other Brazilian cities maintained or increased public transport usage. Plans are underway to install an underground metro on claims the BRT cannot provide sufficient capacity.

Alternative propulsion

Biofuels

The environmental performance of alternative fuels are significant and contribute to improving air quality, especially in large cities of Brazil, where public transport systems are still largely made up of buses. These alternatives also produce social impact, since Brazil is a major producer of soybeans and ethanol, and the increased use of alternative fuels causes the generation of jobs, particularly in the field:

• Biodiesel B-20
• Frying Oil B-20
• MAD8 (anhydrous ethanol blend with diesel).

Incidents

• In 2007, 71 accidents were registered.
• On 23 November 2008, a bus crashed into a store in Curitiba and 3 passengers were injured.
• On 28 January 2009, a woman died after falling from an overcrowded bus in movement.
• On 10 June 2010, 2 men died after being run over by a bus.
• On 8 January 2011, 2 buses collided and 37 people were injured.