TRANSPORT-BRAZIL: Public Thoroughfares or Domain of the Rich?

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 17 1998 (IPS) - The residents of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous city, are walking more and more – but not due to any new fitness craze.

The skyrocketing of car sales in Brazil since 1994 has led to increased traffic congestion, which is slowing down bus travel and leading more and more people to walk to work or school. In turn, the drop in the number of passengers and decreased productivity has driven up the price of bus tickets.

A study carried out by local authorities indicates that people took an average of 5.4 million walks a day in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo, a city of 17 million, in 1987. That figure accounted for 25 percent of all movements. By last year, the daily average had risen to 10.5 million, or 34.3 percent of the total.

The study says that while 88 percent of the walks were short distance, at least five percent were a result of the high cost and unavailability of public transport.

It is overwhelmingly the poor who wear out their shoes to go to work or school: 53.9 percent of Sao Paulo residents with a monthly family income of less than 240 dollars walk, compared to 14.4 percent of those who earn at least 7.5 times more.

Another study, by the National Association of Public Transport (ANTP), said it was incorrect to describe the streets as “public thoroughfares” today, because they are increasingly the domain of the wealthy and their cars.

The study indicates that from 70 to 90 percent of space in the streets is occupied by cars in 10 of Brazil’s largest cities. “The streets as public property is a myth,” said sociologist Eduardo Vasconcellos, ANTP assistant director. In Sao Paulo, the rich “consume” 8.6 percent more streets than the poor.

In nine of the 10 cities studied, the number of passengers using mass transit systems fell in the past three years. Sao Paulo headed that trend, with an 11.4 percent drop from 1995 through 1997.

The city of Goiania in west-central Brazil, a fast-growing urban area, was the exception that confirmed the rule, posting a 0.9 percent rise.

The increasing number of cars has led to a tripling since 1992 of the combined extension of traffic jams in Sao Paulo, for example, to a total of 120 kms at rush hour, according to the local Company of Traffic Engineering (CET).

In consequence, the average speed of buses has dropped to 12 kms an hour, from 20 kms an hour 15 years ago.

With less passengers and more traffic jams, bus productivity is falling, and the rising costs have forced companies to raise the price of tickets – another effect that hits the poor hard.

Given the inefficiency of buses and the limitations of the subway system, whose total length is only 48 kms, the poor walk, while others seek alternatives like cars, motorcycles or unauthorised minibuses, which further clog up traffic.

Another consequence is air pollution. In winter, when the dispersion of gases and particles becomes more difficult, Sao Paulo air turns toxic. Deaths linked to respiratory troubles increase, especially among children and the elderly.

To combat the problem, a programme launched in 1996 bans the circulation of one-fifth of all cars each day of the week, according to licence plate numbers. Local residents have welcomed and respected the initiative – but because traffic has improved, rather than due to the limited effect on the environment.

Low-income city dwellers are burying themselves in debt to buy old cars, in an attempt to cut the time they lose in commuting to their jobs – an average of one and a half hours for bus-riders in Sao Paulo.

Compounding the problem even further are the increasingly frequent street demonstrations in Brazilian cities, expected to become even more frequent due to the economic recession triggered by the fallout of the global financial crisis.

Blocking traffic has become the favourite form of protest among teachers, street vendors, landless peasants and striking workers seeking better wages, decent working conditions or land.

In Sao Paulo, for example, nearly one street protest a day took place in October, according to CET.

Experts say improving public transport is the solution. But others say traffic congestion in large cities is nothing short of inevitable. Willian Aquino de Pereira, who coordinated the ANTP study on public transport systems in 10 Brazilian cities, points out that the trend toward increasing use of the automobile is universal. And Luiz Carlos Cunha, managing director of CET, underlines that while the subway of Paris is 10 times longer than Sao Paulo’s, traffic there is just as bad.