Buses and Vans - Assessing Public Transport Competition in Rio de Janeiro Brazil

Abstract

Public transport systems play an important role in urban centres by determining to the population the available accessibility levels on their daily trips. In Brazilian cities as a consequence of the low level of services provided by conventional transport services one could see the expansion of paratransit operation in busy corridors. More recently, low capacity vehicles such as vans began to compete with conventional buses on the main routes. The service is considered a viable transport alternative to many users as well as a means of expanding the transport market to independent operators. The main objective of this paper is to assess the impacts of competition between buses (regulated market) and vans (paratransit) in Rio de Janeiro. The potential role played by low capacity vehicles such as vans to transport passengers in developing countries’ cities is also analysed.