The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) conference in Mexico City, July 19-21, 2004, was the host of a very fruitful workshop on world-wide Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) experiences organized by EMBARQ and the Centro de Transporte Sustenable (CTS ).

Among the participants were Mario Molina, Mexican Nobel Prize winner and MIT professor; Luisa Molina, MIT professor; Lee Schipper, EMBARQ’s Director of Research; Adriana Lobo, Director of CTS; Luis Gutierrez, former Peruvian Transportation Vice-Minister and EMBARQ’s Senior Associate for Latin America; Walter Vergara, Lead Engineer-Latin America Environment Department of the World Bank; Paulo Custodio, Brazilian BRT expert and one of the TransMilenio architects; Alejandro Villegas, Hewlett Foundation consultant; Oscar Diaz, former advisor to Mayor Peñaloza’s and Director of ITDP; Paulo Camara, Brazilian expert in congestion pricing based in London; Cristina Piovesan, Transport Director of Porto Alegre; Henry Malbran, Executive Director of SECTRA - Chile transportation investment agency; Peter Danielson, BRT expert from Volvo; representatives and officials of Mexico DF, State of Mexico, Querétaro and Tijuana; and private sector and NGO representatives.

The participants were grouped in four work tables: (i) Technical; (ii) Institutional; (iii) Operational Systems; and (iv) Urban Development and Multimodal Integration.

What are the characteristics of a BRT system? What are the main challenges of a BRT implementation process? What are the expert recommendations for creating a successful BRT system? These questions led the workshop.

As a result of the discussions the experts agreed that a successful BRT needs: (i) political priority and willingness; (ii) a solid and participatory planning process; (iii) active involvement of stakeholders and support of the whole society; (iv) a comprehensive and participatory city vision to provide a sound framework for the BRT; (v) a coherent regulatory and institutional framework; (vi) development of synergies among components in order to create an efficient BRT system; (vii) learning from successes and failures of other experiences; (viii) providing excellent services to users; (ix) development of a great public image of BRT.

Note: The attached Powerpoint presentation contains the conclusions of the workshop in Spanish