Top executives from Latin America’s most influential transit agencies gathered in Curitiba, Brazil on April 14-16 to launch the Latin American Association for Integrated Transport Systems and Bus Rapid Transit, or Asociación Latinoaméricana de Sistemas Integrados de Transporte y BRT (SIBRT). (Read the official press release here .)

The founding members form an alliance of representatives from 14 transit agencies in five countries who will meet on a regular basis to share experiences and best practices of urban transportation in Latin America. For the inaugural meeting and opening ceremony, they met in Curitiba’s City Hall to agree on steps moving forward.

WHY IS THIS INITIATIVE IMPORTANT?

“It’s necessary to prioritize mass transportation systems in order to improve quality of life in big cities,” said the general manager of Bogota, Colombia’s Transmilenio bus rapid transit system, Jairo Fernando Páez Mendieta, who became SIBRT’s first president. “The solutions we will share can have a huge impact on the community.”

WHAT IS EMBARQ'S ROLE?

EMBARQ – The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport will serve as the association’s technical and administrative secretariat, under the leadership of EMBARQ Latin America Strategic Director Luis Gutierrez , who was unanimously chosen as SIBRT’s first honorary member.

EMBARQ experts will provide guidance in four areas: 1) benchmarking and innovation, 2) negotiations with suppliers, 3) commercial, financial and political decision-making, and 4) communications and branding.

Specific technical and managerial support will come from the EMBARQ Network’s three Latin American centers: the Center for Sustainable Transport in Brazil (CTS-Brasil), the Center for Sustainable Transport in Mexico (CTS-México), and the Center for Sustainable Transport and Health in the Andean Region (CTSS-Andino.)

The Centers will work closely with SIBRT to create standards for measuring the performance, impact, and management of transportation systems in Latin American cities, as well as to plan and implement future transportation projects.

Members of SIBRT will also receive support in benchmarking and innovation from the newly established Center of Excellence in Bus Rapid Transit, a consortium of researchers from the EMBARQ Network and four universities, which is funded by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations.

HOW MUCH IS THE MEMBERSHIP FEE?

Members will pay an annual fee to participate in meetings and workshops. The fee for 2010 is $10,000 for plenary members, which already have operating BRT or integrated transport systems, and $5,000 for observatory members, which are still in the planning or implementation stages of new transport systems. Fees will be determined every year by the General Assembly.

WHERE IS THE ASSOCIATION BASED?

For now, the association is headquartered in Curitiba, Brazil, known for being one of the most sustainable cities in the world. SIBRT’s mission and strategy has been inspired by many of Curitiba’s achievements, including its innovative contributions to bus rapid transit and the integration of land use and mobility policies.

“Curitiba was the first city to adopt the BRT system, which has since been used in cities around the world as a solution to urban transportation,” said the president of Urbanização de Curitiba S.A. (URBS), Marcos Isfer, who was chosen as one of SIBRT’s four vice-presidents.

However, the members agreed on a statute that allows for the creation of regional offices in other Latin American cities.

WHO IS INVOLVED?

The Executive Committee includes the following urban leaders:

• President: Jairo Fernando Páez Mendieta of Transmilenio in Bogota, Colombia
• Vice-Presidents: Marcos Isfer Valente of URBS in Curitiba, Brazil; Silvio Albarrán of Transantiago in Santiago, Chile; Sebastián Nieto Salazar of Macrobus in Guadalajara, Mexico; and Federico von Buchwald of Metrovia in Guayaquil, Ecuador

The General Assembly was led by Chairperson Mónica Vanegas Betancourt from Megabus in Pereira, Colombia, and Secretary Sebastián Nieto Salazar from Macrobus in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The EMBARQ Network team includes:

• Luis Gutierrez, EMBARQ Latin America Strategic Director;
• Dario Hidalgo, EMBARQ Senior Transport Engineer;
• Larissa Da Silva, EMBARQ Latin America BRT Association Associate;
• Adriana Lobo, CTS-México Director;
• Luis Antonio Lindau, CTS-Brasil President;
• David Uniman, CTS-México Director of Research & Development
• Raul Redeke, CTS-México Senior Engineer;
• Rejane Fernandes, CTS-Brasil Communications Coordinator; and
• Claudio Varano, EMBARQ consultant

The launch ceremony was sponsored by automakers Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, as well as consulting firms Poyry, Logit, and Logitrans.

In addition, Urbanizacao Curitiba SA (URBS) sponsored a technical tour of Curitiba’s BRT system, known as RIT, which recently launched its new Green Line.

WHY DOES BUS RAPID TRANSIT MATTER?

Former Governor and Mayor of Curitiba Jaime Lerner, who was elected Honorary President, congratulated SIBRT’s members and explained his vision for the future of mobility:

“Solving the surface problem is fundamental. How to do that? We have to make buses more like metro. In other words, we have to make buses perform like metros; wherein lies the concept of BRT. Even in cities that have some metro lines, it is fundamental that the surface is well-operated. The BRT solution is the solution of the future and it is imperative for BRT managers to make the effort to operate their systems in a better way. This is because a BRT that is not well implemented puts the whole surface solution at risk.”

Earlier this decade, other cities, such as Sao Paulo, Santiago and Belo Horizonte, took steps towards improving their own public transportation systems, focusing on physical and operational improvements, as well as tariff integration. They created high-demand integrated transport systems, which can be transformed into BRT corridors. These experiences, along with Curitiba’s, serve as reference for the design and implementation of integrated transportation systems in other cities in the region.

By sharing best practices, members of SIBRT will be able to improve the quality of their service, foster an efficient and competitive industry of bus transit services, and demonstrate how bus rapid transit and citywide integrated transit systems can help improve public health, safety, quality of life and economic competitiveness in Latin American cities.

EMBARQ extends its congratulations to SIBRT’s founding members on their past and future success!

Urbanização de Curitiba S.A. (URBS) – Curitiba, Brazil

• Marcos Isfer Valente, President,
• Fernando Eugenio Guignone, Director of Transportation

São Paulo Transporte S.A. (SPTrans) – Sao Paulo, Brazil

• Pedro Luiz Machado, Director of Planning and Corporate Management

Companhia Metropolitana de Transportes Coletivos (CMTC) – Goiania, Brazil

• Marcos Massad, President

Empresa de Transportes e Trânsito de Belo Horizonte S/A (BHTrans) – Belo Horizonte, Brazil

• Víctor Ramon, Presidente
• Marcelo Cintra do Amaral, Sustainability Policy Coordinator

Metrobus – Mexico City, Mexico

• Guillermo Calderon, General Director

Macrobus – Guadalajara, México

• Sebastián Nieto Salazar, Director

Transmilenio – Bogota, Colombia

• Jairo Paez Fernando Mendieta, General Manager

Megabus – Pereira, Colombia

• Mónica Vanegas Betancourt, General Manager

Metro Cali – Cali, Colombia

• Luis Eduardo Barrera Vergara, President

Metrolinea – Bucaramanga, Colombia

• Felix Francisco Rueda Forero, Manager

Transmetro – Barranquilla, Colombia

• Osorio Alvaro Carbonell, General Manager

Metrobus-Q – Quito, Ecuador

• Armando Sanchez, Head of Unit Q

Metrovia – Guayaquil, Ecuador

• Federico von Buchwald, President

TranSantiago – Santiago, Chile

• Silvio Albarrán, Technical Coordinator