Long after Rio hosts the 2016 Olympics, its BRT network will remain as a strong legacy of well-planned, low-carbon transportation. Photo by Rodrigo Soldon.

CTS-Brasil scaled up its technical guidance for the implementation of BRT in four major Brazilian cities, with a total combined population of 25.1 million people, paving the way for a national policy that favors sustainable transportation. CTS-Brasil…

• applied the EMBARQ BRT Simulator in Rio de Janeiro to support the city’s candidacy as a host of the 2016 Olympic Games.
• introduced Recife officials to the concept of BRT and helped them define a $1.3 million contract for a BRT engineering design study.
• delivered a strategic framing workshop to identify potential risks and align stakeholders involved in three planned BRT corridors in Belo Horizonte.
• helped acquire $100 million in financing for BRT in Porto Alegre from the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), which also approved a $1 million, non-refundable grant for refining BRT studies.

Did You Know?

The EMBARQ BRT Simulator analyzed Rio's BRT plans for the 2016 Olympics and showed that modifications could increase capacity by 50%—up to 700,000 passengers per day. The analysis was enough to convince the International Olympic Committee to choose Rio as the official host city in October 2009. CTS-Brasil received a diploma for its technical contribution to the winning bid.

Photo by Ricardo Stuckert.