The great tragedy of science—the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.Thomas Huxley, biologist and writer, 1825–1895
The case for improving public transport quality would seem to be quite strong. The economic, environmental, and social benefits are well documented. However, major public transport improvement initiatives are actually quite rare. The barriers to transport improvement often overwhelm the call to action. Understanding the obstacles likely to be faced allows project developers to devise strategies for countering this opposition.
Some of the most significant barriers include:
Political will is one of the most important ingredients in making a public transport initiative happen. Overcoming resistance from special-interest groups and the general inertia against change is often an insurmountable obstacle for mayors and other officials. However, for those public officials that have made the commitment, the political rewards can be great. The political leaders behind BRT systems in cities like Curitiba and Bogotá have left a lasting legacy to their cities, and in the process, these officials have become enormously popular and successful. To achieve this success, a great deal of political capital was expended to convince project detractors, the mass media, and the general public.
Many political officials may be reluctant to undertake a BRT project due to the perceived risks, especially in relation to upsetting powerful special-interest groups. Motorists and existing public transport operators will tend to resist such change. Thus, political officials may end up playing it safe by avoiding any type of major public transport initiative that will risk alienating specific stakeholders. However, when officials take the perceived low-risk path of inaction, the ensuing political rewards will certainly be diminished.
The trajectory of former Mayor Enrique Peñalosa makes for an interesting example. Mayor Peñalosa implemented transport and public space changes in Bogotá that shocked many people. Under Mayor Peñalosa, laws preventing motorists from parking on footpaths were enforced for the first time. Outraged motorists led a campaign to impeach him. At that point in his term, Mayor Peñalosa suffered through one of the lowest popularity rankings recorded by a Bogotá mayor. However, subsequently, something rather miraculous occurred. As Peñalosa’s vision and projects came to fruition, the public responded in quite a positive manner. With new bike lanes, improvements in public space, and the creation of the TransMilenio BRT system, citizens could see the transformation of their city. By the time Mayor Peñalosa finished his three-year term, he left office with the highest popularity ratings ever recorded by a Bogotá mayor.
It is quite likely that a political official with less drive and passion for public space and sustainable transport would have reversed course at the first sign of upset motorists. Instead, the risk taken by Mayor Peñalosa to transform Bogotá and the public transport system resulted in significant political rewards and international renown.
Citizens as a whole must also be involved from the early stages of the development of a new public transport system. Their point of view is extremely relevant, as they will use the system, and a favorable opinion of the BRT will be greatly enhanced if civil society is included as part of the planning process. This will also reduce the likelihood of opposition to the system once implementation (i.e., building the infrastructure) has begun.
While automobiles may represent less than 15 percent of a developing city’s transport mode share, the owners of such vehicles represent the most influential sociopolitical group. The idea of prioritizing road space to public transport may appear to be counter to the interests of private vehicle owners. However, in reality, separating public transit vehicles from other traffic often improves conditions for private vehicles. But motorists may only understand this benefit once the system is in operation. Prior to the project, car owners may only see BRT as an intruder that is stealing road space.
Existing public transport operators will likely also view BRT as a threat to their interests and livelihood. In cities such as Quito, the existing operators took to violent street demonstrations to counter the development of the BRT system. The government ultimately called in the military to disperse the protests after the operators shut down public transport in the city for four days. Likewise, in other cities private transit operators have pressured political officials through recall efforts and intense lobbying.
It should be noted that the threat to existing operators might be more perceived than real. In most cases, an effective outreach effort with the operators can help dispel unfounded fears. In reality, existing operators can gain substantially from BRT through improved profitability and better work conditions. The existing operators can effectively compete to win operational concessions within the proposed BRT system. In Bogotá, the existing operators launched seven different strikes to protest the development of TransMilenio. Today, many of these same operators are shareholders of concessionaire companies in TransMilenio, and these operators have seen a significant increase in profits. Few, if any, would want to revert back to the previous system.
The professional staff within municipal agencies may also represent a barrier to public transport improvement. Such staff often does not utilize public transport as their primary means of travel. Instead, municipal officials are part of a middle-class elite who have the purchasing power to acquire private vehicles. Thus, the professionals who are responsible for planning and designing public transport systems frequently do not use public transportation. This lack of familiarity with public transport customers’ needs and realities can result in less than optimum public transport design. Such staff may also unwittingly give funding and design preference to individual motorized travel since this mode is the one with which they are most familiar.
Despite the rise of global information networks, a lack of knowledge of options like BRT remains a very real barrier. The long period of time between the development of the system in Curitiba and the realization of BRT by other cities is evidence of this information shortfall. Through the assistance of international agencies and nongovernmental organizations, awareness of BRT has risen sharply in recent years. Visits to Bogotá by city officials from Africa and Asia have helped catalyze new BRT projects. Nevertheless, many developing cities still do not have the basic information required to develop a public transport improvement initiative.
The lack of information at the municipal level often occurs in direct correlation with the lack of human-resource capacity. The transport departments of many major developing cities must cope with a wide array of issues with only a handful of staff. The lack of institutional and technical capacity at the local level inhibits the ability of agencies to consider projects even when general awareness of the opportunity is present.
Financing can also be an issue with public transport projects, although it tends to be less of an issue with lower-cost options such as BRT. Access to capital and the cost of capital can be real constraints, especially for costlier forms of public transport infrastructure. Additionally, the lack of resources to sustain any sort of operational subsidy means that systems must be largely designed to be financially self-sustainable.
Various local conditions, such as urban, geographic, and topographic factors, can also present barriers to implementation. For instance, extremely narrow roadways and steep hills can pose design challenges. However, in general, there are technical solutions to each one of these issues. Local conditions require local solutions, which ultimately make each project unique in its own way.
All of the barriers and challenges noted in this section can be overcome. Nevertheless, for many municipalities, these issues greatly dampen the ability to initiate a project. Project champions will need to provide answers to each of these barriers that represent a threat to project acceptance.