Public transportation underwent a significant transition in Bogota, Colombia, satisfying nearly fulfilled the criteria outlined in this article. 20 years have passed since the change.
My impression of Transmilenio (our BRT) is that it functions effectively, but it is constantly in danger of going bankrupt.
A project named SITP, which "scientifically" reconfigured the city's routes based on mobility studies, also intervened in the rest of the system. However, they occasionally had to change the way various routes were laid out, and interestingly, these changes matched with the previous unofficial routes.
In Colombia, we have soap operas for everything. In the 1980s, there was one about a family that ran an informal transportation business in Bogota.
"However, they occasionally had to change the way various routes were laid out, and interestingly, these changes matched with the previous unofficial routes." - That is so interesting.
That reinforces the point that we've been measuring and evaluating transportation with the wrong metrics.
We need to learn from SITP. Also, from Seoul's bus reforms and Jakarta's ongoing integration of angkots into TransJakarta. Maybe Dar Es Salaam is also going to do interesting things with the BRT and the dala dalas.
Thanks for the lead on that Columbian comedy. I like the end of the description of the video on YouTube:
El estilo costumbrista de la serie, la hace una de las más recordadas por los colombianos, con uso del lenguaje coloquial, la representación de una familia tradicional, elementos como la religión y personas trabajadoras; hace que las personas se sientan identificadas con lo que están viendo a través de la pantalla.
which google translate tells me is:
The costumbrista style of the series makes it one of the most remembered by Colombians, with the use of colloquial language, the representation of a traditional family, elements such as religion and working people; it makes people feel identified with what they are seeing on the screen.
Emphasis on "it makes people feel identif(y) with what they are seeing on the screen."
And we need more of that in transportation planning.
The convergence to the previous informal routes was part of our long conversations with several professors of the National University of Colombia when we were working to apply to VREF, (we did not pass the first phase) but it was very interesting to hear how this process went in Bogota.
Personally I identify with the comedy that I sent you (it looks like my family). for Bogota is this comedy is its past but in intermediate cities the public transport is very similar to what happens there.
True why would they accept to be digitalised and controlled if there is no compensation… no promise to improve their condition…. I mean it is fierce competition
I totally agree with this statement. What I've seen during my PhD about electromobility in PT systems for Latin America is that there seems to be a monopoly about the discourse and the fundings for a couple of multilateral agencies, mainly from Europe and USA, that has already their list of "experts" and consultants. Additionally, there are manuals and guidelines about how to implement a BEBs project instead of how to improve current PT systems with less resources and better adapted policies to local context.
What are your thoughts on the (perceived) quality of popular transport systems?
When I talk about the Bogotá system that has mostly been replaced, I always remember it as a suffering (I always say "I suffered the system"), because the quality was so bad to me: speeding buses, little regard for cleanliness, courtesy, etc.
The new system has its flaws in other areas, but it doesn't treat passengers as cattle, which I think dignifies the role of the passenger and acknowledges them as human and not simply as the source of the money.
As the piece on why we call it Popular Transportation says,
"we don't want to minimize or ignore the challenges and problems associated with these homegrown solutions in terms of road, vehicle, or passenger safety, accessibility, or sustainability"
These systems are problematic. But there is a radical shift in treating them as problems to be eradicated (a problem frame) vs assets to be improved (an asset frame).
One of the system drivers (pun not intended) that needs to shift is how operators are paid/earn income. The operators and drivers treat passengers as fares - because that's the only way they earn income.
I think SITP was a step in the right direction - that of investing in the systems rather than just outright rejecting them.
The work of Vergel-Tovar, Goldwyn and Leape in mapping the whole system is -formal, popular and everything in-between--is another good step. https://trid.trb.org/view/2006079
To summarize: let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
A few years ago with Diego Canales (not sure if you've met), we did some interesting work in Bolivia trying to crack that business model nut seeing if the local operators would be willing to invest in tech improvements that would help their operation. It didn't go anywhere, but would love to tell you about it sometime.
I think a challenge with what you're proposing is that these popular systems are also exploitative. Sure, not exploited by the big multinational capitalist, but yes by the local one. Often at the expense of the health of the drivers (long hours driving to make enough to pay the owner) and of the social issues you mentioned. So, at what point do we really recognize this as a problem that is better solved by nipping it in the bud instead of trying to improve at the fringes? Totally agree that a cookie cutter solution by international organizations is not the right approach, but glorifying popular systems because they are local and solve for some mobility issues while creating other social issues doesn't seem right either.
Seems like publicly owned and operated systems are a better approach? We'll need to see what happens with la rolita, the new public operator in Bogotá.
I do know Diego. Just checked linkedin and see he's with Populus now. Would love to learn about their experiment. We more of those stories to learn from.
And yes, there's no sugar-coating that the system is precarious and exploitative. Anything that is driven by competition tends to become exploitative. (*cough* capitalism *cough*)
If you think about it, no transportation system survives without public subsidy or support. So changing or improving the business model of popular transportation requires public investments. Maybe a service contracting model. The activists (Move As One Coalition) succeeded in getting the government to try out a service contracting model with the jeepneys as part of COVID support. They designated Sakay.PH to be the system manager (track the jeeps, allocate payment). But then the government failed to budget for the next year. I think there were also problems with paying the operators on time.
If the business model was for the public sector paying for performance on service contracts, could we remove the precarity and reduce the exploitation? So publicly funded, privately owned (small operators or cooperatives)?
I do know that the (top-down) approaches we've been using for the last 50 years don't work. Trying to root out popular transportation doesn't work.
.. but the Bogotá experiment where the former popular operators came together to form a company to operate under the new system didn't work. I don't know the full details, though.
Sébastien, hi what you say is true and should be acknowledged. There is a vicious circle about shared mobility in the south. I know you work for NUMO with Robin. I believe that there is a lot to learn from crossing the experience between this new services and paratransit that need to be upgraded. Do not hesitate to contact me directly. Yours. Caroline
And to be constructive: having my field work on the topic of shared mobility in the global south , Jackie, I came to the point that it needs more funding to enable them to play their societal role: do you have a piece of work on that? How to leverage and channel money in an extremely precarious but essential sector?
Thanks Jackie for sharing this piece of self reflection and helping me to radically consider myself as a non colonialist when it comes to transport and shared mobility in the global south. Question for you: how do you feel having been funded by the AFD? What do you think about their current projects such as MYC ? Ect ect….
Dr. Klopp does not get notifications when people comment on my newsletter. She's my co-author on the opinion piece but not on this substack. I will let her know that you have questions specifically for her.
Thanks Ben for your prompt reply. Just posted on LinkedIn to make sure she receives a notification. Hope you are enjoying Xmas and 2023 will be good. Yours. Caroline
Public transportation underwent a significant transition in Bogota, Colombia, satisfying nearly fulfilled the criteria outlined in this article. 20 years have passed since the change.
My impression of Transmilenio (our BRT) is that it functions effectively, but it is constantly in danger of going bankrupt.
A project named SITP, which "scientifically" reconfigured the city's routes based on mobility studies, also intervened in the rest of the system. However, they occasionally had to change the way various routes were laid out, and interestingly, these changes matched with the previous unofficial routes.
In Colombia, we have soap operas for everything. In the 1980s, there was one about a family that ran an informal transportation business in Bogota.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbVIlRGeloQ
I often go back to that, especially the scene where they tried to digitalize the business and went on strike.
https://www.facebook.com/RTVCPlay/videos/romeo-y-buseta/360500335352592/
Greetings.
"However, they occasionally had to change the way various routes were laid out, and interestingly, these changes matched with the previous unofficial routes." - That is so interesting.
That reinforces the point that we've been measuring and evaluating transportation with the wrong metrics.
We need to learn from SITP. Also, from Seoul's bus reforms and Jakarta's ongoing integration of angkots into TransJakarta. Maybe Dar Es Salaam is also going to do interesting things with the BRT and the dala dalas.
Thanks for the lead on that Columbian comedy. I like the end of the description of the video on YouTube:
El estilo costumbrista de la serie, la hace una de las más recordadas por los colombianos, con uso del lenguaje coloquial, la representación de una familia tradicional, elementos como la religión y personas trabajadoras; hace que las personas se sientan identificadas con lo que están viendo a través de la pantalla.
which google translate tells me is:
The costumbrista style of the series makes it one of the most remembered by Colombians, with the use of colloquial language, the representation of a traditional family, elements such as religion and working people; it makes people feel identified with what they are seeing on the screen.
Emphasis on "it makes people feel identif(y) with what they are seeing on the screen."
And we need more of that in transportation planning.
The convergence to the previous informal routes was part of our long conversations with several professors of the National University of Colombia when we were working to apply to VREF, (we did not pass the first phase) but it was very interesting to hear how this process went in Bogota.
Personally I identify with the comedy that I sent you (it looks like my family). for Bogota is this comedy is its past but in intermediate cities the public transport is very similar to what happens there.
True why would they accept to be digitalised and controlled if there is no compensation… no promise to improve their condition…. I mean it is fierce competition
Exact you are almost there: what is the baby that should not be thrown away…. I
I totally agree with this statement. What I've seen during my PhD about electromobility in PT systems for Latin America is that there seems to be a monopoly about the discourse and the fundings for a couple of multilateral agencies, mainly from Europe and USA, that has already their list of "experts" and consultants. Additionally, there are manuals and guidelines about how to implement a BEBs project instead of how to improve current PT systems with less resources and better adapted policies to local context.
Please do add your name to the document
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-VkhqlnWhc_P2fYHEufZaV4WcRNOYZwUJo8uNUxaeas/edit
MobiliseYourCity and CODATU did come up with a "paratransit toolkit" - we're looking for evidence of its use (and effectiveness).
https://www.mobiliseyourcity.net/mobiliseyourcity-paratransit-toolkit
Are you insane?? Please keep this crap away from me and remove me from your list of fools.
Thank you
You signed yourself up for this newsletter. Feel free to let yourself out the door.
Really appreciated seeing this edition in my inbox this morning. Thank you for the thoughtfulness of this edition, Benjie! Hope you are well.
Thanks, Sarah! I'm good. I hope you're well, too.
Great piece, Benjie!
What are your thoughts on the (perceived) quality of popular transport systems?
When I talk about the Bogotá system that has mostly been replaced, I always remember it as a suffering (I always say "I suffered the system"), because the quality was so bad to me: speeding buses, little regard for cleanliness, courtesy, etc.
The new system has its flaws in other areas, but it doesn't treat passengers as cattle, which I think dignifies the role of the passenger and acknowledges them as human and not simply as the source of the money.
Hey Sebastian,
Thanks.
As the piece on why we call it Popular Transportation says,
"we don't want to minimize or ignore the challenges and problems associated with these homegrown solutions in terms of road, vehicle, or passenger safety, accessibility, or sustainability"
These systems are problematic. But there is a radical shift in treating them as problems to be eradicated (a problem frame) vs assets to be improved (an asset frame).
One of the system drivers (pun not intended) that needs to shift is how operators are paid/earn income. The operators and drivers treat passengers as fares - because that's the only way they earn income.
I think SITP was a step in the right direction - that of investing in the systems rather than just outright rejecting them.
The work of Vergel-Tovar, Goldwyn and Leape in mapping the whole system is -formal, popular and everything in-between--is another good step. https://trid.trb.org/view/2006079
To summarize: let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
A few years ago with Diego Canales (not sure if you've met), we did some interesting work in Bolivia trying to crack that business model nut seeing if the local operators would be willing to invest in tech improvements that would help their operation. It didn't go anywhere, but would love to tell you about it sometime.
I think a challenge with what you're proposing is that these popular systems are also exploitative. Sure, not exploited by the big multinational capitalist, but yes by the local one. Often at the expense of the health of the drivers (long hours driving to make enough to pay the owner) and of the social issues you mentioned. So, at what point do we really recognize this as a problem that is better solved by nipping it in the bud instead of trying to improve at the fringes? Totally agree that a cookie cutter solution by international organizations is not the right approach, but glorifying popular systems because they are local and solve for some mobility issues while creating other social issues doesn't seem right either.
Seems like publicly owned and operated systems are a better approach? We'll need to see what happens with la rolita, the new public operator in Bogotá.
I do know Diego. Just checked linkedin and see he's with Populus now. Would love to learn about their experiment. We more of those stories to learn from.
And yes, there's no sugar-coating that the system is precarious and exploitative. Anything that is driven by competition tends to become exploitative. (*cough* capitalism *cough*)
If you think about it, no transportation system survives without public subsidy or support. So changing or improving the business model of popular transportation requires public investments. Maybe a service contracting model. The activists (Move As One Coalition) succeeded in getting the government to try out a service contracting model with the jeepneys as part of COVID support. They designated Sakay.PH to be the system manager (track the jeeps, allocate payment). But then the government failed to budget for the next year. I think there were also problems with paying the operators on time.
If the business model was for the public sector paying for performance on service contracts, could we remove the precarity and reduce the exploitation? So publicly funded, privately owned (small operators or cooperatives)?
I do know that the (top-down) approaches we've been using for the last 50 years don't work. Trying to root out popular transportation doesn't work.
Yes, maybe some form of hybrid model
.. but the Bogotá experiment where the former popular operators came together to form a company to operate under the new system didn't work. I don't know the full details, though.
Might be good to really examine what led to the failures. Maybe we'll learn what could work.
Yep, this a case study waiting to be written!
Sébastien, hi what you say is true and should be acknowledged. There is a vicious circle about shared mobility in the south. I know you work for NUMO with Robin. I believe that there is a lot to learn from crossing the experience between this new services and paratransit that need to be upgraded. Do not hesitate to contact me directly. Yours. Caroline
And to be constructive: having my field work on the topic of shared mobility in the global south , Jackie, I came to the point that it needs more funding to enable them to play their societal role: do you have a piece of work on that? How to leverage and channel money in an extremely precarious but essential sector?
...ah, I see you also reposted on Linked.In (thanks) and tagged Jackie directly.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/caroline-fabianski-phd-84986345_42-are-you-a-neocolonial-transport-planner-activity-7013180220291600384-eT4v
Yes I did.
Thanks Jackie for sharing this piece of self reflection and helping me to radically consider myself as a non colonialist when it comes to transport and shared mobility in the global south. Question for you: how do you feel having been funded by the AFD? What do you think about their current projects such as MYC ? Ect ect….
Hey Dr. Fabianski,
Dr. Klopp does not get notifications when people comment on my newsletter. She's my co-author on the opinion piece but not on this substack. I will let her know that you have questions specifically for her.
Thanks Ben for your prompt reply. Just posted on LinkedIn to make sure she receives a notification. Hope you are enjoying Xmas and 2023 will be good. Yours. Caroline