The BRT urban mobility system was pioneered by the Brazilian city of Curitiba in 1974. It was the brainchild of Jaime Lerner, the city’s mayor.

An architect and town planner, Lerner decided to transform the face of Curitiba when he took office. He created a master plan that would see the city grow without any of the urban congestion that had affected other Brazilian cities, integrating urban transport and land use.

Today, Curitiba’s BRT system remains the world’s biggest, ferrying 75 per cent of the three million people living in the city and its suburbs.

The system has gained popularity throughout the world. Cities such as Seoul, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Bogota, Teheran and Paris have adopted BRT systems today.

Embarq India has some interesting data on the use of this system in big cities.

Bogota has eight million residents of whom two million use the 104-km BRT.

In Guangzhou, China, 800,000 people from a population of nearly 13 million use the 23-km network everyday.

Teheran has a model closer to Delhi. “I was there recently and it was amazing to see the BRTS. There were two long corridors amidst congested traffic and it was working well,” says Dinesh Mohan of IIT Delhi. “Look at what they have achieved without any international consultants.”

Only 55,000 people out of Rio de Janeiro’s population (6.3 million) opt for the 40-km BRTS. However, this is expected to grow four-fold by 2016, when the network is extended to 150 km, in time for the 2016 Olympics.

The bus system in Paris is also impressive, says Mohan. A single institution controls all forms of public transport in the French capital.

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