[sustran] Re: Profitable urban transit

[Paul Barter]

A follow-up to this topic from Brazil which also appeared in the alt-transp
list.


From: zilan.moura at quasar.com.br
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 11:43:26 +0300
Subject: Re: Profitable urban transit

AL>Didn't I read somewhere that the transit system in Curitiba in Brazil is
AL>profitable or break-even?

Yes, the urban transit systems in most of brazilian state capitals are
profitable. Some more than others. Take the example of the city of
Salvador - Bahia that has a total of 38 million passangers transported
each month. That demand is pretty much inelastic for a population of
about 2.8 million

The system has 19 companies and 2100 buses. the fare is R$ 0,70 - about
us$ 0,65.
There is about 450 different routes and 17.2 million Km traveled each
month and a total of about 12000 direct jobs provided.

The buses of the system have an averege of 3.6 years.

an average of 33 % of the passangers pay the fare in cash. 17% pay with
"passe escolar" which are tickets issued to students with 50% discount
and 50% pay with "vale transporte" a ticket issued at fare value and
bought by the employers.

Every company in the cities of Brazil must pay for the transportation
from and to the place of work. That is the "Vale transporte".

The system is profitable. The bus companies are private enterprises who
operate in the system by permission of the municipality. Normally the
only companies that are not profitable are the ones owned by the state.

Of course some routes are better than others, so a compensasion
instrument was developed to provide the right economic balance to the
system.

I hope these informations will colaborate with this discussion.

Zilan Moura