Estudo dos mecanismos e políticas de renovação e ampliação de frotas de ônibus urbanos no Brasil: caso da região metropolitana do Recife.

Abstract

Brazilian cities/ generally speaking, face serious deficiencies with regard to the bus fleets that serve their populations. In quantitative terms, the fleets are insufficient, presenting unacceptable patterns of overcrowding. This situation w i l l continue to worsen until the year 2000 unless the problem is tackled with the priority due to i t . The daily demand for bus transportation in 1990 in Brazil's main urban areas w i l l have increased by another 11. 5 million passengers per day by the turn of the century. Qualitatively, the age of the vehicles, together with their precarious maintenance, accounts for a significant part of the poor service provided. In terms of i t s productive capacity, the Brazilian bus industry is in a position to meet the demand of the internal market; i t needs , however, to improve the standards of quality of the vehicles, especially the items relating to the comfort and safety of the users. Moreover, the high price of new buses has been one of the chief constraints on the renewal and expansion of the fleet. The general rule prevailing in Brazilian cities is the nonexistence of policies for the renewal and expansion of the fleet of buses. A historical analysis of the Recife Metropolitan Region, the pilot area chosen for the present research, nonetheless revealed some satisfactory progress, resulting largely from the existence of lines of finance and the reasonable financial equilibrium of the local public system of passenger transportation. Nevertheless, in order that the effects of the aforementioned factors may be lasting, the policy to be implemented should include institu tional mechanisms, recently introduced in fact, and an increased control over the destination of the monetary value corresponding to the depreciation of vehicles. I t w i l l also be necessary to undertake a more thorough analysis of the method of calculating the depreciation of vehicles and to unlink a number of items in the cost analysis used for fare calculation purposes from the price of a new bus. Additional measures should provide for the coordination of the whole process by the local transportation authority and a greater emphasis on vehicle maintenance. At the federal level, measures should include the strengthening of the lines of credit to the sector and a more effective control of the prices charged by Brazilian bus manufacturers.