DOES CONGESTION MANAGEMENT IMPROVE PUBLIC TRANSIT?

摘要

Traffic congestion, one of the main urban problems of Sao Paulo, is quantified thru the monitoring of "the congestion queue lengths" (CQL). Due to the growth of peak CQL in recent years, City's authorities enforced traffic restriction policies, e. g. the prohibition of circulation of each auto during one working day per week. The restriction, called "Rodizio", is controlled by the last digit of the car plate. Experience developed since 1995 demonstrates the effectiveness of the "Rodizio", alleviating the congestion and improving the speeds of bus transit. These positive outcomes will be soon offset by the growth of the numbers of cars in circulation. This conclusion shows that the City needs to adopt more stringent policies, including congestion pricing. The revenues derived from these policies should be invested in the most important public transit projects.