More than revolving apartments: Curitiba, Brazil. Kick Ass Urban Planning

[JanMichael]

A wicked bus system (30% less milage than comparable cities), eco-programs all over, decentralized local government, health buses for the poor, business incubators where people need them, and below market goods buses where the poor aren't well served.

This Frontline page sums it up well.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

Oh, here's the apartment...

[Thtwudbeme]

1. Kick

nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. kick

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. Libertarians often mistakenly (or deceptively) cite it as a model of

total free enterprise transporation, but it's undergirded by strict zoning laws, standardized fares and schedules, and the removal of automobiles from many main streets and the whole downtown area.

[JanMichael]

4. Really? That's pretty goofed.

What with non-market priced goods and such.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Well, being right-wingers and all, the Cascade Policy Institute, which

absolutely hated the fact that Portland's transit system was run by a regional government and all, kept telling people that Curitiba's was achieving a high level of bus ridership with a privately owned system.

Since the Cascade Policy Institute is home base for a couple of anti-transit grouches who go around the country badmouthing all proposed projects, I knew there had to be something wrong with that statement,. (There is something wrong with everything I've ever seen the CPI publish.)

So lo and behold, it's not that the bus system is private, it's that the routes are bid out to private contractors, who follow the rules set by the central transit authority, and who are paid by mileage, not by number of passengers carried. This prevents lines from being discontinued as "unprofitable" if ridership happens to be low.

In other words, only the vehicles are privately owned.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Looks like financially responsible, compassionate socialism to me.

[JanMichael]

6. Sssh! Can't say that.

It's "magic" not some crazy attempt to move toward the fictional Cooperative Commonwealth.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. To be fair, Brazil not too long ago had a problem with street urchins.

They took care of it by allowing the police free hand in disposing of them, literally.

[JanMichael]

8. I've heard about that.

Not sure about this particular city's involvement in it however, the cops that killed the street kids was a big Rio de Janeiro case, yes?

Nothing's perfect. I'm just impressed that this place has done so much with land-use, transportation, and very cool social services.

[JanMichael]

10. KICk!

Because it's an interesting place.