TransMilenio is a bus rapid transit system that serves
Bogotá
, Colombia
. The
system runs throughout 9 lines throughout the city. The system
opened to the public in
December 2000,
covering Av. Caracas and Calle 80. Other lines were added gradually
over the next several years, and the total length of the system is
now 84 kilometres (54 miles).
Description

Calle 19 Station in July 2004
Based on
the model used in Curitiba
, Brazil
,
TransMilenio consists of several interconnecting BRT lines, each
composed of numerous elevated stations in the center of a main
avenue, or "troncal". Passengers typically reach the
stations via a bridge over the street. Usually, four lanes down the
center of the street are dedicated to bus traffic. There are both
express and local buses, the latter stopping at all stations. The
outer lanes allow express buses to bypass buses stopped at a
station.
Users pay at the station entrance via a smart card, pass through a
turnstyle, and await the arrival of the bus inside the station,
which is typically 5 m wide. The bus and station doors open
simulataneously, a passengers board by simply walking across the
threshold. Like a subway system, the elevated station platform and
the bus floor are at the same height.
The buses
are diesel-powered, purchased from
such manufacturers as the Colombian-Brazilian company Marcopolo-Superior, German conglomerate
Mercedes-Benz, and Scandinavian based
companies as Volvo and Scania
. The
buses are
articulated (split into
two sections with an accordion-like rotating middle to allow for
sharp turns) and have a capacity of 160 passengers. In May 2007 a
new larger bus with capacity for 270 passengers was presented to
the public. This bus has three sections with two articulations and
will be used in phase III. Transmillenio buses are not equipped
with transponders to give them traffic signal priority, a regret
voiced by the general manager of the system, Angelica Castro.

Bus with double articulation,
TransMilenio Headquarters, Bogotá, Colombia.
As of
August 2007 there are 1,027 buses
circulating on the troncal system and the fare is 1500
Colombian pesos for a single trip (about
EUR 0.51 or
USD 0.64, as of
November 2008). Cards use a
contactless smart card (
MIFARE) system, and it is possible to purchase
multiple trips for one card. Most users are distrustful and
purchase only one or two trips at a time, due to problems with the
cards at the launch of the system. Although the technical problems
have been fixed, there are no financial incentives (discounts) for
multiple purchases or public education campaigns (as have been
recommended by urban planning consultants).
An additional set of 410 regular buses, known as "feeders"
(
alimentadores, in Spanish), transport users from certain
important stations to many different locations that the main route
does not reach. Unlike the main TransMilenio buses, feeders operate
without dedicated lanes, are not articulated and are green (regular
TransMilenio buses are red). There is no additional fare in order
to use the feeder buses.
Bogota has many bicycle paths built throughout the city in
conjunction with Transmilenio. Five percent of trips in Bogota
today are by bicycle. Transmilenio stations at each end of a line
have huge
bicycle parking facilities
to facilitate bicyclists using the system.
Costs, ridership, and impact
According to a United States
Transportation Research Board
(TRB) Report, the construction cost for the first phase of 41
kilometers was US$240 million, or US$5.9 million per kilometer.
Daily ridership quickly reached 800,000 after the system opened.
TransMilenio has since been expanded and ridership in early 2006
was 1,050,000 daily, and in 2009 was 1,400,000 daily. Seventy-five
percent of Bogotaans rate the system as good or very good.
Eventually, there is a plan to build 388 kilometers of route, which
will provide a very dense network of rapid transit for an urban
area with an estimated land area of approximately 500 square
kilometers. For example, Madrid covers nearly as much land area and
has one of the most dense Metro systems in the world, with
approximately 230 kilometers of route. TRB reports that the 388
kilometer system is projected to cost $3.3 billion, which is only
10 percent more than a previously proposed Metro of 30 kilometers
would have cost.
The system is overseen by a public body, which awards contracts to
private bus companies on a competitive basis. According to TRB,
Private contractors are paid based upon the total number of
kilometers that their vehicles operate.
Routes and stations

System map, including phases I and
II
TransMilenio has 9 routes serving 114 stations in the city of
Bogota:
Since the May 2006 expansion, the TransMilenio Route System changed
dramatically, with new sections added to the system. Instead of
being numbered, routes have a combination of letters and numbers.
In order to fill the information gap TransMilenio made available an
interactive guide
[58772] that includes routes, stations, near by places
and routes combination, in a simple and efficient form.
New lines are being constructed including one in Calle 26
(Downtown-West (Airport)) and the other in Carrera 10
(Downtown-South).
It is under consideration to start constructing a new line in
Carrera 7 (North-Downtown), which has been criticized as there are
certain parts in which the system might not fit.
There are five types of stations:
- Sencillas (Simple): local service stations, located
approximately every 500 m.
- De transferencia (Transfer): allow transfer between
different lines through a tunnel.
- Sin intercambio (No transfer): do not allow transfer
from the north-south line to the south-north line; located in a
stretch of the Autopista Norte
- Intermedias (Intermediate): service both feeder and
trunk lines.
- Cabecera (Portal): near the entrances to the city. In
addition to feeders and articulated buses, intercity buses from the
metropolitan area also arrive at these stations.
All stations have electronic boards announcing the approximate
arrival time of the next bus. Wait times are short as there is
usually a bus serving the station. There are also station
attendants to provide assistance to the passengers, and posted
system maps.
History
Before Transmilenio, Bogota's mass transit "system" was thousands
of independently operated, uncoordinated mini buses. Mayor Enrique
Peñalosa oversaw the construction of the initial Transmilenio
system, which took only three years from conception to opening. The
mayor created a special company to build the project and run the
central system. The operational design of TransMilenio was
undertaken by transport consultants Steer Davies Gleave. The
international consulting firm McKinsey & Co. was hired as
project manager and leading local investment bank Capitalcorp S.A.
was assigned the financial structuring of the project. Most of the
money required to build Transmilenio was provided by the Colombian
central government, while the city of Bogota provided the remaining
thirty percent.
The system opened in December 2000. A second phase has been
completed, and a third is underway. Other cities are building
systems modeled on Transmilenio, for example Mexico City.
TransMilenio stations comply with
easy
access regulations by virtue of being elevated and having ramps
leading to the entrance, the
alimentadores are normal
buses without handicapped accessibility. A lawsuit by disabled user
Daniel Bermúdez caused a ruling that all feeder systems must comply
with easy access regulations by
2004, but this
has yet to occur.
Criticisms
Most users
will agree that TransMilenio is a vast improvement over Bogotá's
previous public transit system, especially in comparison with the
chaotic systems in place in cities like Lima
, Peru
.
There are a number of criticisms based on the way the system
works.
- Buses and stations are often packed even during non-rush hour periods. The problem is exacerbated by
bus layout with many seats and inadequate standing room.
- The use of diesel buses has a greater polluting impact in a
high-altitude city like Bogotá than at sea level (Bogotá is 2,600
meters/8,530.2 feet above sea level).
- The stations have uncovered spots where, when it rains,
passengers cannot avoid getting wet as they walk from one end of
the station to the other.
- Mirroring the experience with crowded transit systems of all
modes, many users complain about pickpocketing inside the buses, a
problem which is made worse by the great extent to which the buses
are packed.
Protests
On May 2 and 3, 2006, several groups of ordinary bus drivers not
related with TransMilenio held a strike, protesting against some
elements and consequences of the implementation of the system. They
disagreed with the amount of monetary compensation that they would
receive in exchange for the disposal of old buses (10 to more than
20 years old), traffic restrictions on the TransMilenio main lines,
and a new
Pico y Placa Ambiental in some city areas, that
would restrict the schedules of buses older than 10-year-old to
early morning hours in order to reduce pollution in the city.
Some of the larger bus companies, which participate in
TransMilenio, also retired their conventional bus lines during the
strike. Public transportation ground to a halt in much of the city,
though TransMilenio and a number of other buses continued operating
they could not cope with all of the demand. Acts of individual
intimidation and violence against some private vehicles,
TransMilenio and conventional buses occurred during the strike, as
well as clashes between some of the strikers and the police.
Bogotá's
Mayor Luis Eduardo Garzón rejected the
strike, firmly defended all of the measures as necessary for the
city's transportation future, and stated that he was only willing
to discuss the specific details of their implementation, as well as
a further democratization of TransMilenio's operations, after the
situation calmed down. During the second and final day of the
strike, the local administration, the strikers and their companies
agreed to begin talks.
During the strike, some protests included users of TransMilenio who
complained because the buses were passing at a very low frequency.
Several stations became so filled up that some people fell from
them into the street. Even after the strike ended, some
TransMilenio passengers have subsequently protested because they
still find different aspects of the system to be inefficient and
uncomfortable.
Transmilenio has another disadvantage. The price of the ticket is
1500 colombia pesos, one of the most expensive transport ticket
price, more expensive even than a ticket of a metro system like
Madrid or Buenos Aires. And it takes upt o 30 minutes to get access
into the main stations like Calle 100.
Security on TransMilenio
As in any other highly crowded area, users of TransMilenio must be
aware that when riding the system they are exposed to pickpockets.
Isolated instances of people getting mugged have been reported as
well. Security on buses and in stations is handled by police
officers employed by the city. However, most of the time the
officers assigned are recently graduated high school students
serving their mandatory year with the armed forces ('Policía
Bachiller'). Higher ranking officers are assigned as supervisors
and respond when a Policía Bachiller requests assistance.
See also
References
External links