AUGUST 1 —  The standard of urban living nowadays is largely judged by public transport standards. Where public transport is found wanting, private ownership of cars goes up, creating problems of parking, pollution, traffic jams and road deaths. George Town has a lot to learn from others, such as Brazil’s Curitiba.

Like most cities, George Town has traffic problems. This is illogical as the city has less people today than say, 40 years ago. The population of George Town was about 261,800 in 1970, while the estimated figure for 2010 from the Statistics Department is only 193,200.

There are just too many private cars on the roads. George Town and Penang Island as a whole need a new transportation system in which private cars play the least role in getting from home to workplace.

The Penang Structure Plan 2020 that was gazetted in 2007 proposed a study on the possibility of a “light transit service (monorail)”. Since the state government is looking into improvements on our public transportation system, it is wise to look for good practices throughout the world.

Some cities give priority to the use of private cars. They build multi-lane highways with multi-storey flyovers such as in Los Angeles and recently Beijing. Most European cities, however, adopted a mixture of buses, tramps and subways with generous provisions of space for pedestrians. Singapore gives priority to subways and buses and at the same time makes it costly for private car owners.

Curitiba has chosen to rely only on buses (picture) and the person largely responsible for them has been gaining an attentive audience.

For example, in the recent World Cities Summit 2010 in Singapore, although Bilbao was awarded the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize for transforming a derelict city into a vibrant, liveable and sustainable city, the man of the hour was Jaime Lerner, three-term former mayor of Curitiba and the architect of its bus system. His jovial persona was enduring; but what made him very popular was his message on urban planning and the Bus Transit System. Curitiba, with a population of about 1.8 million, is located in the southern state of Parana, Brazil. Metropolitan Curitiba has about 3.2 million people. The city used to face problems that metropolises around the world share, such as overcrowding, poverty, pollution and limited public funding. Instead of simply following solutions thought up in other cities, its municipal leaders and planners came up with their own creative and inexpensive ideas, such as the use of buses.

Other initiatives that have attracted attention include strict control of urban sprawl, reduction in private motorised traffic on the main roads, provision of more urban parks and the preservation of the historic centre.

As a result, the city has been receiving numerous international awards. Unesco recently identified Curitiba as the model for the reconstruction of cities in Afghanistan.

Curitiba’s public transportation system is entirely made up of buses. They serve every corner of the metropolitan area. Those running on dedicated lanes stop at special cylindrical stations that not only facilitate quick getting on and off the buses, but also have facilities for wheelchair-bound passengers. There are even multi-cabin buses that can take up to 270 persons.

About two million people use these buses a day, accounting for about 70 per cent of the city’s daily commuters. To make the Bus Rapid Transit attractive, the cost of travelling is also kept affordable. Yet the owners of the buses, which are largely private companies, are making profits!

Consequently, although Curitiba has more car owners per capita than other urban areas in Brazil, most people use the bus for going to work. Furthermore, automobile traffic has declined by 30 per cent although the population of the metropolitan area has doubled since 1974. An unplanned benefit is cleaner air for the residents and visitors.

Parallel with the development of an efficient Bus Transit System, the city built pedestrian networks in the city centre. Walking, the most sustainable and healthy means of mobility, is fully encouraged and facilitated in Curitiba.

In George Town, on the other hand, despite the small population, traffic jams are common in all major roads including Jalan Burma, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, Jalan Jelutong and Jalan Mesjid Negeri. Outside the city, jams are found even in Bayan Lepas and Telok Kumbar! The Jelutong Express Way has provided some relief to Jalan Jelutong and Jalan Mesjid Negeri, but the costs to Penangites have yet to be calculated, although the highway is touted to be “free”.

Penang should seriously consider the example of Curitiba. Besides costs, passengers in surface transport undoubtedly have more interesting journeys than those riding in subways. Furthermore, the recently introduced Rapid Penang buses appear to be meeting the transportation needs of those who do not have cars or have chosen not to use their cars if there are reasonable alternatives.

It may be useful to recall that buses played a very important role in the past in Penang. For example, George Town was served by municipal buses owned by the George Town City Council and later the Penang Island Municipal Council. The blue buses provided good and affordable services to those living in Tanjung Bungah and Batu Ferringhi while the yellow buses did the same for those living in Glugor, Relau, Bayan Lepas and Balik Pulau.

Although the local council had to subsidise the operation of the municipal buses, both the blue and yellow buses were privately owned and were not subsidised by the government. Unfortunately, neglect and poor public transportation policies have led to the deterioration of bus services; at least until the introduction of the Rapid Penang buses. But there is much Penang can learn from Curitiba.       

Unfortunately, Curitiba is as far away from Penang as any notable city can get. It is almost half a world away, although it is in the same Southern Hemisphere. It can be costly to visit the city.

As an initial step, Penang should invite Lerner to talk about Curitiba’s Bus Transit System. Besides being an architect and implementer of the system, he speaks English. He is able to explain the philosophy and rationale for the bus system in Curitiba. Perhaps more importantly, he will be able to reveal how he and his team implement the system and overcome challenges.

Malaysia has largely been looking to cities in the US, Europe and Australia as models of urban planning and public transportation system simply because many leaders and the professionals involved in the built environment studied in these places or have been there. It is time to look wider for successful models and innovative solutions that are more suitable for developing countries.

* Goh Ban Lee is a senior research fellow at the Socio-Economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI).

* This article is taken from the August issue of “Penang Economic Monthly”, published by the Socio-economic and Environmental Institute (SERI), Penang, now out at all good bookshops and newsagents.