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Good practice Imported

Curitiba's Bus Rapid Transit — the Original Model Exported to 160+ Cities Worldwide

Brazil · Curitiba · See the Brazil profile · See the Curitiba profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 10% 86/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Curitiba's 1974 Rede Integrada de Transporte, the world's first true Bus Rapid Transit system, now carries roughly 2 million passenger trips a day and has been adapted in an estimated 160+ cities worldwide, including Bogotá's TransMilenio.

~2 million
Daily passenger trips
~80%
Motorised mode share carried by BRT
160+
Cities adapting the model
~33%
Fuel use reduction from hybrid buses

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
IPPUC (Instituto de Pesquisa e Planejamento Urbano de Curitiba) & URBS
Period
1974–present
Keywords
public transport, urban planning, climate mitigation, mass transit

Context

In 1974, Curitiba, Brazil opened the Rede Integrada de Transporte (RIT), documented as the world's first true Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. It was designed by then-mayor Jaime Lerner together with the city's planning institute IPPUC, combining dedicated busways, articulated buses and tube-shaped, level-boarding stations to move large passenger volumes at a fraction of the cost of a metro.

Activities

The model spread through direct city-to-city transfer: Bogotá's mayor Enrique Peñalosa explicitly modelled the TransMilenio system, launched in 2000, on Curitiba's example. IPPUC, C40, ITDP and the World Bank have since produced technical case studies and hosted study visits to help other cities replicate the design.

Results

Decades later the network carries on the order of 2 million passenger trips a day, with buses accounting for around 80% of the city's motorised trips; hybrid buses on parts of the network cut fuel use by about a third. The design has been adapted in an estimated 160+ cities across roughly 80 countries.

Conclusions

Brazilian press reporting in 2024 documented falling ridership, ageing infrastructure and funding pressure on Curitiba's own network since the pandemic — a reminder that even a pioneering export model needs continued local reinvestment to remain the standard it helped set elsewhere.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Designed explicitly as a lower-cost alternative to metro rail, using dedicated busways rather than rail infrastructure.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Operating continuously since 1974; replication to other cities (e.g. Bogotá's TransMilenio, 2000) occurred over subsequent decades.
Staffing & skills
City government of Curitiba (mayor's office), IPPUC (Instituto de Pesquisa e Planejamento Urbano de Curitiba), URBS (transit operator)

Conditions for success

  • Dedicated busway infrastructure and tube-shaped level-boarding stations
  • A strong municipal planning institute driving integrated design
  • Sustained local reinvestment over decades

Common failure modes

  • Falling ridership, ageing infrastructure and funding pressure on the original network since the pandemic (per 2024 Brazilian press reporting)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Replication kit

Reusable artefacts from this practice — as published by their sources.

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Data sources

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