More than 1.2 million people will benefit from a better integrated transport system
WASHINGTON, April 22nd 2020 – The World Bank Board of Directors approved today a US$ 97 million loan for the São Paulo Aricanduva BRT Corridor project to finance the construction of a high-quality Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Bus system on the 14 kilometer corridor, including BRT stations, bicycle paths and smart signaling systems with public transport priority.
The program will also upgrade the São Paulo Municipality bus operational control center by installing a real-time operation monitoring system for 15,000 vehicles and the institutional strengthening activities related to public transport planning and policies.
“The implementation of the Aricanduva BRT corridor will meet a demand of up to 300 thousand passengers daily. With the funding for this construction, we will take an old promise from the paper and, thus, bring more quality of life to the population of the East Zone. This is a fundamental service for urban mobility that will make transportation in the region safer and faster,” said Bruno Covas, Mayor of the São Paulo Municipality.
The São Paulo Metropolitan Region (SPMR) is the most important economic region in Brazil with a concentration of more than 20% of the country’s GDP. Over the past decade the population in the region grew 10%. About 21.6 million people live in 39 municipalities, with about 12 million in the São Paulo Municipality. The uncontrolled urban sprawl led to social problems such as crime and unemployment.
The Aricanduva corridor will serve some of the most socially vulnerable neighborhoods, where 24% and 28% of the population are classified as highly and very highly socially vulnerable, respectively. It will connect Metro Line 3 and CPTM (suburban rail), lines 11 and 12 at the Carrão station, the ABD metropolitan BRT at São Mateus and Metro Line 15 at São Mateus, a monorail under construction.
The projects are expected to result in more formal job opportunities reachable by public transport in the area of influence of the Aricanduva BRT Corridor and an increase in the daily bus passenger ridership on the BRT. By improving the operations control center, it is expected an improvement the quality of the bus service by increasing on-time departures and decreasing non-completed bus trips in São Paulo city.
A total of 290,000 people use bus services on the Aricanduva Corridor each day, and around 1.2 million people live in the corridor’s area of influence, including 29,000 households in urban slums that will benefit from the project. Furthermore, the 9 million daily passengers will benefit from improved operation and performance of the São Paulo Municipality buses through improved efficiency of the city bus operation and increased service quality of the entire city bus system.
“Facilitating access to jobs through improved public transport services is one of the biggest ways to reduce social inequality, in particular for socially vulnerable people. With that in mind, the project will also pay special attention to women and people with disabilities, who often face challenges while using public transport,” said Paloma Anós Casero, World Bank Director for Brazil.
This one tranche loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to the Municipality of São Paulo is guaranteed by the Federative Republic of Brazil and has a final maturity of 15 years, with a 5-year grace period.
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