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Information services provided for public transport in Rio de Janeiro in relation to the 2016 Olympic Games.

Arends, R.J. (2010) Information services provided for public transport in Rio de Janeiro in relation to the 2016 Olympic Games.

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Abstract:Brazil is a rapidly increasing economic superpower, the increasing welfare results in higher car use and declining use of public transport. The city of Rio de Janeiro, host of the Olympic Games of 2016, is experiencing this decline in public transport share. To maintain their mobility, improvements of public transport have to be carried out. One of the current problems of public transport is the quality of travel information. It is suggested that improvements of the quality of travel information can contribute to the quality of public transport and retaining the use of public transport.This research has built a framework of how the quality of travel information can be improved, by using the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games are the largest sporting event in the world and allow cities to make large investments in infrastructure and public transport, giving the opportunity to improve, among others, the quality of public transport. This framework is built by reviewing literature about the subject of Olympic Games, public transport and travel information. Based on these literatures a generic framework, about the users need for travel information in the different stages of their trip, is built. This framework is adjusted to the case of Rio de Janeiro and is verified with two in-depth interviews. The Olympic Games require intensive preparations. Organising the Olympic Games can be divided in three timeframes: prior, during and after the Olympics. Each period has its own characteristics. Most important aspect in the stage prior to the Olympic Games is to take into account the period after the Games, the legacy period. During the Olympic Games everything has to be flawless. Each day 1.5 million extra trips will be made by the three Olympic transport categories: Olympic Family, Olympic workforce and tourists. The Olympic Family will need a reliable private transport network, where as tourists and the Olympic workforce will be dependent on public transport. And next to the Olympic traffic the regular city traffic needs to keep on moving. After the Games only the legacy is left. To maximize the legacy it is important to make more investments in accelerating already existing long term plans, and make fewer investments in realising plans just for the Games. The Olympic Committee has to ensure flawlessly organised Olympic Games. This responsibility makes them problem owner of all aspects, and hence for the quality of travel information.Public Transport is necessary to maintain the mobility in a city. Many different people use public transport for travelling. To make tangible results the users of public transport are segmented in four categories: - Regular user - Occasional user - Tourist, speaks local language - Tourist, doesn’t speak local language Each group has its own characteristics, the regular user, for instance, is sensitive to the actual condition of service and reliability, whereas a tourist is sensitive to ease of use. Different needs are also found on the quality aspect ‘travel information’. The regular user needs actual time/place related information and information about distortions and irregularities. Occasional user needs information about basic route and time information but also about irregularities. Tourist needs basic information about route and time. Travelling by public transport exists of seven stages, from origin to ride to destination. On each stage information about the trip can be provided and different sources can be used.The long term effects of improving travel information are unknown. All recent Olympic Games and upcoming games are organised or got interest from one of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. All these countries have growing economies and having increasing mobility. The developing countries often need large improvements in infrastructure and they can use the Olympics to accelerate their long term plans of mobility using the investments made for the Olympics. Public transport is in developing countries mostly by bus and has a relatively high modal share, but as the welfare is increasing, the bus share is declining. The quality of the public transport is also relatively low, compared to the developed countries. But general conclusions on developing countries are hard to make. With the previous results a general framework about ‘which information in which situation should be provided’ is made. This framework divides the need for information in three directions: characteristics of the user, the timeframe of the Olympic Games and the stage of the trip. The previous framework is applied on the city Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro is host city of the Olympic Games of 2016. Public transport is mainly by bus; the bus is responsible for 71% of all daily trips. Recent declining bus passengers show the need for improving the system. Bus information in Rio de Janeiro is hardly provided and the transport is poorly accessible for tourists. In two in-depth interviews with a public transport association and a specialist on transportation and mega events the framework is verified. They accorded to the need of improvements and saw too a useful guideline in this framework. Some remarks were given, first was that next to technical improvements also personal information is necessary. Second remark was the fact that using target groups is feasible for improving the service, but in practice only one information sign will be made. Remarkable was that the public transport operator don’t consider providing information at the origin. A good starting point for improving the travel information is with the developing of the new bus rapid transit lines.Improvements of the quality of travel information in bus transport in the city of Rio de Janeiro are inevitable. Important is to provide the right information at the right place, customized to the need of the user. This must be done keeping in mind the practical aspects of implementation. The Olympics are an excellent platform to accelerate the long term plans for improving transport. The Olympic Committee should initiate the improvements; the execution can be laid down at the associations for public transport operators.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Clients:
IFluxo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Faculty:ET: Engineering Technology
Subject:56 civil engineering
Programme:Civil Engineering BSc (56952)
Keywords:Public Transport, Rio de Janeiro, Olympic Games 2016, Travel information
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/59690
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