240 6 3 ESNC,A 1A A THE WORLD BANK F~~~ ~ ., . Hov.) Can Urban B(u s io, iA_r, P d j u t Air P i Bu.ses ai e ess ential to e er.vdav lile in Souitlh Asia. Tlhe affec t urban air quiit botli directly by e;niitliuig air pollutants andfc indirectly by reducing tile co)Iige.stion ind emiiission.s caused bv the mal ny smnaller vehicles whlich tliev rep7lace. Bu.ses inlist bt, lot only cleant butiealso aIttractive) tfiid , -ff;,.'E11 inz compal7Krisonl with other m^7odes of transport. FIuel aid emixission standards are a necessar v policv elemenit. Buit unless sutch standards arl. e initr-oduced in the conitext of a genieral lpolicy ul-inework thaIt ma7fkes the provision of cletan bhts service sfinancfia lly lviable^ for the supp/lievr u71i 1affi)rdalel^ tov thie itsei; tli ev nvn 1 inlad vertentiv fle.strov servic e vitli adverse conlsequences botlh soc'i(all/vt77( adeviron;;'1icnltallly. Tla(1tpolicyV .franiieve7orkni must include mtieatsur-es to give butses prioritv in the ulse of scarce road space, to mnobili7e com(lpetition to enhance eficiencv, anCd to tir,get si bsidies e ectively to s .ecIf -e soci 1l ond environmenta>ltu obj ctives. us services providedby public enterprises in Southi technology) on traditional formal sector buses without Asia often appear to contribute significantly to payingdueregar(dtotheeconomiccosts ofthose standards, 1_urban air pollution. That appearance nmay be they mnay mak-c the sei vices too costly for the operators to misleading. It is important to establish first how significant operate at existing fares, yet too costly for many poor users urban puhlic transport is ;Is a source. of air polltion to use at financially sustainable fare levels. The usual effect is that informal operators enter the market Where buses are identified as major polluters, the problem using smaller vehicles, often very old and polluting. For often appears to be associated with the use of old, often examiiple, in South Asa, the autorickshaw provides useitu overloaded, vehicles in order to meet a hurgeoning point-to-point service for middle income people and is an demand. Liberalizing entry to allow the private sector to important source of employment for the poor. Rut it supplement the public operators has in some cases even contributes to air pollution directly, particularly when made things worse by increasing congestion. So it has powered by a two-stroke gasoline enginie, and indirectly. been argued that the only option for enviroinmenital by contributing to corgestion and reducing average traffic imiprovemenit is the enlorcemiienlt of high technological speeds. Moreover, informal sector services are not always standards on vehiicles and fuels. cheap, and poor bus users The Limitations of Technological Mandates ipparicular tma pay/.o., stringetnt price for the attempt to 1 standards ThaL argument is beguiling. If all else remained the same. reduce emission levels. on enal standc,rds forcing the use of cleaner buses and fuels would indeed During the last decade, improve air qualitv without any loss of other aspects of conventional bus systerris regad to thteir finatcial service quality. But the "if' is a big one, for things do not have failed completely in consequences puts the usually remain the same. many countries in Aftica, bur deni oni the poor. Central Asia snd The reason is simple. Transport users' decisionis are elsewhere as a result of attempting to enforce sociallv primarily motivatcd by the desire to maximize their own welfare, and are therefore sensitive to the time, money and inconvenience costs of transport alternatives. Similarly, It is therefore critically important to recognize that bus transport supply agencies, whether publicly or privately transport policy affeats urban air pollution both (/;,d ' ii owned, must plan their activities within the constrainits of through bus vehicle emissions. and inditrectly through its limited resources. As a consequence, when governments effects on the use of smaller vehicles whether they be iinpose standards (whether on fares, services or atitorickshaws, minibuses or private cars. Policy for buses must therefore ailm simidltaniieouslv to minirize their direct average travel times are air pollution impacts by making them clean, and to all increased. Whilefuel or emissioni maximize their indirect benefits by making them Bus riorities dediated staitdards for buses may sustainable and attractive in comparison with other modes. I us or totteldld y a elp, tarey wif not work The key to achieving this is to recogniize that policy for segregated busways unless supported by buLses mtust be both environmentally sensitive andtl counteract this effect, policies to make bus consistent with public and private affordability. The most The simplest measures transport econiomically important message is that while fuel or emission standards are priorit latnes, which sustainable. for buses may help, they will not work unless supported exist for buses in several ' by policies to make bus transport economically sustainable. Asian cities such as Manila, KLala Lumpur and Bangkok. But they have major limitations. They make roadside Making Clean Technology access to premises more difficult. When they are operated Economically Viable in tue saine direction as the mai trcic they are Imposition of stringent emission and other vehicle susceptible to invasion by other traffic (bus lanes in Dhaka standards tends to increase capital costs without offering suffer from cycle-rickshaws), and hence need a strength any compenisating reduction in operating costs, and tenids of enforcement which they rarely receive. Operation to reduce the amount of financially viable service. So how aguin;st the direction of flow, as in some lanes in can public road passenger transport policy be shaped to Banigkok, is mnore self-enforcing but can increase improve the environment without harming poor users? pedestrian accidents. Giving priority to buses fThe limitations of bus lanes can be overcome by segregattedbusivays. Physical separation limits violations Mixing public transport vehicles, whether buses or by other traffic. By using central lanes. along with autorickshaws, with other vehicle categories reduces the protected pedestrian crossings at stations, the problems speed of both. Cars are impeded by buses. And buses are of accidents and access to roadside premises can he impeded by cars. typically moving at only about two-thirds reduced [1]. And by developing bus\ways as trunk links in the speed of cars because of delays in stopping and re- a physically and commercially integrated network, the entering the traffic flow. Given the limited density of bus travel time and cost of bus transport can be made more networks, buses also involve longer walking times than the competitive with the private car. Although dedicating private car. Overall, bus journeys usually take longer than existing road space to public transport may be opposed those by smaller public transport vehicles and at least twice by car users, experience in Curitiba (Brazil) and Bogota as long as equivalent car journeys which can offer (Colombia) has demonstrated that, with good traffic something nearer to door-to-door service. This results in a management to minimize car delays, the approach can shift to small vehicles. But. paradoxically. the net result of be politically popular as well as giving environmental and such a shift is that total traffic volume, congestion. and efficiency benefits (see Box I). Box 1. Transmilenio: Bogota's bus rapid transit system [2] In less than three years between January 1998 and December 2000, the municipality of Bogota, Colombia developed and implemented a btis rapid transit system called Transmilenio. The system consisted of exclusive busways on central lanes of major arterial roads, roads for feeder buses, stations, and complementary facilities. Trunk line stations are closed facilities with one to three berths varying from 40 nieters (m) to 180 m in length, located every 500 m on average. Trunk lines are served by articulated diesel buses with 160 passenger capacity, while integrated feeder lines are served by diesel buses with capacity of 80 passenger each. To maximize capacity, trunk lines accommodate express services stopping at selected stations only, as well as local services stopping at all stations. This combination allows the system to carry up to 45,000 passengers per hour per direction, Services are operated by private consortia of traditional local transport companies, associated with national and international investors procured under competitively tendered concession contracts on a gross cost basis. By May 2001, Transmilenio carried 360.000 trips per weekday, without operating subsidies at a ticket cost of US$0.36. Productivity was high, with 1,945 passengers per day per bus and 325 kilometers (km) per day per bus. Fatalities from traffic accidents had been eliminated, particulate emissions in the corridors reduced by up to 30 percent, and user travel time reduced by a third. The firstpossibility is by combining higherenvironrncntal (as in Santiago, Chile), the use of old polluting vehicles standards with the provision of priority to buses in the use (as in Lima, Peru) or dangerous operating practices of scarce urban road space. For example, operators of (as in Delhi, India). Unregulated competition "in the the Bogotd Transmilenio system were required to buy market" can be dangerous and inefficient. new high quality vehicles to compete for franchises, but But that is not inevitable. Several countries, including claim that the increased efficiency of movement has alloed hemto mproe srvie vstlyandto ncrase Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom, have organized allowed thein to imnprove service vastly and to increase a different forni of competition-competition "for the their profitability without any increase in fares. market." This consists of the award of exclusive franchises Improving internal efficiency of limited duration and scope on the basis of a competitively bid tender. This approach allows the authorities to control In most public sector bus companies the combination of the main policy-sensitive variables, such as fares and service public ownership and statutory monopoly status gives little structures, while mobilizing competition to get the desired incentive to improve and allows them to be run more in level of service produced at the lowest possible cost. This the interests of their staff than their customers. Their has shown reductions in cost per bus kilometer between performance can be usually improved in many ways, 20 percent and 40 percent. For that reason, competition including more efficient design of route networks, better for controlled exclusive franchises has usually been cost control and better control of performaiace otn the road. preferred in large cities L3]. While there are some scale economies in staff training, The replacement of competition "in the market" by supply procurement and management information systems, competition "for the market" in Santiago allowed the international experience indicates that these are not of a authorities to get the economic benefits of competition magnitude to justify monopoly operation of large urban without environmental damage by the simple device of systems. The advantages of integrated systems planning, setting minimal pollutant emission standards as a condition also frequently considered to justify monopoly, can be for holding any franchise, as well as by using equally well achieved by separation of planning from the environmental quality above the minimum as one of the operation of services which can be competitively procured criteria on which competitively tendered franchises are by the planning agency. The most critical requirement is awarded (see Box 2). usually the need for internal incentives to improve For this approach to be effective, a franchising authority efficiency.That IS what conmrercil ization and competition efficien. Tmust be technically and administratively able to design can provide. and award franchises with sensible environmental Introducing effective competition conditions, and to monitor performance-including vehicle emissions-effectively. There is now a wealth of It is often argued that competition, particularly from experience in doing this, both in industrial countries (for informal sector operators, is the enemy of environmental example, in Copenhagen and London) and developing quality. It has been associated with excessive supply countries (in such cities as Santiago de Chile and Bogota). Box 2. Addressing the environmental impacts of bus competition in Santiago, Chile At the end of 1977 public road passenger transport in Santiago was provided by a public sector operator with 710 large (90- seat) buses, a number of strictly regulated private associations operating 3,167 regular (78-seat) buses and 1,558 (40-seat) "midi"-buses. The public operator lost money and service was mediocre. Between November 1979 and June 1983, both entry to the market and fares v. cr dcregLIlatcd The public sector operator was driven out of the market and total capacity more than doubled. But by 1985 regular bus fares had tripled and the average age of buses increased from 7 to 11.6 years. Competition concentrated on routes to the center oi th-e city which became congested and polluted by poorly occupied buses. Initial attempts to rectify the situation included banning 20 percent of the bus fleet froni operation on each dai of the week and banning buses more than 22 years old. But these measures gave lite relizf So, in ihe e.irlv P- JQv. the government introduced a system of competitive tendering for franchises to operate buses on routes entering the city center. The capacity was thus constrained by the authorities, The fare to be offered was a main criterion in selecting franchisees, as were the environmental characteristics of the vehicles offered. Conge.-tion. air pollution and fares all fell dramatically so that by the mid- I '9c)(), the improved service which was the benefit of crmnipeliiton was retained while its disbenefits had been largely er;dic.ted U Attracting passengers from cars is more difficult. compressed natural gas, CNG, would need to be about Maintaining higher and more regular frequencies might half that of diesel to make CNG operation financially help. But, given the poor image of ordinary buses, those competitive). If that is the case, then it is necessary to who can avoid them will, whatever the fares and ask what other policies (for example, investment in frequencies. For that reason, regulatory reform to busways) might have been introduced at the same cost encourage express or air-conditioned buses to attract as that of the fuel duty loss. higher income patronage is likely to be even more effective than giving subsidies, as experience has shown in cities Conclusions of varying average income levels such as Dhaka, Worldwide experience on the environmental implications Bangkok, Buenos Aires and Seoul. of urban buses thus offers some valuable lessons: Effective competition tusually depends on the * Imposing high vehicle standards without attention to commercialization or full privatization of the incumbent the financial sustainability of bus operations can parastatal, as private operators are reluctant to compete undermine their viability with counterproductive with an agency that can rely on deficit finance from its effects. owner to ensure that it retain its position in the market. The cities that have most satisfactorily reconciled efficient * Improving the efficiency of bus operations is critical and clean operations with low budget burden are those to the sustainable environmental improvement of bus that have confronted the need to develop effective transport. competition. * Priority in use of road infrastructure. and particularly the creation of segregated buswav systems, is a most Focusing public transport subsidies effective basis for sustaining environmental standards Many industrial country cities subsidize public transport for buses. fares, sometimes arguing that this will attract passengers * Competition for franchises also significantly reduces from cars. While this may be desirable on distributional costs and can be designed to support environmental grounds, it is not generally cost-effective as an improvement. environmental policy. First, there is strong evidence that up to half of any subsidy "leaks" to benefit employees in References the industry rather than passengers. Second, because ImIost I1 Halcrow Fox in association with Traffic and Transport car owners' use of their vehicles is not sensitive to public Consultants. Mass Rapid Than sit in Developing transport fare levels, subsidv is not particularly effective Countries. Bcgon Paper to th eWor Bnk Countries. Background Paper to the World Bank in shifting travelers from private to public transport. Third. because the modal shift is small, but the subsidy is paid to World Bank website at: http://wbln00 18.worldbank.orgl all, general bus subsidy is not a cost-effective way to transport/utsr.nsf/Topic+Review+Papers?OpenView reduce urban pollution. 2. Dario Hidaloo Guerrero. 2()01. "Transmilenio: The Subsidizing cleaner vehicles and/or fuels is a more direct 2 approach. However, the need to ensure th financial Mass Transport System of Bogota". A paper prepared sustainability of the cleaner technology still applies. The for the Latin American Urban Public Transport cleaner vehicles must be capable of being operated Congress (KLATPU), Havana, Cuba, 2001 reliably and economically. This may require not only an 3. Halcrow Fox. Review of Urban Puiblic TrXansport initial capital subsidy but also substantial investment in Comnpetition Background Paper to the World Bank training and maintenance facilities for the new technology, Urban Transport Strategy Review. Available on the as well as fiscal effort to keep the price of the fuel World Bank website at: http://wbln00l8.worldbank.org/ attractive (for example, it is estimated that the price of transport/utsr.nsf/Topic+Review+Papers?OpenView This briefing note was prepared in December 2001 as part of the South Asia program on urban air quality management. funded in part by the joint UNDP/World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP). The objective of the program is to support the region-wide process of developing and adopting cost-effective and viable policies and efficient enforcement mechanisms to reverse the deteriorating trend in urban air. Forfurther information, contact Sarneer Akbar (sakbar®worldbank.org) or Masami Kojima (mkojima@worldbank.org) about the program, and Ken Gwilliam (kgwilliam@worldbank.org) about this note.