As part of MobiliseYourCity
(MYC), a program that aims to support cities in developing countries to plan sustainable urban mobility and for which CODATU is one of the initiators, a CEREMA team travelled to São Paulo in October 2017 to test a qualitative analysis methodology for urban transport.
CODATU supported this process through the participation of its on-site coordinator, Bruno Almeida Maximino, who participated in the preparatory meetings of the test mission, and was interpreter and guinea pig on some of the courses.
Crédit: CEREMA
The objective of this mission was to analyse the perception of users and their behaviour as transport users, then to integrate their feedback into decision-making and mobility planning. The method provided for two types of route: guided journeys (daily trip of a regular user, accustomed to the transportation network) and obstacle course (trip of a person non-familiar with the transport network).
The method makes it possible to identify malfunctions and improvements to transport systems.
Crédit: CEREMA
The different routes made throughout the week covered several neighborhoods of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, of varied socio-economic contexts, which enriched the experience. Several types of transport infrastructure were used during peak and off-peak hours: the metro, the metropolitan train, the bus and even the Expresso Tiradentes (a BRT on a viaduct).
The information gathered will then be analysed by the CEREMA specialists and a summary report and a video will be available in early 2018. It is also planned to organize training sessions in Latin America so that local teams can use this method.
The test mission was made possible thanks to the support of SPTrans (the entity responsible for urban mobility in the city of São Paulo) and the STM (the metropolitan transport agency).