Transit has inherent problems if you do it without planning. If we had
POLITICAL WILL, perhaps we could adopt a plan like this...

(not a bad plan for THE REVOLUTION)

"Seventy-five percent of all city travel is done by transit - the
world's highest usage."

Curitiba, Brazil: The Roads Not Taken

Stuck in a traffic jam? Choking on car fumes? Then take the next exit
and head south past the equator to the city of Curitiba, Brazil, where
you can board a bus to a public transit utopia.

By the year 2025, two-thirds of the planet's population will live in
cities, according to the United Nations. And almost all of this growth
- a staggering 90 percent - will take place in countries of the
developing world.

Third World cities usually conjure up images of traffic and pollution,
poverty and shantytowns. But the remarkable city of Curitiba in
southern Brazil is trying to paint a different picture. This mid-sized
city of just over one-and-a-half million has become a Mecca for urban
planners, transit officials and environmentalists the world over.

Cities as far flung as Cape Town, Santiago, Lagos, New York, Toronto,
Montreal, Amsterdam and Bogota have come to learn how Curitiba fought
the car congestion and pollution nightmares that haunt many, if not
most, of the world's cities.

What's even more remarkable is that by most standards, Curitiba is a
poor city. Its annual per capita annual income is under $3,000 (all
figures in U.S. dollars). Yet polls show that residents of Curitiba
love their city and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Visitors call
it one of the most liveable cities anywhere.

...

Seventy-five percent of all city travel is done by transit - the
world's highest usage. But Curitiba didn't ban cars. Over two decades
it gradually made transit cheaper, faster and more convenient than
driving.

Instead of spending money on that huge overpass, the Lerner
administration invested in public transit. And in Curitiba, that meant
buses.

Modern transit usually means subways or light rail trains. But all
Curitiba could afford was a short light rail line that would do little
to solve the overall traffic problem. Buses were the only way to go -
but they would only work if they weren't stuck in traffic. So the
local government set out to create a very fast transit system based on
buses.

This idea has become known worldwide as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

Planners decided that existing roads would work just fine and
reallocated them in groups of three: one avenue for traffic into the
city, one avenue for traffic out, and one avenue for a two-way bus-
only road called a canaleta.

more...

http://www.sustainabletimes.ca/articles/curitibaecocity.htm

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