Brazil’s Active Mobility Plan aims to coordinate and guide government actions for walking and cycling mobility, with the following objectives:
• improving conditions for urban active mobility.
• foster the migration of users from private to active transport modes; and
• improve and foster integration between sustainable transport modes
Background
Brazil, like other emerging economies, has experienced a rapid change in terms of urbanization and transportation over the last decades. 86% of Brazilian population lives in urban areas For decades, transport planning in Brazil has focused on improving the conditions for motorized vehicles at the expense of pedestrians and cyclists. With cities’ regulations being modified to accommodate private vehicles, the fleet has doubled over the decade and its motorcycle fleet grew five-fold.
Challenges
In Brazil, the use of private motorized vehicles has continued to increase in recent decades, with pedestrians and cyclists coping with a poor infrastructure design. Brazil’s sprawling urban development is particularly inequitable and unsustainable, where workplace and leisure opportunities are concentrated in the central areas while poorer people live on the periphery, with inadequate infrastructure and amenities. This spatial inequity causes long travel times and distances, and people are highly dependent on transport systems. Most motorized trips are made by bus, but congestion, noise and air pollution levels are high. Individual modes (such as private cars and motorcycles) are becoming more popular. Motorcyclists are the main victims of road crashes. Overall, the majority modes are bicycle and pedestrian travel. This mobility crisis experienced by Brazilian cities has led to a renewal of interest in improving public transport and planning for non-motorised transport.
Successes
In the recent past, Brazil has worked to provide the necessary regulatory framework for sustainable urban mobility. The country developed the Federal District's Active Mobility Policy, which includes walking and cycling mobility. This policy has the general objective of contributing to broad and democratic access to the city, by planning and organizing actions that ensure pleasant, affordable, safe, comfortable, and inviting journeys for pedestrians and cyclists.
The Government of Brasília, through the support of UN Environment Share the Road Programme and the World Resource Institute’s Brazil office developed the Active Mobility Plan. The plan commits to improving mobility for people who travel by bicycle and on foot and fostering migration of motorized transport users to active modes. It also aims to better integrate active mobility within Brasília’s public transport system.
Cities in Brazil have made significant progress on sustainable transportation. Fortaleza, the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil, sees traffic fatalities drop to the lowest level in 15 years after creating a mobility strategy with speed reduction interventions, priority bus lanes, and cycling infrastructure. Investments in greenways, bike paths, and bike sharing programs have also made biking more attractive in cities like Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Belo Horizonte.
