The organization of the Unified Health System (SUS), a key element for Brazil to face the coronavirus with a level of medical quality superior to that of other countries of the same size, should extend to the area of ​​urban mobility. The creation of a kind of SUS for public transport was advocated by debaters Luize Sampaio and Joyce Trindade, guests of the fourth virtual meeting of the Dialogues for Sustainability, promoted by the Museum of Tomorrow last Wednesday (August 12). The debate was moderated by Zé Lobo, activist and founder of the NGO Transporte Ativo.

Luize, a journalist from Casa Fluminense and author of a series of reports on the subject, highlighted that some cities in Rio de Janeiro, such as Maricá and Volta Redonda, have managed to establish models supported by public subsidies that guarantee zero fares. According to the constitution, she reminded, public transport is equal to education and health — that is, a right for all.

I studied at PUC (in Gávea) and lived in Madureira. The university student transportation pass was restricted to buses, which meant more commuting time. Now, during the pandemic, the Rio de Janeiro city government decided to take buses out of circulation, harming those who didn't stop working in person. Public transportation is an essential service and a social right. It should be treated like a kind of SUS (Brazilian public healthcare system). Each party (municipality, state, and federal government) would contribute its share, said Luize.

Agreeing with this point of view, Joyce Trindade, a graduate in public management from UFRJ and co-founder and director of Projeto Manivela, emphasized that public control systems operate according to the logic of the most base politics, preventing progress.

Everyone knows that health and education are basic rights, but nobody remembers that public transportation is also one. Government oversight bodies are mere spaces for electoral bargaining and the allocation of people. The structure of the State is geared towards marginalizing the poorest people. Mothers don't have time to educate their children, to be with their families. Because they spend hours on public transport, he said.

Rio loses its leading role in cycling

Zé Lobo, a visual programmer who created the NGO Transporte Ativo in 2003, recalled that the city of Rio, once a national leader in promoting bicycle commuting, has been losing its leading role in recent years. He stated that there is a gigantic potential for leveraging active (human-powered) two-wheeled transport that is being wasted:

Policies to encourage bicycle use are practically nonexistent. But even without government support, Rio residents are using bicycles more and more. There was an increase (of this type of transport) of more than 100% in users from 2013 to 2018 in the city of Rio. It's incredible that 34% of cyclists integrate bicycles with public transport. The bicycle rental system has 50% of its demand in the city of Rio, although it is present in six cities in the country. It's a gigantic potential being wasted.

Finally, Zé Lobo questioned a smart city model divorced from the collective. “Who is a smart city made for? For minorities. In metropolitan areas, populations are completely excluded. We should be thinking about embracing the entire population, in a more just way.”

Emanuel Alencar