Event brings together experts to discuss smart cities and the future of mobility in the country

On Wednesday (23/10) the Association of Metro Engineers and Architects (AEAMESP) carried out the 30th Metrorail Technology Week, an event that was hosted in the capital of São Paulo and brought together several sector experts to discuss the future of mobility in Brazil.

One of the participants was Roberto Speicys Cardoso, managing partner of Scipopulis, a company specialized in smart cities, which commented on the importance of prioritizing public transport and the intelligent use of data for the intelligent management of these modes. “To access the employment possibilities, exchanges and various benefits of the city, the movement of people must be efficient,” he said.

Solutions for sustainable and smart cities

According to Cardoso, obtaining data from cities, such as number of passengers, flooding areas, among others, can help with this task.

“Data is fundamental to making smarter decisions. So, if you know the number of bicycles that pass through different parts of the city, you can create a cycle path that will actually be used”, reflects Cardoso.

Fernando Tohme, advisor at the Instituto Sociocultural Brasil China (Ibrachina), spoke about the challenge of cities understanding the importance of applying data. According to him, solutions using this structured information have already helped in various ways in other countries, such as reducing the number of suicides in the Sydney subway, in Australia, among other examples. “However, in Brazil progress in this regard is still small”, he states.

According to Cardoso, Brazilian cities face major problems in obtaining data that helps generate mobility policies, as well as in using them. “It is not enough to generate data if it is not used in decision-making and planning processes”, he adds.

“Since 2007, São Paulo buses have been equipped with GPS and could be monitored in real time. However, until 2014 the CET he still used a vehicle with two people, one driving and the other with a stopwatch, to determine the time it took the buses to cover a route and in which section there were bottlenecks”, says Cardoso. According to him, the same monitoring could be done digitally.

Intelligence in public transport

In his speech at the panel on smart cities, Cardoso discussed how the population of urban areas is expected to grow increasingly, imposing new mobility challenges. “If today 55% of the world’s population lives in cities, by 2050 this population will reach 68%”, he states.

Therefore, it is becoming increasingly necessary to invest in public transport and the intelligence of these modes. Cardoso explains that, even solutions that at first glance may appear to help a city’s mobility efficiency, can end up being counterproductive.

“We evaluated the exclusive bus lanes in São Paulo. Our tests helped the Public Authorities make the decision to remove the bus lane on the 9 de Julho viaduct. This is because the exclusive lane actually delayed buses. Because it slowed down traffic in the surrounding area and caused the vehicle to take longer to climb the viaduct”, he concludes.

Also read: 5 trends in smart cities implemented in Brazil

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Author: Fellipe.leite