The Across Latitudes and Cultures BRT Centre of Excellence is pleased to announce a monthly webinar series to share timely public transit research and encourage ongoing collaboration. The series is open to anyone and will address issues relevant to researchers and practitioners. Please share this announcement with your extended network.
The last webinar was:
Social and Political Implications of BRT as a Neoliberal Contradiction
Presented by Laurel Paget-Seekins, from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Friday, February 28, 11am EST
Register here
See summary, presentation and video below.
Please email Laurel at lpaget@uc.cl with any questions or future topic suggestions.
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Social and Political Implications of BRT as a Neoliberal Contradiction
In cities with an informal bus sector BRT projects provide an impetus to formalize bus service. The dominant model of BRT implementation uses a neoliberal framework; governments create a market from which to purchase bus service from large companies under contracts in which the government initially takes on the majority of the risk. In addition, BRT projects can be part of a city’s attempt to compete for mobile global capital. However, BRT/bus formalization projects contradict neoliberal ideology by increasing the ‘publicness’ of public transport and challenging automobility by dedicating public space for bus and non-motorized mode users. The neoliberal implementation model is not inherent to BRT and how implementers approach the contradictions has an impact on the role of BRT in a city’s urban development.
