Abstract
This study presents a method capable of monitoring and evaluating critical occupancy rates in urban public transportation considering route segments with the highest ridership demand. The objective is to detect periods of the day with lower occupancy rates than the maximum permitted by contract, in order to include beneficiaries without the need of paying full fares. The method was applied in a case study in Belo Horizonte city based on boarding and alighting surveys and on the treatment and statistical analysis of database from the Automatic Fare Collection system – AFC. A new indicator of comfort level was formulated, Index of Desirable Comfort, necessary to define the fleet idle capacity during operation and to quantify the beneficiaries with fare discounts during specific periods. Economical evaluation shows that over 100,000 beneficiaries could be included in the system during off-peak, approximately the total of unemployed in the city. The study demonstrated that investments in transportation technologies allow inclusion policies and make the bus accessible to excluded categories, without provoking changes to the quality level and financial disequilibrium to the system.
Key words:
social fare; bus occupancy; public transportation
