Patricia Galilea

Los proyectos de transporte urbano tienen un gran potencial para influir en la configuración y carácter del espacio público de nuestras ciudades. Actualmente, la evaluación social de proyectos de transporte en Chile considera atributos principalmente relacionados al transporte. Sin embargo, la implementación de proyectos de transporte puede llegar a entregar beneficios adicionales al entorno, los cuales no están siendo considerados por las metodologías actuales, aunque sus costos de implementación y de mantención sí son considerados. Este artículo propone una metodología basada en el uso de preferencias declaradas (pd) para evaluar en conjunto variables urbanas de espacio público y de transporte, considerando los siguientes tres atributos: existencia de áreas verdes, ciclovía y corredor de buses. Estos atributos resultaron tener una valoración positiva en todos los sectores, reafirmando la necesidad de considerar los impactos de los proyectos de transporte en la configuración y calidad de los espacios públicos urbanos. Por lo tanto, se propone incluir estos beneficios positivos en futuras evaluaciones de proyectos.

Understanding how spatial attributes of cities and neighborhoods induce cycling is relevant for urban planning and policy making. In this work, ordered logit and latent class models are specified and estimated to analyze how the built environment affects bicycle-commuting frequency. Data come from a survey to 1,487 people in the city of Santiago, Chile, including sociodemographic information, travel behavior patterns and place of residence and work. Using geographic information systems tools, the built environment was characterized with variables calculated for a 500-m-radius buffer around the residential and work locations of each individual. Two models are estimated, first an ordered logit model confirms that built environment variables effect on cycling is similar to what has been reported in the literature, with some new findings such as an increase in cycling when public transport accessibility is low and the role of built environment attributes at the destination. Second, a latent class ordered logit is used to identify two classes of neighborhood in term of their cycling patterns, as a function of their density, presence of cycling infrastructure and distance to the main activity center of the city. This result allows to map the class membership probabilities, potentially helping to identify neighborhoods that encourage cycling and providing relevant information for policy making and infrastructure decisions.

Regulatory schemes have remained an open question about the implementation of an urban bus system. Because of the introduction of a higher private initiative within these systems, the expectation of increased patronage has not been met. Hence, studying the effect of regulation on innovation becomes the first objective of this research because innovative solutions may help to attract users. To fulfill that objective, an analysis of innovative capabilities was carried out. The aim was to understand the gap between potential and practical innovation on the authorities and operators. The second objective was to use theoretical modeling to find the effect of payment schemes on frequency and bus size. Both analyses used as a case study the experience of Transantiago in Santiago, Chile. Innovation proved to be dependent on the regulatory scheme in which an operation was framed. Both authorities and operators showed the existence of innovative capabilities dependent on the perceived incentives. Trusting cooperation was an aspect that might have encouraged some types of innovation, such as route design. Analytical solutions showed that as in the experience of Transantiago, supply-based payments provided higher frequency and smaller bus size than fixed payments. Finally, an optimal tariff gave incentives to the operators to provide socially optimal levels of frequency and bus size for a certain demand level.