IPS-English BRAZIL: Discovering Bus Travel
 
Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:57:56 -0700


ROMAIPS LA DV TR 
BRAZIL: Discovering Bus Travel
Fabiana Frayssinet

SAO PAULO, Aug 6   (IPS)  - Brazil's air crisis is changing the 
look of the crowds in bus stations in large cities like Rio de 
Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Many well-heeled Brazilians are opting, 
for the first time, to travel by bus in order to avoid the 
mounting delays in airports and, in some cases, a new fear of 
flying.

Visibly nervous and with a slightly disdainful look on her face, 
a tall, slender blonde woman in designer clothes and with the 
latest hairstyle and gold and leather accessories approaches a 
bus belonging to the Viacao 1001 company in the Sao Paulo station 
and hands her luggage over to the porter.

Her expensive suitcases, clearly designed for air travel, are 
much less appropriate for the six-hour ride to Rio de Janeiro. 
More comfortable travelling clothes and lower heels would also be 
more suitable.

She somewhat apprehensively asks her elegant travelling 
companion, ”And now what do we have to do?” He tells her to stand 
in line to get on the bus, and to give the conductor her ticket 
and show him her identity document.

The ticket taker hands her a plaid flannel blanket and a little 
bag with granola bars, candy and different kinds of crackers and 
cookies. ”What's this?” she asks. ”The ‘lanchinho' (snack) for 
the trip, ma'am,” he responds.

”Oh, we're going to have a little party on board!” she comments, 
a little more enthusiastically.

Her companion talks about their wise decision not to catch a 
plane at Congonhas, the aging, congested airport in the middle of 
Sao Paulo, to travel to Rio de Janeiro this time around.

And although the trip by bus will take six hours, he continues, 
they didn't have to reach the airport one hour ahead of the 
flight, and she will be able to rest more comfortably in her 
reclining bus seat than in the tight space in economy class on 
the plane.

If they had taken the flight to Rio, which lasts less than an 
hour, ”with the chaos in the airports, we would still be waiting 
there,” and the entire process would take longer than the bus 
trip, he argues.

As she walks down the aisle and settles into her seat with a 
certain air of resignation, she studies her fellow passengers 
with curiosity.

Reports by the Rio de Janeiro central bus station say bus travel 
between Rio, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte has increased 30 
percent.

According to the Viacao 1001 company, since the Jul. 17 crash of 
the TAM airline plane in which at least 200 people died at the 
Congonhas airport, ticket sales for first class seats in the bus 
company have grown 17 percent.

And at a much more attractive price: just 68 dollars round-trip 
-- nearly four times less than the cost of an air ticket.

In a survey carried out in July in seven large cities around the 
country by the Getulio Vargas Foundation, 38 percent of 
respondents said they would use their car when they went on 
vacation, while 37 percent said they would travel by plane. A 
month earlier, just 25.3 percent said they would go by car.

This reporter forms part of these statistics: To return to Rio 
after covering the TAM accident, the option chosen was the bus, 
with its ”lanchinho” and the charms of travelling by highway.

However, road transport is not the safest, as pilot Pedro 
Camacho, flight security director for the National Pilots Union, 
points out, citing the well-known figures that show that airplane 
accidents occur much less frequently than traffic accidents.

But there is no turning back in the debate on alternatives to air 
travel, which has drawn such criticism in the last year or more 
of flight delays, and more recently with the latest tragedy.

Air travel in Brazil has grown at an average of 12 percent a year 
since 2004, a rate that has far outstripped the upgrading of 
airport infrastructure and the training of new air controllers.

Around 19 million travellers a year use Congonhas, an airport 
that was designed to serve 10 million people a year.

According to Camacho, an accident like the Jul. 17 crash could 
have been avoided if the main runway at Congonhas had a safety 
margin. But that is impossible, ”at least in longitudinal terms,” 
because the airport is in the middle of a city, he told IPS.

To overcome these shortcomings, the federal and state governments 
are studying the construction of subway lines connecting the 
state capitals with more distant airports -- like the Tom Jobim 
in Rio de Janeiro and Guarulhos in Sao Paulo -- or other 
alternatives, like high-speed trains.

Meanwhile, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro graduate 
studies coordinating committee (COPPE) has proposed other 
alternative technologies, like a magnetic levitation (maglev) 
train similar to the ones currently used in countries like 
Germany and Japan.

COPPE is developing a new maglev prototype that would be ”a third 
generation magnetic levitation transport system,” in which 
vehicles are suspended and guided by magnetic forces, and which 
reduce friction, researcher Eduardo Goncalves David told IPS.

A maglev train would make the trip between Rio and Sao Paulo in 
just an hour and a half -- only 50 minutes more than the trip by 
plane, without taking into account airport waiting times, said 
David.

While a traditional high-speed train cannot climb steep gradients 
and has a minimum curve radius of 2,000 metres, maglev trains can 
climb a 15-degree gradient and ”because their minimum curve 
radius is just 300 metres, it is an ideal transport system for 
mountainous areas like the ones that lie between Rio de Janeiro 
and Sao Paulo,” he said.

Another advantage is that the brakes of maglev trains generate 
electric power on descent that can be reused or sold to the grid.

”Besides, they do not wear out wheels or tracks, and maintenance 
costs are also lower,” said the expert.

Additional benefits would be a reduction of traffic accidents on 
the roads as well as gas savings, good for both the economy and 
the environment.

”On the Rio-Sao Paulo air bridge, each passenger produces 98 kg 
of carbon dioxide; by car, 26 kg; and by bus, 13 kg, compared to 
just two kg in a maglev train,” said David, referring to each 
transportation method's contribution to global warming.

According to COPPE, Rio and Sao Paulo could be connected by 
maglev trains within six years, at a cost of 5.26 million 
dollars, compared to 9.5 million for a high-speed train.

”We would be using a technology of the future, rather than 
staking our bets on the past,” stressed David.

Far removed from such discussions, our new passenger wakes up and 
stretches in her reclining bus seat.

The bus has been travelling for four hours and stops in Resende, 
which is within the borders of the state of Rio de Janeiro, at a 
highway rest stop where travellers can buy food and crafts.

The blonde woman says she is ”happy shopping,” as she looks with 
delight at the candy, organic juices and beverages blessed at the 
Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, ceramic crafts by Guarani 
Indians living in the area, ”cachaça” (traditional Brazilian 
sugar cane brandy), and somewhat ”tacky” local souvenirs.

”I love this trip,” she gushes as she fills her shopping basket.


***** + BRAZIL: Proliferation of Motorcycles and Health Risks 
(http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33021)


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