Optibus has announced that it has been selected to supply the planning and scheduling software for the bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Companhia Municipal de Transportes Coletivos – CMTC – Mobi Rio, the municipal transport company that manages the BRT, chose Optibus through a bidding process involving local and international companies, and which saw the Optibus software platform ranked highest in terms of its technical and commercial capabilities.
Rio de Janeiro’s Bus Rapid Transit system was inaugurated in 2012 with the opening of the TransOeste corridor. Two additional corridors – the TransCarioca and the TransOlímpica, which was designed to support the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio – were added in the following years. Optibus’ end-to-end software platform will be helping to improve services for the system’s 255,000 daily passengers and optimize the efficiency of the entire network, which currently spans more than 120km and 125 stations and eight terminals. In 2023, the fourth corridor of the BRT system, TransBrasil, will be inaugurated.
Mobi-Rio assumed the management of Rio’s BRT in February 2022 and is tasked with overseeing the network at a time of transformation and growth. 78 bus stations have been renovated or remodeled since last year. The construction of the TransBrasil corridor is underway and will expand the network’s coverage across an extra 32km. The BRT’s vehicle fleet is set to grow dramatically with Mobi-Rio’s plans to add 291 new vehicles across the network by March 2023, helping to reduce crowding on buses, increase service frequency, and improve the passenger experience. Rio de Janeiro’s City Hall is seeking to expand the fleet even more by bringing in an additional 270 buses by February 2024.
The addition of a new corridor and hundreds of new buses necessitates significant updates to Mobi-Rio’s service plans. Mobi-Rio needed a fast and efficient way to make these changes, without disrupting operations or services.
Optibus provides a cloud-native solution for public transportation planning and operations, powered by artificial intelligence and optimization algorithms. In line with Mobi-Rio’s ambitious expansion and improvement plans for the Rio de Janeiro BRT, Optibus enables its platform users to predict the fulfillment of each trip, leading to better services and passenger experience, and to become more agile in adapting plans, including for large and special events, which will support the complex operation of Rio’s BRT. Optibus’ user-friendly interface enables users of all backgrounds to quickly onboard to the platform and begin working independently, avoiding disruptions in workflows and service planning.
Optibus is widely used throughout Brazil, particularly in the regions of Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais, and many of the software’s features and capabilities were developed specifically for the Brazilian market in partnership with regional transportation operators.
“Optibus is committed to making public transportation more efficient, more attractive to passengers, and more sustainable,” says Victor Celada, Brazil regional director for Optibus. “Through our platform, we will help Rio’s BRT achieve these and other goals, including increasing efficiency and service quality, improving access to transport, reducing emissions, optimizing costs and resources, and reducing manual work. By modernizing operations, we can expect to see improved experiences for passengers and the people who operate public transportation.”
