Expanding transportation planning capacity in cities of the global South : public-private collaboration and conflict in Chile and Mexico

Abstract

What makes it possible for the governments of cities limited by scarce fiscal resources and weak institutions to enhance their transportation planning and regulatory capacities so as to provide the public with cleaner, safer, efficient, and reliable public transit alternatives? Such aims are particularly challenging for cities of the developing world, not just because of resource scarcities, but also because in these contexts a quasi-informal network of privately owned transport operators has been historically responsible for satisfying most of the public's mobility needs with minimal intervention from the state. As such, these are the cities where a comprehensive approach to transport planning and regulation may be most urgently needed. Congestion, air pollution, traffic accident fatalities, petty crime, and mobility deprivation of the handicapped and the elderly already define what it means to live and move in most cities of the developing world. Yet many local governments in these locales seem ill-equipped to tackle such "second order" transport-related challenges effectively, even as they continue to get worse. This dissertation uses the cases of Mexico City and Santiago, Chile to explore this question. Both cities followed similar strategies of forcing and fostering industry compliance, and introducing bus rapid transit (BRT) as the basis for introducing state monitoring and management of private bus provision. Metrobnds in Mexico City and Transantiago in Santiago unsettled the pre-existing private bus industry, composed of thousands of smallscale entrepreneurs organized around powerful associations, which were initially resistant to participate. In the course of implementation, this industry transitioned toward financially stronger, professional private players, and the capacity of authorities to pursue second order transport policy objectives increased. Urban transportation planning capacities emerged much more advanced, however, in Santiago. The question is why? Drawing on a historical analysis of the evolving relationship between public and private stakeholders as well as from 64 interviews with government authorities and transport operators, this thesis analyzes the factors that account for the different outcomes and suggests that expanding planning capacity in the context of scarce resources and weak institutions depends on the ability to nurture and sustain accountable public-private collaboration.