Bogotá, Champion of BRT

"Some TransMilenio bus lines move so many passengers per hour that people call it 'surface subway.' But unlike New York City's Second Avenue subway project-which has been under development, off and on, for 80 years and will take tens of billions of dollars and decades more to complete-Bogotá's then mayor, Enrique Peñalosa, got the first phase of TransMilenio up and running in just 18 months. TransMilenio immediately produced dramatic increases in bus speeds, reliability, ridership, and economic opportunity for people living in neighborhoods far from the jobs in the city center. Along with the construction of extensive bike networks and new public plazas, Peñalosa's TransMilenio is a cornerstone of Bogotá's rapid transformation from a traffic-choked mess to a model of sustainable urban development."