Pedestrian participation in mobility systems : the case of Bogota

Abstract

Pedestrian systems as a part of mobility systems is a key issue for the development of cities. Traditional planning and public policies based on modernist approaches have directed most efforts to improve motorised transport systems, reducing the participation of the non-motorised ones, including pedestrians, in the modal split. However, with the saturation of those approaches, there has been a clear trend worldwide regarding awareness about the importance of walking to raise liveability and efficiency in the urban areas. The shortage of parking in relation to the increasing amount of vehicles, fuel costs, congestion, limitation for infrastructure expansion and environment appeal have shifted attention to pedestrian systems. This paper presents a discussion on pedestrian systems design and its representation on the modal split in the City of Bogot?, considering for the analysis the "gaps? in modelling these systems. The methodologies used were descriptive and a case study. In spite of increasing investments towards pedestrian infrastructure in Bogot?, the results of this study indicate that there is a tendency to analyse pedestrian systems with a microscopic view and to neglect their recognition as a transport system and its integration to other transport modes for the whole urban area.