The social problem of public bus transportation in Montevideo: a critical look

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the debate on the social problem of public transportation in Latin America, taking as a specific research object the public bus transportation in the city of Montevideo, where the system went through a privatization process that was object of criticism by specialists and questioning of its results by the users of the service. We resorted to studies on the subject of passenger transportation and made inroads into the empirical universe of travel through flottant observation in passenger terminals, interviews and application of questionnaires with passengers who experience the routine of travel in the public transport service in their city. In all, fifteen interviews were conducted with Uruguayans and Brazilians living in Montevideo, and twenty questionnaires were applied. We have tried to understand the perception of the users regarding the problems they experience in their daily transportation using elements of comparison between Brazil and Uruguay.