Abstract

Most South American cities face mobility challenges that are shaped by local characteristics: a continuous increase in car ownership and traffic congestion, lower quality of transport infrastructure and public transport, income inequality and income-related spatial segregation, and in some cases, the coexistence of formal higher-quality public transport (in the form of Metro, BRT lines and even cable cars) and poorly regulated less formal public services (like minibuses), that might be dangerous and a source of pollution and congestion themselves. In this chapter we briefly review these issues, in order to discuss research needs for present and future transport policy decisions. Topics included are the modernisation of public transport, sustainability, transport and social exclusion, city and mobility governance, the need to provide better infrastructure for walking and cycling and the effects of disrupting mobility technologies.