Introducing urban mass transit systems to improve mobility and foster economic growth

Introducing AGT in Lagos City, and BRT in Belen City

A public transportation system is essential infrastructure to secure equal mobility service for the public, from children to the elderly. It contributes to the reduction of traffic congestion, energy saving, and resolving global environmental issues because it can transport more passengers with less energy as compared to a private car. We have supported the planning of urban transportation systems in such big cities in Asian and African countries. Lagos City in the Republic of Nigeria is a big city with more than 20 million population. New urban transportation system, Automated Guideway Transit (AGT), was proposed to reduce chronic traffic congestion in the central business district area. In Belen City, which has more than 1.5 million population including many Japanese Brazilians, we carried out design and planning for introducing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, which is currently in progress.

Mornig rush hour in Lagos
BRT to be constructed in Belen

Studying the advantages and appropriateness of AGT and BRT

In Japan, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and underground metro are typical urban transportation systems in large cities, and tram and bus are familiar in medium or small cities. AGT is planned in Lagos, Nigeria and BRT in Belen, Brazil. The AGT planned in Lagos is expected to reduce the cost and shorten the construction period because it can make a sharp turn and reduce new land acquisition by utilizing the public land such as roads in big cities which are filled with buildings.

The consideration of introduction such transit systems is progressing in many cities such as Maputo, Mozambique, Surabaya, Indonesia, Medellin, Colombia, and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. BRT, which is bigger than a normal bus and runs on dedicated lanes, is a familiar urban transportation system in Latin American cities including Brazil. We participated in the preliminary study for the TransMilenio BRT system, which is the most famous and has the largest BRT network in the world.

AGT planned for Medellin

Project Details