Bogota | Partnership for Research on Informal and Shared Mobility

"The Bogotá Living Lab focuses on exploring the intricacies of informal transport in low-income and peripheral areas, aiming to develop comprehensive strategies that enhance equitable and sustainable urban mobility by addressing unique challenges in service provision and labor dynamics."

About Bogota Living Lab

These communities, found mainly in the south and southwest, have historically low levels of access to public transport. Although the public transport system coverage is acceptable, route frequencies are very low in those zones, providing a low level of service.

This Living Lab seeks to understand the challenges posed by the urban dynamics of informal transport in different modalities. This lab aims to unravel the unique complexities faced by these communities in the realm of urban mobility, the provision of the service, and the labor market. With an eye on these specific challenges, the Bogotá Living Lab aims to understand and formulate integrative and effective solutions. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the development of comprehensive strategies that address the distinct needs of these communities, fostering a more equitable and sustainable urban transport.

Bogotá is the capital of Colombia, a highly urbanized city characterized by inequality levels, also reflected in an uneven distribution of opportunities, making socioeconomic segregation visible. The city has about 7.45 million inhabitants and an urbanized area of approximately 380 km2, which results in an average population density of 196 inhabitants/ha. About 13.9 million trips are made daily in a typical day of 2023 in Bogotá. Most trips use active transport modes (approximately 44% of the daily trips), and public transport (nearly 29% of the trips). Lower-income segments rely on public transport services and walking. Throughout the city, nearly 106,000 trips are made daily in informal transport.

Bogotá has an integrated public transport system comprising a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), regular buses, and a cable car system. Currently, a metro system is under construction along with the second line of a cable car. Bogotá’s spatial structure has features that make the operation of public transport at a large scale relatively easy. However, there are still large gaps between rich and poor, where low-income households are disadvantaged in location (housing location vs. employment location) and mobility (higher travel times and costs). Besides, an important share of low-income households experience low levels of accessibility, much lower than the average, as a result of their disproportionately low access to workplaces. Despite this, Bogotá is committed to active and sustainable transport, seeking to improve the quality of life of its citizens. As seen, there are great challenges ahead. One of them is informal transport.

This Living Lab will implement quantitative surveys and focus groups with users, providers, and non-users of informal transport following the steps mentioned below. First, we will carry out a diagnosis through qualitative, quantitative, and geo-referenced information, using travel behavior surveys, characterization, and subjective perceptions together with a 360º mapping of the service provision environment. Subsequently, codesign workshops will be carried out with communities and providers to generate a projection and identify barriers and enablers of informal transport in different areas of the city. Third, a pilot intervention of the implementation of this work will be designed and carried out with the support of La Wawa, following up on the performance indicators of the intervention.

Finally, a learning community will be created to design and socialize on informal transport in Latin America. Also, the academic socialization of the findings in scientific journals will be encouraged, together with the organization of divulgation events at the Universidad de Los Andes. This research will sponsor Master's scholarships at the University of Los Andes and University College of London. In addition, fellowship opportunities for independent informal transport projects will be launched and online workshops will be held for regional Early-career researchers on informal transport.

The Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, is the primary sponsor of the Bogotá Living Lab. Through its Faculty of Engineering and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the University provides crucial support and resources. This partnership underscores the university's commitment to innovation in studying informal transport dynamics, highlighting a collaborative approach between academia and real-world problem-solving. We also work together with The Bartlett Development Planning Unit of UCL and Wawa, a technological platform for collective mobility.

The Volvo Research and Educational Foundations, VREF, funds this living lab, fostering research and education oriented to the future of urban transport (FTU), looking at how to deal with the complexity of transportation in the global south, in this case, Bogotá.

The Bogota Living Lab plans to create a website in Spanish, the primary language in Colombia, to showcase research, publications, events, and other related information. This site will serve as the main hub for sharing insights and outcomes of the Living Lab's activities. Furthermore, the Living Lab plans to have outreach on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and others for communication and dissemination purposes. This project aims to organize a regional summit on informal transportation in Latin America, and it will be hosted by the Universidad de Los Andes.