Study Results:

• Download the brief here (ENG)
• Descargue el informe de resultados del estudio aquí (SPA)

Study Results during COVID-19:

• Descargue el informe de resultados del estudio aquí (SPA)

Transportation and Inequality in Bogotá

Colombia has urbanized rapidly since the late 1950’s. Today, the city of Bogotá is home to 7.2 million people and has the second highest level of income inequality in the country. As rural populations have relocated to the city, income inequality has forced marginalized populations to settle on the outskirts of the city, often on steep hillsides in informal settlements without access to public services such as efficient mass transit.

Following intense social mobilization and advocacy by the local community, Ciudad Bolívar, an administrative area of Bogotá and emblematic of city peripheries in Latin America, was prioritized by the city government to receive a new mass transit intervention.

This new cable car service, TransMiCable, which launched in December 2018, allows for easy travel up and down the steep hillsides of Ciudad Bolívar, connecting the area to the city’s bus rapid transit system (TransMilenio), and lessens residents’ travel time by up to 80%. The cable car was accompanied by a broader urban development program, which included the installation and implementation of a variety of other community facilities and social projects.

Study Timeline

Partnerships and Collaborators

Community Members

The communities of Ciudad Bolívar and San Cristóbal have been vital partners in the SALURBAL study. Researchers have held multiple meetings with community leaders and members throughout different phases of the study.

Community leaders and members have helped guide research questions and allowed researchers entry to the communities to conduct this research and supported the entire data collection process. Through citizen science, researchers have worked directly with community members to understand their perspectives and opinions about their communities and, among residents of Ciudad Bolívar, their opinions about the installation of TransMiCable.

Academia, Government, Civil Society

The conceptual framework for this study was designed through a participatory and multi-sectoral approach. A workshop held in 2018 with 31 stakeholders from nine organizations informed the development and validation of the framework.

Participants in this workshop came from academia (Universidad de Los Andes and Universidad de Ibagué), the public sector (the National Institute of Health; Bogotá’s Secretariats of Health, Habitat, Women, and Social Integration; the Institute of Sports and Recreation of Bogotá; TransMilenio S.A, [the managing and coordinating entity of the public transportation system of Bogotá, including TransMiCable]); and civil society (two community leaders from Ciudad Bolívar).

Colleagues from Universidad Nacional in Bogotá, Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín, Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla and UC Berkeley have contributed to the development of instruments and analytical approaches during all the process.