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42 March 2019 | AutoData SMART CITIES » LATIN AMERICA rest because technological advances have costs that can make operations unfeasible. They [the operators] think they can break their companies”. On the other hand, society’s complaints about the quality and efficiency of services provided, in addition to the effects of pollu- tion generated by public transport in big cities, is starting to give a direction to those companies’ investments, Gomes says. Of course that a little help from the government has been necessary. In Ar- gentina, for example, the province of Santa Fe defined the creation of public policies and laws that encourage quality public transportation as government program. The province’s deputy, Joaquin Andrés Blanco, showed that the incentive byme- ans of tax exemption with regard to the initiatives of the electrification and energy cost reduction for the use in transport will make a revolution in cities like Rosario, the biggest of the region, with a little more of 900 thousand people. “We are looking forward to transforming urban transport by making it cleaner and more efficient. The first step, which is to legislate by setting priorities and encou- raging the operators, has already been taken. That is just the beginning. We need to share our experience so far with other cities in Latin America to transform their inefficient practices.” WHAT ABOUT BRAZIL? The urban on-wheels transport syste- ms in Santiago, Chile, Cali, Medellin and Cartagena, in Colombia, were mentioned as examples that already offer real benefits to the users of those cities. The transition to electrification can start with those sys- tems soon. Ironically, those infrastructures have as inspiration the Integrated Transport Ne- twork of Curitiba, PR, a pioneer project in Latin America and well known in Brazil. However, in the Forum, there was no par- ticipation of companies representatives and the public authority of Brazil. Questioning the event organization about the reason for the absence of bus manufacturers in Brazil, the region’s pro- ductive hub, or representatives of govern- ment agencies of the country - the official response is that the guests had no agenda to attend the Forum -, a clear disconnec- tion of the country with the discussions in Latin America was left in the air. The signs of that detachment from the Brazilian industry are also perceived here. One week after the Smart Cities Forum’s poll by the International Council for Clean Transport that the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo had access to, showed that the new air-conditioned buses which run in the city of Sao Paulo emit 15% more CO2 than the old buses. While the presentations in Spanish in Mexico City have shown a participatory future for urban transport in Latin America, Sao Paulo is a hostage of corporate groups that defend their interests by sponsoring a retrogression to the necessary evolution. And the industry is still connivingwith that model because instead of contributing with cleaner and more efficient vehicles, it continues to produce and sell buses that aremore polluting to thosewho have been called as mafiosi by the greatest mobility experts in the region. How long will the industry remain neglected? “It’s necessary to regulate the transport options with bicycles, scooters and even walking on foot to truly offer sustainable and smart options. We still don’t have that configuration in Latin America.” Felipe Calderón, former Mexico’s president