Table 10: Total Ridership, Total Ridership Increase, and Low-Income Ridership Increase for CPTM in 2010

32. 
    The project’s impacts therefore cater significantly to the low-income population increasing its social inclusion. These positive impacts will materialize if the following action plan is maintained until 2010 and beyond:
    

• 
  Further enhancement of the physical integration between the rail-based network and the bus system;
  
• 
  Maintenance and improvement of the fare integration between rail and road-based systems through the Bilhete Único Integrado. For example, a reasonable amount of time should be given for passengers to transfer between modes and the cost of the BUI to the rider has to remain lower than the sum of individual modal fares;
  
• 
  Enhancement of the Bilhete Único Integrado by including inter-municipal buses. This measure will allow more low-income users residing in the peripheral municipalities of the metropolitan region a faster access to the rail-based network.
  

33. 
    Over the last seven years the SPMR has adopted a series of transit policies that have significantly benefited the low-income population. Before these policies were implemented, the poor were highly constrained in their travel because of high fares and the need to transfer frequently paying each time. Public transit was inconvenient and unaffordable for a majority of citizens in Sao Paulo. Reform started when State and City governments integrated the Metro and commuter rail services (CPTM) by making transfers between the two cheaper and easier in physical terms. Ridership increased, particularly by low-income users. Yet the main reform was to adopt a fully-integrated transit system through the Bilhete Único Integrado, BUI. BUI allows users to ride buses, metro and commuter rail during a two-hour period for a fare lower than the sum of individual modal fares. The BUI made transit more affordable. Low-income families can travel more or access other areas of the metropolitan area in search for jobs. Family expenditures in transit decreased freeing up income to spend for example in basic items such as food. Coupled to other investments and improvements, rail transit increased its coverage, and the quality and reliability of its service. Overall ridership increased significantly as did the ridership by poor people. While before the reforms less than 5 percent of rail users were low income, thanks to the reforms 35.0 percent of Metro users and 63.7% of commuter-rail users are low income. However, quality of service is declining due to an increasing demand, crowded trains and higher-than-needed wait times. Therefore, reform should continue in the form of increasing fleet size and improving signaling systems to increase the capacity of the rail modes. These investments also benefit the poor because of their high and increasing use of the transit system.
    

CPTM - Pesquisa Acesso e Difusão 2001 e 2005 - CPTM.