SPTrans Begins Environmental Permitting Process for Pedreira Bus Terminal, Billings Waterway System

Posted on: August 3, 2023

The area is linked by the implementation of Aquático, the first means of collective boat transport in the capital city of São Paulo

ALEXANDRI PELEGI

The Secretariat for Green and Environment, of the City of São Paulo, responded to SPTrans’s request for the execution of a Work Plan with the aim of issuing a term of reference for the Pedreira Bus Terminal project, located on Rua do Mar Paulista, next to the Reservoir Billings.

This document is the basis for the granting of an environmental permit for the company, associated with Aquático, the first means of collective boat transport in the city of São Paulo.

As it appears Transportation Calendar, SPTrans signed a private concession agreement for the use of an area of ​​eight thousand square meters (8,142.00 m²) with EMAE – Empresa Metropolitana de Águas e Energia, affiliated with the government of the state of São Paulo. The publication of the excerpt of the convention was published in the Official Gazette of the state this Wednesday, March 15.

The area, located near Rua do Mar Paulista and the Billings Reservoir, will be used exclusively for the implementation of the pilot project for the public waterway transport system.

SPTrans says that, with the initiative, the population of the neighborhood of Cantinho do Céu, in Grajaú, will be able to cross by boat to Pedreira.

“Travel time will be reduced from one hour to ten minutes. Integration with the new Cocaia terminal, near Estrada do Canal de Cocaia, will allow passengers to reach Pedreira in 25 minutes – currently, the bus journey takes 1 hour 39“.

The bus terminal is part of this complex and should be built integrated with the boat docks.

AQUATIC

The “Aquático”, about 3 kilometers long, will be integrated with the other transport systems. For this, it will have docks and bus terminals that will allow users to transfer between modes.

That is, it will be integrated into the bus transport corridors, ensuring multimodality and the use of the Single Ticket throughout the system.

The City Hall, from the beginning of 2022, promotes a series of measures that, when integrated, allow the implementation of the Aquatic system.

In one of them, published in the Gazette of the Government on November 17, 2022, Mayor Ricardo Nunes published two new ordinances that declared publicly, for expropriation purposes, private properties intended for the continuation of the preparations for the implementation of the transportation project in Billings.

In the first decree, the private properties are located in the district of Grajaú, in the sub-prefecture of Capela do Socorro, and are necessary for the implementation of access to the Atracadouro Cocaia terminal. The total area covers 348.57 square meters.

In the second decree, the properties have a total of 12,853 square meters, located in the Pedreira area, in the sub-municipality of Cidade Ademar, and will be used for the realization of the Pedreira shipyard.

In the case of Cocaia, on February 14 of this year, the mayor declared the area intended for Cocaia’s bus terminal as a public utility, equipment planned to be implemented near Canal do Cocaia Street. This area was reduced in the decree published this Friday, July 28. As a result, both buses and ferries are already served at one end of the crossing. It remained, therefore, to define the berth area, which is now being studied.

The Pedreira terminal as seen from Transportation Calendar, has also been addressed. On July 6, 2022, Ricardo Nunes published a public utility decree covering approximately 22,000 square meters of private property for the realization of the Atracadouro Pedreira terminal, in Cidade Ademar. This terminal will host local bus lines, allowing users of the bus system to be transferred to sea crossing vessels between Cocaia and Pedreira.

All these acts make up the necessary puzzle for the operation of Aquático, with the implementation of bus lanes that will provide access to the system (Sabará and Miguel Yunes), in addition to the terminals for the SPTrans collectives, which will work integrated with the docks.

The decree to start the expropriation of areas for the realization of the Miguel Yunes Corridor was published in the Official Journal of January 12, 2022, as reported by Transportation Calendar. The Corridor, also in the south of the capital, has 4.8 km of dedicated bus lanes. Private properties are located in the Campo Grande area, in the sub-municipality of Santo Amaro, necessary for the implementation of Miguel Yunes. Remember: The City Hall of São Paulo is expropriating an area for the implementation of the Miguel Yunes Corridor, in the South Zone of the capital

READING AS PART OF THE METROPOLITAN WATER RING

For councilor Frederico Bussinger, who has held various positions in the transport sector in the state and in the capital of São Paulo, if the expropriation of the sites for both the docks and the bus lanes is completed and the bus lanes are implemented, Aquatic becomes possible.

He points out that roughly there are two types of maritime transport. “There are longitudinals (which follow the course of rivers) and crossings (as with the Billings Aquatic). Intersections are generally more sustainable as their alternative is usually much longer paths/roads – i.e. they cut off the path“.

Frederico says that longitudinals, because they have competing alternatives (generally freeways/boulevards), are not always viable. “Or it is not in all circumstances. This is the case of navigating the rivers Tietê and Pinheiros (part of the Hidroanel): for me they are viable only for Cargo (not for people – because the “lines of desire” are orthogonal to it) and, well, for reasons beyond from the direct economy (pollution emissions, reduction of congestion, etc.))”, adds Basinger.

Basinger wishes to point out, however, that these crossings are part of the Hidroanel Metropolitano project. “The connection between the dams and the rivers would provide São Paulo with about 170 to 190 kilometers of navigable water, which would also help supply municipalities and control floods.“.

Despite the advances, he laments a major difficulty in the implementation of water transport in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo: specific, fragmented views…”now is the crossing”, says the consultant.

“In my opinion, it is important to have an overall view and to know the house that each brick is or could build.“. And it best illustrates his idea of ​​the whole:

“Previously, the real estate project in the Usina da Traição area (intersection of Av. Marginal Pinheiros and Av. Bandeirantes) was treated separately.… Before Penha lock (now being completed). Before deepening the gutters. Before the Cebolão lock…. and so onBasinger concludes.

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AQUATIC

“Aquático” will be integrated with the other transport systems. For this, it will have docks and bus terminals that will allow users to transfer between modes.

São Paulo Transporte S/A (SPTrans) estimates that by implementing the system to cross the dam by boats, it will reduce the travel time of residents between the Estrada da Cocaia areas and the Pedreira neighborhood, in addition to benefiting the area from the Grajaú. Expected demand is 10,000 passengers per weekday.

It is worth remembering that Ricardo Nunes, then councilor of the capital in 2014, proposed a project that envisaged the integration of the São Paulo Public Water Transport System (STPHSP) into the public transport network.

Approved and enacted later in June of the same year, Law 16.010/2014 stipulates the integration of river and dam transport in the city into the bus and rail system, all paid for with the Bilhete Único. According to the Law, the ports will be integrated into the bus, metro and train system.

Approved and enacted later in June of the same year, Law 16.010/2014 stipulates the integration of river and dam transport in the city into the bus and rail system, all paid for with the Bilhete Único. According to the Law, the ports will be integrated into the bus, metro and train system.

Once elected, the late Mayor Bruno Kovas included in his Plan of Goals, now approved by the Chamber, the implementation of the Waterway Transit System at Billings Dam. The proposal includes the construction of docks integrated with bus terminals for embarkation and disembarkation on the public waterway transport network.

AGREEMENT WITH USP

In the Official Journal of July 19, 2022, the USP School of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU/USP) published a Technical Cooperation Agreement signed with SPTrans – São Paulo Transportes, dedicated to the creation of cooperation in the search for technical and scientific grants entailing the future implementation of the Public Water Transport System (STPHSP)’.

The agreement, which does not involve costs, aims to promote the improvement of urban mobility in the Municipality of São Paulo, based on the data provided by SPTrans and the joint studies developed between the School and the municipal company.

The “Aquático”, about 3 kilometers long, will be integrated with the other transport systems. For this, it will have docks and bus terminals that will allow users to transfer between modes. That is, it will be integrated into the bus transport corridors, ensuring multimodality and the use of the Single Ticket throughout the system. Remember: SPTrans and USP sign cooperation agreement for studies on the implementation of Aquático, a public waterway transport system

See the memo released by SPTrans regarding the Cocaia terminal:

“SPTrans informs that the implementation project of the Cocaia terminal is maintained, in an area adjacent to the intended site. The change in the proposal is intended to minimize the impact on the area where the equipment will be built.”

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Alexandros Pelegi, journalist specializing in transport