Curitiba

This morning it looked bad once again. It was foggy and cool. There was a feeling that after a couple of nice sunny days we were back to the weather of last week. But a couple of hours later, the sun burnt the fog, and with the wind in our backs we sailed into Curitba, a city famous for its public transportation system and creation of public places.

Short history…
It was in the 1960s when Mayor Jamie Lerner came up with an almost heretical concept and created surface metro which used buses, dedicated lanes and other innovations. The result was that, for a fraction of what it costs to build an underground subway and all done in a fraction of the time, Curitiba's bus system now manages to move as many people as efficiently as a subway would.

Today Curitiba has the highest standard of living in Brazil, with some great pedestrian areas, many historical buildings and a general sense of a city that works. It is no wonder that for many city planners Curitiba is high on the list to visit.