City hall signs concession for the new bus system and anticipates the start of operations in July.

Mayor Eduardo Paes, Deputy Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere, and the Municipal Secretary of Transportation, Maína Celidonio, signed, this Thursday (March 12th), at the City Palace, the concession contracts for the first phase of the RIO System – Integrated Bus Network – in the neighborhoods of Campo Grande and Santa Cruz. The signing marks the beginning of the modernization and restructuring of the road transport system throughout the municipality. The agreement was made with representatives of the company Comporte Participações SA, the winner of the bidding process.

 

The fleet in these two neighborhoods will increase from 104 to 316 vehicles serving the residents of Rio de Janeiro. The first delivery will consist of 169 buses, which will begin operating in July of this year. The second delivery, with 147 vehicles, is scheduled for September.

 

– This is the first step in a commitment made during the 2024 elections. We said we would do with regular bus lines what we did with the BRT. These are the first batches of more than 300 buses for neighborhoods in the West Zone, the area that suffers the most from the service provided by the current concessionaires – stated Mayor Eduardo Paes.

 

The new bidding model represents a historic and unprecedented achievement in the city by expanding the mechanisms of control and oversight by the public authorities over the operation of municipal buses. Among the innovations are remuneration per kilometer traveled with public subsidies and quality assessment through the Transportation Performance Index (IDT), which will evaluate the service provided by the concessionaires based on operational indicators.

 

Each contract will include its own public garage. The two structures will be located on Estrada do Campinho, in Paciência, and will house workshops, refueling, administrative areas, and maintenance facilities.

 

The brand-new fleet, scheduled to begin operating in July of this year, will be 100% accessible, with low floors in the basic vehicles, accessibility ramps, air conditioning, air temperature sensors, USB chargers, GPS integrated into the Control Center, an emergency button for the driver, electronic information panels, internal security cameras, and will also feature Euro VI standard sustainable technology, which reduces pollutant emissions by up to 80%. Cash payments on board will be eliminated, with exclusive use of the electronic ticketing system.

 

– Today we begin the renewal of the city's regular bus fleet. What did we do with the BRT? We invested heavily in more new buses and also in infrastructure. The same thing we are doing with the RIO System. The West Zone, which currently has 500 buses, will have more than a thousand by the end of this process. These are new buses, with more modern technology, less polluting, super powerful air conditioning… It's a new phase for the city – said the Secretary of Transportation, Maína Celidonio.

 

Bidding

With the new bidding model, the Rio de Janeiro City Hall gained total control of the operation, which will result in greater transparency in the management of the system and clear rules for performance and service quality. In February of this year, the company Comporte Participações SA won the bid by presenting the best proposals based on the lowest cost per kilometer traveled, a model that will now guide the remuneration of the concessionaires.

 

The bidding process marked the beginning of the implementation of the city's new bus system and was structured in five phases, starting in the West Zone.

 

This process resulted from a judicial agreement signed between the City Hall, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of Rio, and the consortia that currently operate the system. The new model foresees the gradual replacement of operators, with transition phases and the loss of exclusivity for the companies that currently operate the lines.

 

Developed based on public consultation, the tender gathered over 700 contributions from society. The new concessions will be granted under the standard concession regime, with a term of ten years, renewable for an equal period.

 

The winning concessionaire will be responsible for acquiring and operating the fleet, maintaining the vehicles, implementing and managing public garages, and installing intelligent transportation systems (ITS) that will allow for real-time operational monitoring.

 

Next stages

The next stages of the bidding process will be organized by region and will prioritize areas with the worst operational performance. The new model divides the city into 34 lots — 22 structural and 12 local — with the goal of expanding coverage and reorganizing the management of the bus lines.

 

The timeline foresees the phased implementation of the remaining stages until 2028, including regions in the North Zone, Barra da Tijuca, Jacarepaguá, South Zone, and other areas of the city.

 

System control

The System Control Center will be located in the Operations and Resilience Center (COR). It will allow for real-time fleet monitoring, trip regularity control, operational data analysis, rapid identification of failures or delays, direct connection with drivers, integration with city traffic, and rapid responses to operational incidents.

 

This set of actions, combined with the complete renewal of the fleet with brand-new buses, will improve the service and provide more comfort and safety for passengers, as well as predictability for those who use public transport every day.

Category:

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• Transportation

March 12th, 2026

Appointments: Bidding bus Rio System West zone