A Study on the Viability of Adopting Battery Electric Vehicles in Bus Rapid Transit in Brazil Using the AHP Method

Public transport is essential to provide urban mobility, and cities need to offer a fast, comfortable, secure, and low-pollutant public transport mode to attract passengers and reduce private car use. Despite metros, trains, and light rail systems being desirable, the cost of implementation and low flexibility make bus services the best option for many cities. One solution for improving bus service systems is the implementation of bus rapid transit systems that are composed of buses running in segregated lines with pre-payment fares and level boarding platforms in stations. However, the main challenge of bus systems is the use of engines fueled by diesel, which is extremely polluted. One possible solution is the use of battery buses; but are they really feasible regarding daily operation cost? In this paper, we investigate the adoption of battery buses in comparison to diesel engines in a BRT system using municipal data from Sao Paulo, Brazil, as a reference. We collected operational data from the Sao Paulo city government transport agency and data from the literature to produce an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model, which allowed us to compare both systems. The AHP model considered a triple-bottom-line perspective using social, economic, and environmental impact criteria. The result showed that the initial costs of acquisition can be a barrier, but in the long run, cities adopting battery buses in their BRT system can benefit from the effects of reduction in gas emissions and longer lifetimes of electric bus components. Moreover, the results showed that the adoption of battery buses in BRT systems depends on local government subsidies being implemented.