Urban Public Transportation Policy in the Municipality of Maracaibo

The objective of this investigation is to identify the real policy for urban public transport in the Municipality of Maracaibo, during the period 2001-2007. Methodology consisted of the analysis of official documents, secondary sources and semi-structured interviews with public and transport authorities. Results reveal: 1) An urban transportation policy exists on the national level. Nevertheless, in the Municipality of Maracaibo it was shown that an official document acknowledging a formal policy was not found, 2) The local transportation policy for the municipality of Maracaibo consists of the partial implementation of the national policy; 3) The municipality of Maracaibo designed a public transportation project, which, at the moment of its implementation, deviated from the original concept. Conclusions are that the policies designed both on a national as well as a local level differ from the policy that was finally implemented, due to the diversity of the actors involved and their interests, to the slight participation of local functionaries, transporters and users in their design and due to the incongruence between the identified priorities and the items financed.