By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

Jaime Lerner, the man known as the father of bus rapid-transit programs, was in Honolulu last week, but surprisingly it wasn't just buses he wanted to talk about.

Lerner, a Berkeley-educated architect who developed one of the first and most successful of the world's BRT systems when he was mayor of 3 million people in the city of Curitiba, Brazil, has moved on these days to become something of a roving world ambassador for all the things — from transportation to public art — that make cities so vibrant.

"I love cities," he said. "Cities have problems, but they are also the solution."

Residents of Lerner's hometown, Curitiba, think they live in one of the best cities in the world; even though most Americans have never heard of it, a lot of outsiders tend to agree.

Jaime Lerner of Brazil is an international expert in urban planning. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

The BRT in Curitiba stands out. Although the city has one of the highest percentages of auto ownership in Brazil, 70 percent of the people ride the buses, which each carry up to 300 passengers, use bus-only lanes and hit pickup points almost every minute. Tickets are prepaid and passengers board quickly, cutting waiting time and air pollution.

Honolulu's proposed BRT system is going to be a very scaled-down version, with fewer dedicated lanes, smaller buses and more problems as it is retrofitted to the existing traffic patterns that favor automobiles. But Lerner isn't suggesting that Honolulu model its transportation program after his own city. In fact, he says that Honolulu's bus system might be the best in the United States. Even so, he says, no urban area can be among the great places in the world without a continually improving mass-transit system.

The key to Lerner's practical and political success (he was a three-time mayor and two-time governor of the surrounding state) appears to be an enthusiasm for attacking problems with small-scale practical solutions, like offering to trade free transit tokens or fresh food for slum residents' recyclable garbage or creating Brazil's first pedestrian mall in an area that was targeted for new freeway construction.

His mantra: think small, cheap and participatory. For him that means something called solidarity — an idea that seems to mean that all the residents are in the fight together and all have to share equally in the benefits that public and private improvements that can be offered.

"The city is the last refuge of solidarity," said Lerner, president of the International Union of Architects, with more than 1 million members around the world. "We have to make sure we give the people the respect they deserve in terms of housing, public transportation and healthcare."

Of course, people and politicians have to bring those sorts of lofty goals to life. Listening to Lerner's unbounded enthusiasm, you had to wonder if he ever encountered the kind of opposition that comes up at public hearings or if he ever had to contend with the opposition of his own City Council.

"You don't stop the music at a symphony concert to satisfy the one guy who doesn't like it," he says.

Instead, he has an idea that he thinks all towns need to take to heart: getting children more involved in the life of the cities, whether it's starting them in recycling programs, park repairs, scientific learning games or riding the bus from an early age.

"Once you involve the child, they start learning that a city isn't perfect, but it still has the ability to help improve life. That's true sustainability and solidarity," he said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5460.