Research in Transportation Economics 29 (2010) 401e409

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Research in Transportation Economics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/retrec

Rural school transportation in emerging countries: The Brazilian case

Willer Luciano Carvalho a, *, Rodrigo Otavio Moreira da Cruz b, Marianne Trindade Câmara c,
Joaquim José Guilherme de Aragão a
a
Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Transportation, University of Brasília, Brazil
b
University of Brasília, Brazil
c
National Overland Transport Regulatory Agency, Brazil

a b s t r a c t
Keywords: The lack of proper policies for the rural environment, in contrast to the situation in the urban envi-
Rural transportation ronment in Brazil, has prevented the rural population from benefiting from basic infrastructure and
School transportation
access to their rights as citizens. The poor school transportation conditions are large barriers to access
Rural school transportation
Rural development
and retention of pupils in schools. These poor conditions, with lack of comfort and high accident risks,
result in long travelling hours to reach the school and lessen learning performance because the children
arrive in the school tired and sleepy. The Brazilian Federal Government has adopted different programs
and actions in order to overcome these difficulties and to improve school conditions in general. A new
standard vehicle has been adopted, which will be fit for the harsh road conditions in the rural areas, and
handbooks have been introduced to help the municipalities and their officials to plan and to contract
school transport services. This paper provides an overview of the outlook for rural school transportation
in Brazil, describing the operational conditions (including trip and vehicle conditions) and their users, as
well as analysis on the effects on school performance, and also the role of the local and Federal
governments.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
According to the Brazilian government’s official website1, one of
the country’s most striking features is diversity. Besides being
a multicultural nation, Brazil is so large it has continental dimen-
sions. Currently, Brazil’s land area is divided into 26 states, a Federal
District, and 5563 municipalities. However, according to data
gathered by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
(IBGE, 2007), in spite of its large land area, Brazil’s economic
activity and population remain significantly concentrated in rela-
tively small areas. These areas are usually in the spotlight of
economic, social and political actions, which influences the
concentration of income and wealth and also affects social exclu-
sion, as the Brazilian government’s website points out. Accordingly,
building a country with equal opportunities for everyone, including
for individuals who reside outside the areas which attract a great
deal of the Brazilian government’s attention and resources, is
a challenge that must be faced.
* Corresponding author. .
E-mail address: willer.carvalho@gmail.com (W.L. Carvalho).
1
Retrieved May 20, 2009, from http://www.brasil.gov.br.
IBGE (2007) data show that urban areas are more densely
populated and have higher levels of economic activity than other
regions. Currently, they account for 84% of the population, a figure
that steadily increases annually. In view of that population
concentration, opportunities are more numerous and more acces-
sible to residents of urban areas as opposed to the ones available in
rural environments. Rural areas have historically suffered deep-
rooted prejudices and their inhabitants are still discriminated
against. Rural settings have been largely ignored by social and
political policies, which has resulted in residents having a low
quality of life and too many obstacles to accessing services that
provide for their welfare.
Historical, economic and cultural aspects have made the coun-
tryside a godforsaken place. Because rural areas are so isolated, they
have low population density and occupancy rates, as well as few job
opportunities. However, one of the most concerning aspects of
rural areas is the lack of basic services like health and education. It
is common for rural dwellers to have to go to nearby towns in order
to have access to ordinary services (Howley, Howley, & Shamblen,
2001). Therefore, because rural areas are so segregated, rural
transportation emerges as an important tool for social and spatial
integration; it is an important element for enabling movements to
nearby towns or cities and, consequently, allowing the access to
a wide variety of services (Pegoretti & Sanches, 2004).

0739-8859/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.retrec.2010.07.051
402 W.L. Carvalho et al. / Research in Transportation Economics 29 (2010) 401e409
In this context, transportation is directly related to poverty and
the general welfare of citizens. The impossibility of access to
transportation services may impede people from going where they
need to go, which influences their living conditions and reduces
their welfare (Pegoretti, 2005).
With respect to education, the provision structure of that
service in rural areas has many flaws, such as low quality instruc-
tion and lack of schools. It is necessary to adopt measures that help
to improve the schooling level of rural residents in order to enable
them to exercise their citizenship with dignity, enjoy their rights
and promote national development. In view of the current
precariousness of the rural education system and the closure of
many rural schools due to consolidation e which obligates children
to be conveyed daily to schools located in the municipality’s urban
seat e, in villages, local town agglomerations and districts, school
transportation emerges as an essential means of guaranteeing
access to education. In addition, conveying students to academic
facilities enables students to overcome geographical obstacles
(great distances) because, due to the growth of cities and spatial
segregation of rural areas, walking or any type of non-motorised
vehicle does not meet the population’s needs.
Although it is an essential service for rural residents school
transportation is provided in precarious conditions. There are
a number of factors that cause students to feel exhausted, which
hinders their school attendance and performance. Among those
factors are the long travel times, great distances, long wait times,
lack of provision, poor condition of roads and badly maintained
vehicles. Such factors worsen the situation; given that rural
students are not provided with schools near their homes and even
have their learning process jeopardised because of the bad trans-
port conditions they are offered.
In view of the situation portrayed, it is clear that rural settings
have suffered in the past from, and still feel the effects of, poverty,
prejudice and isolation, which are characteristic features of rural
areas. Transportation systems that consider the unique reality of
rural settings may solve the problem of spatial segregation and ease
the access of citizens to basic services. In regard to education, rural
school transportation constitutes an essential service, without
which a significant share of the population would not have access
to schooling. Efforts must be directed to rural areas in order to
provide residents with mechanisms to enable them to change their
living conditions and overcome the poverty, illiteracy and depri-
vation they currently face (Ripplinger & Wang, 2007).
Accordingly, this article presents actions in the fields of regu-
lation, planning and operation that can be undertaken in order to
improve rural school transportation. This paper presents analyses
and conclusions reached by a survey the Center for Interdisci-
plinary Studies in Transportation (CEFTRU) carried out in partner-
ship with the National Fund for Education Development (FNDE).
The authors would like to thank the FNDE for supporting scientific
development of research regarding rural school transportation,
which, within the context of transportation research, was a rela-
tively unexplored matter in Brazil.
The paper is divided into five sections. Following this intro-
duction (1), the rural aspects of Brazil are presented (2). The
subsequent section offers a diagnosis of the Brazilian rural school
transportation (3) and details of actions that could be undertaken
to improve the scenario portrayed are presented (4). The
concluding section offers some final considerations (5).
2. The rural environment and the problems of education
Spatial segregation and low population density are obstacles to
the provision of basic services such as health, education and
transport in rural areas. Low population density, in particular,
considerably increases the efforts and costs of providing any service
(Anderle, Kroeger, & Mascarello, 2005). Further, the lack of invest-
ment, coupled with the depreciation of rural settings and low
profitability of agricultural activities, contribute to the low income
and low schooling levels of rural residents.
This socioeconomic scenario works against the inclusion of the
rural population because rural residents cannot easily access
services which are provided to meet basic needs. The socioeco-
nomic status of rural dwellers makes it difficult for them to over-
come the obstacles imposed on them by the lack of offer of basic
services. They are even deprived of education, which is the
instrument that could enable them to change their life situation.
That situation reduces opportunities and the quality of life of rural
residents.
There has been a large exodus from rural areas as a result of their
historical context combined with farm mechanisation, which
reduced the number of jobs and, consequently, had a negative
impact on the quality of life of rural residents. In order to earn
a living and find improved living conditions rural residents
migrated to urban centres. In the second half of the twentieth
century, that process increased urbanisation levels in big cities and
made rural areas become even less important. To make the situa-
tion worse, the already timid attention and investments abandoned
the countryside altogether, following the population to urban
centres.
Life became even more complicated for those individuals who
remained in rural areas because the situation of segregation, low
investment, discrimination and lack of services was aggravated.
Even though small property and family farming came to be the
most important source of income in rural areas (Ministry of
Education and Culture, 1979), most families still have very low
socioeconomic status.
Differences of income in rural areas and their urban counter-
parts become more evident when the percentage of individuals
with a family income below the poverty line is analysed. In 1990,
14% of urban dwellers had family income below the minimum
wage, whereas that figure was over 45% in rural areas.
According to Monteiro (1995), lack of income impedes the
access to basic human needs such as food, clothing, housing,
education and health. However, even though subsistence in rural
areas is not directly linked to income (Monteiro, 1995), funding
influences the access to services like education and health
because citizens need to go to nearby towns in order to have those
needs met.
With regards to education, rural areas were ignored by many
educational policies. Rural schools were bound to failure. Invest-
ment in the area was inhibited due to the belief that rural pop-
ulation areas would disappear as a result of the urbanisation
process (Ministry of Education, 2003). Currently, illiteracy rates in
rural areas (Fig. 1) reflect the rural resident’s deprivation of
education services.
Among the factors that contribute to those high illiteracy rates,
the quality and location of schools available for rural dwellers must
be highlighted. Pegoretti (2005) states that in the beginning of the
twentieth century there were programs aimed at building schools
in rural settings, which were termed isolated schools. Those schools
were created for the purpose of limiting the exodus to urban areas
by fixing populations in the countryside through dissemination of
education.
However, that initiative was unsuccessful because there were
not enough schools; the buildings were too small and poorly
maintained; and teachers, who did not possess an adequate
academic background and lacked pedagogical and administrative
support, were badly paid (Vasconcellos, 1992). In addition, super-
vision services could not be easily provided due to the schools’
 W.L. Carvalho et al. / Research in Transportation Economics 29 (2010) 401e409
Fig. 1. Illiteracy rate in urban and rural households, Brazil, 2004 (in %). Source: DIEESE
and NEAD/MDA (2006)
geographical isolation, rural schools delivered only elementary
education (up to fourth grade) in mixed-grade classrooms, and
school evasion rates were unacceptably high (GEIPOT, 1995; Araújo
and Whitaker in Pegoretti, 2005).
The aforementioned issues, coupled with insufficient demand,
contributed to school consolidation, which resulted in rural school
closure and moved schools to urban areas or to more populated
rural districts. School consolidation intensified the need of rural
students for transportation because schools were moved too far
from students’ homes, as shown in Table 1.
According to INEP, the majority of riders of school transportation
provided by public authorities live in rural areas, in both state and
municipal spheres (70.5%).
Such findings indicate that it is only by providing free school
transport that the government can guarantee the access of rural
dwellers to an academic environment. However, there are other
factors that prevent students from staying in school and contribute
to school evasion as well as dropout rates; which result in high
illiteracy rates. Among those factors which jeopardise students’
academic life, are: a) insufficient offer of public transportation
services; b) precariousness of transportation services that are
offered; c) low socioeconomic status of rural residents; d) great
distances between students’ homes and schools; and e) bad quality
of teaching offered to rural students.
It is worth pointing out that rural students who do stay in school
face a host of challenges that have a negative effect on their
learning and, consequently on their literacy process. Rural pupils
suffer academically due to long travel times and poor trans-
portation conditions. IBGE (2006) presents evidence that supports
Table 1
Comparison between the number of rural and urban riders of school transportation
provided by the government.
Schools Number of Students
Rural Areas
Federal 1679
State 1,966,175
Local 2,890,118
Private 39,746
Total 4,897,718
Source: INEP (2006)
403
that conclusion. Their study identified issues that play a central role
in students’ dropping out of school, such as no school being avail-
able near students’ homes, the impossibility of enrolling students,
the lack of school transportation and lengthy rough rides to and
from school. Those issues are responsible for more than 17% of
students aged between 0 and 6 years of age, and almost 15% of
students aged between 7 and 14 not attending an academic facility.
Thus, public policies targeted at the rural context must be
devised in order to mitigate the obstacles to developments that
have been created throughout the years (Killeen & Sipple, 2000).
Because education plays such an important role in the development
of citizens, action must be taken to improve the quality of education
services provided to rural dwellers in order to promote develop-
ment in rural areas. Education enables citizens to be knowledgeable
about their rights and, additionally, to be better trained for their
jobs.
Accordingly, it is important to implement actions aimed at
guaranteeing transportation services that meet the demands of
rural communities in order to promote social development in rural
areas.
3. Rural school transportation: a diagnosis
In emerging countries like Brazil, government policies are
needed to restore the citizenship and dignity of rural dwellers as
well as to encourage that population to remain in rural areas.
Presently, there are many Brazilian policies focusing on rural school
transportation. This type of transport is understood as one of the
main forms of guaranteeing the access of rural students to school.
Rural pupil transportation is the main instrument to ensure that
rural communities are served with such an essential service as
education is. Improving rural pupil transportation will enable rural
dwellers to develop and create opportunities to improve their
living conditions.
Accordingly, rural pupil transportation emerges a means of
meeting the need of rural students to be conveyed to and from the
school in which they are enrolled. CEFTRU (2008a) defines rural
school transportation as “the conveyance of students to and from
their home in order to enable them to attend a teaching facility”.
However, because of the great social and cultural diversity found
in the many regions of Brazil and due to the country’s large land
area, it is a great challenge for public authorities to provide and
manage rural school transportation services.
In addition, rural school transportation systems comprise many
elements that should be interconnected and combine efforts to
convey rural students efficiently and effectively.
Few studies and surveys have been conducted in Brazil
regarding rural pupil transportation and the access of rural
students to teaching facilities. At the national level, the Brazilian
Company for Transportation Planning e GEIPOT e carried one of
the first studies out in 1995 (GEIPOT, 1995).
Currently, the Anísio Teixeira Brazilian Institute for Education
Studies e INEP e together with FNDE have been developing studies
that allow for a better characterisation of rural school trans-
portation in Brazil.
3.1. Rural school demographics
Urban Areas
According to the School Census 2006, 7,432,543 elementary
students ride a school bus provided by state and municipal public
8296
1,003,974 authorities (INEP, 2006). That figure encompasses 4,661,602 rural
906,107 students; 17% of them attend schools under state jurisdiction and
64,477 83% of those students attend municipal schools. There are currently
1,982,854 53,028,928 students enrolled in public elementary schools in Brazil.
Rural pupils represent 14% of the total amount of school bus riders.
404 W.L. Carvalho et al. / Research in Transportation Economics 29 (2010) 401e409
3.2. Distance to school (spatial accessibility)
Rural pupil transportation in Brazil has some negative aspects,
such as: great distances that need to be travelled, badly maintained
roads, inadequate vehicles, vehicles that are too old, overcrowding;
and lack of an appropriate regulatory framework.
Rides that are excessively lengthy denote the lack of proper
planning. In that view, research conducted by CEFTRU and FNDE
identified routes that were as long as 140 km; 30% of all routes were
longer than 50 km (CEFTRU, 2007 and CEFTRU, 2009a).
According to their research, routes that lasted between 60 and
90 min corresponded to 32.4% of the routes inventorised. The
proportion of routes with journey times longer than 2 h was 13.7%,
with some routes lasting as long as 4 h one-way.
The distance involved in the school run is not the only factor
responsible for the discomfort to which students are subjected or
the long travel times of routes. Transportation conditions offered
to students do not ensure safety standards, students are
conveyed in poorly maintained vehicles that are overcrowded
and run on badly maintained roads. With respect to the travel
distances, long walking distances in order to access the bus,
which take often longer than 1 h, have to be added to the already
long distances travelled on board the vehicles (CEFTRU, 2006)
(Fig. 2).
3.3. Road conditions
More than 90% of roads that serve rural pupil transportation
vehicles are unpaved and many roads are poorly maintained with
lots of holes, making it difficult for vehicles to serve certain locales
(Fig. 3). Poor road conditions increase student discomfort even
more and put students in risky situations.
3.4. Quality of vehicles
Another aspect that needs to be analysed is the overall quality of
the vehicles that provide school transportation. To a large extent,
the vehicles are precarious, old, lacking both compulsory safety
devices and proper maintenance (Fig. 4); very often, improper
vehicles are used to convey students.
CEFTRU (2007) conducted a national survey that gathered data
in over 2200 municipalities nationwide. It showed that the average
age of vehicles that provide school transportation is higher than 15
years (Fig. 5) and it found vehicles that were over 70 years old in all
regions of Brazil.
When fleet composition is analysed, it can be seen that inap-
propriate vehicles, such as heavy-duty and pick-up trucks, canoes,
private cars and motorcycles account for more than 22% (Fig. 6).
Fig. 2. Walking conditions to the school bus (CEFTRU, 2006).
However, the adoption of heavy-duty trucks is partly justified
because regular coach buses cannot handle the natural barriers of
rural settings, such as holes, muddy roads and steep climbs. Coach
buses are not adapted to rural conditions and cannot meet the
demand of rural areas because their design has been based on
urban concepts.
3.5. Vehicle occupation
Deficiencies in operation planning and control lead to
a patronage which exceeds legislated vehicle capacity and to
considerable safety risks (Fig. 7) (CEFTRU, 2007).
3.6. Planning and management of the service
Flaws in the planning and regulatory process of rural pupil
transportation are denoted by high occupancy rates in the vehicles.
To a large extent, school vehicles run their routes carrying more
students than the seating capacity established by the manufacturer.
Studies have found an average occupancy rate of 1.2. In other
words, vehicles carry, on average, 20% more students than its
capacity allows. In addition, CEFTRU found occupancy rates as high
as 3.5. Such extreme figures denote vehicle overcrowding which
obliges students to stand during rides that are already lengthy and
uncomfortable (CEFTRU, 2008a).
The scenario indicates the need for measures that can effectively
improve local operating conditions of rural school transport in
Brazil. To that end, actions such as supporting decision makers in
regard to planning, regulating and operating the service are being
developed and will be presented next.
4. Actions for improving rural school transportation
It can be seen that very little regulatory action has so far been
taken to control rural school transport, due largely to low tech-
nical capacity and little political initiative. It is, however, an
essential service that enables school age youngsters to gain
access to schools and consequently, as has been remarked above,
there are a series of special presuppositions associated to it.
The lack of initiative to regulate the field on the part of the
authorities has often meant that the service has been entirely
taken over by the operators themselves and in many cases it is
they that take on the roles of planners and executors of the
service. That situation has led to a scenario of disorganised and
inefficient services. In that perspective, CEFTRU came to structure
the following proposals aimed at improving rural pupil
transportation.
 W.L. Carvalho et al. / Research in Transportation Economics 29 (2010) 401e409 405

Fig. 3. An illustration of road conditions faced by rural school transportation vehicles. Source: CEFTRU (2006)

4.1. Planning actions
As the previous section has pointed out, many of the problems
identified in the provision of rural pupil transportation by public
authorities in Brazil occur due to lack of adequate planning of the
service. Accordingly, a manual to cater for the needs of decision
makers in order to support them in planning the service they
provide is needed.
The planning process of rural school transport must be
a continuing and permanent one. Furthermore, problems must be
clearly identified and solutions to their causes and consequences
should be found. In addition, planning involves knowing the
routes and having instruments to allocate resources more
efficiently.
To that end, the following recommendations have been
consolidated in a Manual of Best Practices (CEFTRU, 2008b):

Object of planning: public authorities must gain deep under-
standing of what they aim to regulate e in this case, the rural
school transportation system. To that end, they must be
familiar with all the different aspects of that service.

Image-objective: everyone involved with rural pupil trans-
portation must devise an ideal image of the service, which will
guide all the actions taken toward a desirable future situation.
The image-objective synthesises a set of different expectations
from the actors involved; a milestone toward which all plan-
ning efforts must be directed.

Diagnosis of the service: once the rural school transportation
system is characterised, a comparative analysis must be carried
out between the current state of the object and its image-objec-
tive. That analysis will provide for the identification of problems.

Principles and values: the Brazilian Constitution and the Chil-
dren and Adolescents Statute set out principles concerning
rural school transportation. Administrators should consider
those principles, as well as find socially accepted values, in
order to guarantee that society will embrace the actions being
developed. More specific principles can be found in state and
municipal laws.

Fig. 4. Maintenance condition of vehicles. Source: CEFTRU (2006)

406 W.L. Carvalho et al. / Research in Transportation Economics 29 (2010) 401e409

Average Age of the Vehicles in Years
Monitoring and assessment of results obtained: once the plan
20,0 is implemented, it should be monitored and assessed so as to
19,0
verify its effectiveness (e.g., to what extent goals and objectives
18,0
were met) and re-evaluate actions to be implemented.
17,0
16,0
15,0
4.2. Regulatory actions
14,0
13,0
12,0
Assimilating all the principles and directives underlying the
11,0 theory of regulation is complicated and accordingly it is necessary
10,0 and important to provide municipal authorities with knowledge of
North Northeast Midwest Southeast South BRAZIL the basic elements of regulation to enable them to organise their
school transport services properly.
Fig. 5. Average age of the Rural School Transportation fleet. Source: CEFTRU (2007)
In short, our proposals for improvement are basically the
following (CEFTRU, 2008c):

Objectives: public administrators should devise objectives
based on the problems their plan is designed to mitigate and
values and principles that should be followed.

Goals: they can be defined as results expected within a pre-
determined time frame (short, medium and long-term), which
are necessary to the plan’s execution and reflect political
commitment.

Guidelines: because they limit the choice of possible actions to
meet planning goals, they frame the plan’s scope of action;
accordingly, it is central that administrators be fully aware of
such guidelines.

Strategies: the plan comprises a set of projects and actions to
be developed.

Funding: in order to guarantee successful plans, administra-
tors must find the necessary mechanisms and tools for
funding projects that should be carried out as a part of the
plan.

Scope of action: administrators must define the function and
the role each actor plays in the process so as to guarantee the
plan’s continuity.

Implementation: carrying out activities such as defining
proceedings and rules regarding execution and control;
execution; control of processes (which encompasses inspec-
tion activities, e.g., monitoring and verifying) and assessment
are central for administrators to put the plan into effect.

Present regulatory strategies for rural school transport.

Define some elements for the regulation of rural pupil trans-
portation in Brazilian states and municipalities.

Provide information as to what the legal procedures are for
contracting goods and services related to rural school trans-
portation as well as some guidelines for designing the bidding
process.
Next, each topic will be explained in detail.
4.2.1. A strategy for providing rural school transportation
In operational terms, school transport seems more like “postal
transport” where the transporter’s responsibility is not limited to
the transit but also involves the reception and safe delivery of the
transported object (student) placed in his trust. That means there
must be different planning and operational control from that
applicable to ordinary public transport.
Although school transport is not commercial by nature, there is
nothing to prevent the contracting of private operators to operate
the service. Even though there is no prohibition of the Public
Authority itself operating the service, some municipal governments
prefer to make use of external services and indeed, they may not
have sufficient financial resources to purchase and maintain vehi-
cles directly, or to hire drivers. Thus, contracting out is usually more
economical.

Fig. 6. Vehicles used for rural school transportation in Brazil. Source: CEFTRU (2006)
 W.L. Carvalho et al. / Research in Transportation Economics 29 (2010) 401e409
Fig. 7. Occupation of vehicles: CEFTRU (2007)
4.2.2. Defining which elements should be regulated
Once the provision strategy is defined, minimum criteria for
regulating the physical and operational aspects, and the actors
involved in performing the services need to be considered. To that
end, the following points are made:

the physical components of the system consist of the physical
infrastructure (roads, stops, yards, and workshops), the vehi-
cles themselves, and the equipment used for administering and
controlling the system (e.g., tachographs, communication
devices, computerised control systems etc);

the operation of the service does not mean merely defining
the routes, the pick up and drop off points, and the pupils
that are supposed to be picked up and dropped off at the
respective points, but it also means catering for the regu-
larity, safety and comfort of the service. Other factors
that affect operations are: the contracting procedures; the
application of sanctions and even cancelling contracts;
measures for programming and controlling the services;
aspects of the management of the companies operating the
services that affect the quality of services being offered; the
effective payment of the service operators or of the indi-
vidual drivers contracted; the payment of invoices covering
services and purchases (when the service is provided
directly by the Public Authorities); in addition to the revision
or reformulation of regulations, legislation and internal
administrative coordination;

the agents involved in providing rural pupil transportation are,
in addition to the provider (a company or an individual driver):
the pupils and the respective persons responsible for them, the
school management personnel and the Public Authorities. Each
one of them has rights and responsibilities or powers (in the
case of the Authority) and they need to be respected and
observed.
407
4.2.3. Legal proceedings and guidelines for contracting out
In addition to the issues mentioned above, it is worth noting
that contracting with private operators for providing rural school
transportation services has been a common option among
administrators of that service.
Under the terms of the 1988 Constitution that kind of con-
tracting between a public authority and private enterprise requires
a competitive public bidding process, a mechanism the members of
the Constituent Assembly adopted to ensure the legitimacy of
actions involving collective interests.
The public bidding process is not only an important procedure
for choosing the most advantageous proposal for providing the
service, but it also constitutes a stage prior to the actual con-
tracting of the operator during which form, strategy and direc-
tives can be embedded in the contract that will have a direct
effect on its execution. Accordingly, the better the elaboration of
the procedure as a whole, the fewer problems there will be
later on.
4.3. Operation actions
The type of vehicle used for providing school transportation
has a direct impact on the service’s quality levels. As was
mentioned before, a great number of the vehicles used for
conveying pupils are either inadequate or too old and not well
maintained.
In some locales, the use of heavy-duty and pick-up trucks is
justified because these vehicles are better adapted to face rougher
rides than regular coach buses that have been transferred from
urban to rural settings.
Because regular transit buses are designed to operate in urban
areas, they must be adapted in order to cater for local operating
conditions that are unique to rural settings.
408 W.L. Carvalho et al. / Research in Transportation Economics 29 (2010) 401e409
4.4. The proper vehicle
In regard to standardising vehicles assigned for rural pupil
transportation, FNDE and CEFTRU (2008d) partnered with
manufacturers and Inmetro (National Institute of Metrology,
Standardization and Industrial Quality) in order to develop
a vehicle that is fully adapted to the road conditions found in rural
areas (Fig. 8).
Table 2 shows the main changes carried out in order to better
adapt coach buses to the rural environment.
Those adaptations are aimed at building a safe, comfortable and
properly adapted vehicle to run on rural roads.
5. Final remarks
It can be seen that school transportation alone is not the best
solution to solve Brazil’s education problems, particularly, those
faced by students who live in rural settings. However, even if
there were schools available in all rural districts, pupil trans-
portation would always be necessary, and that is why this
issue should be approached as a priority. Furthermore, bad
school transportation conditions hinder students’ academic
performance.
Accordingly, there is a pressing need for adequate rural pupil
transportation. To that end, it is central for states and municipalities
to provide it formally, developing mechanisms that allow for
organising the service’s structure of control/management.
Improving rural school transportation and guaranteeing that
students enjoy their right to a free education and adequate trans-
port to convey them to school may be achieved by means of
applying the principles, guidelines and instruments presented in
this paper for planning, regulating and operating rural school
transportation.
Fig. 8. A vehicle that was especially developed for providing rural school transportation in Brazil. Source: CEFTRU (2009b)
Table 2
Main changes carried out to adapt vehicles for rural school transportation in Brazil.
Adaptive changes made
Differential lock was included
The height from the chassis to the ground was increased
Front and rear overhangs were reduced
A wheelchair for disabled individuals was included
Doors were widened to improve accessibility
An electronic tachograph equipped with GPS was installed
The internal aisle was narrowed to make it difficult for operators to convey
students standing
Higher, wider and thicker seats, allowing the conveyance of up to 3 students
wearing lap and shoulder seatbelts
Tinted glass in all windows to guarantee thermal comfort
Front and rear mud flaps were installed
Providing such service efficiently is central to guaranteeing the
access of more Brazilian citizens to school. Rural pupil trans-
portation helps students overcome obstacles related to low socio-
economic status and geographical isolation. In that context, public
policies regarding rural school transportation should be devised in
order to guarantee the constitutional right of every citizen to a free
education.
Until recently, there was no public policy regarding pupil
transportation. That lack of interest permeated not only Brazil’s
political scenario, but also academic circles, since there are very few
studies on that topic. Presently, however, a new paradigm is
emerging. Seeking to improve pupil transportation is a practice that
is gaining strength in Brazil. Even though our country is far from
treating access to school and rural school transportation with the
due attention and importance needed, continually taking action
regarding these matters is central. Otherwise, unfruitful results
may arise from discontinuous efforts toward the development of
education.
 W.L. Carvalho et al. / Research in Transportation Economics 29 (2010) 401e409 409

References IBGE. (2006). Complementary aspects regarding education and income transfer 2004 e
National household survey. Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute. http://
www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/populacao/trabalhoerendimento/
Anderle, S. J., Kroeger, D. A., & Mascarello, J. (2005). Coordination of transit and school
pnad2006/default.shtm Retrieved May 19, 2009, from(in Portuguese).
busing in Iowa. Retrieved June 24, 2009, from. Iowa Department of Trans-
IBGE. (2007). 20th century statistics. Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute.
portation. http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/reports/bus_coordination.pdf.
http://www.ibge.gov.br/seculoxx/default.shtm Retrieved May 19, 2009, from
CEFTRU. (2006). Image bank of the school bus transportation survey. Center for
(in Portuguese).
Interdisciplinary Studies in Transportation e Ceftru/UnB. 2006. (in Portuguese).
INEP. (2006). School census e 2006. Brasília, DF: Anísio Teixeira Brazilian Institute for
CEFTRU. (2007). A methodology for characterizing rural school transportation, volume
Education Studies. (in Portuguese).
I. Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Transportation e Ceftru/UnB. 2007.
Killeen, K., & Sipple, J. (2000). School consolidation and transportation policy:
(in Portuguese).
An empirical and institutional analysis. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/
CEFTRU. (2008a). A diagnosis of rural school transportation. Center for Interdisci-
ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/16/b3/81.pdf Retrieved May
plinary Studies in Transportation e Ceftru/UnB. 2008. (in Portuguese).
03, 2009, from.
CEFTRU. (2008b). Planning manual for rural school transportation. Center for Inter-
Ministry of Education and Culture. (1979). Technical grounds for rural education
disciplinary Studies in Transportation e Ceftru/UnB. 2008. (in Portuguese).
planning. Brasília, DF. (in Portuguese).
CEFTRU. (2008c). Regulation manual for rural school transportation. Center for
Ministry of Education. (2003). References for a national rural education policy:
Interdisciplinary Studies in Transportation e Ceftru/UnB. 2008. (in Portuguese).
Technical grounds. Brasília, DF. (in Portuguese).
CEFTRU. (2008d). Technical standards for the rural school bus e 2008. Center for
Monteiro, C. A. (1995). The dimension of poverty, hunger and malnutrition in Brazil.
Interdisciplinary Studies in Transportation e Ceftru/UnB. 2008. (in Portuguese).
Scielo, Brasil. Retrieved May 09, 2009, from. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?
CEFTRU. (2009a). Pilot survey regarding the cost of rural school transportation in
pid¼S0103e40141995000200009andscript¼sci_arttext (in Portuguese).
Ceará. Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Transportation e Ceftru/UnB.
Pegoretti, M. S. and Sanches, S. P (2004). The problem of spatial segregation
2009. (in Portuguese).
of rural residents under the perspective of access to and the transportation
CEFTRU. (2009b). Image bank of the school bus transportation survey: Vehicle tech-
system. In: Proceedings of the II ANPPAS Journey, Indaiatuba, SP.
nical standards. Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Transportation e Ceftru/
(in Portuguese).
UnB. 2009. (in Portuguese).
Pegoretti, M. S. (2005). Defining an indicator for assessing the level of accessibility of
DIEESE, & NEAD/MDA. (2006). Rural statistics. São Paulo: Department for Statistics
rural students to urban schools. Master’s Dissertation. UFScar. São Carlos.
and Socioeconomic Studies and Department for Agrarian Studies and Rural
(in Portuguese).
Development/ Ministry of Agricultural Development. (in Portuguese).
Ripplinger, D., & Wang, Y. (2007). Designing a school transportation management
GEIPOT. (1995). Assessing rural school transportation. Brasília: Brazilian Company for
system with public transportation capabilities. http://www.ugpti.org/pubs/pdf/
Transportation Planning. (in Portuguese).
SP165.pdf Retrieved July 06, 2009, from.
Howley, C. B., Howley, A. A., & Shamblen, S. S. (2001). Riding the school bus:
Vasconcellos, E. A. (1992). Rural population and access to education in the state of
a comparison of the rural and suburban experience in five states. Journal of
São Paulo: An analysis of public policy. Doctoral Thesis in Political Science.
Research in Rural Education, 17(1), 41e63, Spring, 2001. http://www.jrre.psu.
USP, SP.
edu/articles/v17, n1, p41-63, Howley.pdf Retrieved June 04, 2009, from.