With the 10-year benefit for Streetsblog and Streetfilms coming up on November 14 (get your tickets here!), we are counting down the 12 most influential Streetfilms of all time, as determined by Clarence Eckerson Jr.
Bogotá BRT/Transmilenio
Number of plays: 65,353
Publish date: January 28, 2008
Why is it here? Bus Rapid Transit was still an unfamiliar concept in most American cities when we published this Streetfilm in 2008. With this look at Bogotá's Transmilenio, we showed the ingredients of fast, convenient, high-capacity BRT: off-board fare collection, center-running bus lanes, stations with level boarding -- as well as Bogotá's feeder bus system and bike parking stations, which extend access to the core BRT routes. While not every component of the Bogotá system translates to the context of American cities, this Streetfilm conveyed to a new audience how much is possible when you fully commit to high-quality BRT.
Fun fact: At one point while filming bus routes from an overhead bridge, a military police officer approached me with a rifle in hand. There were terrorism threats during our visit and the transit system was a potential target. Our guide, Gil Peñalosa, immediately interceded and straightened things out.
The Streetfilms Countdown so far:
#12: Lakewood, Ohio: The Suburb Where Everyone Can Walk to School
#11: Mark Gorton Interviews Enrique Peñalosa
#10: Zurich: Where People Are Welcome and Cars Are Not
#9: Sneckdowns
#8: Complete Streets: It’s About More Than Bike Lanes
#7: Park(ing) Day
