Abstract

This study examines Bogotá’s transition to sustainable transport through its integrated public transit system. In 2012, over a decade after introducing Bus Rapid Transit, the city began the fleet renewal of the other coexisting public buses. It, called the SITP, in coordination with Bus Rapid Transit, reorganized transport, and progressively replaced old buses with newer, low- and zero-emission technology. This article estimates the impact of removing old buses from the road on air quality and life expectancy gains from upgrading public transport technology with the SITP buses. The empirical strategy utilizes bus strikes between 1998 and 2014 in a regression discontinuity design to infer the impact of bus removal on air quality. The results indicate SITP reduced pollution by 21 µg/m3 and increased life expectancy by 1.4 years. Findings suggest that cities with aging bus fleets can achieve significant benefits by upgrading their public transport technology, even without complete electrification.