142 Anuário Brasileiro do Setor de Locação de Veículos Brazilian Vehicle Rental Sector Yearbook 2022 ANTP The hope of recovery For two years, Brazilian society has been living with the COVID-19 pandemic, struggling to overcome this terrible moment in history. It all started in March 2020, with the outbreak of the virus in Brazil, requiring public authorities to take action to prevent contagion in the population and to reduce the impact of the disease, as well as pressure on healthcare systems. In April of that year, with the most drastic protection measures adopted, urban mobility fell to 20% of that observed the previous year. The impact was felt in all transport systems, from cities to highways and in the number of vehicles in cities. In public transport, whose cost in almost all Brazilian cities is borne by passengers, an unprecedented crisis struck as services had to be maintained well above demand levels, which impacted the financial balance of service contracts and create d deficit of around R$ 16 billion in the bus system (up to June 2021) and R$ 12.5 billion (from March 2020 to June 2021) in the rail system. With vaccination widespread in society and the adoption of personal preventive measures by people, restrictions were reduced, with people gradually returning to cities. Traffic volumes have returned to near 2019 figures, but public transport is still around 70% of pre-pandemic numbers. The crisis in the public transport system led to a debate on the current model of contracting, costing, and management of services, which led the sector to propose structural solutions, implemented in the proposal of Bill of Law 3,278/21, by Senator Antonio Anastasia, which proposes a regulatory framework for public transport. At the same time, the Federal Government has been asked to participate in a solution to the crisis, with proposals for emergency resources for the sector to mitigate deficits and avoid the collapse of the system, already under pressure from bankruptcies and contracts being broken by some companies. Now, with the establishment of the Mobility Advisory Forum by the Ministry of Regional Development (MDR), which the ANTP is a part of, this subject has been returned to, to restructure the sector and look for specific solutions, with two proposals under development. One passes on resources to cover travel for those aged 65 years and above, and another creates a social transport voucher for those most in need. There were two years of huge tension in the public transport sector that had already been experiencing difficulties due to the fall in demand and difficulty in covering costs, but which managed to find structural and lasting solutions. It is expected that a return to normality, with the short-termmitigating solutions and the establishment of the legal framework for public transport, 2022 will be more positive for Brazilians and the entire sector. The crisis in public transport has fueled the debate about the contracting, costing, and management of services. Structural solutions are on the sector’s radar By Luiz Carlos Mantovani Néspoli, Superintendent of the National Public Transport Association (ANTP)
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