Rio de Janeiro tram franchisor VLT Carioca said that if the municipality could not make up for the lack of income caused by lower-than-expected passenger numbers, it might stop the operation of the city's tram network.
According to the construction of the network and the 25-year PPP concession issued in 2013, if the number of passengers is lower than the expected 260,000 passengers per day, the municipality will be required to make up for any lack of income. Currently, passengers have 80,000 passengers a day, and operators are asking the city government to provide R$ 140 million.
The VLT Carioca consortium consists of CCR, Invepar, Odebrecht Transport and RioPar, each with a 24.4% share, as well as BRT and RATP Dev. CCR expressed interest in acquiring other members, but only reorganized the bus network when originally envisaged. The municipality is reviewing the contract of VLT Carioca.
In June 2016, the first phase of Rio's contactless network tram network was opened between Santos Dumont Airport and Parada dos Museos. The last paragraph is ready to open since December, but its launch has been affected by controversy. After the section is opened, operators expect passengers to increase to 150,000 passengers per day.
