Car co-ops: was Re: [sustran] intro
aliani.unescap at un.org
aliani.unescap at un.org
Thu May 15 01:43:15 JST 1997
Hi!
I am a Human Settlements Officer at the United Nations Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) which is based in
Bangkok, Thailand.
I agree with Maya when she says that given the present transport
system, using a car is a necessity if one wants to maintain one's
mobility. Take my example, my house is about a kilometer from the
nearest bus station. Given Bangkok's weather which alternates between
heat waves and rain showers, it is not possible for me to walk or
cycle down to the bus station to commute to work. Moreover, the buses
follow the main roads which are very crowded. I tried travelling by
bus for a month and found out that it took me on average 90 minutes to
get to work and about 120 minutes to return home. Usually by the time
I got to work I was so tired that I needed at least another hour to
recover. By car my normal commuting time was 30 minutes.
They are building a mass transit system here which most likely will
fail to attract motorists because the distances between residences and
main roads are too great and people will not inconvenience themselves
in the heat and the rain to ride public transport.
I think private modes of transport are necessary and we have to
concentrate our efforts to finding sustainable and clean energy
sources for vehicular transport. In this connection electric or
hydrogen powered vehicles are the most feasible as yet.
An interim measure could be to follow the Japanese example and make
ownership of vehicles older than five years very difficult. The older
the car the more it pollutes. This will also not hurt the auto
industry too badly, which is specially important in Thailand as the
industry employs an estimated 100,000 people directly and another
500,000 indirectly.
Adnan H. Aliani
More information about the Sustran-discuss
mailing list