[sustran] Self Introduction and a comment on Big Issues

[John Brooks]

I must also apologise for letting fly to the list yesterday without
introducing myself first.

Self Introduction

I am a consultant working in the area of data communications, with
particular interests in automation systems for buildings and comms for
utility companies (metering, etc.).  In the past I have been involved
with IVHS, specifically comms for vehicle navigation and for traffic
signals. 
I also have a personal interest in alternative transport systems with
particular reference to energy and resource use, environmental impacts
and the relationships between the need to work, the need to travel and
possible alternative approaches such as teleworking / telecommuting.
The future nature of employment, or the relationship between worker and
'client', is another area of interest to me (both as an independent
consultant myself and also more widely).  It is clear from the UK
experience that providing feasible and cost-effective means to travel to
work over long distances encourages people to take jobs a long way away.
It is no surprise, therefore, that long-distance commuting to work is a
major contributor to road congestion in Southeast England.
Finally, as a member of the transport specialist group of a local
amenity society I have been closely involved with economic,
environmental and amenity issues arising from the development of a light
rail mass transit system in the area

In article <Pine.SOL.3.96.970514181535.8952C-100000 at trec>, Dharm
Guruswamy <dharm at trec.ce.gatech.edu> writes
> When I was a
>undergraduate, we had planners from St. Petersburg, Russia (formerly
>Leningrad
and Petrograd :=)
>), visit our program and state on a AID funded study tour.  
>
>The noted that they are planning for the influx of automobiles with plans
>to widen areterials and build parking garages in certain dense districts.
>However, they balanced that with plans to continue to expand the Metro and
>maintain the bus system.  More and more people were going to be owning
>cars and these planners did not necasserily like it, but they acknowledged
>reality.
I recently returned from a visit to St Petersburg.  It appears that the
road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Yes: there have been
attempts to improve the roads, there is an excellent Metro system, there
is a good (but grossly overcrowded) bus and trolleybus system.  There
are trams too.  However, private car traffic is growing uncontrollably
at a colossal rate, so that congestion is now a significant problem, of
course affecting buses and trams.  All the mass transit systems are
seriously affected by under-investment.  There appears to be
insufficient money in the local economy to fund vehicle replacement, or
indeed anything except basic maintenance of the systems.
This is a great pity since the basic mass transit infrastructure is very
compatible with the current layout of the city and its surroundings.
The level of private transport in the recent past was low enough not to
be significant but is now running out of control.  There are, it seems,
quite valid parallels between St Petersburg and (say) Bangkok or
Calcutta, as to what is likely to happen if uncontrolled traffic growth
is alowed to continue.  None seem to be learning much from past bad
decisions and experiences in Western Europe and US.

-- 
John Brooks  - Technical Consultant, Energy, Network Systems and Data Comms
South Croydon, 7CR2 7HN, UK Tel: (44) 181 681 1595 Fax: (44) 181 649 7536
The opinions expressed here are mine but are not offered as professional advice.