[sustran] Introduction

John Hartman hartman at tac-atc.ca
Tue May 27 03:02:16 JST 1997


Greetings from Ottawa, the national capital of Canada.  I am John
Hartman and one of my several “hats” is that of Director of
Transportation Forums for the Transportation Association of Canada
(TAC).

TAC is a national, non profit association dating back to 1914. We are
the foremost, broad based assembly of transportation stakeholders in
Canada. Our 400+ members cover the spectrum of federal, provincial and
municipal governments, the private sector and research / academia. Our
current mission is “to promote the provision of safe, efficient,
effective and environmentally sustainable transportation services in
support of Canada’s social and economic goals.”

I believe that many of you will be interested in the work of the URBAN
TRANSPORTATION COUNCIL (one of several standing groups sponsored by TAC)
and in particular its 1993 Briefing titled “A NEW VISION FOR URBAN
TRANSPORTATION”.

The new vision is based on 13 decision making principles which we
believe will lead to more environmentally, socially and economically
sustainable cities in the future. Although TAC’s urban vision is aimed
at North American decision makers, I believe it has something to offer
people in the Asia-Pacific region and indeed, the whole developing
world.  In particular, it would be nice if they could somehow avoid the
mistakes of urban sprawl and auto dependence that we in North America
have made. In order to make a convincing argument to others we must
first “clean up our own act”, which is what the Urban Transportation
Council and its new vision are all about.

We are encouraged by the results over the past four years. Our urban
vision has been formally endorsed by the national organizations that
matter (municipal politicians, land use planners, transportation
engineers), some provincial organizations and most of Canada’s major
municipalities. We can see results in the latest urban master plans and
transportation plans. The OECD has cited it as an example of “best
thinking on environmentally sustainable transportation in Canada”.
Environment and the Economy (a sustainable development panel that
advises the federal government) has called it “the most influential
vision statement currently in Canada”.

I invite you to learn more about this by visiting TAC’s home page:

<www.tac-atc.ca>

Under PRODUCTS / BRIEFINGS you will find:

*	A New Vision for Urban Transportation (1993)
*	Urban Vision Sampler (1996)
*	Financing Urban Transportation (1997)

Under WHAT’S NEW (December 1996) you will find:

*	“Sustainable Urban Transportation Initiatives in Canada”. This paper
to an APEC Forum in Korea gives a nice history of the Urban
Transportation Council’s work.


John Hartman
Director of Transportation Forums
Transportation Association of Canada
2323 St. Laurent Boulevard
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada  K1G 4J8
Tel.: (613) 736-1350
Fax: (613) 736-1395
E-Mail: hartman at tac-atc.ca



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