[sustran] Litman comments on Eastern Europe Transport

[Paul Barter]

I am reposting this item by Todd Litman from the alt-transp list.  I hope
these comments will interest sustran-discuss participants as they seem very
relevant to the situation in many parts of Asia where cities that have
developed with few cars are suddenly seeing a rapid influx of them.  Of
course there are also interesting differences. The E. European cities
apparently had extensive tram and rail systems before the car flood. By
contrast most low-income or middle-income Asian cities had bus-dominated
public transport systems (with little or no bus priority) before the
current car and motorcycle ownership surges.
Paul.


From: litman at IslandNet.com (Todd Litman)
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 04:53:32 -0800 (PST)
Subject: alt-transp Eastern Europe Transport

I just returned from a 2-1/2 week trip to Eastern Europe (Poland, east
Germany and the Czech Republic) to attend a couple conferences on transport
policy and generally look around. It was quite an enlightening experience
which I highly recommend. Let me share some impressions on the current
transport situation there.

First, the economic and political conditions are extremely dynamic, and
sometime in turmoil, which often makes good planning difficult. For example,
right after German unification there was a rush by west German developers to
build out-of-town shopping malls in east Germany before appropriate zoning
laws could be imposed (such developments would not be allowed in west
Germany). Poland seems to have little planning going on, except for new
highways.

The charm of many East European cities is their traditional pedestrian
environments. The older sections of Warsaw, Leipzig, Halle, Prague and
Krakow are really delightful due to the pedestrian scale of streets and
buildings. These conditions also tend to naturally produce traffic calming
due to narrow, uneven and often cobbled streets, with lots of
T-intersections. Traffic volumes appeared relatively low on most such streets.

I simply can't get enough of walking around these wonderful old cities!
Everywhere you look is some fascinating detail: a narrow pathway, little
groundfloor shops, an old church or synagogue, hand-carved wood doors,
cobble stones worn by centuries of foot and wagon traffic...the closer you
look the more you see.

However, the high growth rates in automobile ownership mean that these
streets have become clogged with parked vehicles. With few exceptions all
available pavement is covered with parked cars. I especially found it
disturbing that much of the sidewalk area is now turned over to car parking.
In many areas the sidewalks are quite wide, but the portion next to the curb
is used for parking, often leaving only a few feet for pedestrians despite
heavy foot traffic. With only a few exceptions this parking is free, at
least to neighborhood residents. (Many Warsaw car owners pay for parking
patrols to deter vehicle theft, but the parking spaces themselves are free
or cheap).

Most cities have a ring of large, ugly residential towers, Le Corbusier's
dream turned residents' nightmare. In east Germany local governments are
renovating these buildings and trying to improve conditions (more
neighborhood shops, parks, employment, etc.), but in Poland and the Czech
Republic they look pretty run down.

The transit systems are mediocre to good in most of the cities I visited,
with subways, trams and buses that can take you just about anywhere. They
are quite convenient to use, with frequent service, prepayment fare systems,
and comprehensive posted information, if you can read the language.
However, there is a definite lack of investment in most cities (Berlin seems
to be the exception), so much of the rolling stock is outdated and sometimes
poorly maintained. Trams and buses are often overcrowded, even during the
off-peak periods. Of course, this just reinforces the popular distaste for
public transit (people associate it with the old communist period) and
increases the incentive to purchase a car.

Bicycling is not very popular in Poland, where it is considered a mode of
transport for the poor, and appears to be used mostly in rural areas. As I
traveled west bicycling became more popular, with moderate use in east
Germany and (as reported in many studies) quite high levels of use in west
Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. I did see a few young people with
fancy mountain bikes.

Some cities are employing various types of TDM, but the planning is not
always comprehensive. Poland, in particular, seems to be embracing
automobile ownership without much thought as to how to accommodate all of
the additional vehicles. Poland appears to be using low fuel taxes as a way
to subsidize middle class vehicle owners and compete for business from
Western Europe.


Sincerely,

Todd Litman, Director
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
1250 Rudlin Street
Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada
Phone & Fax: (250) 360-1560
E-mail:     litman at islandnet.com
Website:    http://www.islandnet.com/~litman