[sustran] public awareness stunts

[Paul Barter]

Christine Laurence said:
>I've been busy organising a race
>around the public transport system in Sydney - to show how many
>destinations you can get to - we called it the Great Sydney Public
>Transport Derby. 30 people took part and we received good coverage in the
>media.

Can you tell us more about this Public Transport Derby?   I am sure some of
the other activists on the list might find this a useful example. Does
anyone else know of successful stunts that can highlight sustainable
transport and attract media interest?

One example that I know of from Malaysia was actually done by a newspaper
on its own initiative.  In late 1994, features section of "The Sun"
newspaper here (one of three major national English language papers) ran a
commuter race from their suburban office to the centre of Kuala Lumpur.
The distance was about 12 km and all the participants were journalists from
the paper.  They travelled in morning rush hour.  There was a car driver, a
bus user, a motorcyclist, a bicycle, and a group of walkers.  As well as it
being a race each "commuter" wrote up their experiences for a feature in
the paper which was very interesting.

Guess what!  The bicycle won (this despite the fact that none of the
journalists involved actually owned a bicycle so they had to borrow an old
black Indian-style single-speed bike from a local street vendor)!
Admittedly the motorcyclist (who came a close second) took a wrong turn...
but still.  Both 2-wheelers beat the car by a wide margin. The car got
stuck in traffic then had a problem finding a parking place.  Then came the
bus user, then the walkers (who had a woeful tale of pollution and
obstacles and traffic).

A. Rahman Paul BARTER
Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific (SUSTRAN)
c/o Asia Pacific 2000, PO Box 12544,   50782 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Fax: +603 253 2361, E-mail: <tkpb at barter.pc.my>
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