[sustran] “The Right to Information”.

[eric britton]

Perhaps we could discuss this proposal of Sujit Patwardhan? (See his Sustran
message of December 23, 1998 2:33 AM. On the Stay Order Against Mumbai-Pune
Expressway)

Might this not be a great candidate for THE sustainable transportation issue
of 1999? With this forum and our allies, and anyone else whom we might
rustle up, we might begin by starting to develop perhaps something along the
lines of an International Charter written in nice calm language which we
could then start to push at the Bank, OECD, EC, until we manage to get it
both definition and momentum. Might take a few years to begin to get an
impact out of it, but in the meantime we could scare the waste matter (sic.)
out of all those kind folks that like to keep such things out of the public
ken and in their private interest.

Here are three good reasons to give this some thought:

1. It might be one of the most powerful practical things that we could do to
advance the poor beleaguered sustainability agenda in the sector.
2. We have the tools and the constituency to do the job.
3. We should have a good time doing it and end up knowing each other better
and liking each other more than we do today.

How's that for a New Year wish?


Eric Britton

PS. If we could mobilize enough high quality articles on it, we might even
convince John Whitelegg to consider building a World Transport Policy &
Practice edition around it. And of course a Web site (we'd be glad to get
that one going? And and...