[sustran] Subway in Jakarta

[eric.britton at ecoplan.org]

Further to Paula Negron Poblete's good suggestion: "I really think that one
way to make people prefer public transport is by making driving a real
mess."

Actually, I thought that this war had already been fought and won - at least
at the level of our expertise here.  Since apparently I may have it wrong,
let me summarize the state of the art/recipe as I understand it as we get
set to meander off the stage of the 20th century:

1. You take that billion dollars you used to spend on building a new
metro....

2. To which you add the couple of billions that you regularly pour into road
construction.

3. You stir and mix nicely and then tip it, not into hardware (concrete,
steel, tunnels and the like) but rather into software (people, new access,
amenity, efficiency and entrepreneurial concepts, cognitive and feedback
systems) and .... while at the same time...

4. Getting all those inefficient, space-eating cars off the street --
specifically a pincers movement with tough, cleverly thought-out parking
strategies at the leading edge, in partnership with persistent transfers by
various means of street space to more efficient transport modes... bearing
in mind that....

5. When we speak of "more efficient transport modes" we have a lot of stuff
in mind rather than good old honky stand in line and wait "public transport"
à la its rather dismal 20th century incarnation, and....

6. That as we free street space we must also take into account that man does
not live by transport alone and that there are other human uses to which
much of it can well be put.

I thought that we were post-industrial and that the knowledge society was
now going to serve us all.  But if I have this wrong... any of it... I shall
be pleased to listen and learn.

eric britton
ecopl at n, Paris