[sustran] Re: Bombay request for information

SUSTRAN Resource Centre sustran at po.jaring.my
Thu Sep 23 14:09:13 JST 1999


Dear Deepika

At 15:53 22/09/99 +0800, India Center wrote:
>
>Dear Madam/ Sir,
>We have filed a public interest litigation in court against the government
>asking for better traffic management and strong steps to be taken to reduce
>air pollution in Bombay.
>I need the following information urgently:
>1) Workable solutions to reduce air pollution and to manage urban traffic
>in Bombay
>2) Ideal car to road ratio

I have made a few points below. I don't think traffic management can ever
solve Bombay's problems... more drastic policies will be needed.  I will
also send you a conference paper that I presented on the theme of urban
transport dilemmas in dense cities.   Can you handle a pdf file? (you can
reply off the list direct to me at sustran at po.jaring.my)

Bombay is an extremely high-density city. I do not yet have access to
reliable data but it is clearly one of the densest cities in the world,
along with Cairo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and a few others.   High
densities have enormous implications for urban transport and for air
pollution issues.  Dense cities face STARK CHOICES. Bangkok illustrates
that a 'traffic disaster' can arise very quickly as motorisation increases
in a dense city (and Bangkok's density is much lower than Bombay's at
"only" about 130 to 140 persons per hectare). 

High-density cities are unsuited to high rates of motor vehicle use
(especially private car use). It is physically impossible for a dense city
to have a high levels of road capacity PER PERSON  - it would require an
impossibly high level of road capacity PER HECTARE. Cars take up a huge
amount of space when in motion AND for parking. In dense cities, space is a
valuable commodity. Congestion and parking problems can therefore become
very serious in dense cities even when only a few percent of people own
cars. The problem is inherently a spatial one and not just a result of a
failure to build enough roads. 

Dense cities are prone to experience high levels of traffic impacts per
hectare, such as pollution or noise. Many Asian cities, including Bombay,
are traffic-dominated places DESPITE low vehicle ownership and low vehicle
use per person. High levels of traffic per hectare will inevitable cause
severe local air pollution. This would probably be the case even if the
vehicles in Bombay were as clean as the cleanest in the world (which they
are not of course!!).  

Public transport, walking and cycling are very much more space-efficient
than private vehicles, especially cars. The most successful urban transport
systems in Asia are those that have encouraged walking, cycling and public
transport and discouraged private transport (Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Seoul have all done so).  

Passenger transport in Bombay is already primarily on public transport and
non-motorised transport. The high density means that further enhancing
these modes and restraining private vehicles is absolutely essential in
order to avoid gridlock and even worse air pollution. The precious road
space will have to be carefully rationed between public transport,
non-motorised transport and goods traffic (as is done in Hong Kong for
example). In my view, an extremely vigorous effort to restrain private
vehicles and promote the cleaner and more space-efficient alternatives is
the only viable strategy for such a dense city as Bombay. In addition, a
strong effort to clean up vehicle emissions will probably also be required
because even a small number of dirty vehicles can quickly pollute a dense
city (as they already are in Bombay).

Of course, the city may gradually spread out in the future - but not fast
enough to make space for many vehicles. Urban sprawl is a slow process,
whereas an explosion of motor vehicle numbers can happen in the space of a
decade or two.

I hope this helps. The points I make are backed up a bit more by data in
the paper. Please let me know if you can handle pdf files and I will email
it to you.
PLEASE NOTE NEW 8 DIGIT TELEPHONE/FAX NUMBER

Dr A. Rahman Paul BARTER
Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (SUSTRAN)
P.O. Box 11501,  Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia.
TEL/FAX: +60 3 2274 2590
E-mail: sustran at po.jaring.my
(old address tkpb at barter.pc.my has been cancelled)
Web: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2853/

The SUSTRAN network promotes and popularises 
people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport 
with a focus on Asia and the Pacific.



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