From litman at vtpi.org Wed Feb 2 00:27:15 2000 From: litman at vtpi.org (Todd Litman) Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2000 07:27:15 -0800 Subject: Fw: Sprawl in Hungary (fwd) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000201072715.011082d0@pop.islandnet.com> Let me make a few points in response to Mr. Coxes comments: CONCERNING IDEOLOGY I don't think that most critics of automobile-oriented transportation planning consider cars and roads equivalent of the "Great Satan." Many of us believe that automobiles have a role in a balanced transportation system, but that current transport policies result in excessive driving, and that given more optimal transportation and land use markets that provide viable choices, fair and efficient pricing, and rational investments consumers would choose to drive less and be better off as a result. The point is not that cars are "bad", but rather that they impose significant costs on society. CONCERNING ROADWAY COST RECOVERY According to the "1997 Federal Highway Cost Allocation Study," USDOT (www.fhwa.dot.gov) current vehicle user charges (fuel taxes and registration fees) only cover about 70% of total roadway costs, indicating that these charges would need to increase by about 43% to achieve full cost recovery. That is, the price of fuel would need to increase to about 60-cents per gallon just to cover road expenditures. It is true that the highway cost study did include some transit expenditures as part of road system costs (which can be justified on least-cost principles, since transit investments are often cheaper than building new urban highways, and because automobile dependency reduces the efficiency of public transit). On the other hand, it omits a number of additional facility costs and tax exemptions currently provided to motorists. For example, the costs of local traffic services and municipal parking subsidies are not included, and many states that apply general sales taxes to most consumer goods exempt fuel. There are a number of other external costs imposed by driving, including parking subsidies, uncompensated accident costs, the opportunity cost of roadway land, traffic congestion (traffic congestion is usually defined only in terms of delay to other motor vehicles, but pedestrians and cyclists are also delayed by traffic), and a number of negative environmental impacts. These are discussed in our paper "Transportation Cost Analysis" a summary of which is posted at our website, http://www.vtpi.org. It summarizes the results of a number of studies on the full costs of various modes of transportation. The 1982 Federal Highway Cost Allocation Study examined the issue of whether local roads should be funded by users or through general taxes and concluded that once basic access is provided to an area there is no good reason to continue general tax funding. This implies that there is virtually no justification for general tax funding of current roadway costs. A few automobile advocates have criticized these studies, arguing that motorists pay their fair share of costs, but virtually none of the critics' reports are published by peer-reviewed journals, while many of the comprehensive cost studies are. For a discussion see our paper "Evaluating Criticism of Transportation Costing". INEVIDABILITY OF SUBURBANIZATION Although most developed cities have experienced suburbanization, there is some question as to how inevidable this is and how much it reflects free market choice. Just as automobile use is underpriced, resulting in excessive driving, lower-density development is underpriced, resulting in excessive suburbanization. Examples of land use market distortions that favor lower-density, urban fringe development include dedicated highway funding that encourages automobile oriented solutions to transportation problems, zoning laws that require generous parking and lower density development, mortgage interest payment income tax deductions, and failure to charge residents for the higher public service costs associated with lower-density locations. As a result, residents of higher-density older neighborhoods tend to overpay their public service costs, while residents of lower-density, newer residences tend to underpay (see Subhrait Guhathakurta, "Who Pays for Growth in the City of Phoenix? An Equity-Based Perspective on Suburbanization," Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 33, No. 5, www.urbanfutures.org/j102898.html, July 1998, pp. 813-838; Robert Burchell, et al., The Costs of Sprawl - Revisited, TCRP Report 39, Transportation Research Board, www.nas.edu/trb, 1998). To put this another way, the current land market fails to provide with effective price incentives, because it does not return to individual consumers the savings that result when they choose lower-cost locations. This encourages suburban development over urban infill. There are also some self-fulfilling prophesies at work. As more middle-class households move to suburbs, urban neighborhoods become less desirable places to live. But note that this has little to do with physical conditions, rather it represents economic and social trends that favor suburbs over cities. This is not to say that in a less distorted land market everybody would be living in highrise apartments, but it does suggest that some, perhaps much, of suburbanization reflects a LACK of consumer choice and FAILURE of the market, not true consumer preferences as Cox claims. The growing popularity of loft apartments, neotraditional development and gentrified urban neighborhoods indicates that given even moderatly attractive conditions, some households would prefer moderate- to high-density residences. ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF AUTOMOBILE DEPENDENCY There is both theoretical and emperical evidence that excessive automobile dependency has negative economic development impacts, since it imposes many costs on governments, consumers and society overall, and it tends to require a large amount of imported goods. A more balanced transportation system could provide more economic stability to developing countries such as Hungary. For discussion see "Automobile Dependency and Economic Development" posted at our website. 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@vtpi.org Website: http://www.vtpi.org >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 20:11:48 -0600 >From: Wendell Cox >Reply-To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org >To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org >Subject: [sustran] Fw: Sprawl in Hungary > >> Sorry for the discordant view... but... >> >> I understand that a lot of people think of autos and roads as being the >> equivalent of the "Great Satan," but that does not change the facts. >> Contrary to the claims in the "sprawl in Hungary" article... >> >> The highways in Calif and Texas, not to mention across the US were paid >for >> by users --- through taxes assessed on fuel alone for the purpose of >> building the roads. These taxes are specific to fuel, and not charged on >> other commodities. A small percentage of user fees is tolls. Data for the >> past five years is available at.... >> >> http://www.publicpurpose.com/hwy-us$93&c.htm >> >> There is some general taxation support of roads, but it is approximately >> canceled by the diversion of user revenues to other sources, such as mass >> transit. Moreover, virtually all general taxation support of roads is for >> LOCAL roadways, not for the motorways that are the backbone of the >national >> system. >> >> It is an inventive argument to connect sprawl to the S&L crisis. While >some >> weak connection might be made, the fact is that suburban expansion was at >> its weakest in the 1980s, and much of the development would have occured >> without the S&L crisis. The problem was that the national insurance >program >> was poorly administered... it was one of our most unfortunate government >> failures, and we have had a few. A couple of larger ones have been the >> abysmal failure of central city education and explosion of central city >> crime rates from 1960 to 1990, which in and of themselves were of >sufficient >> concern to drive millions of people out of the central cities into the >> suburbs. One would hope that the same will not occur in Hungary, and that >as >> a result, the inevitable movement to suburbs that is attendant to >increased >> affluence will simply reflect preferences in the market, rather than the >> "bleeding" that has resulted from government failure in US central cities >> (FYI, the city of St. Louis will show a population of 325k in 2000, down >> from 857k in 1950 --- virtually all US inner cities have declined in >> population, though the trend has been masked by annexation in some). >> >> Best regards, >> Wendell Cox >> -- >> WENDELL COX CONSULTANCY: International Public Policy, Economics, Labor, >> Transport & Strategic Planning >> >> THE PUBLIC PURPOSE: Internet Public Policy Resource: >> http://www.publicpurpose.com >> Transport Policy Discussion Group: >> http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-group.htm >> >> DEMOGRAPHIA: http://www.demographia.com >> Urban Policy Discussion Group: >http://www.demographia.com/db-group.htm >> >> Telephone +1 618 632 8507; Fax +1 618 632 8538 - P.O. Box 841- >Belleville, >> Illinois 62222 USA >> >> "To facilitate the ideal of government as the servant of the people by >> identifying and implementing strategies to achieve public purposes at a >> cost that is no higher than necessary." >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: ITDP >> To: >> Sent: Friday, January 28, 2000 10:02 PM >> Subject: [sustran] ITDP's latest TransportActions >> >> >> > boundary=3D"------------22971E89BB9B696D111CC400" >> > Sender: owner-sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org >> > X-Sequence: sustran-discuss 1443 >> > Precedence: bulk >> > Reply-To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org >> > X-Unsub1: To unsubscribe, send the command UNSUBSCRIBE sustran-discuss >> > X-Unsub2: in the body of an e-mail message to majordomo@jca.ax.apc.org >> > >> > >> > --------------22971E89BB9B696D111CC400 >> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3Diso-8859-1 >> > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit >> > >> > TransportActions >> > Winter, 2000 >> > > * Hungarian Sprawl: Another S & L Crisis in the Making? >> > >- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT >to listserv@lists.sierraclub.org > > > 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@vtpi.org Website: http://www.vtpi.org From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Wed Feb 2 01:25:25 2000 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric.britton@ecoplan.org) Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 17:25:25 +0100 Subject: [sustran] =?Windows-1252?Q?Bogot=E1__Car_Free_Day_-_media_support_showing_less_trad?= =?Windows-1252?Q?itional_ways_of_moving_in_cities?= Message-ID: Please forgive the broadside, but a certain number of you may find this interesting, possibly important and perhaps you will have some ideas and materials for us. If you go to the @World Car Free Day web site at http://www.ecoplan.org/carfreeday/, you will not only spot a lot of general stuff on why our topic is good for your health, but also, hopefully, you will note that we are giving a hand to the mayor and people of Bogot? as they prepare for the first major Car Free Day project in a Third World mega-city. It's all on the site so let me take no more of your time with this background here. We are seeking materials - videos, graphics - that can be used for a more or less ongoing media barrage which is to begin.... tomorrow (of course). The idea is to show transportation concepts and actual systems which are taking different approaches to the ones that have been so successfully sold to Bogot?, Bangkok, Cairo and the other choking capitals and cities of the developing nations. Do you have any candidates or ideas for us on this? It might be bike paths, new ideas about making things better for people on foot, new ways of using taxis, reserved bus lanes, traffic calming, reclaiming city streets, smarter and better (and less!!!) parking, carsharing, TDM, ride sharing... and myriad other ways of being smarter than just getting stuck in traffic. Which brings up a thought. IF any of you have any great footage on just that - the evils of cars got wrong and their impact - that too might be very useful in this context. Eventually, someone might want to begin to think about some sort of lending library or the like... since surely many of us would be able to make good use of this on many occasions, if only we could get our hands on it when we need it. BTW, in case you haven't seen them you can find some pretty useful video material that has been collected on our @ccess Mobility Solutions site at http://www.ecoplan.org/mobility -- a 20-minute video "Curitiba: Public Transit Role Model for Los Angeles" at http://real.telebuild.com/ramgen/e-architect/pia/rudc/inourlifetime.rm for which you will of course need RealMedia, and two news program its from French TV on the Car Free Day site (at http://www.ecoplan.org/carfreeday/ -- click independent Views in the top half of the menu and you'll see both of them there (also RealMedia).) With kindest thanks for your support on this, Eric Britton ecopl@n ___ technology, economy, society ___ Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France Eric.Britton@ecoplan.org URL www.ecoplan.org Voice/Videoconference +331.4441.6340 (1-4) Voicemail/Fax hotline: Europe +331 5301 2896 Voicemail/Fax hotline: North America +1 888 522 6419 (toll free) From jgifford at gmu.edu Wed Feb 2 05:31:46 2000 From: jgifford at gmu.edu (Jonathan L. Gifford) Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 15:31:46 -0500 Subject: [sustran] In-Reply-To: Message-ID: A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: multipart/mixed Size: 1445 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000201/4f4ebfdf/attachment.bin From sustran at po.jaring.my Wed Feb 2 11:15:41 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2000 10:15:41 +0800 Subject: ITDP's latest TransportActions Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000202101541.0089c990@relay101.jaring.my> A number of people got only a blank message instead of the ITDP TransportActions newsletter sent to the list a few days ago. I suspect the problem might be that the message was VERY long. For that reason, it initially bounced from the list and I had to explicitly "pass" it. However, this has not worked completely apparently. Can I suggest that anyone who got a blank message from ITDP please visit the ITDP web site (http://www.ITDP.org) to see the full TransportActions. It is well worth a look. Here is a contents list of TransportActions, "Winter" 2000 (sic - it's not winter here...), * Saving Sustainable Livelihoods: The Fight for Jakarta's Becaks * Afribike Scales Up: Project Updates * US Bike Industry/Community Bike Programs Mobilize Haitian Youth * Marshaling Support for Global Cycling in Washington, DC * High Rollers Threaten Coastal Ecosystem: Corredor Sur Update * Hungarian Sprawl: Another S & L Crisis in the Making? In addition, I am including the item on Hungary below, since it has generated some discussion. Paul --------------------------- HUNGARIAN SPRAWL: Another S & L Crisis? Alarming Trends in Hungarian Commercial Real Estate Hungary is currently experiencing a boom in speculative real estate construction that is encouraging auto use and sprawl in areas already suffering from congestion and air pollution--much of it in the ecologically sensitive Buda hills. The boom is not a purely market-driven process because bankers and developers know that if the loans go bad, they will be bailed out by the Hungarian taxpayers. Sound familiar? The situation in Hungary today is similar to the U.S. in the mid-1980s, when weak banking regulation and irresponsible real estate lending led to the Savings and Loan Crisis that cost U.S. taxpayers $500 billion, or $2000 per every U.S. man, woman and child. Cars and trucks are subsidized in Hungary and the U.S. because they don't have to pay the full social costs of making their trip. But taxpayers all over the U.S. not only subsidized car owners by building highways in Texas and California, they also ended up paying for all of the speculative real estate developments that sprawled out along these highways in the 1980s when they bailed out the Savings and Loan industry. Today, Hungarian taxpayers are facing the same risk: banks are making irresponsible loans to real estate speculators building shopping malls, knowing that if the malls fail, the taxpayers will bail them out. In Hungary, the problem is made worse by the fact that real estate developers also receive large subsidies from the Unemployment Fund and various tax breaks, regardless of whether or not the projects make any economic sense. In 1992, virtually all of Hungary's banks (all of them State owned) were in default due to the collapse of the Eastern economies. Between 1992 and 1996, the Hungarian government covered this with US$3 billion in funds from the sale of bonds which ultimately will be paid by Hungarian taxpayers, and an influx of foreign capital. The banks were sold to private investors, many of them foreign, and foreigners now own approximately 60% of all banking assets in Hungary. The bank failures did not end there. In 1998, Postabank, one of the largest banks involved in real estate speculation, had to be rescued with a $1 billion bailout, and 1999 another major bank was bailed out by the state for about the same amount. OTP, Hungary's largest bank, responsible for 50% of retail banking and 90% of home mortgages, remains in trouble. Over 35% of OTP's pre-1989 loans are in default, roughly 30% of the loans it made after 1993 are in default, and even about 10% of its new 'market rate' loans are also in default. While some analysts say the overall health of the Hungarian banking system is improving, the level of exposure to a major downturn in the real estate market has increased significantly. And the risk is very real. One sure indicator that Hungary's banks are in trouble and the real estate market is about to collapse is that virtually all of them have recently sold and leased back to themselves the buildings which they own. Citibank did the same thing in the late 1980s when it was trying to cover a $100 million loss on bad Latin American debt. Because real estate enters a bank's balance sheets at its historical value rather than the current market price, selling your own building and then leasing it immediately increases the value of the capital assets dramatically. As banks are also regulated in Hungary as elsewhere by requiring the bank to have 5% of its total lending in capital assets, this accounting maneuver allows banks to make more loans relative to their net worth. Of course, if the property market is about to collapse, this maneuver makes even more sense: the loss in capital value would be absorbed by the purchaser, rather than by the bank itself. The other evidence that more banking troubles are in store was reported by Jones, Lange and LaSalle, an international real estate company. There was a real shortage of commercial real estate in Hungary in the mid-1990s, allowing some firms to earn a return on their initial investment in a remarkable 5 to 8 years no matter how poorly managed or maintained. Given the lack of planning controls and weak local government oversight, local government subsidies, lack of any property taxes, and loose credit available, the Budapest metro area was a veritable Shangri La for real estate speculators. Today, however, according to Jones, Lange, and LaSalle, Budapest is already overbuilt, with current vacancy rates at 13.5%. Hungary has recently built an additional 530,000 square meters of shopping facilities, giving the country already as many square feet of shopping facilities per capita as the U.S., and more than Holland. This in a country where the population is falling and per capita incomes have yet to rise back to their pre-1989 levels. While the recovery of incomes since 1996 stimulated the current boom, it is now out of control. Today there is another 350,000 square meters either under construction or planned that have been given the go-ahead from government authorities. Only 29% of this new construction has secure tenants, meaning that the vast majority of it is being built on pure speculation. When all of these new shopping facilities become available, it is almost inevitable that real estate prices will collapse. There is extensive evidence that the current real estate values cannot be sustained. According to real estate industry experts, the rental cost of the shops in the new West End City Center is roughly 70DM/square meter. It is impossible to make a profit as a bank in Budapest at this price, and banks are one of the most profitable businesses. How can small shops selling soft pretzels possibly make a profit? Unlike in the West, where shopping center developers tend to retain ownership of the facility and rent the individual units to tenants in order to ensure the 'tenant-mix' necessary for commercial success, in Budapest most of the shopping centers are turned into condominiums and the individual shops sold off to the shop keepers. Not only does this mean that there is no control over the tenant mix, it also means that the initial developer has often 'cashed-out' of the project. In other words, they have dramatically minimized their own financial exposure from any default by the shop keepers. Left at risk are the shop keepers, the banks, and the taxpayers. The banks, particularly those without foreign management experience, have little experience in assessing commercial real estate risks, since commercial real estate development is a relatively new phenomenon in Hungary. Most of the new spaces are being bought by the existing shop owners along the Grand Boulevard are hedging their bets. Fearing that the new malls will take away all their business, the same shop owners have used their existing shop and the new shop as collateral to borrow money from a bank, frequently from OTP or Postabank. They plan to see what happens to the customer traffic, and then sell the shop with the lower levels of traffic. When this sell-off begins, commercial real estate prices are likely to collapse. Either the shopping centers will go bankrupt or large sections of the Grand Boulevard will be boarded up, or both. Already there are a large number of vacant, boarded up shops in the VII and VIII districts. When they do, the value of the collateral backing these bank loans will also collapse. When a large number of these businesses fail, as they inevitably will, the banks will have collateral worth far less than the total value of their loans. Many predict that thousands of retailers are likely to go bankrupt. The best ones will renegotiate their leases. The banks, already in trouble, will need to be bailed out yet again by the taxpayers. Fueling the speculative real estate frenzy, according to industry insiders, is the fact that many of the firms involved are using the real estate developments for money laundering. Spending cash on bricks and mortar is a way of converting illegally-earned cash in to legal capital assets. These investors don’t really care as much how profitable or well managed their assets are, as the main value comes from the laundering of money. All of this speculative real estate development is an indirect way for the taxpayers to subsidize automobile-dependent suburban sprawl in Hungary which will lock the country into a permanent dependence on private cars, virtually all of which are produced primarily by foreign companies. The majority of these new shopping centers are originally located in suburban areas, where land was cheap, local governments were offering generous tax breaks, and there were few if any planning guidelines. Almost all of these are located in the higher income Buda suburbs. The largest cluster are at the junction between the M0 ring road, the M1, and the M7 highways, known as the Western Gateway, near the affluent suburb of Budaors. Other clusters are in North Buda near the intersection between the M0 and Road #2 and on to the North towards Szentendre, and South Buda. These developments are very all heavily auto-dependent. Though many of the new mega-malls are being built in transit-friendly locations--like those near Moskva Ter. and the West-End City Center, and planned East-End City Center--they are undermining locally accessible shopping facilities and degrading the quality of life downtown. By concentrating commercial activity in specific nodes of the city, they are also concentrating traffic. This concentration of commercial activity is killing small shops in certain neighborhoods, forcing local residents in these districts to walk much farther to do their shopping. This is also leaving the lower density, transit dependent lower income populations in outlying parts of Pest with few nearby shopping facilities. Furthermore, as even the downtown facilities are built with hundreds of units of parking, much of the traffic generated is motorized traffic. Finally, much of this new commercial activity is being developed on the few remaining green spaces in the center. Budapest has a severe shortage of children’s play grounds and open spaces, which most families sight as the major reason they wish to relocate to suburban areas. This concentration of economic activity in specific commercial nodes also concentrates property values in very selective ways which benefits those private interests that have the political influence to control the real estate development process at the expense of small homeowners and shopkeepers. -----Housing Likely to Follow Shopping Malls to the Suburbs Housing subsidies in Hungary also continue to encourage suburban sprawl and do little for the majority of Hungarians who are dissatisfied with their housing. Over 91% of Hungarians nominally own their own apartment or home as a result of a mass privatization scheme initiated before the transition. While some low interest loans were made available to finance this transition to home ownership, with incomes declining rapidly after the transition, many families were still unable to afford to purchase their own housing. As a result, many low income families have defaulted on their mortgages. Most of these bad loans are still on the books at OTP, the largest bank in Hungary. As Hungary has only a very minimal amount of 'social housing' available, and there has been no addition to the stock of social housing since the transition, it was first illegal and then politically difficult to foreclose on these properties and evict the residents. Once this situation arose, however, many people who could have paid their mortgages took advantage of the situation and simply refused to pay their mortgages, knowing it would be very difficult to evict them. The result of this de-facto housing policy is that the taxpayers are subsidizing a lot of people cheating on their mortgages. Under such conditions, and with inflation rates over 15% a year, banks have been extremely reluctant to lend money for either new housing or rehabilitation. Interest rates on mortgages rose as high as 25%. As a result, most people finance their housing without any participation from the private banking system. With a negligible amount of bank lending, most people finance their housing using government capital subsidies and through 'self-help,' both of which tend to encourage suburban sprawl. Since just prior to the transition, government housing subsidies have only been available for new housing construction. Families promising to buy a new house and have two or three children were eligible for a one-off capital grant of HUF2.2 million, in addition to which there was an interest rate subsidy that was 4% for 4 years, then 5% for one year, then 1%. Most of this new housing was necessarily located in suburban areas where land was more readily available and cheaper. Families wishing to buy or renovate the sort of deteriorating condominiums that typify the housing stock in more central locations were ineligible for any kind of state aid, and found it virtually impossible to get bank loans. On order to get a loan for renovation of the building, banks had to make a separate loan contract with every individual family in the building, as well as with the condominium as a whole, in order to get the loan, creating an almost insurmountable obstacle to rehabilitation loans on top of the very high interest rates. Secondly, the lack of bank financing meant that most people tended to build their homes piecemeal. They buy a plot of land on the periphery and build the house gradually as their incomes permit. This self-help housing, which resembles the situation in Latin American megacities, precludes the construction of higher-density multi-occupant dwelling construction in more central areas. Even with the subsidies above, in the absence of affordable bank financing, relatively few families could afford to buy new homes or renovate their old homes. As a result, most Hungarians still live in dilapidated multi-family condominiums with little green space for their children. Most new housing construction since the transition has been built by the newly rich in the Buda hills or farther North or West, although northern Pest also has some new construction. What little social housing remains is also manipulated by District governments to protect special commercial real estate interests at the expense of average home owners. District IX, for example (South Pest by the Danube) is privatizing large, District-owned social-housing apartments in their district and using the proceeds to buy cheaper, smaller apartments for the current residents in other districts, particularly the VII and the VIII districts. This process seems to be particularly aimed at relocating the gypsy population out of wealthier districts and concentrating them into the VII and VIII districts, where currently roughly 50% of the students in the schools are of gypsy background. Ironically, this process of ghettoization of the Gypsies is occurring near the same urban space that was once the Jewish ghetto in Budapest. The VII District has an area called ‘Chicago’, with the connotation of gang-land Chicago. In this way, some of the same forces that led to the concentration of low income minorities in U.S. central cities in order to maximize profits in the real estate market in other areas are becoming evident in Budapest. This situation is rapidly changing. Since 1997, the law has changed making it easier to evict people for non-payment of their mortgages. Almost all of the private banks are planning to begin large mortgage banking divisions in the next year or two. The recent influx of foreign banks with much more experience in mortgage lending, and the reduction of the inflation rate have both increased the likelihood of an explosion of housing finance in the next two years. Given the rapid loss of green space in downtown Budapest and the difficulties associated with in-fill residential development, it is certain that such an explosion of suburban housing will lead to a hollowing out of at least certain districts of the old city. Furthermore, housing policy is very much up in the air as the Fidesz government has still not decided on many of the most critical housing subsidy issues. If the current suburban bias in housing subsidies is not removed, while at the same time the current obstacles to a properly functioning mortgage finance system are removed, the possibility of an explosion of automobile-dependent suburban residential development are extremely likely. ------Relationship of these Trends with Transport Sector Trends Many of these real estate development trends help to explain otherwise inexplicable transportation investment priorities in Hungary. For example, the Municipality of Budapest has been intent on completing the North-section of the M0 ring road and the No. 2 road to the North to Szentendre and Vacs. This road will do little to relieve downtown Budapest from truck traffic bypassing Budapest, while the Eastern section of the M0 would connect the M3 to the existing section of the M0, to the M1, the M7, and the M5. Because incomes are low in Pest, however, few shopping centers are being located there. The Northern section, however, will serve a mushrooming number of shopping centers to the North of Budapest towards Szentendre. There is thus no question that the purpose of constructing this Northern ring road has everything to do with increasing real estate values in Buda and subsidizing new shopping centers in that area, and it has nothing to do with diverting truck traffic. That the EIB willingly funded this section makes clear that the justification for EIB lending actually has little to do with promoting EU integration, and has everything to do with both promoting shopping centers, many of which are European-owned, and lax lending oversight at the EIB. The Budapest metro, which was also fought by the CAAG (Clean Air Action Group) would also mainly have freed up road space for the heavily congested Bartok Bela Ut. and the Chain Bridge by closing the tram line on this bridge. It also would have increased the value of real estate in this already valuable part of Buda, while draining public transit resources from the poorer parts of the city. As the Municipality fights to push forward with the Metro project (very much in jeopardy), the surface public transit system continues to deteriorate while driving up the fares, alienating and antagonizing riders. In summary, it is clear that transportation policy in Hungary is being driven primarily by powerful real estate interests who use transport investments to increase the value of certain urban spaces at the expense of others. While property taxes are legal in Hungary since 1992, they are applied at the District level and are either extremely low or non-existent. There are also low betterment taxes. As a result, those political and economic forces with control over the processes of transportation and real estate development are able to use the levers of state to capture monopoly profits for themselves, while returning nothing to the state which made the profits possible. Conclusion In the U.S., lax banking regulation ended up making a lot of disreputable real estate developers very rich at the expense of the taxpayers, while locking the American landscape into an automobile dependency that undermines U.S. economic competitiveness and making areas like Houston and Los Angeles some of the most polluted cities in the developed world. Not only did the taxpayers buy the highways, they bought the shopping malls. A similar cast of characters are repeating the process in Hungary today. If public officials in Hungary do not use the banking regulatory system to tighten lending in the real estate sector and cool off this over-heated market, the risks to the entire banking system will be serious, and the adverse affect on the Hungarian landscape will last for decades. -- Access ITDP's New Website: www.ITDP.org The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy 115 W. 30th Street - Suite 1205 - New York, NY 10001 - USA tel: (212) 629-8001 fax: (212) 629-8033 From sustran at po.jaring.my Thu Feb 3 11:07:46 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2000 10:07:46 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: "AIDS and the art of motorcycle survival" Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000203100746.007f4940@relay101.jaring.my> >From the online version of "Asia Times" February 3, 2000 atimes.com AIDS and the art of motorcycle survival By Tom Greenwood HANOI - ''AIDS on the road'' was the sensationalist response of the Vietnamese press to last year's death toll statistics from the Ministry of Transport. In fact, the number of lives lost to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in 1999 accounted for a mere fifteenth of the 6,958 people who died on Vietnam's roads. Traffic accidents - where an average of 25 people die each day - have been recognized as the country's largest single preventable cause of death and injury. While last year saw no dramatic increase in the number of road accidents, fatalities jumped an 16 percent over 1998 and injuries more than 10 percent. ''Unfortunately, the true figures are higher than those reported and published,'' Le Ngoc Hoan, minister of transport and chairman of the National Transport Safety Committee, was quoted as saying recently. He added that, aside from the cost to human lives, hundreds of millions of dollars were lost in labor, medical care and material damage. A sharp rise in the number of motorized vehicles, notably motorbikes, coupled with a widespread ignorance of road safety, is generally seen as responsible for exceedingly high road deaths. The government's policy of ''doi moi'' (economic openness) has led to dramatic growth in prosperity over the last 10 years particularly for city dwellers, whose average income per capita increased 3.7 times between 1993 and 1998, according to the General Department of Statistics. Much of the nation's newly-acquired income has been spent on motorbikes, a symbol of prosperity in a country that used to rely on bicycles. Ten years ago, Chinese-made bicycles were the dominant mode of transport and the heavy, smoke-churning Russian motorbike was considered a status symbol. But this has changed. Ministry of Transport estimates last year put the total number of motorbikes at around 4 million - one for every 16 urbanites or every 50 people nationwide. According to the Transport and Public Works Service in Ho Chi Minh City, the city had a total of almost 1.5 million motor vehicles last year - a 930 percent increase since 1975. Unfortunately, the growth in motorbikes has not coincided with an increase in road safety awareness. Traffic lights - only installed in the capital in the last couple of years - are routinely ignored and stop signs are non-existent. Cars and motorbikes veer wildly into oncoming traffic lanes to overtake. In September last year, a Traffic Safety Month promoting road safety was credited for a slight drop in the number of accidents over the period. But road-users, many of whom were unaware of the campaign, remained largely unconvinced. ''I neither hear about nor care about the traffic safety movements that the police launch,'' remarked one middle-aged motorcyclist. ''They say they are doing something to increase traffic safety but to me everything seems unchanged - there is no difference.'' Although the cities' traffic may be characterized by mayhem and frequent mishaps, the majority of serious accidents occur on the nation's highways. Highway 1, Vietnam's main north-south artery and Highway 5 between the northern cities of Hanoi and Hai Phong, were singled out as having 50-70 percent more accidents than other roads. Recently completed repairs have given the roads smooth surfaces for the first time, allowing drivers to reach perilously high speeds. Seatbelts in cars and lorries are not yet compulsory. The almost complete absence of motorbike helmets, particularly on city streets, inevitably contributes to the number of injuries and deaths. Almost all of the fatalities in motorbike accidents were a result of head injuries. Although the government introduced a decree requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets five years ago, it did not include punishment for those violating the ruling and was thus ignored. ''Whether or not to wear a helmet while riding a motorbike remains a controversial issue,'' Pham Cong Ha, deputy chief of the National Traffic Safety Committee, told IPS. ''Only those who have experienced accidents wear one because they know the price to pay for comfort and convenience.'' A survey carried out by the research group Taylor Nelson Sofres last year found that only 5 percent of motorbike riders owned helmets - and only half of those wore them. The biggest reason why road users eschewed the helmet was discomfort, closely followed by a fear of ''looking stupid''. Only 8 percent of respondents mentioned expense. Lap, a 24-year-old motorbike cleaner, sums up the views of many. ''Ordinary people will never wear helmets because they find them inconvenient. I also feel that wearing a helmet will make me look ugly. If someone in the city puts on one of those robot-like things, they will be considered unfashionable,'' he said. ''People prefer risking death rather than wearing one, particularly in the summer when they would go mad from the heat.'' Hao, a motorbike-taxi rider, says it will take serious police work to enforce the habit of using helmets.''Only when the police wait at main intersections to check who wears a helmet and who doesn't, will people think of wearing one,'' he pointed out. That does not look like it will happen in the near future. ''We're still wondering whether we should reinforce the rule and punish those who don't wear a helmet,'' pondered Hao. Meantime, he suggested, ''designers should find ways to produce a helmet which is light, small and convenient''. The need for more urgent traffic safety measures was also expressed at a roundtable discussion titled ''Save Vietnam'' which brought Unicef, the US Embassy and government agencies together in October. Morten Giersing, a Unicef representative at the meeting, says the epidemic of road deaths and injuries could threaten Vietnam's potential for future social and economic development: for each of the 25 people killed on the road each day in Vietnam, two were permanently disabled and 10 were temporarily disabled to the point where they could not work. An official from the Viet Duc hospital in Hanoi who chose not to be named, told IPS that traffic accident victims place a giant burden on the health sector. ''The [Viet Duc] hospital has to spend a huge budget mostly on surgery for traffic accidents, mainly head injuries and broken legs. Surgery for victims of traffic accidents account for 90 percent of the hospital's budget for surgery,'' he said. If the number of accidents was reduced, the money could be spent on treating other patients, particularly those who come a long way from the countryside and are forced to wait. ''People with stomach and heart disease often have a long wait . . . many do not receive treatment in time,'' the official added. (Inter Press Service) From sustran at po.jaring.my Thu Feb 3 11:30:58 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2000 10:30:58 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Car sharing in Singapore web site Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000203103058.00800b10@relay101.jaring.my> I just noticed that the Car Sharing scheme in Singapore now has a web site (http://www.income.com.sg/car-coop/). It is called the Car Co-Operative and is run by NTUC INCOME (the business wing of the national trade union confederation). To my knowledge this is the first Car Share scheme in Asia. I hope we can get news soon on how well it is doing. "Car sharing is an alternative to individual car ownership for people who don't need to drive every day. It is based on joint access to a fleet of vehicles, located throughout neighbourhoods, close to your home or work. You pay for the hours and miles you drive. Insurance, gasoline and maintenance are included in the rates." Car sharing is NOT car pooling or ride sharing. For more information on car sharing and its potential as part of an integrated urban transport system see: The CarShare Consortium - http://www.ecoplan.org/carshare/ European Car Sharing - http://www.carsharing.org/english/index.html Here is some of the introductory information on the Singapore site: "Why car share? Car ownership is expensive in Singapore. The average owner spends between $1,200 and $1,500 a month to maintain a car. Once they buy one, most owners justify their investment by driving even when they have cheaper alternatives in public transport. Yet most cars are driven an average of two hours a day. That means the cars are parked more than 90% of the time. How does it work? The Car Co-Op operates a fleet of private cars conveniently parked at designated sites. It handles the maintenance, repairs and administration of car ownership. Each member is issued with a personal smart card and a booklet on how to use the scheme. When member needs a car, he telephones a 24-hour Reservation Centre, goes to the nearest site, collects the car key from an automatic key safe and simply drives off. There are no payments or forms to fill each time he uses the car. Charges are billed monthly and deducted through GIRO. It's that user-friendly and simple. Whether it's a short drive to the nearest hawker centre, an emergency at midnight or a driveaway holiday in West Malaysia, the car is just a phone call away." Very interesting. Is car sharing only for high income cities? I wonder if there is potential in middle-income cities too? I suspect that there is potential. Does anyone know what is the lowest income city to have tried car sharing? Paul A. Rahman Paul BARTER Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia. TEL/FAX: +(60 3) 2274 2590 E-mail: sustran@po.jaring.my URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction) The SUSTRAN Network promotes and popularises people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on Asia and the Pacific. From sustran at po.jaring.my Thu Feb 3 11:41:58 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2000 10:41:58 +0800 Subject: [sustran] resend - re: What is the "economic value" of the city transport system? Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000203104158.00860900@relay101.jaring.my> It seems this message also did not reach everyone. So I am resending it. Paul ---------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 15:31:46 -0500 From: "Jonathan L. Gifford" Subject: [sustran] Noting the subsequent discussion on this subject, U.S. state and local governments are required in the next few years to begin report the value of their fixed capital assets on their financial statements (resulting from the action of an accounting standards board, see Governmental Accounting Standards Board, Basic Financial Statements--and Management's Discussion and Analysis--for State and Local Governments, Statement No. 34, Governmental Accounting Standards Series, No. 171-A (Norwalk, CT, June 1999)). This does not capture the enterprise value of the systems, but it does suggest that there is some merit in examining what those asset values and enterprise values might be. Jonathan L. Gifford, Associate Professor of Public Management and Policy Department of Public & International Affairs; The Institute of Public Policy George Mason University, Mail stop 3F4, Fairfax, VA 22030 (U.S.A.) Tel: 703-993-1395; fax 703-993-1399 E-mail: mailto:jgifford@gmu.edu Web site Transportation Policy Program Web site -----Original Message----- From: utsg-request@mailbase.ac.uk [mailto:utsg-request@mailbase.ac.uk] Sent: Monday, January 24, 2000 4:11 AM To: utsg@mailbase.ac.uk; sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org; alt-transp@flora.org Subject: What is the "economic value" of the city transport system? .... From mobility at igc.org Fri Feb 4 03:14:29 2000 From: mobility at igc.org (ITDP) Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2000 13:14:29 -0500 Subject: Fw: Sprawl in Hungary References: <003501bf6b90$8899b2a0$793ce6cf@newmicronpc> Message-ID: <3899C584.9391088E@igc.org> Dear Wendell, Thanks for your comments. The debates over subsidies to auto users are well known to us all, and I guess we can be allowed differences of opinion. In any case, the connection to the S & L crisis was indeed the interesting point that had somehow eluded me before. I don't think you can say that all that real estate would have been developed anyway. Sprawl in the Sun Belt, particularly in Texas and California, was quite rampant in the 1980s, exactly where the majority of the worst S & Ls were located. There is a film from the period shot from a helecopter showing endless rows of strip malls and condominiums on the outskirts of Dallas, completely vacant at the time, built by real estate firms, many directly owned by the S & Ls. These developments would certainly not have been built if it weren't for the deregulation of the financial services sector under Reagan and Regan. The end result, of course, was that the taxpayers, whether or not they subsidized the roads, also subsidized the sprawling real estate development. The figures of this subsidy, $500 billion, (even if its only $200 billion) still dwarf the annual US spending on highways ($40-$50 billion these days, I believe, and closer to $20 billion in those days), subsidized or not. Best, Walter Hook Wendell Cox wrote: > > Sorry for the discordant view... but... > > > > I understand that a lot of people think of autos and roads as being the > > equivalent of the "Great Satan," but that does not change the facts. > > Contrary to the claims in the "sprawl in Hungary" article... > > > > The highways in Calif and Texas, not to mention across the US were paid > for > > by users --- through taxes assessed on fuel alone for the purpose of > > building the roads. These taxes are specific to fuel, and not charged on > > other commodities. A small percentage of user fees is tolls. Data for the > > past five years is available at.... > > > > http://www.publicpurpose.com/hwy-us$93&c.htm > > > > There is some general taxation support of roads, but it is approximately > > canceled by the diversion of user revenues to other sources, such as mass > > transit. Moreover, virtually all general taxation support of roads is for > > LOCAL roadways, not for the motorways that are the backbone of the > national > > system. > > > > It is an inventive argument to connect sprawl to the S&L crisis. While > some > > weak connection might be made, the fact is that suburban expansion was at > > its weakest in the 1980s, and much of the development would have occured > > without the S&L crisis. The problem was that the national insurance > program > > was poorly administered... it was one of our most unfortunate government > > failures, and we have had a few. A couple of larger ones have been the > > abysmal failure of central city education and explosion of central city > > crime rates from 1960 to 1990, which in and of themselves were of > sufficient > > concern to drive millions of people out of the central cities into the > > suburbs. One would hope that the same will not occur in Hungary, and that > as > > a result, the inevitable movement to suburbs that is attendant to > increased > > affluence will simply reflect preferences in the market, rather than the > > "bleeding" that has resulted from government failure in US central cities > > (FYI, the city of St. Louis will show a population of 325k in 2000, down > > from 857k in 1950 --- virtually all US inner cities have declined in > > population, though the trend has been masked by annexation in some). > > > > Best regards, > > Wendell Cox > > -- > > WENDELL COX CONSULTANCY: International Public Policy, Economics, Labor, > > Transport & Strategic Planning > > > > THE PUBLIC PURPOSE: Internet Public Policy Resource: > > http://www.publicpurpose.com > > Transport Policy Discussion Group: > > http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-group.htm > > > > DEMOGRAPHIA: http://www.demographia.com > > Urban Policy Discussion Group: > http://www.demographia.com/db-group.htm > > > > Telephone +1 618 632 8507; Fax +1 618 632 8538 - P.O. Box 841- > Belleville, > > Illinois 62222 USA > > > > "To facilitate the ideal of government as the servant of the people by > > identifying and implementing strategies to achieve public purposes at a > > cost that is no higher than necessary." > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: ITDP > > To: > > Sent: Friday, January 28, 2000 10:02 PM > > Subject: [sustran] ITDP's latest TransportActions > > > > > > > boundary=3D"------------22971E89BB9B696D111CC400" > > > Sender: owner-sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org > > > X-Sequence: sustran-discuss 1443 > > > Precedence: bulk > > > Reply-To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org > > > X-Unsub1: To unsubscribe, send the command UNSUBSCRIBE sustran-discuss > > > X-Unsub2: in the body of an e-mail message to majordomo@jca.ax.apc.org > > > > > > > > > --------------22971E89BB9B696D111CC400 > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3Diso-8859-1 > > > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit > > > > > > TransportActions > > > Winter, 2000 > > > > * Hungarian Sprawl: Another S & L Crisis in the Making? > > -- Access ITDP's New Website: www.ITDP.org The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy 115 W. 30th Street - Suite 1205 - New York, NY 10001 - USA tel: (212) 629-8001 fax: (212) 629-8033 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000203/2ae9a546/attachment.htm From sustran at po.jaring.my Sat Feb 5 14:00:01 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2000 13:00:01 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: Sustainability & Cities--Newman & Kenworthy Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000205130001.00814100@relay101.jaring.my> (this initially bounced because the sender is not a member of the list, so i am resending, Paul.) -------------------- TO:PERSONS INTERESTED IN SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND TRANSPORTATION: FROM: Preston L. Schiller (preston@cc.wwu.edu or tele. 360-758-2051) Attached below in the text of this message is a review I published in Urban Transport International (Paris), No. 26, Nov-Dec. 1999. For permission to reprint the whole of this review please contact UTI editor, John Maryon, e-mail; urban.transport@free.fr, or tele. 33 (01) 42 47 48 35. If you are affiliated with a publication that might be interested in publishing an expanded version of this interview, or one which addresses the urban design side of the book more than this review does, please contact me. (NOTE: there is a companion book to Sustainability and Cities which I have not yet reviewed but plan to do so in the future: Kenworthy/Laube; An International Sourcebook for Automobile Dependence in Cities,1960 - 1990 ($125), UNIVERSITY PRESS OF COLORADO, C/O UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS, 4100 28TH AVE NW, NORMAN, OK 73069-8218) ===================== Review =========== Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence by Peter Newman and Jeffrey Kenworthy Washington, DC; Island Press*, 1999. 442pp incl. appendices, index and biblio. US$40 *(1718 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20009, U.S.A.) Reviewed by Preston L. Schiller, Ph.D. (Adjunct Faculty, Western Washington University Center for Canadian-American Studies, Bellingham, WA, 98225, USA; e-mail; preston@cc.wwu.edu; tele. 360-758-2051) The Dynamic Duo from Down Under have done it again! Peter Newman and Jeffrey Kenworthy in Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence have followed their groundbreaking Cities and Automobile Dependence: An International Sourcebook (Brookfield, VT; Gower; 1989) with a work which furthers our empirical, theoretical, ecological and ethical understanding of urban form, transportation systems and civic responsibility. The territory covered by Newman and Kenworthy over the years is vast and varied. It spans highly technical and methodologically clever studies such as "Does free flowing traffic save energy and lower emissions in cities?" (with T.J. Lyons in Search 19, nos. 5/6, pp. 267-272)--whose answer is an impressively documented "No," to an attractive booklet explaining traffic calming, improved public transport, and urban villages to a popular audience (with Les Robinson, Winning Back the Cities, Australian Consumers' Association, Marrickville, NSW, 1992). Not comfortable with academic cloisters, Newman and Kenworthy have been involved in projects such as saving a railway and stopping a major highway in Fremantle, shaping urban environmental issues throughout Australia, and working with citizens groups, governments, and agencies such as the UN, OECD, APEC, and the World Bank. It was Cities and Automobile Dependence which laid the basis for challenging the traffic engineer's and automobile-oriented transportation planners mythology that expanding roads and keeping traffic flowing freely was the solution to urban transportation problems. It also laid the basis, through a detailed comparison of 32 major world cities, for understanding the linkages between urban form and transportation which made for the difference between automobile dependency and a city whose transportation was balanced between cars, transit, walking, and bicycling. Now Cities and Sustainability completes these tasks and offers guidance on how to move from automobile dependency to sustainability. There is far too much meaty substance in Cities and Sustainability for one brief review to digest. Justice can only be done to this work when fully read and put to use in one's work; professional or civic. Nevertheless, several of the major points and themes can be described and discussed. There are three major themes in Cities: firstly that we must seriously and quickly apply the principles of sustainable development to urban planning in order to avoid environmental catastrophe, secondly we must reduce and counteract the debilitating effects of automobile dependency, and, thirdly, there is a moral and ethical imperative to do so. For Newman and Kenworthy, expanding upon the rather broad Brundtland definition ("sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"), sustainability means "simply achievement of global environmental gains along with any economic or social development." While their definition still begs for greater precision, there is ample evidence in the corpus of Cities of what the authors have in mind. Applying sustainability criteria to cities means reducing automobile dependency, fostering moderate to high densities along with a balanced mix of uses (residential, retail-services, and employment), street design which promotes walking and bicycling, the creation of nodal centers and urban villages, and the ubiquity of quality public transport--especially rail. Quality public transport is defined as all-day multi-directional systems, generally consisting of rail (or in some cases express bus) trunks with frequent headways fed by bus routes also of frequent headways. Weekend and night services should also be provided and public transport services should be well connected to other other modes offered in the region, such as ferry and inter-city train and air services. But public transport is not seen as a thing in itself. It should serve urban planning as well as reducing automobile dependency. Automobile dependency is defined by the authors as "a situation in which a city develops on the assumption that automobile use will predominate so that it is given priority in infrastructure and in the form of urban development." There are many fascinating ideas and findings in Cities. One is the documentation of the economic drain of automobile dependency: that the most automobile dependent cities in developed countries spend more of their wealth than the least automobile dependent; Perth, Adelaide, Phoenix, Detroit, and Denver spend between 15 and 17 per cent of their wealth on transport, while European and wealthy Asian cities spend only between 5 and 8 per cent--clearly a refutation of Madam Thatcher's extolling of the "great car economy." Another is the finding that the synergy between transit and compact land use in European cities results in less travel and shorter trips so that "(I)f all the transit travel in European Cities were transferred to cars, the cities would still have ..... half the total level of motorized mobility" when compared to the U.S. One of the great strengths of Cities is the data-rich comparison of cities around the globe. Especially interesting are the differences between Canadian and US cities--sharing a continent but not a similar commitment to urban planning and public transport provision. While urbanized Americans own only slightly more automobiles per capita than Canadians, they use 1.6 times the transport energy of their Canadian counterparts and they they drive almost twice as many kilometres per year while travelling by transit less than half as much as their northerly neighbors. Sustainability and Cities ranges over an amazing breadth of global territory, from valuable data compilations and analyses to rich historical and urban ecological explorations, from discussions of ethical and moral implications of urban planning to visions which might guide cities to reducing automobile dependence. Readers of UTI will find their discussion of "transit leverage," how each km travelled by transit replaces 5-7 travelled by car, very rewarding and their "Appendix 6: A Guide to the Provision of Better Transit and Land Use Integration in Auto Cities" quite helpful. Readers spirits should be buoyed by their documentation that many major cities, and several cities as small as Boulder (Colorado, US) and Freiburg (Germany) have achieved dramatic transit improvements and modal shifts through a combination of strategic investment, political will, and improved planning. The authors stress over and over their belief that good planning will lead to urban sustainability. Yet one has to wonder how many cities, regions, or nations will be able to introduce or maintain strongly independent planning regimens in an increasingly globalizing and anti-regulatory political environment? Newman and Kenworthy have faith that urban sustainability and the overcoming of automobile dependence can be accomplished. Let us hope so. From wcox at publicpurpose.com Sun Feb 6 01:17:42 2000 From: wcox at publicpurpose.com (Wendell Cox) Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 10:17:42 -0600 Subject: [sustran] Re: Fw: Sprawl in Hungary References: <003501bf6b90$8899b2a0$793ce6cf@newmicronpc> <3899C584.9391088E@igc.org> Message-ID: <001e01bf6ff4$88bdb2a0$913ce6cf@newmicronpc> Dear Walter... Thank you for your note.... A few comments... I have not closely reviewed the S&L debacle and so cannot comment directly on the ownership relationships you cite (as examples) in Dallas. And, certainly as a European liberal and American conservative, I do not remotely condone the loss of any amount of taxpayer funding, as occured in the S&L crisis. But you have picqued my interest, and if you have any recommendation on a book that provides an objective review of the experience I would be interested. Nonetheless, to make a strong S&L-suburbanization connection would require a good deal more research than I am aware of at the moment. Such issues as the following would need to be considered (my perceptions are indicated)... 1. To what extent were the S&L losses attributable to residential v. commercial development. I would argue that virtually all of the residential development would have occured regardless of the S&L crisis --- and the extent of suburbanization (primarily residential) in the 1980s was the lowest in actual and percentage terms in the 1980s than in any decade since urbanized area data was first compiled by the Census Bureau for 1950 (measured in square miles added to ua's that at some point had one million population --- reason for this strange definition is that Buffalo used to have more than a million, but has fallen below). 2. As regards the commercial development, it is not at all my perception that the explosion in suburban commercial development was a Texas or Calif phenomenom. It was a phenomenom associated with population growth --- virtually the same thing occured in all major metropolitan areas that experienced significant growth --- Phoenix, Washington, DC, Atlanta, etc. Again, I would argue that it is entirely possible that most of the commercial development would have occured regardless of the influence of the S&L crisis. If we were still seeing substantial suburban (or even downtown) vacancies, the connection might be easier to make, but both suburban and downtown vacancy rates are now near their market optimum (10 percent or so), except in the basket case of downtown Dallas. 3. The commercial development financed by S&Ls was by no means limited to suburban areas. I suspect that a review of downtown construction would show that the 1980s saw more downtown office building development than any other decade in history (in square feet) --- it is possible that the 1970s or 1920s may have been greater, but not by much. 4. The extent to which the S&L losses were attributable to real estate investments --- this may have been 99 percent, or it may have been much lower. I wouldn't be surprised if such an analysis might develop some relationship. I just doubt that it would be significant. The expansions of previous decades were, I suspect, also financed to a substantial degree by the S&Ls... the difference is that they didn't fail. And, to the extent that financial deregulation is the culprit (again I am insufficiently familiar with the dynamics to know the extent of that), we should remember that Reagan and Regan could do nothing without the Congress, one house of which was always in the control of the opposing party during Reagan's time, and could have blocked deregulation. In those days, Democrats were much more open to deregulation --- witness the crucial role played by Senator Kennedy in airline deregulation. Finally, speculative commercial building investment was radically reduced with the last of the Reagan-Congress tax reforms (1987 or so). Tax policy, not only financial deregulation, contributed to the building. Best regards, Wendell Cox ----- Original Message ----- From: ITDP To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2000 12:14 PM Subject: Re: Fw: Sprawl in Hungary Dear Wendell, Thanks for your comments. The debates over subsidies to auto users are well known to us all, and I guess we can be allowed differences of opinion. In any case, the connection to the S & L crisis was indeed the interesting point that had somehow eluded me before. I don't think you can say that all that real estate would have been developed anyway. Sprawl in the Sun Belt, particularly in Texas and California, was quite rampant in the 1980s, exactly where the majority of the worst S & Ls were located. There is a film from the period shot from a helecopter showing endless rows of strip malls and condominiums on the outskirts of Dallas, completely vacant at the time, built by real estate firms, many directly owned by the S & Ls. These developments would certainly not have been built if it weren't for the deregulation of the financial services sector under Reagan and Regan. The end result, of course, was that the taxpayers, whether or not they subsidized the roads, also subsidized the sprawling real estate development. The figures of this subsidy, $500 billion, (even if its only $200 billion) still dwarf the annual US spending on highways ($40-$50 billion these days, I believe, and closer to $20 billion in those days), subsidized or not. Best, Walter Hook -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000205/1ef05971/attachment.htm From wcox at publicpurpose.com Sun Feb 6 04:55:01 2000 From: wcox at publicpurpose.com (Wendell Cox) Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 13:55:01 -0600 Subject: [sustran] Re: Fw: Sprawl in Hungary (fwd) References: <3.0.6.32.20000201072715.011082d0@pop.islandnet.com> Message-ID: <002901bf7012$e7199940$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> A few points in relation to Todd Littman's comments..... 1. FHWA study in question combines highway and transit expenditures. My comments relate to highways and roadways alone. For data from 1993, which demonstrates my points, see The Highway and Motorway Fact Book at The Public Purpose website: http://www.publicpurpose.com/hwy-us$93&c.htm Highway user fees are generally equal to or greater than the expenditure on roadways in the United States, at all levels of government. Much of these fees is used for other purposes, which creates a deficit that is covered by general taxation. 2. As regards external costs, there are two sides to this discussion. For the other side, see The Urban Transport Fact Book at The Public Purpose Website: http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-littman.htm Also recommended is... "The Myth of Social Cost," By Steven N. S. Cheung (Institute of Economic Affairs, 1978). 3. Would be interested in the transit investments that are less expensive than urban roadways. 4. Public service costs tend to be higher, not lower, in higher density inner cities --- this is the cost of providing the services and infrastructure within the boundaries of the central cities. This has to do with an inherently more costly cost structure, greater special interest control, a comparative lack of innovation and other factors. See the following paper at "Demogaphic Briefs and Urban Policy, at The Public Purpose website: http://www.publicpurpose.com/tor-demo.htm Also see Helen F. Ladd, "Population Growth, Density and the Costs of Providing Public" Services, Urban Studies, Vol 2, 1992, pp 273-295 Further, public service costs are typically fully paid by people who live in suburban municipalities. Sometimes they get some of their services from the central city, but pay the central city. The "failure to charge residents for the higher public service costs associated with lower-density locations" is thus puzzling --- lower densities do not mean the costs are higher, and whether or not they are higher they are being paid by the users who live in the lower density communities. 5. Disagree with the view that suburbanization is not generally a market based response. Suburbanization occurs largely because of affluence and the availability of more modern forms of urban transport. It began long before the auto. It is absolutely overwhelming, and occurs at different rates probably based upon differing market forces variations in the extent of government intervention in the market. In the United States and Canada, only three central cities that have not annexed since 1950/1 have gained population --- Vancouver, which is up 169k, compared to an increase of 1.1 m in the suburbs, Miami, up 115k, compared to nearly 3m in the suburbs, and Los Angeles, which was more than 1/3 rural land in 1950. Any review of inner city census data (core areas) generally shows population losses of 20-50 percent, even in places like Portland and Indianapolis, where annexation could mislead one to the view that inner city growth has occured. It is no less stark in Europe, where cities that have not annexed territory have lost population, with all population growth in the suburbs --- examples are virtually all of the UK cities, Paris (down as great a percentage as Chicago), Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc. In Japan the losses started later, largely because it took Japan much longer to recover economically from WW2 --- but Tokyo is down more than 1m from 1965 and Osaka is below its 1940 population. All growth in metro Tokyo and Osaka has been suburban since that time. Generally, in other Japanese urban areas, the bulk of growth has been in the suburbs. With respect to Europe and Japan, one might expect government intervention in the market with respect to excessively high taxation of motor fuel and auto taxes, combined with the high land costs, and the lower income (purchasing parity) to militate against suburbanization. But these government interventions and market forces have only slightly restrained the trend. Historical US city population data can be found at Demographic Briefs on the Demographia website... http://www.demographia.com/db-uscity1850.htm Historical US metropolitan area populations (1998 area definitions) can be found at Demographic Briefs on the Demographia website at: http://www.demographia.com/db-usmetfr1900.pdf Historical city and metropolitan area population information for the UK and Europe can be found at Demographic Briefs on the Demographia website... http://www.demographia.com/dbx-europe.htm Additional European data will be found at Demographic Briefs and Urban Policy on The Public Purpose website... http://www.publicpurpose.com/dmx-eur.htm Historical city and metropolitan area population information for Japan can be found at Demographic Briefs on the Demographia website... http://www.demographia.com/dbx-japan.htm Historical city and metropolitan area population information for Canada can be found at Demographic Briefs and Urban Policy on The Public Purpose website... http://www.publicpurpose.com/dmx-canada.htm 6.. Finally, the "growing popularity of loft apartments, neotraditional development and gentrified urban neighborhoods" justifies a few comments.... a. Loft apartments and the movement back to the city is an important and encouraging development. It is largely people with no children... because the schools are lousy ... and often such developments have extra security, if not special additional patrol efforts by local police. Even so, the numbers are miniscule compared to the population growth in the suburbs of the same cities. b. Neotraditional developments are an interesting case. They are, as often as not, agents of suburbanization themselves. For example, Celebration, in Florida, is being built on a greenfield suburban site (as was the neotraditional icon, Seaside) ... it is contributing to sprawl. There is no public transit. Much of the community, when built out, will be more than walking distance from the commercial core. And, the "mix of housing" ranges from well above average price to way above --- hardly the type of development that one can imagine replacing the 1950s to 1980s middle income housing stock occupied by most Americans. But most amazingly of all, it is being built at a density less than half that of the average suburban density built since 1950. At this rate, an additional 100+ acres would need to have been developed in US urbanized areas of more than one million from 1950 to 1990 (nearly 45 hectares). McKenzie Towne in Calgary is a bit more successful, with higher densities and paltry (rather than no) transit service. But it too is on a greenfield site and contributes to suburbanization. Transit work trip market share is less than the city of Calgary in general. For a review of McKenzie Towne, see Demographic Briefs on the Demographia website... http://www.demographia.com/db-mckenzietowne.htm Reviews of three other developments... Celebration, Habor Town (Memphis) and Har-Ber Meadows (Springdale, AR) will soon be posted, with references at the Demographic Briefs Urban Development Index on the Demographia website... http://www.demographia.com/dbx-nu.htm Other reviews will be posted in the future. Neotraditional development needs to be considered for what it is --- an issue of architectural taste, not a fundamental shift in urban development. Before long you will see early 1900s treatments applied to traditional suburban developments on 1/2 and one acre lots, and perhaps even on mobile homes. The style is attractive, and can be placed on any size lot... even the large lots that Americans prefer. c. Gentrified urban neighborhoods are already beginning to price the poor out of their homes in places like Austin and Portland, as it did before in its previous life in other cities in the 1970s and 1980s. I don't believe that this is a positive development, and neither do the people to whom it is happening. Finally, I for one, applaud the limited success being achieved in central city revitalization, and hope that it continues and expands. It would be nice to have the cities compete again for middle income people, but they will first have to get their houses in order, which they are not (poor schools, high crime rates, high taxes, poor public services, special interest control, etc). There is no doubt that if the government failures of the past 50 years had not interfered in the market, US central cities would be stronger today. Best regards, Wendell Cox -- WENDELL COX CONSULTANCY: International Public Policy, Economics, Labor, Transport & Strategic Planning THE PUBLIC PURPOSE: Internet Public Policy Resource: http://www.publicpurpose.com Transport Policy Discussion Group: http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-group.htm DEMOGRAPHIA: http://www.demographia.com Urban Policy Discussion Group: http://www.demographia.com/db-group.htm Telephone +1 618 632 8507; Fax +1 618 632 8538 - P.O. Box 841- Belleville, Illinois 62222 USA "To facilitate the ideal of government as the servant of the people by identifying and implementing strategies to achieve public purposes at a cost that is no higher than necessary." "Pro-choice with respect to urban development: People should be allowed to live and work where they like." ----- Original Message ----- From: Todd Litman To: Sierra Club Forum on Transportation Issues ; Cc: Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 9:27 AM Subject: Re: Fw: Sprawl in Hungary (fwd) From townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au Tue Feb 8 02:57:09 2000 From: townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au (Craig Townsend) Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 09:57:09 -0800 Subject: [sustran] IATSS Research NMT special feature Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000207095709.007a24e0@central.murdoch.edu.au> I just received a copy of the latest IATSS Research journal which features an excellent set of papers on NMT. I don't have a website address for the journal, but their contact details are: Journal of International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences 6-20, 2-chome, Yaesu, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0028, Japan tel: +81-3-3273-7884; email: iatss@db3.so-net.ne.jp; fax +81-3-3272-7054 ____________________________________________________________________________ ______ Journal of International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences/IATSS Research vol. 23, no. 2, 1999, Special Feature on Non-Motorized Transport CONTENTS NON-MOTORIZED TRANSPORT "Present State, Prospects, and Problems of Bicycle Transportation in Japan" by Hitoshi Yamakawa, p. 6-14 "Pedestrian Safety Problems and Implementation of Countermeasures" by George Kanellaidis, Nicole Muhlrad & George Yannis, p. 15-25 "How to Substitute Short Car Trips by Cycling and Walking" by Inger Marie Bernhoft, p. 26-35 "Community Cycling Accessbility Initiative - Enhancing Cycling to Decrease Automobile Dependency" by Francis M. Vanek & Steven A. Spindler, p. 36-42 "Cultural Barriers to Bicycle Use in West African Cities - The Case of Bamako and Ouagadougou" by Pascal Pochet & Jean-Michel Cusset, p. 43-50 "A Policy Perspective for Sustainable Cities - Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) in Asia" by V. Setty Pendakur, p. 51-61 "Bicycle Development Policy Under Mixed Traffic Environment of China" by Baohua Mao, Guiping Xiao & Hong Xu, p. 62-69 "Planning for Non-Motorized Traffic - A Prerequisite for Sustainable Transport System" by Geetam Tiwari, p. 70-77 "Investigating the Characteristics of Non-Motorized Public Transport Services - A Case Study of Yogyakarta, Indonesia" by Danang Parikesit, p. 78-87 TRANSPORTATION "Road Accidents in Metropolitan Dhaka, Bangladesh", by Mohammed Shafiqul Mannan & Masud Karim, p. 90-98 "Social Cost of Road Accidents - Italian Case Study" by Carlo Putignano & Lucia Pennisi, p. 99-108 COUNTRIES' STATISTICS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS AND COMMENTARY "Indonesia" by Heru Sutomo, p. 110-113 "China" by Zang Dianpin, p. 114-115 ____________________________________________________________________________ ______ ________________________________________________ Craig Townsend Institute for Sustainability & Technology Policy Murdoch University South Street, Murdoch Perth, Western Australia 6150 tel: (61 8) 9360 6293 fax: (61 8) 9360 6421 email: townsend@central.murdoch.edu.au From alanhowes at usaksa.com Tue Feb 8 04:16:13 2000 From: alanhowes at usaksa.com (Alan P Howes) Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 22:16:13 +0300 Subject: [sustran] Regulation of Road Transport In-Reply-To: <3670b429.2473122@smtp.usaksa.com> References: <007201be2474$b0362fa0$69f49bce@oemcomputer> <3670b429.2473122@smtp.usaksa.com> Message-ID: Hi everybody - I am looking for information on road transport regulatory regimes world-wide, following a request from the Ministry of Communications here in Saudi Arabia. Ideally, I would like a sample of schemes from various parts of the world, including perhaps US (Federal and State level), Canada, UK (which I know pretty well), perhaps Brazil, Turkey, another European or two, a few in the Pacific Rim, etc. I am interested in such things as the categories of service or vehicle by which regulations are applied, the subject areas which regulations cover, the objectives of the system, etc. And my ex-boss who is now at the Ministry would like something by Saturday 12th Feb! In view of the dreadful post system here, that means I would appreciate anything someone can email me, or references to web resources. (I already have something on Europe.) Material received after that date would no doubt still be useful though. Thanks for any assistance that you can give. -- Alan Howes, Special Advisor (Operations) Saudi Public Transport Company, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia alanhowes@usaksa.com PLEASE DO NOT SEND LARGE MESSAGES (>100kB) WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE *** A debt-free start for a billion people in the world's poorest *** *** countries - Jubilee 2000, http://www.jubilee2000uk.org *** From intlbike at ibike.org Tue Feb 8 06:06:38 2000 From: intlbike at ibike.org (David Mozer) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 13:06:38 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Fw: Alternative transport in Urban Renewal Message-ID: <001101bf71af$aea7a0e0$1ca0f5d1@davidmozer> I invite you to offer your suggestions to Sam. Please send you replies directly to him. To the best of my knowledge he is not on this list. ~ INTERNATIONAL BICYCLE FUND ~ Promoting sustainable transport and understanding worldwide Email: ibike@ibike.org Internet: http://www.ibike.org ----- Original Message ----- From: Samuel T. Barney To: ibike@ibike.org Sent: Monday, February 07, 2000 12:50 PM Subject: Alternative transport in Urban Renewal Hi, I am a graduate student at Colorado State University in the dept.. of Manufacturing Tech. and Construction Management. Your list of publications on alternative transport is excellent. I am currently developing a thesis topic somewhere along the lines of "green" transportation. Marketing the use of alternative transport in the urban renewal process. Do you know of anyone doing research along these lines? Also, I am having difficulty in my literature review locating current journal or newspaper articles on "green" transportation in urban renewal areas, any suggestions? Thanks, Sam Barney -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000207/8b7c19f0/attachment.htm From duarterf at ez-poa.com.br Tue Feb 8 10:23:56 2000 From: duarterf at ez-poa.com.br (Duarte Rosa Filho) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 23:23:56 -0200 Subject: Regulation of Road Transport Message-ID: <003f01bf71d5$1d9a7de0$0d6ff8c8@duarte> Greetings from Brazil. May be I can help you with a large text, in English, made for the regulatory agency of the State of Sergipe, Brazil, as part of a job for the World Bank. It has 7 parts with a total of 1,73 MB, and deals with our Constitution, federal laws concerning bidding procedures and transport regulation. Let me know if you are interested to receive it by e-mail. If you can read Portuguese, there is a link which you should look at "Modelo Institucional" at the web page of: http://www.ntu.org.br/ My visit card is attached. Duarte -----Mensagem original----- De: Alan P Howes Para: transit-prof@icc.nwark.com ; utsg@mailbase.ac.uk ; sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Data: Segunda-feira, 7 de Fevereiro de 2000 17:19 Assunto: [sustran] Regulation of Road Transport >Hi everybody - > >I am looking for information on road transport regulatory regimes >world-wide, following a request from the Ministry of Communications >here in Saudi Arabia. Ideally, I would like a sample of schemes from >various parts of the world, including perhaps US (Federal and State >level), Canada, UK (which I know pretty well), perhaps Brazil, Turkey, >another European or two, a few in the Pacific Rim, etc. > >I am interested in such things as the categories of service or vehicle >by which regulations are applied, the subject areas which regulations >cover, the objectives of the system, etc. > >And my ex-boss who is now at the Ministry would like something by >Saturday 12th Feb! In view of the dreadful post system here, that >means I would appreciate anything someone can email me, or references >to web resources. (I already have something on Europe.) Material >received after that date would no doubt still be useful though. > >Thanks for any assistance that you can give. >-- >Alan Howes, Special Advisor (Operations) >Saudi Public Transport Company, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia >alanhowes@usaksa.com >PLEASE DO NOT SEND LARGE MESSAGES (>100kB) WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE > >*** A debt-free start for a billion people in the world's poorest *** >*** countries - Jubilee 2000, http://www.jubilee2000uk.org *** > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000207/afe45af2/attachment.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Duarte de Souza Rosa Filho.vcf Type: text/x-vcard Size: 802 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000207/afe45af2/DuartedeSouzaRosaFilho.vcf From sustran at po.jaring.my Tue Feb 8 10:50:16 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2000 09:50:16 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: Jakarta pedicab drivers occupy City Council Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000208095016.0083eb90@relay101.jaring.my> The Jakarta Post (http://www.thejakartapost.com) City News February 01, 2000 'Becak' drivers occupy City Council City News ? February 01, 2000 JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of becak (pedicab) drivers occupied the City Council on Monday in a desperate move to pressure the administration to legalize their operation in the capital. "We demand the city administration and the city councilors allow pedicabs to operate in the city. We also demand the councilors revoke 1988 City Bylaw No. 11 on public order which bans pedicabs from the city streets," coordinator of the Urban Poor Consortium Wardah Hafidz, who helped organize the action, told council speaker Edy Waluyo in a meeting. Edy responded that it would be impossible to issue a policy which would allow operation of pedicabs in the city without the approval of all city councilors and the administration. "Why are you so pushy on this matter? The city administration has provided programs to help them change their professions. All they have to do is register at the city's Vocational Training Center," he said. Wardah dismissed the offer, saying that President Abdurrahman Wahid allowed the drivers to operate in residential areas. "The President has allowed pedicabs. How come the City Council and the city administration keep on insisting on banning the pedicabs?" Edy said after the meeting that the drivers could operate in other cities which permitted pedicabs. "Allowing pedicabs to operate in Jakarta again will cause the city population to grow even higher. We can't afford this to happen." The drivers initially met with Edy Waluyo, deputy council speaker Suwardi and deputy chairman of the council's Commission E for social welfare affairs, H.A.H. Ishak. The officials asked the drivers to send their representatives to discuss their demand. The drivers, however, rejected the offer and insisted that all of them be heard by the councilors. The situation became heated as the drivers berated the councilors. Police arrested Abdul Rozak, 17, a senior high school student, for allegedly provoking the drivers. He claimed to be the owner of a pedicab, but failed to provide an identification card. After the negotiations ended in failure, the drivers continued to demand the city administration and the City Council allow their operation in the city. The drivers gathered at the building beginning at 6 a.m. They parked their pedicabs along Jl. Kebon Sirih, causing traffic congestion. UPC activist Edy Saidy claimed that there were 5,000 drivers at Monday's rally. City administration officials closed all doors connecting City Hall and the City Council in anticipation of the rally. A fire truck was also deployed. Governor Sutiyoso said he would uphold the bylaw and ban pedicabs from operating in the city. "You can see that pedicabs are out of control nowadays. They even operate on the main streets," he said separately at City Hall. "My car almost hit a becak near the Bank Indonesia traffic circle. The driver rode his pedicab against the traffic. Luckily, my driver managed to avoid a collision," he added. Along with the end of the city administration's working hours, the drivers dispersed peacefully at 4 p.m. (05) This Website is designed and maintained for The Jakarta Post by Insprint. All contents copyright ? of The Jakarta Post. webmaster@thejakartapost.com ------------------------------------ Distributed for the purpose of education and research. A. Rahman Paul BARTER Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia. E-mail: sustran@po.jaring.my URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction) Ask about our SUSTRAN NEWS FLASHES - news updates on people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport. From alanhowes at usaksa.com Tue Feb 8 23:42:20 2000 From: alanhowes at usaksa.com (Alan P Howes) Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2000 17:42:20 +0300 Subject: [sustran] Regulation of Road Transport - Addendum Message-ID: Sorry folks - I should have made it clear in my post of yesterday that I am really looking for material on buses, taxis etc. However, the material I have already been pointed to looks very useful - thanks everybody, and i will respond to individual messages ASAP. Regards, Alan. On Mon, 07 Feb 2000 22:16:13 +0300, you wrote: >Hi everybody - > >I am looking for information on road transport regulatory regimes >world-wide, following a request from the Ministry of Communications >here in Saudi Arabia. Ideally, I would like a sample of schemes from >various parts of the world, including perhaps US (Federal and State >level), Canada, UK (which I know pretty well), perhaps Brazil, Turkey, >another European or two, a few in the Pacific Rim, etc. > >I am interested in such things as the categories of service or vehicle >by which regulations are applied, the subject areas which regulations >cover, the objectives of the system, etc. > >And my ex-boss who is now at the Ministry would like something by >Saturday 12th Feb! In view of the dreadful post system here, that >means I would appreciate anything someone can email me, or references >to web resources. (I already have something on Europe.) Material >received after that date would no doubt still be useful though. > >Thanks for any assistance that you can give. -- Alan Howes, Special Advisor (Operations) Saudi Public Transport Company, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia alanhowes@usaksa.com PLEASE DO NOT SEND LARGE MESSAGES (>100kB) WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE *** A debt-free start for a billion people in the world's poorest *** *** countries - Jubilee 2000, http://www.jubilee2000uk.org *** From czegras at MIT.EDU Wed Feb 9 02:27:35 2000 From: czegras at MIT.EDU (P. Christopher Zegras) Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2000 12:27:35 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Bogota Car-Free Day Update In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 08 Feb 2000 15:04:41 +0100." <200002081404.PAA09859@d1o907.telia.com> Message-ID: <200002081727.MAA150930@wright.mit.edu> [Based on today's (8 Feb.) "El Tiempo" (www.eltiempo.com)] Last Friday, a court injunction was sought by Francisco Rojas Birry to stop the Car Free Day proposed by Bogota Mayor Enrique Pe?alosa. Rojas Birry claims that the proposal violates fundamental private property rights, freedom of movement and the right to work of residents of Bogota and neighboring municipalities. Mayor Pe?alosa, meanwhile, justifies his actions based on the National Transportation Code, whic gives him the power to regulate traffic in the city. The Mayor has proposed the Car-Free Day for this February 24th, a Thursday (for more information on the global "Car Free Movement" check out: ecoplan.org/carfreeday/index.htm). According to a survey conducted by the Mayor's office, 63% of those surveyed support the initiative, while 35% oppose it. Furthermore, 71% agree that it is a good way to get citizens to reflect on transport use in the city; 29% believe it is a bad way to achieve this goal. Finally, 65% of those surveyed expressed awareness of the fact that only 14% of the population uses private motor vehicles, while 86% uses public transport service (444 people surveyed, margin of error - 5.24%). In an op-ed in Today's El Tiempo, Arturo Ardila Gomez (aardila@mit.edu) gives four reasons (he calls three "technical" and one "frivolous") for supporting Bogota's Car Free Day: 1. To demonstrate that the city can function well without the auto. 2. To demonstrate public transport's potential to provide a "high quality" service when it is not faced with the permanent interference of automobiles. 3. To use a simple one day experiment to show how different the city can be - less polluted and congested - with a change in transportation priorities. and, finally Ardila's "frivolous" and "banal" argument: 4. To give the rest of the world some positive news from Bogota and Colombia - Ardila notes that just by announcing the CarFreeDay, some international news coverage of the city has become more positive. From sustran at po.jaring.my Wed Feb 9 11:33:34 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 10:33:34 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: Bank Information Center toolkit for activists Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000209103334.00822320@relay101.jaring.my> Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2000 14:43:21 -0500 To: From: Georg Rohde Subject: Toolkits for Activists: A User's Guide to the Multilateral Development Banks Dear Friends, We would like to announce the Bank Information Center's latest publication, our new Toolkits for Activists: A User's Guide to the Multilateral Development Banks. Given all the recent changes at the World Bank, including reorganizations, new or revised policies, and increases in lending for economic adjustment and private sector investments, we thought it was time to produce these Toolkits to help citizens more effectively engage with and influence the Bank. At the end of this e-mail, you will find an order form to fill in and return to Janna van der Meulen at . You can also download a full-text version of the Toolkits from our web site , or print out an order form from there. Besides the English version, we are in the process of producing Spanish, Russian, Bahasa Indonesian, and Khmer versions together with our partners in the regions. Please contact us if you are interested in Toolkits in either one of these languages and we will put you on a list of people to send them out to when they are available. This first set of five Toolkits provides a basic overview of the World Bank, and includes tips on how to get information from the Bank, how the Country Assistance Strategies work, what the Bank's environmental and social policy framework looks like, and an introduction to the IFC and MIGA, among other things. Future Toolkits will include information on citizen advocacy strategies, the Bank's ever-changing structure, policies and new loan instruments, and new Bank interests in governance and human rights issues. A Toolkit on the Inter-American Development Bank will be produced this year. We will be adding sections as we continue to hear from our friends and colleagues, and as we learn about new problems and approaches. Best regards, The BIC team _______________________________________________________________________ Toolkits for Activists Order Form Name: Organization: Address: City and Postal Code: Country: How many copies: I am interested in ____ copies of the following foreign-language version of the Toolkits: I would like to be notified when new Toolkits become available: yes/no (Fill this form in and return to info@bicusa.org. You can also fax to USA (202) 737-1155. _______________________________________________________________________ Bank Information Center 733 15th Street NW Suite 1126 Washington, DC 20005 USA phone: (202) 737-7752 fax: (202) 737-1155 e-mail: info@bicusa.org web site: From sustran at po.jaring.my Wed Feb 9 17:03:11 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 16:03:11 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: Transport groups promise Estrada: No fare increase Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000209160311.00858cc0@relay101.jaring.my> The Philippine Star (http://www.philstar.com/datedata/d08_feb8/index.htm) 8 Feb 2000 Transport groups promise Estrada: No fare increase Despite the recent increases in oil prices, fares in jeepneys, buses, taxi cabs and even tricycles all over the country will remain the same. An ecstatic President Estrada announced this yesterday after convincing leaders of public transport groups to freeze their fares. "I have good news for our riding public: the bus, jeepney, taxi and tricycle will not have any increase in fares," he said. The President, along with several of his Cabinet men, met with 14 transport leaders for two hours at Malaca?ang yesterday. During the meeting, the President explicitly requested that fares in all public transportation vehicles be frozen for the meantime to help the people bear the effects of the recent oil price increases. The transport leaders granted his request. "I cannot forget this because they gave in to our call to help my administration," the President said. Among those who attended the meeting were Romualdo Maranan, Efren de Luna, Medardo Roda, Roberto Peralta, Orlando Marquez and Boy Vargas for jeepney groups; Alex Yague, Amelia de Dios, Jose Piccio and Cesar Apolinario for bus groups; Luring Naval and Rene Pe?a for taxi cab groups; and Ariel Lim for tricycles and Jose Cortez for trucks. The transport leaders earlier demanded a 50-centavo increase in their minimum fare following the 50- to 80-centavo hike in fuel prices. The country's three biggest oil companies -- Petron, Shell and Caltex -- raised their pump prices almost simultaneously last week due to the rising cost of petroleum abroad. To return the favor, the President said he promised the transport leaders that he would make life easier for public utility drivers who daily face numerous problems on the road. He said he has directed Philippine National Police chief Deputy Director General Panfilo Lacson to continue with his campaign against policemen who ask drivers for bribes. And he added that he would also ask the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board as well as the Land Transportation Office to be strict on "colorum" or illegal public vehicles. The President also assured the transport leaders that the recently enacted Clean Air Act will not be immediately implemented and would instead allow owners of buses and jeepneys some 18 months to fix their vehicles and comply with the law with less difficulty. The law, which seeks to promote cleaner air, strongly bans smoke-belching vehicles from all thoroughfares. - By Marichu Villanueva Distributed for the purpose of education and research. A. Rahman Paul BARTER Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia. E-mail: sustran@po.jaring.my URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction) Ask about our SUSTRAN NEWS FLASHES - news updates on people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport. From sustran at po.jaring.my Wed Feb 9 17:33:57 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 16:33:57 +0800 Subject: [sustran] re: SOV lane soon at causeway Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000209163357.00857d60@relay101.jaring.my> It was reported today in the Star newspaper here (see excerpts of the article below) that the Causeway between Malaysia and Singapore is to have a special lane for single-occupant cars. I am not sure this is such a good idea. As most of us know, any 'toolbox' of sustainable/ equitable/ people-centred transport policies includes attempts to DISCOURAGE single-occupant vehicles (SOVs). Yet here is a case where SOVs are apparently going to be ENCOURAGED since they will soon be getting a much faster ride through the checkpoint than other categories of vehicles. IMHO by encouraging more people to travel alone in cars this plan can only lead to MORE traffic and hence more congestion, not less, on the causeway and on the streets of Johor Baru and Singapore. I wonder if the Customs Department has consulted the Johor and Singaporean transport authorities on their plan? The plan seems to be based on trying to increase the throughput of vehicles - but surely it is the throughput of PEOPLE and GOODS that is important here rather than vehicles. Paul ------------------------------------------ The Star Wednesday, February 9, 2000 New lane soon at causeway By Mazwin Nik Anis JOHOR BARU: The state Customs Department will introduce a special lane for cars with only the driver to ease congestion at the causeway. Its director Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid said the lane, to be opened by the middle of the year, was one of the measures the department was implementing to provide efficient service to the public. .... "We believe the facility will help ease traffic flow as Customs and Immigration clearance for one person takes less than a minute. ... Abdul Rahman said the department had introduced various facilities to ensure smooth flow of traffic at the Causeway, including a "green lane" for cars and "golden service" processing for tour buses. However, he conceded that traffic was still heavy as visitors, especially Singaporeans, prefer to use the causeway due to its proximity to the city centre. Almost 100,000 travellers, both locals and foreigners, use the causeway daily. Copyright ? 1995-2000. Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. (Co No. 10894-D) All rights reserved. A. Rahman Paul BARTER Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia. E-mail: sustran@po.jaring.my URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction) Ask about our SUSTRAN NEWS FLASHES - news updates on people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport. From townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au Thu Feb 10 10:31:43 2000 From: townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au (Craig Townsend) Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 17:31:43 -0800 Subject: [sustran] UNEP News Release Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000209173143.00798100@central.murdoch.edu.au> UNEP News Release For information only Not an official record Jointly issued by UNEP and Habitat Habitat and UNEP welcome the weekend car ban in Italy NAIROBI, 8 February 1999 - Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Acting Executive Director of UNCHS (Habitat), today welcomed the banning of private cars in the city centre of Rome and in over towns and cities across Italy. In Rome, the banning of private car use will last for 10 hours on Sundays during which time public transport, and entry into museums and archaeological sites will be free. Other cities are all set to make their own rules. The ban is a pilot project by the city authorities in Italy to reduce the amount of air pollution from cars. According to research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) the emissions from car exhausts are responsible for more deaths than road accidents. The WHO study which looked at data from Austria, France and Switzerland found that exposure to pollution caused an estimated 21,000 deaths a year in the three countries. In addition, the researchers calculated that car fumes caused 300,000 extra cases of bronchitis in children and 15,000 extra hospital admissions for heart disease made worse by pollution. Cars are needed," said Toepfer, "but the health of the people in our cities depends on balancing the demand for private vehicles with other means of public transport. Also, innovative solutions are needed that will reduce the pollution from car emissions and minimise the congestion caused by cars, he said. The rapid increase in the number of cars has only made the problem worse. In 1950, there were only 70 million vehicles in the world and most of these were in Europe and America. Today, there are over 500 million and in many developing countries the annual growth rate is set to continue. In the 1970s and 1980s Delhi's motor vehicle fleet grew at an astounding average of around 20 per cent. In China, the number of vehicles has almost doubled every five years. According to UNEP's recently released Global Environment Outlook 2000, motor vehicles emit well over 900 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. These emissions account for more than 15 per cent of global fossil fuel carbon dioxide releases and represent a major contribution to global warming. But the rapid expansion of private vehicles can be contained through more balanced transport policies and better land use planning. For example, since 1974 Curitiba in Brazil has managed to design an integrated bus system that has encouraged 25 per cent of its car commuters back into buses. With express and speedy buses operating mostly along busways or exclusive segregated tracks almost 75 per cent of the commuters in Curitiba now travel by public transport. The car ban in Italy is the latest in a series of moves by local authorities all over the world to reduce vehicle pollution and congestion. Earlier in the new year, the city of Athens launched a metro system which city authorities were quoted as saying will cut choking fumes in one of Europe's most polluted capital cities by 30 per cent and reduce traffic volumes by 10 per cent. Similarly, in South East Asia, Bangkok has a new weapon in the war against congested streets and pollution. Bangkok's Skytrain began regular commercial service in December last year. "Well planned and integrated transport policies are the best way to balance the use of private vehicles with the need for public transport," said Toepfer. "In the case of Italy, the Ministry of Environment must be applauded for setting an important precedent. The Sunday car ban gives the city back to its citizens," he said. For more information please contact: Tore J. Brevik, UNEP Spokesman on tel: +254-2-623292, fax: 623692, email: tore.brevik@unep.org, Robert Bisset on +254-2-623084, email: robert.bisset@unep.org, or Sharad Shankardass, Ag. Head, Media and Press Relations, Habitat, tel: 254-2-623153, fax: 624060, email: habitat.press@unchs.org UNEP News Release 2000/10 ________________________________________________ Craig Townsend Institute for Sustainability & Technology Policy Murdoch University South Street, Murdoch Perth, Western Australia 6150 tel: (61 8) 9360 6293 fax: (61 8) 9360 6421 email: townsend@central.murdoch.edu.au From intlbike at ibike.org Thu Feb 10 01:07:07 2000 From: intlbike at ibike.org (David Mozer) Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 08:07:07 -0800 Subject: UNEP News Release References: <3.0.6.32.20000209173143.00798100@central.murdoch.edu.au> Message-ID: <007101bf7318$490f1dc0$95a4f5d1@davidmozer> There is some irony in this press release. The headquarters for the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) / HABITAT is outside of Nairobi, Kenya. The sprawling office complex is about five miles from the business center of Nairobi, in a rural area with very little public transit. While the UNEP presense contributes substantially to the economy of the city, the UNEP felt that they were not getting their due. They threatened to pull out if roads and other conditions (i.e. telephone service, security) weren't improved. However in their complaints about access to their site the UNEP made no mention of non-motorized facilities or transit. Of course the perferred mean of travel for UNEP policy makers is gas sucking Sport Utility Vehicles. Eventually the Government of Kenya succumbed: police patrols were increased, utilities upgraded and the roads in all directions from the headquarters were repaved. None of the road work included lanes wide enough for bicycles and cars to share the lane, there are no paved shoulders and no improvements of any kind were provided for pedestrians. While local people walk and bicycle in the area, the number walking or bicycling to UNEP is minuscule. ----- Original Message ----- From: Craig Townsend To: Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 5:31 PM Subject: [sustran] UNEP News Release UNEP News Release For information only Not an official record Jointly issued by UNEP and Habitat Habitat and UNEP welcome the weekend car ban in Italy NAIROBI, 8 February 1999 - Klaus Toepfer, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Acting Executive Director of UNCHS (Habitat), today welcomed the banning of private cars in the city centre of Rome and in over towns and cities across Italy. In Rome, the banning of private car use will last for 10 hours on Sundays during which time public transport, and entry into museums and archaeological sites will be free. Other cities are all set to make their own rules. The ban is a pilot project by the city authorities in Italy to reduce the amount of air pollution from cars. According to research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) the emissions from car exhausts are responsible for more deaths than road accidents. The WHO study which looked at data from Austria, France and Switzerland found that exposure to pollution caused an estimated 21,000 deaths a year in the three countries. In addition, the researchers calculated that car fumes caused 300,000 extra cases of bronchitis in children and 15,000 extra hospital admissions for heart disease made worse by pollution. Cars are needed," said Toepfer, "but the health of the people in our cities depends on balancing the demand for private vehicles with other means of public transport. Also, innovative solutions are needed that will reduce the pollution from car emissions and minimise the congestion caused by cars, he said. The rapid increase in the number of cars has only made the problem worse. In 1950, there were only 70 million vehicles in the world and most of these were in Europe and America. Today, there are over 500 million and in many developing countries the annual growth rate is set to continue. In the 1970s and 1980s Delhi's motor vehicle fleet grew at an astounding average of around 20 per cent. In China, the number of vehicles has almost doubled every five years. According to UNEP's recently released Global Environment Outlook 2000, motor vehicles emit well over 900 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. These emissions account for more than 15 per cent of global fossil fuel carbon dioxide releases and represent a major contribution to global warming. But the rapid expansion of private vehicles can be contained through more balanced transport policies and better land use planning. For example, since 1974 Curitiba in Brazil has managed to design an integrated bus system that has encouraged 25 per cent of its car commuters back into buses. With express and speedy buses operating mostly along busways or exclusive segregated tracks almost 75 per cent of the commuters in Curitiba now travel by public transport. The car ban in Italy is the latest in a series of moves by local authorities all over the world to reduce vehicle pollution and congestion. Earlier in the new year, the city of Athens launched a metro system which city authorities were quoted as saying will cut choking fumes in one of Europe's most polluted capital cities by 30 per cent and reduce traffic volumes by 10 per cent. Similarly, in South East Asia, Bangkok has a new weapon in the war against congested streets and pollution. Bangkok's Skytrain began regular commercial service in December last year. "Well planned and integrated transport policies are the best way to balance the use of private vehicles with the need for public transport," said Toepfer. "In the case of Italy, the Ministry of Environment must be applauded for setting an important precedent. The Sunday car ban gives the city back to its citizens," he said. For more information please contact: Tore J. Brevik, UNEP Spokesman on tel: +254-2-623292, fax: 623692, email: tore.brevik@unep.org, Robert Bisset on +254-2-623084, email: robert.bisset@unep.org, or Sharad Shankardass, Ag. Head, Media and Press Relations, Habitat, tel: 254-2-623153, fax: 624060, email: habitat.press@unchs.org UNEP News Release 2000/10 ________________________________________________ Craig Townsend Institute for Sustainability & Technology Policy Murdoch University South Street, Murdoch Perth, Western Australia 6150 tel: (61 8) 9360 6293 fax: (61 8) 9360 6421 email: townsend@central.murdoch.edu.au From wcox at publicpurpose.com Thu Feb 10 07:09:32 2000 From: wcox at publicpurpose.com (Wendell Cox) Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 16:09:32 -0600 Subject: SOV lane soon at causeway References: <3.0.6.32.20000209163357.00857d60@relay101.jaring.my> Message-ID: <002e01bf734a$6622e400$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> Shall we say, this border crossing is not terribly secure. Having walked across the Causeway from Singapore, I managed to get through accidentally without stopping at customs, and went back to try to figure out how to do it right. Finally went through the process, but it would have been much easier just to avoid the whole thing. Fumes from the cycles were unbelievable... Los Angeles air was never so bad. -- WENDELL COX CONSULTANCY: International Public Policy, Economics, Labor, Transport & Strategic Planning THE PUBLIC PURPOSE: Internet Public Policy Resource: http://www.publicpurpose.com Transport Policy Discussion Group: http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-group.htm DEMOGRAPHIA: http://www.demographia.com Urban Policy Discussion Group: http://www.demographia.com/db-group.htm Telephone +1 618 632 8507; Fax +1 618 632 8538 - P.O. Box 841- Belleville, Illinois 62222 USA "To facilitate the ideal of government as the servant of the people by identifying and implementing strategies to achieve public purposes at a cost that is no higher than necessary." ----- Original Message ----- From: SUSTRAN Network Secretariat To: ; Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 2:33 AM Subject: [sustran] re: SOV lane soon at causeway It was reported today in the Star newspaper here (see excerpts of the article below) that the Causeway between Malaysia and Singapore is to have a special lane for single-occupant cars. I am not sure this is such a good idea. As most of us know, any 'toolbox' of sustainable/ equitable/ people-centred transport policies includes attempts to DISCOURAGE single-occupant vehicles (SOVs). Yet here is a case where SOVs are apparently going to be ENCOURAGED since they will soon be getting a much faster ride through the checkpoint than other categories of vehicles. IMHO by encouraging more people to travel alone in cars this plan can only lead to MORE traffic and hence more congestion, not less, on the causeway and on the streets of Johor Baru and Singapore. I wonder if the Customs Department has consulted the Johor and Singaporean transport authorities on their plan? The plan seems to be based on trying to increase the throughput of vehicles - but surely it is the throughput of PEOPLE and GOODS that is important here rather than vehicles. Paul ------------------------------------------ The Star Wednesday, February 9, 2000 New lane soon at causeway By Mazwin Nik Anis JOHOR BARU: The state Customs Department will introduce a special lane for cars with only the driver to ease congestion at the causeway. Its director Abdul Rahman Abdul Hamid said the lane, to be opened by the middle of the year, was one of the measures the department was implementing to provide efficient service to the public. .... "We believe the facility will help ease traffic flow as Customs and Immigration clearance for one person takes less than a minute. ... Abdul Rahman said the department had introduced various facilities to ensure smooth flow of traffic at the Causeway, including a "green lane" for cars and "golden service" processing for tour buses. However, he conceded that traffic was still heavy as visitors, especially Singaporeans, prefer to use the causeway due to its proximity to the city centre. Almost 100,000 travellers, both locals and foreigners, use the causeway daily. Copyright ? 1995-2000. Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. (Co No. 10894-D) All rights reserved. A. Rahman Paul BARTER Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia. E-mail: sustran@po.jaring.my URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction) Ask about our SUSTRAN NEWS FLASHES - news updates on people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport. From sustran at po.jaring.my Thu Feb 10 10:20:18 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 09:20:18 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: bicycle donations to East Timor Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000210092018.0085bce0@relay101.jaring.my> >From the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) 10 Feb 2000 Darwin resident overseeing bicycle donation to East Timor A Darwin man hopes he can supply 200,000 bikes to East Timorese residents during the next five years. Mark Pate has just returned from Dili after spending nine days distributing about 250 bicycles donated by people from the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria. Mr Pate says he has had an excited response to the bikes in Dili and has sent them to rural areas of East Timor as well. He says he is taking another 400 to 500 bikes to Dili this weekend and hopes Australians' generosity will continue. "Hopefully this project just gets bigger and bigger, it won't get smaller," he said. "My ideal is that we get 200,000 bikes to Timor which I could definitely visualise over five years, considering Darwin's response. "Interstate we've probably up around three thousand bikes in movement to Dili so I can't see 200,000 Australia wide is such a difficult thing," Mr Pate said. ? 2000 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ----------------------------------------------- Distributed for the purpose of education and research. A. Rahman Paul BARTER Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia. E-mail: sustran@po.jaring.my URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction) Ask about our SUSTRAN NEWS FLASHES - news updates on people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport. From sustran at po.jaring.my Thu Feb 10 10:44:02 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 09:44:02 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: [carfreeday] AP - Rome Holds First Car-Free Sunday Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000210094402.00899810@relay101.jaring.my> forwarded from the Car Free Day list. .... long headers deleted .... List-Archive: Subject: [carfreeday] Associated Press Rome Holds First Car-Free Sunday By Candice Hughes Associated Press Writer Sunday, Feb. 6, 2000; 3:28 p.m. EST ROME -- Skating, cycling and strolling Romans reclaimed their cobblestone streets from the automobile on the capital's first car-free Sunday. It was perfect weather - sunny and bright - for walking the dog or taking a jog, and thousands did just that, thronging uncharacteristically quiet streets. The city - normally pungent with fumes and throbbing to the beat of the internal combustion engine - took on a festive air. "It's wonderful, you can even hear people's footsteps on the cobblestones," said 65-year-old Franco Cianci, strolling with his wife near the Pantheon. Rome is one of nearly 150 Italian cities banning cars and non-electric scooters from their centers one Sunday a month in a campaign to cut air pollution. Public transport was still operating, as were taxis, but Rome was a quieter, cleaner version of its usual chaotic self on Sunday. "A success!" proclaimed Environment Minister Edo Ronchi, taking a turn around the Piazza Venezia, normally a daunting sea of honking, jostling cars, with his 21/2-year-old son, Nicolo. In many cities, including Rome, public transportation was free on Sunday, as was parking on the edges of the no-car zone. To further sweeten the deal, the capital also offered free entry to most museums and archaeological sites. The ban on private vehicles was in effect from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Offenders are fined about $60. Environmental organizations were thrilled with the antismog initiative. Italy's leading such group, the Legambiente, released a study about how bad the nation's traffic is. Cars in Rome, it said, move at an average speed of less than 6 mph. "I tried to drive in Rome and it's completely crazy," said a kilt-clad Scot, Peter Laverie, in Rome for a rugby union match. The head of the World Wildlife Fund in Italy, Fulco Pratesi, brandished his lung X-rays for reporters. "I have emphysema thanks to the pollution" he said, pleading with the city to make car-less Sundays a permanent affair. For Renato Mazza, a suburbanite who trekked to the city center to see it car-less, even the buses and taxis were too much. "I would have preferred that the center was completely closed to any kind of vehicle, private and public," he said. Rome's car-free Sundays will continue through May. (c) Copyright 2000 The Associated Press ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Post Message: CarFreeDay@eGroups.com S*ubscribe CarFreeDay-subscribe@eGroups.com Main Web site: www.ecoplan.org/CarFreeDay The Car FreeDay planning site for those who care about sustainable transport and aren't afraid to work at it. Distributed for the purpose of education and research. A. Rahman Paul BARTER Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia. E-mail: sustran@po.jaring.my URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction) Ask about our SUSTRAN NEWS FLASHES - news updates on people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport. From sustran at po.jaring.my Fri Feb 11 11:06:29 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 10:06:29 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: Final programme of CODATU IX Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000211100629.00855ab0@relay101.jaring.my> >From: "chazelle maryse" >Organization: ENTPE-hardy >To: sustran@po.jaring.my >Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 15:53:03 0000 >Subject: Final programme of CODATU IX >X-Confirm-Reading-To: "chazelle maryse" >X-pmrqc: 1 >Priority: normal > >The International Association CODATU (Cooperation for the continuing >developpement of urban and suburban transportation) organizes, along >with the Federal District of Mexico, from 11 to 14 April 2000, its >IXth International Conference on the topic : >"Urban Transportation and Environment" >You will find the final programme on the net, at the following >adress : http://www.codatu.org > >The communication's manager >Mayse CHAZELLE > > From litman at vtpi.org Sat Feb 12 03:50:24 2000 From: litman at vtpi.org (Todd Litman) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 10:50:24 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Wendell Cox's Comments In-Reply-To: <002901bf7012$e7199940$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> References: <3.0.6.32.20000201072715.011082d0@pop.islandnet.com> Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000211105024.009b3690@pop.islandnet.com> I appreciate Wendell Cox taking the trouble to reply to my comments. Below are some responses. At 01:55 PM 02/05/2000 -0600, Wendell Cox wrote: >A few points in relation to Todd Littman's comments..... > CONCERNING IDEOLOGY > > I don't think that most critics of automobile-oriented transportation > > planning consider cars and roads equivalent of the "Great Satan." Many of > > us believe that automobiles have a role in a balanced transportation > > system, but that current transport policies result in excessive driving, > > and that given more optimal transportation and land use markets that > > provide viable choices, fair and efficient pricing, and rational > > investments consumers would choose to drive less and be better off as a > > result. > >"Balanced transportation???" I've yet to see them support a new freeway. Support for new freeways is not an appropriate measure of support for balanced transportation if the current transportation system is unbalanced. The need for new highway capacity could be avoided by reforming current market distortions that encourage excessive automobile travel. For disucssion of these strategies see our reports "Win-Win Transportation Solutions" and "Road Relief", posted at our website: http://www.vtpi.org. >Parking provided by stores or by people for themselves are not a subsidy. >I, and most, define subsidies as monies paid by a person or business for someone >else, not for their own business or personal use. Transit is run, mainly on >subsidies (in the Portland metro area, only 19 % comes from the users). A store that >provides parking, doesn't have to. It does so because the convenience >allows them to make more profit. Cox's defintion of subsidy reflects sector level analysis, which means that costs are internal to a group. As discussed in our report "Socially Optimal Transport Prices and Markets" this does not address efficiency issues, since consumers do not have the opportunity to save parking costs by reducing their vehicle trips, and it ignores the inequities that result from cross subsidies within the group. Most businesses are required to provide a minumum amount of parking by zoning laws. Partly as a result, free parking has become widespread and expected by consumers, so individual businesses would face a competitive disadvantage if they don't offer it. However, I think that it is wrong to assume that this situation is necessarily optimal for consumers or businesses, since it reflects economically inefficient market practices (see our report "Transportation Market Distortions - A Survey" for disucssion of the economic impacts of such distortions). >1. FHWA study in question combines highway and transit expenditures. My >comments relate to highways and roadways alone. For data from 1993, which >demonstrates my points, see The Highway and Motorway Fact Book at The Public >Purpose website: > >http://www.publicpurpose.com/hwy-us$93&c.htm > >Highway user fees are generally equal to or greater than the expenditure on >roadways in the United States, at all levels of government. Much of these >fees is used for other purposes, which creates a deficit that is covered by >general taxation. As I pointed out, this depends on perspective and assumptions. For example, Cox's analysis assumes that all fuel taxes should be considered "user fees" and dedicated to highway, which makes them functionally exempt from general taxes. If you believe that fuel should be charged general taxes at the same rate as other consumer goods then spending a portion of fuel taxes for non-highway purposes is no more a "diversion" than to suggest that all sales taxes on hats should be dedicated to public hatracks, and that putting such taxes into general budget represents a "diversion". Similary, Cox's analysis suggests that motorists user fees can legitimately be used to fund state highway law enforcement and safety programs, but not the same services provided by local agencies. Analyses that use more comprehensive analysis of user payments and public costs consistently show that motorists pay less in user fees than what is spent to serve them. See the 1997 Federal Highway Cost Allocation Study or our report "Transportation Cost Analysis". >2. As regards external costs, there are two sides to this discussion. For >the other side, see The Urban Transport Fact Book at The Public Purpose >Website: > >http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-littman.htm > >Also recommended is... "The Myth of Social Cost," By Steven N. S. Cheung >(Institute of Economic Affairs, 1978). I welcome readers to review Cox's comments and my report "Evaluating Criticsm of Transportation Costing". I don't believe that Cox effectively addresses my comments about his article, nor do I belive that Cheung's analysis "proves" that social costs and externalities are inappropriate for consideration in public policy. Just as a consumer wants comprehensive information on the full costs they would incur before purchasing a vehicle, communities need comprehensive information on the full costs incurred by public policy decisions. >3. Would be interested in the transit investments that are less expensive >than urban roadways. Critics of public transit expenditures often point out that public transit service frequently costs several dollars per addional trip. However, when car trips are properly accounted, they often incur even greater external costs. Let me give an example from our report "Evaluating Public Transit Benefits and Costs". A few years ago our provincial highway agency considered two options for improving mobility between the city of Victoria and the nearby Western Communities. Adding two lanes of highway capacity was estimated to cost about $250 million, while a light-rail transit system would have cost an estimated $300 million. Thus, they concluded that the highway was the cheaper way to accommdodate 2,000 to 4,000 additional peak period trips. However, this overlooks many additional transportation costs. A car trip requires more than just a highway. It also requires a vehicle, surface streets, and parking spaces. If the highway is widened to accommodate 2,000-4,000 additional peak period trips, the additional downstream traffic will increase congestion on Victoria's streets, imposing costs on other motorists and requiring additional roadway improvements. Parking problems will also increase, requiring somebody (businesses or governments) to build more parking capacity at $5,000-30,000 per space. These additional costs alone would have shifted the analysis from favoring the highway to favoring the rail option. Conventional highway project investment analysis usually only considers users' out of pocket expenses, assuming that everybody has an automobile available that would otherwise sit unused (i.e., there is no opportunity cost to vehicle use). High quality transit provides additional consumer benefits: some households can reduce their vehicle ownership or defer vehicle replacement, or a vehicle is available to another household member. Although the costs of providing public transit service in congested urban areas is significant, so is the cost of providing highways in such circumstances. One study by FHWA planners estimates that accommdodating an additional peak-period car trips costs about 62 cents per vehicle mile (Patrick Decorla-Souza and Ronald Jensen-Fisher, "Comparing Multimodal Alternatives in Major Travel Corridors," Transportation Research Record 1429, 1997, pp. 15-23). This high marginal cost is often ignored by using average values, which represent a cross subsidy from motorists who don't drive on congested highways to those that do. Public transit costs are also distorted by other factors, including low demand due to under pricing (lack of congestion pricing, free parking, fixed insurance and registration fees, external accident costs and environmental impacts) and zoning and development practices that mandate automobile dependent land uses. If these market distortions were corrected demand for public transit should increase significantly. Since transit service enjoys economies of scale this would substantially reduce per-trip costs and subsidies. This conclusion is supported by international research indicating that less automobile dependent regions have much better transit service cost recovery than those that are more automobile dependent (summary data available in the report "Automobile Dependency and Economic Development" posted at our website). Cox's website includes the factoid that it would be cheaper to give each user of Seattle's proposed rail system a new Jaguar car. This is a false comparison. Rail includes right-of-way and avoids parking, so a more appropriate comparision would be the cost of the car, the road and a parking space, which would tend to be quite high in the high density urban corridor that the rail line will serve. >4. Public service costs tend to be higher, not lower, in higher density >inner cities --- this is the cost of providing the services and >infrastructure within the boundaries of the central cities. This has to do >with an inherently more costly cost structure, greater special interest >control, a comparative lack of innovation and other factors. See the >following paper at "Demogaphic Briefs and Urban Policy, at The Public >Purpose website: > >http://www.publicpurpose.com/tor-demo.htm > >Also see Helen F. Ladd, "Population Growth, Density and the Costs of >Providing Public" Services, Urban Studies, Vol 2, 1992, pp 273-295 Cox confuses city size with density. Higher costs associated with large cities that Cox cites, if they exist, would not be affected by changes in development density or other Smart Growth objectives. A number of independent studies show that per capita public service costs increase with sprawl-type development patterns and decline with moderate densities and urban infill (see citations in our report "Land Use Impact Costs of Transportation"). >Further, public service costs are typically fully paid by people who live in >suburban municipalities. Sometimes they get some of their services from the >central city, but pay the central city. The "failure to charge residents for >the higher public service costs associated with lower-density locations" is >thus puzzling --- lower densities do not mean the costs are higher, and >whether or not they are higher they are being paid by the users who live in >the lower density communities. Because lower-density, urban periphery development imposes higher public service costs there are often cross-subsidies from higher- to lower-density neighborhoods within political jurisdications. One study (Subhrait Guhathakurta, "Who Pays for Growth in the City of Phoenix? An Equity-Based Perspective on Suburbanization," Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 33, No. 5 (www.urbanfutures.org/j102898.html), July 1998, pp. 813-838) found that suburban residents in Phoenix receive 77% more government infrastructure investment per household than residents of older urban neighborhood, but pay less in taxes. >5. Disagree with the view that suburbanization is not generally a market >based response. Suburbanization occurs largely because of affluence and the >availability of more modern forms of urban transport. It began long before >the auto. It is absolutely overwhelming, and occurs at different rates >probably based upon differing market forces variations in the extent of >government intervention in the market. > >In the United States and Canada, only three central cities that have not >annexed since 1950/1 have gained population --- Vancouver, which is up 169k, >compared to an increase of 1.1 m in the suburbs, Miami, up 115k, compared to >nearly 3m in the suburbs, and Los Angeles, which was more than 1/3 rural >land in 1950. Any review of inner city census data (core areas) generally >shows population losses of 20-50 percent, even in places like Portland and >Indianapolis, where annexation could mislead one to the view that inner city >growth has occured. > >It is no less stark in Europe, where cities that have not annexed territory >have lost population, with all population growth in the suburbs --- examples >are virtually all of the UK cities, Paris (down as great a percentage as >Chicago), Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc. > >In Japan the losses started later, largely because it took Japan much longer >to recover economically from WW2 --- but Tokyo is down more than 1m from >1965 and Osaka is below its 1940 population. All growth in metro Tokyo and >Osaka has been suburban since that time. Generally, in other Japanese urban >areas, the bulk of growth has been in the suburbs. > >With respect to Europe and Japan, one might expect government intervention >in the market with respect to excessively high taxation of motor fuel and >auto taxes, combined with the high land costs, and the lower income >(purchasing parity) to militate against suburbanization. But these >government interventions and market forces have only slightly restrained the >trend. > >Historical US city population data can be found at Demographic Briefs on the >Demographia website... > >http://www.demographia.com/db-uscity1850.htm > >Historical US metropolitan area populations (1998 area definitions) can be >found at Demographic Briefs on the Demographia website at: > >http://www.demographia.com/db-usmetfr1900.pdf > >Historical city and metropolitan area population information for the UK and >Europe can be found at Demographic Briefs on the Demographia website... > >http://www.demographia.com/dbx-europe.htm > >Additional European data will be found at Demographic Briefs and Urban >Policy on The Public Purpose website... > >http://www.publicpurpose.com/dmx-eur.htm > >Historical city and metropolitan area population information for Japan can >be found at Demographic Briefs on the Demographia website... > >http://www.demographia.com/dbx-japan.htm > >Historical city and metropolitan area population information for Canada can >be found at Demographic Briefs and Urban Policy on The Public Purpose >website... > >http://www.publicpurpose.com/dmx-canada.htm\ My point is not that suburbanization is "bad" or is the factor of consideration. My concern is with the manner of development. I believe that current development patterns result in part from market distortions that encourage many households to choose lower-density, more automobile-dependent locations than what they actually prefer. >6.. Finally, the "growing popularity of loft apartments, neotraditional >development and gentrified urban neighborhoods" justifies a few comments.... > >a. Loft apartments and the movement back to the city is an important and >encouraging development. It is largely people with no children... because >the schools are lousy ... and often such developments have extra security, >if not special additional patrol efforts by local police. Even so, the >numbers are miniscule compared to the population growth in the suburbs of >the same cities. > >b. Neotraditional developments are an interesting case. They are, as often >as not, agents of suburbanization themselves. > >For example, Celebration, in Florida, is being built on a greenfield >suburban site (as was the neotraditional icon, Seaside) ... it is >contributing to sprawl. There is no public transit. Much of the community, >when built out, will be more than walking distance from the commercial core. >And, the "mix of housing" ranges from well above average price to way >above --- hardly the type of development that one can imagine replacing the >1950s to 1980s middle income housing stock occupied by most Americans. But >most amazingly of all, it is being built at a density less than half that of >the average suburban density built since 1950. At this rate, an additional >100+ acres would need to have been developed in US urbanized areas of more >than one million from 1950 to 1990 (nearly 45 hectares). > >McKenzie Towne in Calgary is a bit more successful, with higher densities >and paltry (rather than no) transit service. But it too is on a greenfield >site and contributes to suburbanization. Transit work trip market share is >less than the city of Calgary in general. > >For a review of McKenzie Towne, see Demographic Briefs on the Demographia >website... > >http://www.demographia.com/db-mckenzietowne.htm > >Reviews of three other developments... Celebration, Habor Town (Memphis) and >Har-Ber Meadows (Springdale, AR) will soon be posted, with references at the >Demographic Briefs Urban Development Index on the Demographia website... > >http://www.demographia.com/dbx-nu.htm > >Other reviews will be posted in the future. Neotraditional development needs >to be considered for what it is --- an issue of architectural taste, not a >fundamental shift in urban development. Before long you will see early 1900s >treatments applied to traditional suburban developments on 1/2 and one acre >lots, and perhaps even on mobile homes. The style is attractive, and can be >placed on any size lot... even the large lots that Americans prefer. > >c. Gentrified urban neighborhoods are already beginning to price the poor >out of their homes in places like Austin and Portland, as it did before in >its previous life in other cities in the 1970s and 1980s. I don't believe >that this is a positive development, and neither do the people to whom it is >happening. > >Finally, I for one, applaud the limited success being achieved in central >city revitalization, and hope that it continues and expands. It would be >nice to have the cities compete again for middle income people, but they >will first have to get their houses in order, which they are not (poor >schools, high crime rates, high taxes, poor public services, special >interest control, etc). There is no doubt that if the government failures of >the past 50 years had not interfered in the market, US central cities would >be stronger today. This is exactly my point. It is both futile and foolish to invest in more highway and parking capacity to "solve" transportation problems is the root of thsee problems is poor services and environmental conditions in existing urban areas. It is far better in terms of economic productivity, consumer benefits, and the environment if resources that are currently dedicated to highway capacity expansion were instead used to improve public service and provide amenities that make higher density urban areas more attractive to consumers. Much of this I believe can be achieved by removing market distoritions that currently favor automobile travel and automobile-oriented land use. This is the idea behind "Smart Growth", which Cox rails against while demanding that its objectives (better urban environments, middle-class returns to the cities, more neutral transportation and land use markets) be achieved. In terms of housing affordability, many of the forces of automobile dependency increase housing costs, including the use of residential property taxes to fund roadways and traffic services, minimum residential parking requirements, lower-density mandates, and the higher transportation costs associated with suburban living that tends to be ignored in mortgage assessments (thus further skewing household location decisions toward automobile dependent homes). Cox suggests that affordable housing should be provided by keeping some neighborhoods so unpleasant that most households would not consider living there despite depressed real estate prices. Some of us think that there are better ways to produce more affordable housing through good design and management practices. For discussion see Wenya Jia and Martin Wachs, "Parking and Affordable Housing," Access, Vol. 13, Fall 1998 (http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~uctc/access.html), pp. 22-25; "Parking Requirement Imapcts on Housing Affordability," VTPI (http://www.vtpi.org), 1999; Kim Hoeveler, "Accessibility vs. Mobility: The Location Efficient Mortgage," Public Investment, American Planning Asso. (Chicago; www.planning.org) and Center for Neighborhood Technology (www.cnt.org/lem), 1997; David B. Goldstein, Making Housing More Affordable Correcting Misplaced Incentives in the Lending System, NRDC (www.nrdc.org), 1996. ===================== Let me make a few points in response to Mr. Coxes comments: CONCERNING IDEOLOGY I don't think that most critics of automobile-oriented transportation planning consider cars and roads equivalent of the "Great Satan." Many of us believe that automobiles have a role in a balanced transportation system, but that current transport policies result in excessive driving, and that given more optimal transportation and land use markets that provide viable choices, fair and efficient pricing, and rational investments consumers would choose to drive less and be better off as a result. The point is not that cars are "bad", but rather that they impose significant costs on society. CONCERNING ROADWAY COST RECOVERY According to the "1997 Federal Highway Cost Allocation Study," USDOT (www.fhwa.dot.gov) current vehicle user charges (fuel taxes and registration fees) only cover about 70% of total roadway costs, indicating that these charges would need to increase by about 43% to achieve full cost recovery. That is, the price of fuel would need to increase to about 60-cents per gallon just to cover road expenditures. It is true that the highway cost study did include some transit expenditures as part of road system costs (which can be justified on least-cost principles, since transit investments are often cheaper than building new urban highways, and because automobile dependency reduces the efficiency of public transit). On the other hand, it omits a number of additional facility costs and tax exemptions currently provided to motorists. For example, the costs of local traffic services and municipal parking subsidies are not included, and many states that apply general sales taxes to most consumer goods exempt fuel. There are a number of other external costs imposed by driving, including parking subsidies, uncompensated accident costs, the opportunity cost of roadway land, traffic congestion (traffic congestion is usually defined only in terms of delay to other motor vehicles, but pedestrians and cyclists are also delayed by traffic), and a number of negative environmental impacts. These are discussed in our paper "Transportation Cost Analysis" a summary of which is posted at our website, http://www.vtpi.org. It summarizes the results of a number of studies on the full costs of various modes of transportation. The 1982 Federal Highway Cost Allocation Study examined the issue of whether local roads should be funded by users or through general taxes and concluded that once basic access is provided to an area there is no good reason to continue general tax funding. This implies that there is virtually no justification for general tax funding of current roadway costs. A few automobile advocates have criticized these studies, arguing that motorists pay their fair share of costs, but virtually none of the critics' reports are published by peer-reviewed journals, while many of the comprehensive cost studies are. For a discussion see our paper "Evaluating Criticism of Transportation Costing". INEVIDABILITY OF SUBURBANIZATION Although most developed cities have experienced suburbanization, there is some question as to how inevidable this is and how much it reflects free market choice. Just as automobile use is underpriced, resulting in excessive driving, lower-density development is underpriced, resulting in excessive suburbanization. Examples of land use market distortions that favor lower-density, urban fringe development include dedicated highway funding that encourages automobile oriented solutions to transportation problems, zoning laws that require generous parking and lower density development, mortgage interest payment income tax deductions, and failure to charge residents for the higher public service costs associated with lower-density locations. As a result, residents of higher-density older neighborhoods tend to overpay their public service costs, while residents of lower-density, newer residences tend to underpay (see Subhrait Guhathakurta, "Who Pays for Growth in the City of Phoenix? An Equity-Based Perspective on Suburbanization," Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 33, No. 5, www.urbanfutures.org/j102898.html, July 1998, pp. 813-838; Robert Burchell, et al., The Costs of Sprawl - Revisited, TCRP Report 39, Transportation Research Board, www.nas.edu/trb, 1998). To put this another way, the current land market fails to provide with effective price incentives, because it does not return to individual consumers the savings that result when they choose lower-cost locations. This encourages suburban development over urban infill. There are also some self-fulfilling prophesies at work. As more middle-class households move to suburbs, urban neighborhoods become less desirable places to live. But note that this has little to do with physical conditions, rather it represents economic and social trends that favor suburbs over cities. This is not to say that in a less distorted land market everybody would be living in highrise apartments, but it does suggest that some, perhaps much, of suburbanization reflects a LACK of consumer choice and FAILURE of the market, not true consumer preferences as Cox claims. The growing popularity of loft apartments, neotraditional development and gentrified urban neighborhoods indicates that given even moderatly attractive conditions, some households would prefer moderate- to high-density residences. ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF AUTOMOBILE DEPENDENCY There is both theoretical and emperical evidence that excessive automobile dependency has negative economic development impacts, since it imposes many costs on governments, consumers and society overall, and it tends to require a large amount of imported goods. A more balanced transportation system could provide more economic stability to developing countries such as Hungary. For discussion see "Automobile Dependency and Economic Development" posted at our website. 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@vtpi.org Website: http://www.vtpi.org >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 20:11:48 -0600 >From: Wendell Cox >Reply-To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org >To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org >Subject: [sustran] Fw: Sprawl in Hungary > >> Sorry for the discordant view... but... >> >> I understand that a lot of people think of autos and roads as being the >> equivalent of the "Great Satan," but that does not change the facts. >> Contrary to the claims in the "sprawl in Hungary" article... >> >> The highways in Calif and Texas, not to mention across the US were paid >for >> by users --- through taxes assessed on fuel alone for the purpose of >> building the roads. These taxes are specific to fuel, and not charged on >> other commodities. A small percentage of user fees is tolls. Data for the >> past five years is available at.... >> >> http://www.publicpurpose.com/hwy-us$93&c.htm >> >> There is some general taxation support of roads, but it is approximately >> canceled by the diversion of user revenues to other sources, such as mass >> transit. Moreover, virtually all general taxation support of roads is for >> LOCAL roadways, not for the motorways that are the backbone of the >national >> system. >> >> It is an inventive argument to connect sprawl to the S&L crisis. While >some >> weak connection might be made, the fact is that suburban expansion was at >> its weakest in the 1980s, and much of the development would have occured >> without the S&L crisis. The problem was that the national insurance >program >> was poorly administered... it was one of our most unfortunate government >> failures, and we have had a few. A couple of larger ones have been the >> abysmal failure of central city education and explosion of central city >> crime rates from 1960 to 1990, which in and of themselves were of >sufficient >> concern to drive millions of people out of the central cities into the >> suburbs. One would hope that the same will not occur in Hungary, and that >as >> a result, the inevitable movement to suburbs that is attendant to >increased >> affluence will simply reflect preferences in the market, rather than the >> "bleeding" that has resulted from government failure in US central cities >> (FYI, the city of St. Louis will show a population of 325k in 2000, down >> from 857k in 1950 --- virtually all US inner cities have declined in >> population, though the trend has been masked by annexation in some). >> >> Best regards, >> Wendell Cox 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@vtpi.org Website: http://www.vtpi.org From intlbike at ibike.org Sat Feb 12 12:43:55 2000 From: intlbike at ibike.org (David Mozer) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 19:43:55 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Fw: [urb-eco] Excerpt: Urban Husbandry Message-ID: <002601bf750c$c741d160$d9aff5d1@davidmozer> I believe a few people on this list are interested in this topic. ----- Original Message ----- From: Chris Lenois To: Sent: Friday, February 11, 2000 12:35 PM Subject: [urb-eco] Excerpt: Urban Husbandry I have permission from John Wiley & Sons to distribute an excerpt from the book "Cities Back from the Edge," by award-winning journalist and urban critic Roberta Brandes Gratz and Norman Mintz, the Design Director at the Grand Central Partnership in New York City. The excerpt I am distributing evaluates how the "malling" of America has stopped the flow of life from public places, especially downtowns. Manhattan's Bryant Park is cited as a prime example of a success *against* this trend. After decades of decline and decay, scores of downtown areas in urban America are coming to life once again. In "Cities Back From the Edge," Gratz and Mintz reject simplistic cookie-cutter prescriptions for success, and instead identify a more flexible and effective approach to downtown rejuvenation: Urban Husbandry. Drawing from firsthand observations of downtown change throughout the country, this book is filled with stories of urban recovery in all areas of the nation. To get the excerpt, simply send mailto:excerpt@tenagra.com with the subject line, "Send Downtown" and I will reply with a text file. Thanks, Chris Lenois From alanhowes at usaksa.com Sat Feb 12 23:17:25 2000 From: alanhowes at usaksa.com (Alan P Howes) Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 17:17:25 +0300 Subject: [sustran] Re: What is the "economic value" of the city transport system? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sorry, I should have picked this up earlier - apologies if this is no longer news. There is a report on "The Role of the Bus in the [UK] Urban Economy", compiled by Wootton Jeffreys Consultants Ltd for the Confederation of Public Transport UK in 1994. It is limited in that it only covers buses, it is limited to the UK, and it includes few quantifiable figures in money terms. It is much more qualitative than quantitative, despite including quite a lot of modal split information for specific British towns and cities. It would however make a useful starting point for further research - it has a reasonable, though again UK-only, bibliography. I believe it is still available from CPTUK. The contact details in the report are out of date, I believe - if CPTUK don't have a website (which they really should have), I can no doubt track them down. On Tue, 1 Feb 2000 15:31:46 -0500, Jonathan Gifford wrote: >Noting the subsequent discussion on this subject, U.S. state and local >governments are required in the next few years to begin report the value of >their fixed capital assets on their financial statements -- Alan Howes, Special Advisor (Operations) Saudi Public Transport Company, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia alanhowes@usaksa.com PLEASE DO NOT SEND LARGE MESSAGES (>100kB) WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE *** A debt-free start for a billion people in the world's poorest *** *** countries - Jubilee 2000, http://www.jubilee2000uk.org *** From wcox at publicpurpose.com Sun Feb 13 00:12:39 2000 From: wcox at publicpurpose.com (Wendell Cox) Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 09:12:39 -0600 Subject: [sustran] Fw: Comments on Litman Message-ID: <00b801bf756b$9adeb3e0$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> Posted to the transport-policy@egroups list. ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Friday, February 11, 2000 3:52 PM Subject: [transport-policy] Highway vs Rail vs Future > Todd Litman Wrote: > > >>Cox's website includes the factoid that it would be cheaper to give each > user of Seattle's proposed rail system a new Jaguar car. This is a false > comparison. Rail includes right-of-way and avoids parking, so a more > appropriate comparison would be the cost of the car, the road and a > parking space, which would tend to be quite high in the high density urban > corridor that the rail line will serve.<< > > I think Mr. Cox means that, when people use rail, they still need other > transport at each end of their trip. Highways eliminate that. I need three > questions answered: > > 1. Why are the comparisons always Highway vs Rail? > > 2. Did anybody in Victioria look at any developing technology for the > solution? > > 3. Why do all transport people seem to think that mass transit means big > transit? The only other thing they seem to know about is maglev, which > brings up the same end-of-line problem Mr. Cox is talking about. Doesn't > an hourly capacity figure make more sense? > > When rail was profitable, state and city didn't build them, people did. Now, > everybody wants government money used to build more, because no businessman > ever would. I think I have something that would produce a profit, and that > people would build it. > > Please look at my website, the benefits and plan buttons, not the pictures. I > would like to hear from you as to whether this might work, as a way to get > something new growing. The cost to the city could be as little as the > test-system cost, about ten million. The rest could be done on the public > market. > > Jack Slade > Skytrek Systems > > http://www3.sympatico.ca/karen.graham/skytrek/Skytrek.htm > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > THE TRANSPORT POLICY DISCUSSION GROUP > Sponsored by The Public Purpose > http://www.publicpurpose.com > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > eGroups eLerts! > It's easy. It's fun. Best of all, it's free. > http://click.egroups.com/1/1231/1/_/11254/_/950305977/ > > eGroups.com Home: http://www.egroups.com/group/transport-policy/ > http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications > > > From hirsch at igc.org Sun Feb 13 07:32:54 2000 From: hirsch at igc.org (Ralph B. Hirsch) Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 17:32:54 -0500 (EST) Subject: [sustran] IATSS Research Message-ID: <2.2.16.20000212173415.128f0d9a@pop.igc.org> Thanks to Craig Townsend for posting to the sustran list, on 7 February, the contents of the IATSS Research special issue on NMT (vol 23 no 2, 1999). Here is the URL for that association's website: http://injurypreventionweb.org/iatss/iatss.htm The IATSS website is still under construction. At the moment it contains a cumulative listing of the roughly 400 articles that have appeared in IATSS Research from 1977 to 1999, listed alphabetically by author. Ralph B. Hirsch International Federation of Pedestrians Philadelphia From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sun Feb 13 23:03:55 2000 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric.britton@ecoplan.org) Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2000 15:03:55 +0100 Subject: [sustran] =?Windows-1252?Q?_Bogot=E1_CFD_-_How_to_handle_a_very_difficult_exception?= =?Windows-1252?Q?:_FOR_DISCUSSION?= Message-ID: QUERY: Donald Brackenbush, an urban planner/venture capitalist from LA, has written in asking about the following Car Free Day issues in Bogot?. He points out that, given the difficult situation with violence and security that are the features of daily life for many in Bogot? and Colombia, how do the organizers propose to deal with the problems posed by cars which are used by high profile members of both the political establishment, industry and financial communities. Under normal circumstances a fair number of these people feel constrained to travel to and from work each day in vehicles which are specially armored to protect their passengers, and also are often accompanied by bodyguards. His second point is this. Since this is a reality of the 2000 landscape in Bogot?, the organizers face one of two choices: either ignore it and hope for the best, or figure out a positive strategy for dealing with it. He asks us for our views on this. PROPOSED RESPONSE ? FOR DISCUSSION: Since this is intended not as a definitive answer but rather as a step in the direction of dealing with this thorny side issue of the Bogot? program, let me use numbered paragraphs so as to invite discussion and comment: 1. In most such instances (i.e., not just of this particular situation in Bogot? but in general when something comes of as complicated and uncomfortable as this, striking directly as it does at some of the most powerful figures in the community), the choice of an administered bureaucracy is usually to duck the issue and hope for the best. 2. Any such decision on the 24th will, in my view at least, substantially discredit the whole effort, in a very fundamental way, bearing in mind that the bottom line of the Car Free Day is that it is an exercise in popular democracy. Were such violations implicitly accepted, the very tissue of the underlying idea would thus be violated and rendered a bit of a bad joke. 3. In this case, there are a couple of Car Free Day principles that are perhaps worth recalling: a. The importance that there be no exceptions. b. The fact, however, that the ultimate goal behind the Car Free Day philosophy (at least as I understand it) is not a city without cars, but rather a city with A LOT FEWER cars (call it 80% less than today?s total if you need a crude preliminary target to get us going). c. So in fact, we really do want SOME cars out there on the street, but at the same time we better have some pretty good reasons for the ones we let out there. d. Moreover, these exceptions need to be clearly marked and explicitly justified to everyone who is participating. 4. Suppose this particular sub-class of car dependent people is treated in the following way: a. They are invited to apply for an exception under the following rules. b. They must file an application and agree to the following terms. c. Their vehicle will be marked in some way to indicate that they have qualified for an exception (perhaps a ribbon, something modest, marking but visible). They must also display a copy of their ?Exception document? on their wind screen/shield. d. The charge for this exception will be a very high fee ? say on the order of US $1,000.00 (they can afford it). e. This fee will be publicly accountable (perhaps indicated by a ?thermometer? of some sort on the Web page), and will be specifically earmarked to support the purposes of the car free day (in short: a sustainable transport system for Bogot? and social justice). f. Time and organizing permitting, I for one would like to see these funds used to support the 20 minute video that we think could be creatively used to map the organization and performance of the day (and the reactions to it), which in turn could be useful raw materials both for Bogot??s NEXT Car Free Day and for those other cities wishing to learn the lessons of Bogot?. g. Failing that I am sure, however, that the mayor will be able to figure out some creative, visible ways of putting this unexpected money to work for the Car Free cause in Bogot?. This of course does not solve their problem, but as those of us involved in these planning and policy issues, a good question is more important than many possible answers. And this is a good question. Your views and counsel to our colleagues in Bogot?? Eric Britton ecopl@n ___ technology, economy, society ___ Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France Eric.Britton@ecoplan.org URL www.ecoplan.org Voice/Videoconference +331.4441.6340 (1-4) Voicemail/Fax hotline: Europe +331 5301 2896 Voicemail/Fax hotline: North America +1 888 522 6419 (toll free) -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 7848 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000213/46c3e005/winmail.bin From wcox at publicpurpose.com Sun Feb 13 23:33:24 2000 From: wcox at publicpurpose.com (Wendell Cox) Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2000 08:33:24 -0600 Subject: [sustran] Fw: Cox & Litman V5 Message-ID: <00bf01bf762f$49c43880$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> Have attempted send a response to a recent Todd Litman response to my comments. Size of message limitation has precluded sending the message, but if anyone is interested in seeing the message, please let me know at wcox@publicpurpose.com I am separately sending the posting to Todd Litman. Best regards, Wendell Cox -- WENDELL COX CONSULTANCY: International Public Policy, Economics, Labor, Transport & Strategic Planning THE PUBLIC PURPOSE: Internet Public Policy Resource: http://www.publicpurpose.com Transport Policy Discussion Group: http://www.publicpurpose.com/ut-group.htm DEMOGRAPHIA: http://www.demographia.com Urban Policy Discussion Group: http://www.demographia.com/db-group.htm Telephone +1 618 632 8507; Fax +1 618 632 8538 - P.O. Box 841- Belleville, Illinois 62222 USA "To facilitate the ideal of government as the servant of the people by identifying and implementing strategies to achieve public purposes at a cost that is no higher than necessary." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000213/8aaa5aab/attachment.htm From sustran at po.jaring.my Mon Feb 14 11:14:53 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 10:14:53 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: Seoul moves towards fare integration Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000214101453.00854720@relay101.jaring.my> >From the web site of the Seoul City Government http://www.metro.seoul.kr/eng/buscard_fr.html Use of Electronic Bus Cards for Payment of Subway Fares as of January 20, 2000 Since January 20, 2000 subway riders can use conveniently the electronic bus card to pay for subway fares in the city of Seoul. For this purpose, 2,688 subway entrances of the Lines 1 - 8 have been prepared with special electronic sensors, and various performance tests conducted for a successful operation of this alternative subway fare payment system in Seoul. Bus cards can be purchased and recharged at kiosks or news stands near the bus stop. For further question, please contact the Transportation Division at 3707-9731~2. From litman at vtpi.org Mon Feb 14 23:56:45 2000 From: litman at vtpi.org (Todd Litman) Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 06:56:45 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Transit of Transit Options In-Reply-To: <00b801bf756b$9adeb3e0$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000214065645.01133c20@pop.islandnet.com> Thanks for the feedback. I have always defined "Public Transit" to include a wide range of services, from fixed rail to bus to jitney to demand-response shared taxi, and I think that there is considerable potential for improving the range of these services available to consumers. I'm not really concerned with engineering issues. My interest is in how options are evaluated. All I suggest is that if transit technology is being compated with other options, that the full costs and benefits of each option be considered. Some significant factors are frequently overlooked, such as differences in parking and downstream congestion costs between rail transit and automobile travel. At 09:12 AM 02/12/2000 -0600, you wrote: >Posted to the transport-policy@egroups list. > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: >To: >Sent: Friday, February 11, 2000 3:52 PM >Subject: [transport-policy] Highway vs Rail vs Future > > >> Todd Litman Wrote: >> >> >>Cox's website includes the factoid that it would be cheaper to give each >> user of Seattle's proposed rail system a new Jaguar car. This is a false >> comparison. Rail includes right-of-way and avoids parking, so a more >> appropriate comparison would be the cost of the car, the road and a >> parking space, which would tend to be quite high in the high density urban >> corridor that the rail line will serve.<< >> >> I think Mr. Cox means that, when people use rail, they still need other >> transport at each end of their trip. Highways eliminate that. I need three >> questions answered: >> >> 1. Why are the comparisons always Highway vs Rail? >> >> 2. Did anybody in Victioria look at any developing technology for the >> solution? >> >> 3. Why do all transport people seem to think that mass transit means >big >> transit? The only other thing they seem to know about is maglev, which >> brings up the same end-of-line problem Mr. Cox is talking about. >Doesn't >> an hourly capacity figure make more sense? >> >> When rail was profitable, state and city didn't build them, people did. >Now, >> everybody wants government money used to build more, because no >businessman >> ever would. I think I have something that would produce a profit, and that >> people would build it. >> >> Please look at my website, the benefits and plan buttons, not the >pictures. I >> would like to hear from you as to whether this might work, as a way to get >> something new growing. The cost to the city could be as little as the >> test-system cost, about ten million. The rest could be done on the public >> market. >> >> Jack Slade >> Skytrek Systems >> >> http://www3.sympatico.ca/karen.graham/skytrek/Skytrek.htm 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@vtpi.org Website: http://www.vtpi.org From czegras at MIT.EDU Tue Feb 15 00:05:46 2000 From: czegras at MIT.EDU (P. Christopher Zegras) Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 10:05:46 -0500 Subject: [sustran] transport & e-commerce Message-ID: <200002141505.KAA10381@department-of-alchemy.mit.edu> Interesting piece, with widescale implications.... ------- Forwarded Message Received: from SOUTH-STATION-ANNEX.MIT.EDU by po9.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA00193; Sat, 12 Feb 00 13:45:45 EST Received: from smtp.mail.yahoo.com by MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA03459; Sat, 12 Feb 00 13:45:41 EST Received: from 207-172-255-150.s150.tnt2.sbo.ma.dialup.rcn.com (HELO vaio) (207.172.255.150) by smtp.mail.yahoo.com with SMTP; 12 Feb 2000 10:45:40 -0800 X-Apparently-From: Message-Id: <001d01bf7589$3d8726a0$0200a8c0@vaio> Reply-To: "Anthony Townsend" From: "Anthony Townsend" To: "Telecom-Cities" Cc: "P. Christopher Zegras" Subject: @NY - "Online Delivery Services Go to War" Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 13:44:43 -0500 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 Issue 5.24 February 11, 2000 Giving Customers What they Want: Online Delivery Services Go to War ^ ^ By Christine Gordon ^ ^ E-commerce is supposed to exist in a friction free environment where everything's virtual. Virtual storefronts. Virtual inventory. Virtual cash. But for everything from groceries to cars, the friction-free nature of electronic commerce runs into grinding real world issues when it comes to delivering products to customers. For e-commerce players, delivery is literally where the rubber hits the road, and where all the old problems of logistics, warehousing, inventory control, and cost containment mean something. Suddenly Silicon Alley is ground zero in a battle over who will deliver your latest e-commerce order to your door. It's a high stakes game in which each contestant has dreams of building the next UPS or Fed Ex. But today companies like UrbanFetch.Com and Kozmo.Com look less like high tech start-ups and more like 19th century messenger services. At the Greenwich Village offices of UrbanFetch.Com, the front room is shared by a few dozen jump-suited bike messengers -- and their bikes -- singing along with rap videos on The Box, crammed into a small space like a size 12 foot in a size 8 shoe. In the back room, executives huddle atop one another in a miniscule cubical farm that opens on to a steel-shelved warehouse room. There is literally no room for a visitor to stand as employees haul crates of DVDs and video game systems in and out. Behind it all, in a walled off, windowed room sit the offices of Ross Stevens, co-founder and CEO. But even in Stevens' office the desk seems an afterthought, surrounded as it is by 12-foot-high storage lofts, where employees climb like sailors in the rigging of a schooner looking for the latest order -- a Britney Spears Gift Pack or PalmPilot VII. "Most of the wrinkles are worked out," Stevens said. Urbanfetch.com and other delivery players like DeliverNextDay.com and Kozmo.com, are chanting similar mantras these days, all with catch phrases that end with the word "expansion." The chief executive officers of each company plan to rapidly branch out to other cities to broaden their revenue streams and bump up customer numbers. The online delivery services have also added some unique services that are designed to hook users. The online delivery competitors are spending large sums of money to develop programs to track customer demographics and speed of delivery, but how much profit can selling a pint of ice cream net a company that's spending inopportune amounts of capital to erect warehouses that store its goods? Wasn't the whole idea behind e-commerce predicated on the notion that retailers don't need to hold inventory and deal with carrying costs? "We have an 85-percent customer repeat rate," boasted Stevens. "We expect to be profitable in 18-24 months." We'll see. The reality is that the space is so hotly competitive that it was only late last year that Kozmo.Com and Urbanfetch.Com settled a legal dispute stemming from claims by Kozmo.Com that the Urbanfetch.Com team lifted the idea for the business after seeing the Kozmo.Com business plan. Those suits perhaps slowed Urbanfetch.com's fund raising although Stevens said the company has raised an undisclosed amount of money from several sources, including Vantage Point Venture Partners. "We have more than enough capital to operate," said Stevens. "Our infrastructure is less expensive than a store that needs multiple locations or is located on Madison Avenue." Also raising money was Kozmo.Com. Although no official announcement has come yet, Amazon.com has led an investment round in the company rumored to be upwards of $100 million. The vast financing from a strategic partner like Amazon.Com stands to change the equation for Kozmo.com and perhaps for the Kozmo.Com/Urbanfetch.com battle. Here's why: To date, Kozmo.com and Urbanfetch.com have generated money hand-delivering videos, snacks, consumer electronics, and convenience products to customers within an hour. Kozmo.com utilizes two warehouses -- one in the Village and the other on the Upper West Side -- and pays bicycle couriers by the hour to handle drop-offs and pick-ups. Urbanfetch.com is similarly organized. Both companies have put together a network of pizza places and coffee shops that have agreed to allow its customers to drop off their rental videos in their stores. Kozmo.com and other online delivery services deploy 50 or 60 delivery people every day, each of who might be working at one time on the busiest days. For the most part, the companies make money from $4 or $4.50 rental fees and from the mark-up on sales of videos, games, and snacks. Urbanfetch has recently expanded into over the counter medicines and health and beauty aides. Neither company would talk in depth about their revenue or cost numbers, though Urbanfetch.Com execs claimed that last December the company racked upwards of $1.5 million in revenue with individual orders averaging about $50. And Stevens said his best couriers make $800 a week. But the big issue for these competitors is scale. Kozmo.com currently operates in other cities including Boston, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C., Los Angeles and plans to expand to Chicago. Urbanfetch.com plans to expand domestically and internationally, although details are under wraps. With each expansion into significantly more spread out environs than Manhattan deliveries will need to be done by car -- which will give the companies another wrinkle to smooth out before things start running gracefully. And each expansion will require that each company's warehousing, inventory handling and delivery systems be diligently managed. Each company has its own particular strategy for handling huge numbers of orders on a daily basis. Urbanfetch.com's Stevens' hired his own University of Chicago Graduate school professors to create a pricing model that can be adjusted according to staffing and weather changes. Kozmo.com and DeliverNextDay.com have implemented similar algorithmic strategies. So far, each is happy with the results. "With 20,000 deliveries a day you can think of it as turning knobs on a dial," said Stevens. "We almost have 100 percent success in deliveries." Kozmo.Com too is counting on people to build out its logistics network. "We've brought in senior executives from Federal Express and AT&T to advise us on the challenging complexities of the business," said Joseph Park co-founder and chief executive officer of Kozmo.com. "We believe that the space of the last mile will be challenging." That's where the relationship with Amazon.Com could give Kozmo.Com a distinct advantage -- being able to build around a relatively predictable order schedule for book, music and video best-sellers. Of course, the Amazon.com-funded Kozmo.Com will face competition from the like of barnesandnoble.com, which has begun testing same-day delivery in Manhattan, using its bookstores as the equivalent of a distributed warehouse operation. Meanwhile, suburban-based DeliverNextDay.Com has a different proposition -- business to business e-commerce. "Industry experts project that business-to-business e-commerce will exceed $1.3 trillion by the year 2003," said Michael Breneisen, president of Telebyte, which is the parent corporate of DeliverNextDay.Com. "However, the cost to integrate a company's legacy system into e-commerce can range from $300,000 to more than $1 million." DeliverNextDay.com offers next day delivery before 10:30 a.m. of technology products. Of course, the company in part is in the business of selling products manufactured by Telebyte, so the service is as much direct retailer as it is hybrid reseller and distributor, which best describes Urbanfetch and Kozmo. But DeliverNextDay.com will be reselling products manufactured by other companies. In fact, DevliverNextDay.Com is more of a middleman play, negotiating favorable terms with shippers based on volume and passing the savings along as a service to consumers, instead but building out its own shipping and logistics operation. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com ------- End of Forwarded Message From sustran at po.jaring.my Tue Feb 15 21:45:02 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2000 20:45:02 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: 'Mumbai Rail Corp. will soon become a reality' Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000215204502.0084b530@relay101.jaring.my> >From the Times of India http://www.timesofindia.com 15 Feb 2000 'Mumbai Rail Corp. will soon become a reality' The Times of India News Service MUMBAI: The proposed Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) will become a reality very shortly, perhaps within a fortnight, according to petroleum minister Ram Naik. He stated that the names of the chairperson and members of the MRVC had been finalised and sent for the approval of the rail minister, Union home minister and the Prime Minister. Once they signed the formal documents, the MRVC would begin functioning, Mr Naik said. As an opposition MP and minister of state for railways, Mr Naik was among those who made efforts for the establishment of the MRVC, which will be a joint venture between the Union and the state governments. Enjoying some autonomy, MRVC will be able to expedite rail development projects that are vital for improving Mumbai's transport network. ... other stuff snipped ... ------------------------- From alanhowes at usaksa.com Wed Feb 16 01:52:18 2000 From: alanhowes at usaksa.com (Alan P Howes) Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2000 19:52:18 +0300 Subject: [sustran] Road Passenger Transport Regulation - another Question. Message-ID: <90tiaso9rovj2nnrm1ptd54onq7uh46qee@4ax.com> Thanks for the various contributions received re. the above. Now a fairly specific question: As far as I know, in "developed" countries regulation is applied to services, rather than to vehicles. This is particularly the case for buses - although there are also vehicle-based regulations to cover safety aspects. In less-developed regions, it seems that regulation is more often applied solely to the vehicle - typically with a licence attached to it relating to a specific route. Am I right in the above, or is it an over-simplification? To me the service-based approach has obvious advantages - what are the reasons for it not being adopted more widely? regards, Alan. -- Alan Howes, Special Advisor (Operations) Saudi Public Transport Company, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia alanhowes@usaksa.com PLEASE DO NOT SEND LARGE MESSAGES (>100kB) WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE *** A debt-free start for a billion people in the world's poorest *** *** countries - Jubilee 2000, http://www.jubilee2000uk.org *** From negronpp at MAGELLAN.UMontreal.CA Wed Feb 16 05:34:05 2000 From: negronpp at MAGELLAN.UMontreal.CA (Paula Negron Poblete) Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2000 15:34:05 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re:Road Passenger Transport Regulation - another Question. References: <90tiaso9rovj2nnrm1ptd54onq7uh46qee@4ax.com> Message-ID: <38A9B83D.AC43CDE6@magellan.umontreal.ca> Is true that in developed countries, regulation covers a wide range of aspects, including vehicles, quality of service and performance, sometimes, benefits are also controlled. In developing countries, the performance of the service is less regulated (there are a few exceptions), the most important aspect is fares, so public authorities prefer to make the point on this aspect, by establishing the common fare (like in Mexico city). In those countries where informal transport is very common and has the major part of the trips, it's difficult to put standards on service, so authorities prefer to make the point on the technical aspects of the vehicles. I agree with Alan P. Howes in the fact that a service-based approach can give interesting results, but in order to make this, the first step is to create a transport authority that can control not only the planning of transport routes, but also the performance in the service, even if sometimes this aspect remains difficult because of the participation of informal transport. Alan P Howes a ?crit : > Thanks for the various contributions received re. the above. > > Now a fairly specific question: > > As far as I know, in "developed" countries regulation is applied to > services, rather than to vehicles. This is particularly the case for > buses - although there are also vehicle-based regulations to cover > safety aspects. > > In less-developed regions, it seems that regulation is more often > applied solely to the vehicle - typically with a licence attached to > it relating to a specific route. > > Am I right in the above, or is it an over-simplification? To me the > service-based approach has obvious advantages - what are the reasons > for it not being adopted more widely? > > regards, Alan. > -- > Alan Howes, Special Advisor (Operations) > Saudi Public Transport Company, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia > alanhowes@usaksa.com > PLEASE DO NOT SEND LARGE MESSAGES (>100kB) WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE > > *** A debt-free start for a billion people in the world's poorest *** > *** countries - Jubilee 2000, http://www.jubilee2000uk.org *** From ganant at vsnl.com Wed Feb 16 13:36:01 2000 From: ganant at vsnl.com (Ananthakrishnan) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 10:06:01 +0530 Subject: fwd: 'Mumbai Rail Corp. will soon become a reality' References: <3.0.6.32.20000215204502.0084b530@relay101.jaring.my> Message-ID: <000901bf7837$58fd6880$a086c5cb@vsnl.net.in> > > Enjoying some autonomy, MRVC will be able to expedite rail development > projects that are vital for improving Mumbai's transport network. > > Partnerships between the Union and State Governments are of course, the right way to go. In Chennai, despite investment by the State Government in the Mass Rapid Transit System, (two thirds of the cost of expansion) there is no unified transit authority and no move to integrate rail and bus fares. This is despite the fact that the parties in the State and Central Governments are allies, so far as Tamil Nadu is concerned. G.Ananthakrishnan, Chennai-based journalist can be reached at Tel: + 91 44 8413942 , Fax: + 91 44 8415395. From sustran at po.jaring.my Wed Feb 16 14:24:23 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 13:24:23 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Asian Development Bank Urban Transport Job Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000216132423.0081f310@relay101.jaring.my> Advertised in this week's Economist magazine. Asian Development Bank http://www.adb.org URBAN TRANSPORT SPECIALIST The position is responsible for performing the following core functions: (i) act as focal point of complex urban-related issues including urbanization/urban economy, urban planning/development control, transport management or engineering for urban transit, highway, airport, and freight rail industries; (ii) identification and analysis of urban development trends concerning transport infrastructure, constraints and possibilities and corresponding interventions; the formulation and implementafion of policies and strategies to meet the challenges of rapid urbanization in the region; and the effective design, development, appraisal and evaluation of urban transport projects in DMCS; and (iii) contribute to knowledge creation of urban issues/problems, urban finance and municipal administration system, multi modal transport planning and road network, modeling including sustainable mobility issues. Applicants should have: (i) a postgraduate degree in engineering/economics and/or related field preferably with multi-disciplinary skills; (ii) at least seven (7) years of relevant professional experience in urban transport; (iii) proficiency with computer-based information; and (iv) excellent oral and written skills. The ADB offers an internationally competitive salary paid in US dollars. Salaries and benefits are generally free of tax except for citizens of some countries, primarily the USA and the Philippines, whose incomes are taxed by their respective governments. Applicants should be nationals of one of the ADB's member countries. Women are actively encouraged to apply. For further information, please visit www.adb.org and look for Employment Opportunities under Business Center. Send CV and cover letter by fax or mail quoting Ref No. 00-07 by February 26, 2000 to: HUMAN RESOURCES DIVISION ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK P.O. BOX 789,0980 MANILA, PHILIPPINES Fax: (63-2) 636-2444, E-mail: jobs@adb.org Only shorilisted candidates will be notified. From a.j.plumbe at Bradford.ac.uk Thu Feb 17 03:35:45 2000 From: a.j.plumbe at Bradford.ac.uk (Antony J Plumbe) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 18:35:45 +0000 () Subject: [sustran] Re:Road Passenger Transport Regulation - another Question. In-Reply-To: <38A9B83D.AC43CDE6@magellan.umontreal.ca> Message-ID: Dear All, In many developing countries, the paratransit operators are self-regulating through their formal and informal Associations in regard to vehicle route allocation, and/or vehicle scheduling, and/or fares, and/or market entry. Examples that I have encountered at various dates in the past are minibuses in Jamaica, matatus in Nairobi, samlors in Bangkok, and all sorts of paratransit in many Indonesian cities. Very few exhibit much attention to safety standards or other quality of service attributes from the passenger perspective. Tony Plumbe On Tue, 15 Feb 2000 15:34:05 -0500 Paula Negron Poblete wrote: > Is true that in developed countries, regulation covers a wide range of > aspects, including vehicles, quality of service and performance, > sometimes, benefits are also controlled. In developing countries, the > performance of the service is less regulated (there are a few exceptions), > the most important aspect is fares, so public authorities prefer to make > the point on this aspect, by establishing the common fare (like in Mexico > city). In those countries where informal transport is very common and has > the major part of the trips, it's difficult to put standards on service, > so authorities prefer to make the point on the technical aspects of the > vehicles. > I agree with Alan P. Howes in the fact that a service-based approach can > give interesting results, but in order to make this, the first step is to > create a transport authority that can control not only the planning of > transport routes, but also the performance in the service, even if > sometimes this aspect remains difficult because of the participation of > informal transport. > > Alan P Howes a écrit : > > > Thanks for the various contributions received re. the above. > > > > Now a fairly specific question: > > > > As far as I know, in "developed" countries regulation is applied to > > services, rather than to vehicles. This is particularly the case for > > buses - although there are also vehicle-based regulations to cover > > safety aspects. > > > > In less-developed regions, it seems that regulation is more often > > applied solely to the vehicle - typically with a licence attached to > > it relating to a specific route. > > > > Am I right in the above, or is it an over-simplification? To me the > > service-based approach has obvious advantages - what are the reasons > > for it not being adopted more widely? > > > > regards, Alan. > > -- > > Alan Howes, Special Advisor (Operations) > > Saudi Public Transport Company, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia > > alanhowes@usaksa.com > > PLEASE DO NOT SEND LARGE MESSAGES (>100kB) WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE > > > > *** A debt-free start for a billion people in the world's poorest *** > > *** countries - Jubilee 2000, http://www.jubilee2000uk.org *** ---------------------- A. J. Plumbe, Director, Outside Programmes, Co-ordinator M.Sc. in Project Planning and Management, email: a.j.plumbe@bradford.ac.uk Fax: International: +44-1274-235280 Domestic : 01274-235280 Phone: International : +44-1274-235264 Domestic : 01274-235264 Mailing Address: DPPC, Bradford University, Richmond Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire, U.K., BD7 1DP. From sustran at po.jaring.my Thu Feb 17 00:27:59 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 23:27:59 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: Dubai International Award for Best Practices Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000216232759.007e86b0@relay101.jaring.my> >From: BLP@unchs.org >To: sustran@po.jaring.my >Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 16:53:05 -0800 >Subject: Dubai International Award for Best Practices >X-Confirm-Reading-To: blp@mailsvr0.unep.org >X-pmrqc: 1 >Priority: normal >X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12b) > >Dear Dr. Barter, > >Greetings from UNCHS(Habitat) > >On behalf of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and >the Municipality of Dubai, U.A.E., I am pleased to invite you to >participate in the 2000 Dubai International Award for Best Practices in >Improving the Living Environment. The original call for Best Practices was >launched during preparations for the Second United Nations Conference on >Human Settlements (Habitat II) as a means of identifying what works in >improving living conditions on a sustainable basis. > >In 1998 over 400 submissions were received and 300 added to the Best >Practices Database which has been widely disseminated on CD-ROM and via >the internet (www.bestpractices.org) which is being used by thousands of >practising professionals, researchers and training institutes world-wide. >Habitat and other organizations are also using the database to extract >lessons-learned to advocate for improved policies and practices. Currently >the database holds over 650 submissions. > >In June 2000, another 10 initiatives will be selected to receive the Dubai >Award which includes a US$ 30,000 cash prize, a commemorative certificate >and a trophy. In addition, up to two represenatives from each Award-winner >will participate in a special Award ceremony to be held on World Habitat >Day (2nd October 2000). > >We are particularly interested in seeing examples of actions and >initiatives in transportation and therefore invite you to help us identify >and document them for consideration as Best Practices. > >Please note that the deadline for submissions is 31 March 2000. Resources >permitting, submissions reaching us before the deadline will benefit from >substantive feedback. > >For further information about the Dubai International Award, for examples >of well-documented submissions, or how to submit online, please visit >http://www.sustainabledevelopment.org/blp/awards/ > >Submissions should be done online or sent to >bestpractices@unchs.org >as an email attachment in one of the following formats: Wordperfect, Word >for Windows or .RTF. > >Best regards. > > > >************************************************************** >Bill Kagai, Consultant >Best Practices & Local Leadership Programme >UNCHS (Habitat), P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya >First United Nations Avenue off. Limuru Road, Gigiri >Tel: 254 2 623456, Fax: 254 2 623080 >E-Mail: bestpractices@unchs.org >************************************************************** >Visit our Internet sites: >http://www.bestpractices.org >http://www.sustainabledevelopment.org/blp >************************************************************** > > From ganant at vsnl.com Thu Feb 17 12:31:46 2000 From: ganant at vsnl.com (Ananthakrishnan) Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 09:01:46 +0530 Subject: fwd: Dubai International Award for Best Practices References: <3.0.6.32.20000216232759.007e86b0@relay101.jaring.my> Message-ID: <001101bf78f7$8c5ca400$ba86c5cb@vsnl.net.in> One would think Dubai is itself a very good place to start some sustainable practices. I was there in 1998 and found that the default option for mobility for a visitor was the taxi, of which several hundred had been newly deployed under a Dubai Taxi scheme - taxis by themselves are more acceptable than cars as they represent a common vehicle pool, but they are not the best option going by the costs. There were very few buses on Dubai roads. It is interesting that with all its prosperity, Dubai has limited options for its less affluent residents - wage earning labour. G.Ananthakrishnan, Chennai-based journalist can be reached at Tel: + 91 44 8413942 , Fax: + 91 44 8415395. > > > >We are particularly interested in seeing examples of actions and > >initiatives in transportation and therefore invite you to help us identify > >and document them for consideration as Best Practices. > > > >> From kisansbc at bom5.vsnl.net.in Thu Feb 17 18:41:20 2000 From: kisansbc at bom5.vsnl.net.in (SAVE BOMBAY COMMITEE) Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 17:41:20 +0800 Subject: [sustran] 'Mumbai Rail Corp. will soon become a reality' Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000217174120.00836330@relay101.jaring.my> Dear sustran friends, It was good to receive Times of India 15.02.2000 news report that Mumbai Rail Vikas Corp. (MRVC) would become a reality according to Union Petroleum Minister Mr. Ram Naik. It would be worthwhile to note that setting up of a joint venture between the Union and state governments was made a pre-conditionality by the World Bank for extending assistance to Mumbai Urban Transport ProjectII in 1995-96. As the MRVC was formally not set up, the Bank withdrew from the MRTPII estimated to cost of Rs. 65 billion set up. The MRVC was set up in 1999 but nothing has been done to make it operational. Now the MUTPII cannot come up as the Bank has with drawn its offer to assist up to Rs. 45-50 billion. The MUTPII was planned to cater to Mumbai's public road and railway trasport needsi till 2011. The state government has embarked on construction of flyovers, elevated roads and sealinks costing Rs. 30 billion to help the motorists while municipalised BEST bus service cannot use flyovers etc. Motor vehicles have increased tremendously, Motor cars do not pay any fee to cover the cost of flyovers so the burden would fall on citizens not owning vehicles. What can be the role of MRVC now? The Govt of India as owners of Indian Railways were providing and extending suburban railway service through financial budget so commuters were required to pay the maintenance cost only. Mumbai suburban railways provided 5 million journeys a day which accounted to 40% of total journeys provided by the Railways throughout India. Now development of services will be handed over to the MRVC which will recover total costs form the citizens, So again the common man will have to carry the burden. No costs will go motorists. Is MRVC useful to the common man? Kisan Mehta From debi.beag at SoftHome.net Fri Feb 18 08:14:01 2000 From: debi.beag at SoftHome.net (Debi Goenka) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 04:44:01 +0530 Subject: 'Mumbai Rail Corp. will soon become a reality' References: <3.0.6.32.20000217174120.00836330@relay101.jaring.my> Message-ID: <38AC80B9.9E292567@SoftHome.net> This is with reference to Kisan Mehta's email re the formation of the MRVC. Just a few factual corrections - 1. The World Bank offer to fund MUTP II is in "suspended animation" until the MRVC is formed and made operational. Now that RC Sinha has retired from the MSRDC, it should be easier to push this project through. 2. The cost of flyovers is partially being paid for by an increase in the price of petrol and diesel within the city of Mumbai. 3. Any improvement in the suburban transport service would be of benefit to the common man. 4. It is also relevant to mention that whilst the MUTP II project (which is primarily aimed at upgrading public transport and involves Rs.65 billion of funding) has been languishing for about 12 years, the MSRDC is implementing projects worth Rs.85 billion to add to the road network of Bombay in terms of the 55 flyovers project, the Bandra Worli sealink, and the Trans Harbour Project. For those of you who are interested in following up this issue, there is a meeting scheduled at the Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, Prince of Wales Museum Compound, Opposite Lion Gate, Mumbai 1 at 5 p.m. on Wednesday February 23, 2000. Cheers Debi -- Debi Goenka Bombay Environmental Action Group Mobile: 98200-86404 e-mail: debi.beag@softhome.net Environmental Education Office Kalbadevi Municipal School # 54, 2nd floor Mumbai 400002 Tel: 2423126 Tfax: 2426385 Registered Office 4 Kurla Industrial Estate LBS Marg, Ghatkopar Mumbai 400086 Tel: 5147574 Fax: 5115810 Residence B 502 Glengate Hiranandani Gardens Powai Mumbai 400076 Tel: 5700638 Tfax: 5701459 From debi.beag at SoftHome.net Fri Feb 18 08:51:40 2000 From: debi.beag at SoftHome.net (Debi Goenka) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 05:21:40 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Singapore legislation Message-ID: <38AC898C.D7253ABA@SoftHome.net> Could someone please help me obtain copies of the following Singapore laws - 1. Road Traffic Act 2. Parking Regulation Act 3. Land Transport Authority Act Is there a website where these are accessible? Thanks in anticipation. Cheers Debi Goenka -- Debi Goenka Bombay Environmental Action Group Mobile: 98200-86404 e-mail: debi.beag@softhome.net Environmental Education Office Kalbadevi Municipal School # 54, 2nd floor Mumbai 400002 Tel: 2423126 Tfax: 2426385 Registered Office 4 Kurla Industrial Estate LBS Marg, Ghatkopar Mumbai 400086 Tel: 5147574 Fax: 5115810 Residence B 502 Glengate Hiranandani Gardens Powai Mumbai 400076 Tel: 5700638 Tfax: 5701459 From farheen at riet.org.sg Fri Feb 18 11:29:38 2000 From: farheen at riet.org.sg (Farheen Mukri) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 10:29:38 +0800 Subject: Singapore legislation Message-ID: All Acts are available from Singapore National Printers. I'm not too sure but you can try www.snp.com.sg SNP Security Printing Pte Ltd? 97 Ubi Avenue 4? Singapore 408754?? Tel +65 846 3932? Fax +65 744 7098? email: egazinfo@snp.com.sg? A few websites also come to mind. Try gazette.com.sg || lawnet.com.sg || or even the APCEL website, they might have these there. APCEL is Asia Pacific Centre for Environmental Law. Their site is http://sunsite.nus.edu.sg/apcel Bests Farheen > ---------- > From: Debi Goenka[SMTP:debi.beag@SoftHome.net] > Reply To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org > Sent: 18 February, 2000 7:51 AM > To: Sustran > Subject: [sustran] Singapore legislation > > Could someone please help me obtain copies of the following > Singapore laws - > 1. Road Traffic Act > 2. Parking Regulation Act > 3. Land Transport Authority Act > > Is there a website where these are accessible? > > Thanks in anticipation. > > Cheers > > Debi Goenka > -- > > > > From townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au Sat Feb 19 04:18:59 2000 From: townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au (Craig Townsend) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 11:18:59 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Jakarta Post news Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000218111859.007a8af0@central.murdoch.edu.au> Two items from the Jakarta Post Internet Edition, 18 February 2000 __________________________________________________________________ Government plan to increase tolls opposed JAKARTA (JP): Consumer activists, councilors and residents voiced opposition on Thursday to the government's plan to increase toll road charges 25 percent. Contacted separately by The Jakarta Post, they accused toll road operators of only looking after their own interests, while ignoring the interests of the public. The head of the law division at the Indonesian Consumers Association, Sudaryatmo, suggested the government listen to the people and take into consideration their opinions. "They (the authorities and toll road operators) always argue to increase the tolls because the maintenance costs of the toll roads are much higher than their revenue. "But they're never transparent about their financial performance," Sudaryatmo said. "That's why we should first have an open discussion of the matter. It's possible that the high (maintenance) costs are caused by, among other things, inefficiency," he said. The Ministry of Public Works announced on Wednesday a planned 25-percent increase in tolls on seven toll roads across the country due to increases in maintenance costs. The ministry also said the tolls on these seven roads had not been increased for eight years. The proposal must be approved by legislators before being enacted, the ministry added. The increase is set to take effect on the Jagorawi, Jakarta-Cikampek and Jakarta-Tangerang toll road, West Java's Tangerang-Merak and Padalarang- Cileunyi toll roads, East Java's Surabaya-Gempol toll road and the Belawan- Medan-Tanjung Morawa toll road in North Sumatra. The first four toll roads are used by large numbers of Jakartans each day. The government's plan to hike tolls stunned many motorists, particularly Jakartans, who face traffic congestion and poorly maintained roads during their daily commute on the toll roads. "Motorists still experience traffic jams. There is also damage along the toll roads," Sudaryatmo said. He said Law No. 13/1990 on Roads stipulated that toll roads served a social function. "So it's wrong if the operators only consider the business aspects (of the toll increase)." Many of the toll roads in the capital and across the country were developed and are managed by PT Jasa Marga, the state-owned toll road operator. A few of the toll roads were developed by the private sector and are jointly managed with Jasa Marga. Insensitive The deputy chairman of Jakarta City Council Commission E for social welfare affairs, Ishak Iskandar, said the planned toll hike showed the government's insensitivity to the difficulties faced by the public due to the economic crisis. "Toll roads have become a public need, as public buses also use them. So the toll increase will automatically effect the bus fares. Such things should also be considered," Ishak said. The councilor added that he could not accept the government's excuse of spiraling maintenance costs. "Toll roads have been operated for years so, off course, the business must have borne profit. "Why don't they share the profits with people who are still facing economic difficulties," Ishak asked. His position was supported by councilor Abdul Aziz Matnur of Commission A for administrative affairs. Aziz said the government should bear in mind that toll increases could trigger the ire of the public. "The operators always publicly announce their financial losses but have never disclosed their profits to the people." Separately, several public bus drivers and their assistants were surprised upon learning of the planned toll increase. Erwin, an assistant on a bus plying the Kampung Rambutan route in East Jakarta and the Grogol route in West Jakarta, was opposed to the plan, saying it would only add to the burdens faced by people like him. "Every day we spend more than Rp 30,000 on toll road charges. The toll increase will mean a lot to us," he said. Bus driver Sunardi, who plies the Kampung Rambutan and Kalideres routes, voiced similar sentiments. "Please consider us," he said. Data from 1998 from Jasa Marga showed the company collected an average of between Rp 90 million and Rp 100 million per day on the 72-kilometer Jakarta-Cikampek toll road. In January last year, the firm's president, Wiyoga Adiwasito, announced Jasa Marga's 1998 toll revenue dropped by almost 7 percent to some Rp 676.2 billion from Rp 727 billion in 1997. The fall in revenue was blamed on a decline in the number of vehicles using toll roads due to the country's economic crisis. (ind) __________________________________________________________________ Pedicab drivers sue Governor Sutiyoso for operating ban JAKARTA (JP): Six becak (pedicab) drivers claiming to represent some 130 fellow drivers lodged a civil lawsuit against Governor Sutiyoso on Thursday. Accompanied by several lawyers, the six men filed the lawsuit at the Central Jakarta District Court. The suit demands the governor allow pedicab drivers to operate in housing complexes and markets in the capital. According to their lawyers, including Apong Herlina from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute and Sri Wiyanti Eddyono from the Legal Aid Institute- Indonesian Women's Association for Justice, the class action was signed by 139 pedicab drivers working in the city. They represent the approximately 5,000 to 7,000 pedicab drivers in the capital, the lawyers said. The filing of the lawsuit was witnessed by some 150 pedicab drivers, some of whom parked their three-wheeled vehicles outside the district court building. Also present was Wardah Hafidz, coordinator of the Urban Poor Consortium, a non-governmental organization which has in the past organized protests against the city administration's policy banning pedicabs in the city. The six pedicab drivers filing the suit were identified as Affendi, Mochtar, Mualim, Slamet Rahardjo, Kliwon and Budi. Court official U.Dj. Sidabalok, who met with the pedicab drivers and their lawyers, said his office would process the lawsuit soon. "Hopefully, the first session of the trial can be held no more than two weeks from now," he said. Usually, the opening session is held at least three weeks after a lawsuit is filed. The pedicab drivers alleged in their lawsuit Governor Sutiyoso was inconsistent in his policy on pedicabs in the city. "Bylaw No. 11/1988 rules that pedicabs are banned in the city, but on June 25 last year, Governor Sutiyoso -- through the media -- decided to allow pedicab drivers to operate in the city due to the economic crisis," they said in the lawsuit. The pedicab drivers said they were pleased with this decision, but shortly afterward the governor reversed his decision and instructed all five mayors in Jakarta to ban the operation of pedicabs in the city beginning on June 30, according to the lawsuit. "This instruction was followed by the confiscation of numerous pedicabs throughout the city by city officials, sometimes through violence," the lawsuit reads. The lawsuit also alleges the governor's ruling violated the principles of the law. "Even President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Jan. 23 that pedicabs were allowed to operate in housing complexes here," the lawsuit says. After filing the suit, Sri Wiyanti said the class action was necessary for efficiency and to minimize the court costs. "(With a class action) there's no need to file lawsuits one by one." She also said the lawyers involved in the suit would distribute thousands of special cards to pedicab drivers expected to attend the court proceedings. The cards, called client cards, will protect their becak from being seized by city officials during their trips to the court, Sri said. (asa) ________________________________________________ Craig Townsend Institute for Sustainability & Technology Policy Murdoch University South Street, Murdoch Perth, Western Australia 6150 tel: (61 8) 9360 6293 fax: (61 8) 9360 6421 email: townsend@central.murdoch.edu.au From aldizon at pacific.net.sg Fri Feb 18 15:12:53 2000 From: aldizon at pacific.net.sg (Al Dizon) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 14:12:53 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Smoke Belching Programme to be Launched in Manila Monday References: <3.0.6.32.20000218111859.007a8af0@central.murdoch.edu.au> Message-ID: <001a01bf79d7$3399a4e0$2901a8c0@cch.com.sg> A press release from the Asian Development bank CAMPAIGN LAUNCH AGAINST SMOKE BELCHERS OF MANILA A campaign against smoke belchers, as traffic polluting vehicles are known in the Philippines, will be launched at a signing ceremony at the Asian Development Bank on 21 February. A multisectoral Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) will be signed by top government officials, heads of major bus, jeepney and truck organizations and representatives from civil society. The Bantay Usok (Guard Against Smoke) campaign is a crucial step in the ongoing US$300 million ADB-supported Metro Manila Air Quality Improvement Sector Development Program. The government signatories will include Transportation and Communications Secretary Vicente C. Rivera, Trade and Industry Secretary Mar Roxas, Environment Undersecretary Mario Ro?o, Energy Undersecretary Ben Hur Salcedo, and Chairman Jejomar Binay of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. In another important component of the clean air drive, a Swiss NGO, Swisscontact, will begin a program to help transport organizations to improve vehicle maintenance. This will reduce fuel consumption as well as emission levels. To heighten awareness of the campaign, an official website for the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Clean Air Act ( www.hangin.org) will be inaugurated by Congressmen Nereus Acosta and Heherson Alvarez. At least 70 percent of Manila's air pollution is caused by traffic. Several of the pollutants exceed safety levels of the World Health Organization and affect the health of over 10 million residents in the capital. By signing the agreement, government, private sector organizations and NGOs will acknowledge their responsibility to eliminate smoke belching by December 31, 2003 through a series of coordinated actions The actions include revising motor vehicle emission standards; raising awareness of the public and the transport sector of their role in the campaign; and promoting through the Land Transportation Office the idea of self regulation among stakeholders. This will be linked to the programs to raise standards of vehicle maintenance, to acquire testing equipment to implement emission standards and to increase enforcement capacity by establishing anti-smoke belching centers and centralizing data. From ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu Sat Feb 19 06:23:39 2000 From: ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu (Eric Bruun) Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 16:23:39 -0500 (EST) Subject: Cox & Litman V5 In-Reply-To: <00bf01bf762f$49c43880$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> Message-ID: I have enjoyed following the discussion between Todd and Wendell so far. Maybe some clipping is in order to get below the 500 line limitation so we can see the continuation directly instead of being steered elsewhere. I have a comment myself since Wendell brought up Seattle: As a Seattle native, I am absolutely appalled at the traffic situation there. Its the first thing I hear from others who go back to visit as well: "My god, the traffic is bad" or something similar. Wendell is really good at criticizing the plan to build one rail line. I would like to know what he suggests instead for a city with a downtown workforce of 140,000 people and few available transportation corridors. The freeway through downtown is already 13 lanes wide. And what about those of us who don't want to be forced to drive or the 30 percent of the population who don't have driver's licenses? The cost of building rail is also highly exaggerated. I think I mentioned in a previous mailing that the Puget Sound Regional Council found that less than 10 percent of all transportation spending in the region is public. Even a multi-billion dollar investment over 10 years will only change total annual spending by a tiny fraction. The newspapers and official plan said that the tax scheme to finance the expanded rail/bus network would raise the annual household taxes less than $200 per year. But tens of thousands of households might be able to save the cost of owning a second or third car, roughly $5000 per year, if transit services were better. Even one rail line, if it is part of a scheme to redesign the network for timed-transfer operation, could be a major boon to part of the region. Finally, why does everything have to focus on the money? If the public wants to do something about improving their quality of life, why shouldn't they be able to do so? The US is supposed to be a democracy, after all. I have to pay for pro-sports stadiums I won't attend. I am really angry about it, as is much of the public, but we have been told to go and ourselves. Therefore, I don't think it is unreasonable for non-users to have to pay for some public transportation they don't want to use. From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sat Feb 19 20:38:10 2000 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric.britton@ecoplan.org) Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2000 12:38:10 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Our fast evolving sustainability agenda In-Reply-To: <3.0.6.32.20000219093503.007f4930@relay101.jaring.my> Message-ID: Sustainable transportation and its proponents are no longer the weakest kids on the block. Things are changing. For example.... Exhibit A: Today's note here, "Pedicab drivers sue Governor Sutiyoso for operating ban", can be looked at with several other current pieces on the topic of transport in cities, and including in but not limited to Third World cities, which I would like to set before you for your consideration and eventually your comments. There are three pieces, of which the above is, let us call it, Exhibit A. Exhibit B: El Tiempo, the main newspaper of Bogot? (which I remind you is to shortly, next Thursday, to be the home of the world's first mega Third World Car Free Day - see http://www.ecoplan.org/carfreeday/) of this morning carries an article based on an interview with our friend and colleague Ralph Gakenheimer of MIT (whom the label a 'gur? del transporte', and rightly so) under the title 'Metro evitar? polarizaci?n' which makes the case for a metro for Bogot?. You can pick up the article at http://www.eltiempo.com/hoy/bog_n005tn0.html, and if that doesn't work (that link being date sensitive), try http://www.eltiempo.com/sabado/bog_n005tn0.html. (Remembering of course that you can 'machine translate' it for rough content and context) Exhibit C: The English language text of an interview conducted by the same newspaper yesterday here in Paris, which looks at Bogot?'s transport system from a somewhat different perspective. Conclusion: My point is this. I believe that these are three pieces of the same puzzle, that they fit in with each other quite nicely, and that one of the main tasks of the transportation profession and others making decisions in this area is to understand that there is indeed a "big picture" which ties up all these apparently unconnected bits and pieces quite nicely. And that is our evolving concept of sustainable transportation. Put in other words, what I am trying to say is that it appears that we are moving toward this greater goal piece by piece, and that all we have to do now is to maintain the momentum and keep moving ahead with our extension and refinement of the agenda. A couple of more years of hard work, successful demonstrations, and effective communications between us, and we will have our wedge into the problem. Anyone out there wish to comment on, amplify or otherwise improve on this? Eric Britton ecopl@n ___ technology, economy, society ___ Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France Interview of Eric Britton, EcoPlan, by Mar?a Camila Morales Correspondent de El Tiempo, Paris, 18 February 2000 CAR FREE DAYS - A GOOD WAY TO FISH FOR GOOD TRANSPORTATION Question - Will the Bogot?'s Car Free Day of the 24th solve all the transport problems of the capital? Response - Who thinks that? No, of course it won't. Mar?a Camila Morales - Well, if it doesn't solve the problems, why bother to have it in the first place? Eric Britton - For a lot of reasons, but let me start with this one. What it accomplishes is getting all or most of the vehicles off the street that are not doing their full job. And when we say "full job" what we really mean is that because street space is scarce in big cities like Bogot? (or for that matter London or Berlin or Paris) there just is not enough room available to accommodate lots of private cars with just one or two people in them. In the end it's a simple matter of geometry. The geometry of the car, is not the same as the geometry of a city. So you have to chose, which do you want? A city for cars? Or a city for people? Have you ever been to a city for cars. I have and let me tell you it's awful. If you have a choice, believe me, what you want is a city for people. MCM- Okay, so lets assume that what you say is true, still what do we accomplish by getting the cars out for a single day? If I believe what you say, why not get them all out all of the time? EB- Well, that's a great question. What do they say: "if wishes we wings then we all could just fly". So, no matter how desirable it might be to have cities without any cars (and that too is something that is worth a careful debate) we have to take into account that we live in a democracy and that a lot of people have and depend on their cars (I for example have a car, though I never use it during the day in the city). So you have to admit that anyone who tries to get them all off the road forever, even if he thinks he has a magic wand, is going to run into a huge wall of resistance. Can you imagine what would happen if anyone tried to do that? No, there is of course no way that we can take all the cars off the road in one sweep. But if we do get together, we might be able to do it for a single day. Especially if we have some good reasons and good public support for doing it. And that of course is the basic premise behind Bogot?'s Car Free Day next Thursday. MCM- I'm still having trouble with this one. So we get the cars off the street on the 24th, but what difference does it make? EB- The difference is that for once, if only for one day, we can begin to see what out city might look like if we had a transportation system that made better use of our street space and in the process offered more, better and faster service for more people. What some of us call the beginning of a sustainable transport system. MCM- Are you saying, Professor Britton, that everyone in Bogot? should be getting around by "Buses, Busetas, Colectivos, Taxis y Flotas"? EB- Well that's certainly an important part of the long run solution but there's more to it than that. Let's not forget Bogot? has created almost 300 km of cycle paths (and by he way, what a wonderful accomplishment that is!), and that with less traffic and less danger on at least some streets we can expect that there will be many more people cycling, walking, running and even inline skating to work. Don't you think it's going to be great seeing how all these people are going to be able to go about the business of their daily lives in this way? (And by the way, please call me Eric.) MCM- Thank you Eric, but what about pollution? And noise? And safety? Do you really think that moving people into the colectivos and taxis for one day is going to make Bogot? a safer and clear city? I have read that they are about the most dangerous, polluting, dirty and inefficient parts of our whole system. I have even heard that there have been recommendations by North American experts that we should get rid of all of them and go over to a big state owned system with only new big buses. And of course the metro? EB- Isn't this ironic? Here you are suggesting, as I read in one place, that one of the main problems of Bogot? is that there are: "MUCHOS buses, MUY lentos y MUY viejos". If I had to score that one, I would give it one and a half out of three. MCM- One and a half out of three? I don't understand. EB- Well, as anyone can see they are for the most part "muy viejos". That's one. And they are often "muy lentos", but not always as you know if you ride in them. When they are slow, it's because they have been slowed down by the congestion. And much of that congestion is due to cars with only one or tow people in them. Which indeed is why we are trying this Car Free Day. MCM- And the "muchos" part? EB- Well, there is where the critics have it quite wrong. In fact, it is my view, which by the way is shared by many of my most internationally esteemed colleagues, that one of the great accomplishments of a city like Bogot? is precisely that it has so many different sizes and kinds of vehicles, going to so many different places, in so many different ways. That they are owned and operated by independent people, without the need for huge clumps of public funding just to keep them going. And don't forget, they create lots jobs. In fact, what you have here is the beginning of one of the world's most suitable and sustainable urban transportation systems. What a pity it would be to throw it away because someone with a weak PhD suggests that you should try to look like Paris. In fact, as someone who lives and works in Paris, I cannot wait for the day that we have them here. MCM- So to conclude, Eric, how will our Car Free Day help us with this. EB- Well, on the 24th you all are gong to be able to see all those "Buses, Busetas, Colectivos, Taxis y Flotas" working as the vital core of your motorized transport system. And at the end of the day you will see that there were not too many of them. And yes, you will see too they need to be newer and better maintained. That the drivers need to be better trained and a bit more disciplined (and that they also have to be organized so that they earn more money and have a better life for themselves as well). What's great about the Car Free Day is that by removing part of the problem, you are going to be able to see much more clearly what it is you have to do next to have a much better and more just transportation system, a better city and a better life for all who live here. Thank you for asking me such tough but interesting questions. From negronpp at MAGELLAN.UMontreal.CA Sun Feb 20 01:50:13 2000 From: negronpp at MAGELLAN.UMontreal.CA (Paula Negron Poblete) Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2000 11:50:13 -0500 Subject: Our fast evolving sustainability agenda References: Message-ID: <38AEC9C5.A40B5A68@magellan.umontreal.ca> I'm writing as an answer to Eric Britton's mail of this saturday, about the construction on a subway in Bogota. I agree with the fact that the operation of a subway service is very useful in a metropolis, particularely because of its consequences on the movement of people and on the land use of the city, that point has already been studied in several cases. The problem I see to that project is the same problem we had seen in mostly of the metropolis in Latin America: the authorities want to construct a subway, but they don't have the monetary ressources to do it (approx. 60 millions USD per kilometer, depending if the infrastructure is elevated, underground or at the street level), so they have to ask for a loan (usually to the World Bank) which comes with interests and conditions, and we know the story: unable to pay, the country asks for a restructuration of the debt. A second problem arrises with the operation expenditures, because population in developing countries has low revenues large subsidies are necessary, revenues can't cover the operation expenses. We can take the example of the Mexico city; the subway was constructed in the seventies, and today moves near four million people each day on a network of 200 kilometers. Well, even in this case, in 1996, the public authorities had to ask for a loan of 11.5 million pesos (more than a million USD) to pay the expenses of maintenance (see www.shcp.gob.mx/docs/info496/ddf.html). The question we can ask ourselves is this: is really the construction of a subway the only solution to the transportation problems in a third world metropolis? or can we find more suitable interventions in the area? eric.britton@ecoplan.org a ?crit : > Sustainable transportation and its proponents are no longer the weakest kids > on the block. Things are changing. For example.... > > Exhibit A: > Today's note here, "Pedicab drivers sue Governor Sutiyoso for operating > ban", can be looked at with several other current pieces on the topic of > transport in cities, and including in but not limited to Third World cities, > which I would like to set before you for your consideration and eventually > your comments. There are three pieces, of which the above is, let us call > it, Exhibit A. > > Exhibit B: > El Tiempo, the main newspaper of Bogot? (which I remind you is to shortly, > next Thursday, to be the home of the world's first mega Third World Car Free > Day - see http://www.ecoplan.org/carfreeday/) of this morning carries an > article based on an interview with our friend and colleague Ralph > Gakenheimer of MIT (whom the label a 'gur? del transporte', and rightly so) > under the title 'Metro evitar? polarizaci?n' which makes the case for a > metro for Bogot?. You can pick up the article at > http://www.eltiempo.com/hoy/bog_n005tn0.html, and if that doesn't work (that > link being date sensitive), try > http://www.eltiempo.com/sabado/bog_n005tn0.html. (Remembering of course that > you can 'machine translate' it for rough content and context) > > Exhibit C: > The English language text of an interview conducted by the same newspaper > yesterday here in Paris, which looks at Bogot?'s transport system from a > somewhat different perspective. > > Conclusion: > My point is this. I believe that these are three pieces of the same puzzle, > that they fit in with each other quite nicely, and that one of the main > tasks of the transportation profession and others making decisions in this > area is to understand that there is indeed a "big picture" which ties up all > these apparently unconnected bits and pieces quite nicely. And that is our > evolving concept of sustainable transportation. > > Put in other words, what I am trying to say is that it appears that we are > moving toward this greater goal piece by piece, and that all we have to do > now is to maintain the momentum and keep moving ahead with our extension and > refinement of the agenda. A couple of more years of hard work, successful > demonstrations, and effective communications between us, and we will have > our wedge into the problem. > > Anyone out there wish to comment on, amplify or otherwise improve on this? > > Eric Britton > > ecopl@n ___ technology, economy, society ___ > Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France > > Interview of Eric Britton, EcoPlan, by Mar?a Camila Morales > Correspondent de El Tiempo, > > Paris, 18 February 2000 > > CAR FREE DAYS - A GOOD WAY TO FISH FOR GOOD TRANSPORTATION > > Question - Will the Bogot?'s Car Free Day of the 24th solve all the > transport problems of the capital? > > Response - Who thinks that? No, of course it won't. > > Mar?a Camila Morales - Well, if it doesn't solve the problems, why bother to > have it in the first place? > > Eric Britton - For a lot of reasons, but let me start with this one. What it > accomplishes is getting all or most of the vehicles off the street that are > not doing their full job. And when we say "full job" what we really mean is > that because street space is scarce in big cities like Bogot? (or for that > matter London or Berlin or Paris) there just is not enough room available to > accommodate lots of private cars with just one or two people in them. > > In the end it's a simple matter of geometry. The geometry of the car, is > not the same as the geometry of a city. So you have to chose, which do you > want? A city for cars? Or a city for people? Have you ever been to a city > for cars. I have and let me tell you it's awful. If you have a choice, > believe me, what you want is a city for people. > > MCM- Okay, so lets assume that what you say is true, still what do we > accomplish by getting the cars out for a single day? If I believe what you > say, why not get them all out all of the time? > > EB- Well, that's a great question. What do they say: "if wishes we wings > then we all could just fly". So, no matter how desirable it might be to have > cities without any cars (and that too is something that is worth a careful > debate) we have to take into account that we live in a democracy and that a > lot of people have and depend on their cars (I for example have a car, > though I never use it during the day in the city). So you have to admit that > anyone who tries to get them all off the road forever, even if he thinks he > has a magic wand, is going to run into a huge wall of resistance. Can you > imagine what would happen if anyone tried to do that? > > No, there is of course no way that we can take all the cars off the road in > one sweep. But if we do get together, we might be able to do it for a > single day. Especially if we have some good reasons and good public support > for doing it. And that of course is the basic premise behind Bogot?'s Car > Free Day next Thursday. > > MCM- I'm still having trouble with this one. So we get the cars off the > street on the 24th, but what difference does it make? > > EB- The difference is that for once, if only for one day, we can begin to > see what out city might look like if we had a transportation system that > made better use of our street space and in the process offered more, better > and faster service for more people. What some of us call the beginning of a > sustainable transport system. > > MCM- Are you saying, Professor Britton, that everyone in Bogot? should be > getting around by "Buses, Busetas, Colectivos, Taxis y Flotas"? > > EB- Well that's certainly an important part of the long run solution but > there's more to it than that. Let's not forget Bogot? has created almost 300 > km of cycle paths (and by he way, what a wonderful accomplishment that is!), > and that with less traffic and less danger on at least some streets we can > expect that there will be many more people cycling, walking, running and > even inline skating to work. Don't you think it's going to be great seeing > how all these people are going to be able to go about the business of their > daily lives in this way? (And by the way, please call me Eric.) > > MCM- Thank you Eric, but what about pollution? And noise? And safety? Do > you really think that moving people into the colectivos and taxis for one > day is going to make Bogot? a safer and clear city? I have read that they > are about the most dangerous, polluting, dirty and inefficient parts of our > whole system. I have even heard that there have been recommendations by > North American experts that we should get rid of all of them and go over to > a big state owned system with only new big buses. And of course the metro? > > EB- Isn't this ironic? Here you are suggesting, as I read in one place, that > one of the main problems of Bogot? is that there are: "MUCHOS buses, MUY > lentos y MUY viejos". If I had to score that one, I would give it one and a > half out of three. > > MCM- One and a half out of three? I don't understand. > > EB- Well, as anyone can see they are for the most part "muy viejos". That's > one. And they are often "muy lentos", but not always as you know if you > ride in them. When they are slow, it's because they have been slowed down > by the congestion. And much of that congestion is due to cars with only one > or tow people in them. Which indeed is why we are trying this Car Free Day. > > MCM- And the "muchos" part? > > EB- Well, there is where the critics have it quite wrong. In fact, it is my > view, which by the way is shared by many of my most internationally esteemed > colleagues, that one of the great accomplishments of a city like Bogot? is > precisely that it has so many different sizes and kinds of vehicles, going > to so many different places, in so many different ways. That they are owned > and operated by independent people, without the need for huge clumps of > public funding just to keep them going. And don't forget, they create lots > jobs. > > In fact, what you have here is the beginning of one of the world's most > suitable and sustainable urban transportation systems. What a pity it would > be to throw it away because someone with a weak PhD suggests that you should > try to look like Paris. In fact, as someone who lives and works in Paris, I > cannot wait for the day that we have them here. > > MCM- So to conclude, Eric, how will our Car Free Day help us with this. > > EB- Well, on the 24th you all are gong to be able to see all those "Buses, > Busetas, Colectivos, Taxis y Flotas" working as the vital core of your > motorized transport system. And at the end of the day you will see that > there were not too many of them. And yes, you will see too they need to be > newer and better maintained. That the drivers need to be better trained and > a bit more disciplined (and that they also have to be organized so that they > earn more money and have a better life for themselves as well). > > What's great about the Car Free Day is that by removing part of the problem, > you are going to be able to see much more clearly what it is you have to do > next to have a much better and more just transportation system, a better > city and a better life for all who live here. > > Thank you for asking me such tough but interesting questions. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000219/daeb6667/attachment.htm From wcox at publicpurpose.com Sun Feb 20 00:56:15 2000 From: wcox at publicpurpose.com (Wendell Cox) Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2000 09:56:15 -0600 Subject: [sustran] Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Message-ID: <016201bf7af1$dce89400$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> Comments on the Eric Bruun posting... > > > I have enjoyed following the discussion between Todd and Wendell > > so far. Maybe some clipping is in order to get below the 500 line > > limitation so we can see the continuation directly instead of > > being steered elsewhere. > > > > I have a comment myself since Wendell brought up Seattle: > > > > As a Seattle native, I am absolutely appalled at the traffic > > situation there. Its the first thing I hear from others who go > > back to visit as well: "My god, the traffic is bad" or something > > similar. > > > > Wendell is really good at criticizing the plan to build one rail line. I > > would like to know what he suggests instead for a city with a downtown > > workforce of 140,000 people and few available transportation corridors. > > The freeway through downtown is already 13 lanes wide. And what about > > those of us who don't want to be forced to drive or the 30 percent of the > > population who don't have driver's licenses? > > Actually it is not 13 lanes wide through downtown, which is the problem. It > is very wide (13 lanes may be the number) coming in from the north, where > there are three roadways. From the south as many as 10 lanes approach, but > through the core the freeway narrows to no more than 6... This does not mean > that one should condemn land and triple the roadway right of way... it does > mean, however, that it is worthwhile looking at tunneling options that might > make it possible to greatly improve capacity, without destroying the city. > The local Discovery Institute (whose Exec Director Bruce Chapman is a > colleague of mine on the Amtrak Reform Council) has suggested something like > this. > > I suspect that a good percentage of the traffic on I-5... which is the only > through freeway on the Seattle peninsulas... is not headed for downtown. My > point is that building a network of light rail lines keying on downtown > Seattle will change life little, because there will be little change in work > trip market shares of the various modes. > > The Seattle bus system is now providing something like 35 percent of the > downtown work trips to the 100,000 employee core of downtown, and I believe > the number is near 30 percent of the larger area that Eric cites --- this > ranks it something like 8th among CBD public transport work trip shares in > the US. Adding light rail won't do much to change that, since there will be > virtually no time improvement in travel. I have heard that Sound Transit is > projecting time savings relative to cars, but that rarely materializes in > the real world, once alignments and grade separation issues are decided. > Moreover, even if you take the projections... and I have not studied the > Seattle projections... or the actual usage of new light rail systems you > will find little, if any diversion from autos. So it is not a solution to > the problem that Eric raises. > > As regards the 30 percent without licenses, most of these are simply not old > enough to drive. I support efficient transit and buses make a lot of sense > to concentrated downtown areas, such as downtown Seattle. But transit > carries a very small percentage of work trips to other employment centers, > and generally carries only those without access to cars --- average incomes > of people commuting to nondowntown locations by transit is approx 40 percent > below average, while downtown transit commuters are approx the same as > average. In Seattle, depending upon your definition of downtown, somewhere > between seven and 10 percent of metropolitan employment was downtown in > 1990 --- percentage would be smaller now. Light rail provides literally no > benefit to the 90 percent of workers not employed downtown. > > > > > The cost of building rail is also highly exaggerated. I think I > > mentioned in a previous mailing that the Puget Sound Regional Council > > found that less than 10 percent of all transportation spending in > > the region is public. Even a multi-billion dollar investment over > > 10 years will only change total annual spending by a tiny fraction. The > > newspapers and official plan said that the tax scheme to finance the > > expanded rail/bus network would raise the annual household taxes less > > than $200 per year. But tens of thousands of households might be able to > > save the cost of owning a second or third car, roughly $5000 per year, if > > transit services were better. Even one rail line, if it is part of a > > scheme to redesign the network for timed-transfer operation, could be a > > major boon to part of the region. > > > I would suggest that tens of thousands of people won't save having a second > or third car. Light rail and highways should be evaluated based upon their > costs of some common unit... like passenger miles. That produces a serious > imbalance. > > > Finally, why does everything have to focus on the money? If the public > > wants to do something about improving their quality of life, why shouldn't > > they be able to do so? The US is supposed to be a democracy, after all. > > I have to pay for pro-sports stadiums I won't attend. I am really angry > > about it, as is much of the public, but we have been told to go and > > ourselves. Therefore, I don't think it is unreasonable > > for non-users to have to pay for some public transportation they don't > > want to use. > > Some of us believe that certain types of government actions are > inappropriate. Others believe that other types of government actions are > inappropriate. That is what the democratic process is all about. > > Concluding point.. Agree that the traffic in Seattle is bad. But light rail > will make it no better. Solution won't be easy, but will be delayed by > attention to things, like light rail, that do not have the capability of > making a difference, because they do not address the problem. > From sustran at po.jaring.my Sun Feb 20 10:44:09 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 09:44:09 +0800 Subject: [sustran] No HTML to the list please Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000220094409.00873d80@relay101.jaring.my> An administrative note. Can everyone please switch off their HTML option when sending to the sustran-discuss list. Please send only plain ASCII text to the list. (also no attachments allowed please). HTML messages cause annoyance for those using older email software and for everyone who is getting the digest mode. These people end up getting a long mess of html code to skip over. It also makes the messages double in length. Best wishes, Paul A. Rahman Paul BARTER Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia. E-mail: sustran@po.jaring.my URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction) Ask about our SUSTRAN NEWS FLASHES - news updates on people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on countries in the global 'South'. From sustran at po.jaring.my Sun Feb 20 12:10:06 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 11:10:06 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: transport externalities studies in the South? Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000220111006.0088c830@relay101.jaring.my> Dear sustran-discussers, I have been asked the following interesting question and hope members of the list can help. I have not had time to ask permission to forward this to the list so I will not identify the person who asked the question. The question (edited a little to not identify the questioner without permission): What studies have actually been done for developing (and transition) economies that attempt to put an economic value on the road transport externalities, particularly Accidents, Air Pollution, Noise and Congestion? While such studies have, as you know, multiplied rapidly for most of the OECD countries over the last decade, we know of relatively few for developing countries, and we suspect that there are quite a lot of studies done by local governments, universities and NGOs that we are not aware of. If you could give me a small list of any such studies that you are aware of, especially for Asian or Latin American countries, I would be extremely grateful. [The question is in the wider context of an investigation of what policies on the management of motorisation should be recommended in countries with low or middle-incomes.] Paul A. Rahman Paul BARTER Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia. E-mail: sustran@po.jaring.my URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran (under construction) Ask about our SUSTRAN NEWS FLASHES - news updates on people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on countries in the global 'South'. From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sun Feb 20 16:44:01 2000 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric.britton@ecoplan.org) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 08:44:01 +0100 Subject: [sustran] transport externalities studies in the South? In-Reply-To: <3.0.6.32.20000220111006.0088c830@relay101.jaring.my> Message-ID: Paul Barter writes of this date: "What studies have actually been done for developing (and transition) economies that attempt to put an economic value on the road transport externalities, particularly Accidents, Air Pollution, Noise and Congestion? While such studies have, as you know, multiplied rapidly for most of the OECD countries over the last decade, we know of relatively few for developing countries, and we suspect that there are quite a lot of studies done by local governments, universities and NGOs that we are not aware of. Suggestion: May we turn this into (a) a shared bibliography (which we would be pleased to keep posted and up to date as new things roll in on the @Access on the Web site at http://www.ecoplan.org/access; and (b) to the extent possible provide either links or actually pop key reports into the @libraries of both the Sustran and the @ccess sites where we have some capacity to do this sort of thing. My point is that these are such critical issues and if all of us have better command of the both the bottom line numbers and the ways in which they are being reached, we will all be just that much better off. (Also, I guess I must admit that I just hate it when good information either gets caught in a corner or becomes proprietary to some individual or group. We have seen all too much of that in the last decades and it has done the people of Third World cities not a whole lot of good.) Does that sound about right Paul? Eric Britton ecopl@n ___ technology, economy, society ___ Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France Eric.Britton@ecoplan.org URL www.ecoplan.org Voice/Videoconference +331.4441.6340 (1-4) Voicemail/Fax hotline: Europe +331 5301 2896 Voicemail/Fax hotline: North America +1 888 522 6419 (toll free) From litman at vtpi.org Mon Feb 21 02:29:20 2000 From: litman at vtpi.org (Todd Litman) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 09:29:20 -0800 Subject: fwd: transport externalities studies in the South? In-Reply-To: <3.0.6.32.20000220111006.0088c830@relay101.jaring.my> Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000220092920.009d4c10@pop.islandnet.com> At 11:10 AM 02/20/2000 +0800, you wrote: >What studies have actually been done for developing (and transition) >economies that attempt to put an economic value on the road transport >externalities, particularly Accidents, Air Pollution, Noise and Congestion? > While such studies have, as you know, multiplied rapidly for most of the >OECD countries over the last decade, we know of relatively few for >developing countries, and we suspect that there are quite a lot of studies >done by local governments, universities and NGOs that we are not aware of. See the following: Christopher Zegras with Todd Litman, "An Analysis of the Full Costs and Impacts of Transportation in Santiago de Chile," International Institute for Energy Conservation (Washington DC, Santiago; www.iiec.org), sponsored by the Climate Change Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Tinker Foundation, March 1997. This is one of the first comprehensive transport cost studies in the developing world. Cullinane, S.L.; K.P.B. Cullinane, "Increasing Car Ownership and Use in Egypt: The Straw that Breaks the Camel's Back?", International Journal of Transport Economics, Vol. 22, No. 1, Feb. 1995, pp. 35-63. Jose Carbajo, "Roads and the Environment: A Handbook," World Bank, 1993. Faiz, Asif; Surhid Gautam; Emaad Burik, "Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles: Issues and Options for Latin American Countries," in Science of the Total Environment, 1995, pp. 303-310. Kenneth Gwilliam, "Can Developing Countries Learn from Our Mistakes," Transport at the Millennium; Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 553, Sept. 1997, pp. 168-179. Todd Litman, "Transportation Cost Analysis; Applications in Developed and Developing Countries," India Journal of Applied Economics, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Basaveswaranager; ijae.kps@axcess.net.in), January-March 1998, pp. 115-137. Ian Barwell, "Transport and the Village; Findings from African Village-Level Travel and Transport Surveys and Related Studies," World Bank (Washington DC), Discussion Paper No. 344, Africa Region Series, 1996. Yaakov Garb,, "The Trans-Israel Highway: Do We Know Enough To Proceed?", Floersheimer Institute for Policy Studies (Jerusalem) April 1997. Todd Litman, "Transportation Cost Analysis - Summary", VTPI (http://www.vtpi.org), 1999. This is a comprehensive summary of transportation costs, including user costs, government costs, and various external costs. The same costing techniques apply in developing countries, although their magnitude may change to reflect local economies. 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@vtpi.org Website: http://www.vtpi.org From czegras at MIT.EDU Mon Feb 21 02:53:30 2000 From: czegras at MIT.EDU (P. Christopher Zegras) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 12:53:30 -0500 Subject: [sustran] transport externalities in south In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 21 Feb 2000 02:00:41 +0900." <200002201700.CAA21998@mail.jca.apc.org> Message-ID: <200002201753.MAA17408@department-of-alchemy.mit.edu> Hi all, Todd Litman and I conducted a full cost study of transport in Santiago Chile, published by the International Institute for Energy Conservation in March, 1997. We looked at internal and external costs - including vehicle ownership, accident costs, air pollution, congestion, infrastructure, etc. I don't know if IIEC still has any hard copies left. A summary of the report was published in Transport Policy in 1998. I could also probably gather up the original electronic files and zip them up to send electronically to those interested. Cheers, Chris From leongsm at yahoo.com Mon Feb 21 08:32:14 2000 From: leongsm at yahoo.com (siewmun leong) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 15:32:14 -0800 (PST) Subject: transport externalities in south Message-ID: <20000220233214.12393.qmail@web123.yahoomail.com> Dear Chris Would appreciate if you can send me the e-copy. Thanks Regards Siewmun LEONG Ph.D --- "P. Christopher Zegras" wrote: > Hi all, > > Todd Litman and I conducted a full cost study of > transport in Santiago > Chile, published by the International Institute for > Energy Conservation > in March, 1997. We looked at internal and external > costs - including > vehicle ownership, accident costs, air pollution, > congestion, infrastructure, > etc. > > I don't know if IIEC still has any hard copies left. > A summary of the report > was published in Transport Policy in 1998. I could > also probably gather up > the original electronic files and zip them up to > send electronically to > those interested. > > Cheers, > Chris > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com From rajendra.aryal at undp.org Mon Feb 21 13:20:07 2000 From: rajendra.aryal at undp.org (Rajendra Aryal) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 09:50:07 +0530 Subject: transport externalities in south References: <200002201753.MAA17408@department-of-alchemy.mit.edu> Message-ID: <38B0BCF6.9FF241FE@undp.org> Hi Chris, I would be very much interested in getting a copy of the report you produced together with Todd Litman. It would be great if you could send me the electronic version of it. With best regards. Rajendra Aryal Programme Officer United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Nepal P. Christopher Zegras wrote: > Hi all, > > Todd Litman and I conducted a full cost study of transport in Santiago Chile, > published by the International Institute for Energy Conservation in March, > 1997. We looked at internal and external costs - including vehicle ownership, > accident costs, air pollution, congestion, infrastructure, etc. > > I don't know if IIEC still has any hard copies left. A summary of the report > was published in Transport Policy in 1998. I could also probably gather up the > original electronic files and zip them up to send electronically to those > interested. > > Cheers, > Chris From kisansbc at bom5.vsnl.net.in Tue Feb 22 08:04:45 2000 From: kisansbc at bom5.vsnl.net.in (SAVE BOMBAY COMMITEE) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 15:04:45 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Re: Mumbai Rail Corp. will become a reality References: <38B1C1A4.B6135942@bom5.vsnl.net.in> Message-ID: <38B1C48C.4EC39E19@bom5.vsnl.net.in> SAVE BOMBAY COMMITEE wrote: > Just to correct Debi Goenka's email of 18.02.2000. > > 1. The World Bank announced in early 1997 that if has dropped > consideration of r MUTPII. I have the Bank letter. It is true that > the Bank team visits off and on but my imprassion from talk with the > team is that it is visiting Mumbai due to persostent request of > the Mahrashtra Govt. > > 2. It would be incorrect to believe that marginal increase in petrol > diesel prices is to meet the cost of flyovers, even partially. Debi > should be aware that increase was necessitated to offset terrible > increases in international petroleum prices. India is likely to > lose Rs. 180 billion during 1999-2000 on petroleum imports. Diesel > price is still lower than that of mineral water. Again petrol prices > are for Central Government while flyovers are Maharashtra venture. > > 3. It would be too much to expect any improvement now in suburban > transport services if the Bank assisted us. The Maharashtra > Government has decided to phase out MUTPII in two part first part of > road improvement to be taken up if the Bank assistance comes and > second part of railway improvement to be deferred . After creating > chaos on roads- flyovers, elevated roads land sea links, hardly any > improvement is likely. Two main south-north cordinors were to be kept > as they are for public transport. They are now having many hurdles > due to flyovers. BEST buses cannot use flyovers and will have to > fend their way in bulk transport moving on existing corridors. The > Bank has uptill now refused assistance till flyovers are not > dropped. Bank money in the present situation would undoubtedly > increase liquidity which Maharashtra committed as it is to > motorisation, would use to increase facilities to private vehicles. > > 4. Debi has rightly pointed out the Government has let the MUTPII to > languish though its share in MUTPII was to be less than Rs. 15 > billion while it has pussued and is rigorously pressing motorisation > by removing pavements and building totally useless flyovers etc. > How can any one expect the Government to pursue programmes to support > public transport ? > > > > > Kisan Mehta -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000221/f0171a22/attachment.htm From debi.beag at SoftHome.net Mon Feb 21 21:06:09 2000 From: debi.beag at SoftHome.net (Debi Goenka) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 17:36:09 +0530 Subject: Mumbai Rail Corp. will become a reality References: <38B1C1A4.B6135942@bom5.vsnl.net.in> <38B1C48C.4EC39E19@bom5.vsnl.net.in> Message-ID: <38B12A31.89D79F48@SoftHome.net> This is with reference to Kisan Mehta's "corrections" to my email. Here are some more corrections. 1. As I mentioned in my email, though the project has been "officially" dropped, my information is that discussions and negotiations are still taking place regularly with the MMRDA, who is coordinating this project. Thus there is no finality in the official announcement. 2. In addition to the toll being charged for the flyovers, the Maharashtra Government has increased the price of petrol and diesel sold in Bombay to partially pay for the flyover construction. This option had been suggested earlier as an alternative to toll - we are now stuck with both! 3. There is no reason why the rail component of MUTP II cannot still be implemented - in fact, the major chunk of the budget is earmarked for suburban rail component. The road portion may have to be reworked in the light of the new flyovers - I do not think it is being dropped completely. Cheers Debi -- Debi Goenka Bombay Environmental Action Group Mobile: 98200-86404 e-mail: debi.beag@softhome.net Environmental Education Office Kalbadevi Municipal School # 54, 2nd floor Mumbai 400002 Tel: 2423126 Tfax: 2426385 Registered Office 4 Kurla Industrial Estate LBS Marg, Ghatkopar Mumbai 400086 Tel: 5147574 Fax: 5115810 Residence B 502 Glengate Hiranandani Gardens Powai Mumbai 400076 Tel: 5700638 Tfax: 5701459 From msenior at uswest.net Tue Feb 22 06:42:45 2000 From: msenior at uswest.net (Milnor H. Senior, III) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 14:42:45 -0700 Subject: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun References: <016201bf7af1$dce89400$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> Message-ID: <38B1B155.EE0E738F@dnvr.uswest.net> In response to the comments made regarding the high cost of transit products the issue is a combination of high capital costs to build these rail products plus the operating costs which will always exceed fare revenues so that constant operating subsidies are required. I believe the answer lies in building transit infrastructure which can be built at an affordable cost and operated on a profit making basis by private enterprises so that no public subsidies are required. Please examine the web site www.biketrans.com to see an example of the type of transit infrastructure which can exceed the carrying capacity of highway lanes, most light rail systems and which offers higher speeds in congested urban areas. The System is not only less expensive to build and operate than current transit products but the real savings will come from the improvement in public health which will result from building exercise back into normal life activities. With cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in the US and with obesity increasing at an alarming rate it is time to consider making changes that benefit both human health and the environment while lowering transportation costs. Bicycling is the most efficient form of transportation known and expanding its use within our transportation system should be used to solve urban congestion problems. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. Wendell Cox wrote: > Comments on the Eric Bruun posting... > > > > > I have enjoyed following the discussion between Todd and Wendell > > > so far. Maybe some clipping is in order to get below the 500 line > > > limitation so we can see the continuation directly instead of > > > being steered elsewhere. > > > > > > I have a comment myself since Wendell brought up Seattle: > > > > > > As a Seattle native, I am absolutely appalled at the traffic > > > situation there. Its the first thing I hear from others who go > > > back to visit as well: "My god, the traffic is bad" or something > > > similar. > > > > > > Wendell is really good at criticizing the plan to build one rail line. I > > > would like to know what he suggests instead for a city with a downtown > > > workforce of 140,000 people and few available transportation corridors. > > > The freeway through downtown is already 13 lanes wide. And what about > > > those of us who don't want to be forced to drive or the 30 percent of > the > > > population who don't have driver's licenses? > > > > Actually it is not 13 lanes wide through downtown, which is the problem. > It > > is very wide (13 lanes may be the number) coming in from the north, where > > there are three roadways. From the south as many as 10 lanes approach, but > > through the core the freeway narrows to no more than 6... This does not > mean > > that one should condemn land and triple the roadway right of way... it > does > > mean, however, that it is worthwhile looking at tunneling options that > might > > make it possible to greatly improve capacity, without destroying the city. > > The local Discovery Institute (whose Exec Director Bruce Chapman is a > > colleague of mine on the Amtrak Reform Council) has suggested something > like > > this. > > > > I suspect that a good percentage of the traffic on I-5... which is the > only > > through freeway on the Seattle peninsulas... is not headed for downtown. > My > > point is that building a network of light rail lines keying on downtown > > Seattle will change life little, because there will be little change in > work > > trip market shares of the various modes. > > > > The Seattle bus system is now providing something like 35 percent of the > > downtown work trips to the 100,000 employee core of downtown, and I > believe > > the number is near 30 percent of the larger area that Eric cites --- this > > ranks it something like 8th among CBD public transport work trip shares in > > the US. Adding light rail won't do much to change that, since there will > be > > virtually no time improvement in travel. I have heard that Sound Transit > is > > projecting time savings relative to cars, but that rarely materializes in > > the real world, once alignments and grade separation issues are decided. > > Moreover, even if you take the projections... and I have not studied the > > Seattle projections... or the actual usage of new light rail systems you > > will find little, if any diversion from autos. So it is not a solution to > > the problem that Eric raises. > > > > As regards the 30 percent without licenses, most of these are simply not > old > > enough to drive. I support efficient transit and buses make a lot of sense > > to concentrated downtown areas, such as downtown Seattle. But transit > > carries a very small percentage of work trips to other employment centers, > > and generally carries only those without access to cars --- average > incomes > > of people commuting to nondowntown locations by transit is approx 40 > percent > > below average, while downtown transit commuters are approx the same as > > average. In Seattle, depending upon your definition of downtown, somewhere > > between seven and 10 percent of metropolitan employment was downtown in > > 1990 --- percentage would be smaller now. Light rail provides literally no > > benefit to the 90 percent of workers not employed downtown. > > > > > > > > The cost of building rail is also highly exaggerated. I think I > > > mentioned in a previous mailing that the Puget Sound Regional Council > > > found that less than 10 percent of all transportation spending in > > > the region is public. Even a multi-billion dollar investment over > > > 10 years will only change total annual spending by a tiny fraction. The > > > newspapers and official plan said that the tax scheme to finance the > > > expanded rail/bus network would raise the annual household taxes less > > > than $200 per year. But tens of thousands of households might be able to > > > save the cost of owning a second or third car, roughly $5000 per year, > if > > > transit services were better. Even one rail line, if it is part of a > > > scheme to redesign the network for timed-transfer operation, could be a > > > major boon to part of the region. > > > > > I would suggest that tens of thousands of people won't save having a > second > > or third car. Light rail and highways should be evaluated based upon their > > costs of some common unit... like passenger miles. That produces a serious > > imbalance. > > > > > Finally, why does everything have to focus on the money? If the public > > > wants to do something about improving their quality of life, why > shouldn't > > > they be able to do so? The US is supposed to be a democracy, after all. > > > I have to pay for pro-sports stadiums I won't attend. I am really angry > > > about it, as is much of the public, but we have been told to go and > > > ourselves. Therefore, I don't think it is > unreasonable > > > for non-users to have to pay for some public transportation they don't > > > want to use. > > > > Some of us believe that certain types of government actions are > > inappropriate. Others believe that other types of government actions are > > inappropriate. That is what the democratic process is all about. > > > > Concluding point.. Agree that the traffic in Seattle is bad. But light > rail > > will make it no better. Solution won't be easy, but will be delayed by > > attention to things, like light rail, that do not have the capability of > > making a difference, because they do not address the problem. > > From ajain at kcrc.com Tue Feb 22 10:23:32 2000 From: ajain at kcrc.com (Jain Alok) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 09:23:32 +0800 Subject: [sustran] RE: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Message-ID: Yeah...but where your commute takes over half an hour by bus or rail, bike cannot substitute. In big cities, I would consider bike's role more as feeder to rail transit or other public transport, with some sort of bike-sharing concept (to use at the destination end). Cheers Alok Jain -----Original Message----- From: Milnor H. Senior, III [mailto:msenior@uswest.net] Sent: February 22, 2000 5:43 AM To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun In response to the comments made regarding the high cost of transit products the issue is a combination of high capital costs to build these rail products plus the operating costs which will always exceed fare revenues so that constant operating subsidies are required. I believe the answer lies in building transit infrastructure which can be built at an affordable cost and operated on a profit making basis by private enterprises so that no public subsidies are required. Please examine the web site www.biketrans.com to see an example of the type of transit infrastructure which can exceed the carrying capacity of highway lanes, most light rail systems and which offers higher speeds in congested urban areas. The System is not only less expensive to build and operate than current transit products but the real savings will come from the improvement in public health which will result from building exercise back into normal life activities. With cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in the US and with obesity increasing at an alarming rate it is time to consider making changes that benefit both human health and the environment while lowering transportation costs. Bicycling is the most efficient form of transportation known and expanding its use within our transportation system should be used to solve urban congestion problems. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. From arorap at u.washington.edu Tue Feb 22 11:09:09 2000 From: arorap at u.washington.edu (Pamela Arora) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 18:09:09 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Re: transport externalities in south References: <200002201753.MAA17408@department-of-alchemy.mit.edu> <38B0BCF6.9FF241FE@undp.org> Message-ID: <000901bf7cda$a241cfc0$8da88e8c@v4gdt> could you please let me know how to get ahold of a copy of this report for my personal interest. thank you, pla ----- Original Message ----- From: Rajendra Aryal To: Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2000 8:20 PM Subject: Re: transport externalities in south > Hi Chris, > > I would be very much interested in getting a copy of the report you produced > together with Todd Litman. It would be great if you could send me the electronic > version of it. > > With best regards. > > Rajendra Aryal > Programme Officer > United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) > Nepal > > P. Christopher Zegras wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > Todd Litman and I conducted a full cost study of transport in Santiago Chile, > > published by the International Institute for Energy Conservation in March, > > 1997. We looked at internal and external costs - including vehicle ownership, > > accident costs, air pollution, congestion, infrastructure, etc. > > > > I don't know if IIEC still has any hard copies left. A summary of the report > > was published in Transport Policy in 1998. I could also probably gather up the > > original electronic files and zip them up to send electronically to those > > interested. > > > > Cheers, > > Chris > > > > From Jimmy.Tan at komag.com Tue Feb 22 11:35:14 2000 From: Jimmy.Tan at komag.com (Jimmy Tan) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 18:35:14 -0800 Subject: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Message-ID: <0C1FC1F95058D311BF3700104B6621FB01271364@kmsx01.komag.com> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/plain Size: 2714 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000221/0197031f/attachment.txt -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000221/0197031f/attachment.htm From wcox at publicpurpose.com Tue Feb 22 10:57:52 2000 From: wcox at publicpurpose.com (Wendell Cox) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 19:57:52 -0600 Subject: [sustran] Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun References: <0C1FC1F95058D311BF3700104B6621FB01271364@kmsx01.komag.com> Message-ID: <013f01bf7cd8$3ba4cee0$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> RE: [sustran] RE: Cox & Litman V5 & BruunIn the US, Canada and Western Europe it is quite normal for a bus or rail commute to take more than one-half hour over distances that could not be covered in a reasonable period by bicycle. ----- Original Message ----- From: Jimmy Tan To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 8:35 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun I'm not sure about rail, but if in the cities or within the city itself if a bus takes more then half an hour to travel from one point to another( or even within the city and it's suburbs) , it's usually stuck in a traffic jam. Hence by using a bike, from my experience, uses fairly less time than buses or private vehicles(PVs). As for rails and there is slightly any excuse for frequently delay that I would agree with you, Alok Jain. Pedal power Jimmy STEP -----Original Message----- From: Jain Alok [SMTP:ajain@kcrc.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 9:24 AM To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Subject: [sustran] RE: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Yeah...but where your commute takes over half an hour by bus or rail, bike cannot substitute. In big cities, I would consider bike's role more as feeder to rail transit or other public transport, with some sort of bike-sharing concept (to use at the destination end). Cheers Alok Jain -----Original Message----- From: Milnor H. Senior, III [mailto:msenior@uswest.net] Sent: February 22, 2000 5:43 AM To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun In response to the comments made regarding the high cost of transit products the issue is a combination of high capital costs to build these rail products plus the operating costs which will always exceed fare revenues so that constant operating subsidies are required. I believe the answer lies in building transit infrastructure which can be built at an affordable cost and operated on a profit making basis by private enterprises so that no public subsidies are required. Please examine the web site www.biketrans.com to see an example of the type of transit infrastructure which can exceed the carrying capacity of highway lanes, most light rail systems and which offers higher speeds in congested urban areas. The System is not only less expensive to build and operate than current transit products but the real savings will come from the improvement in public health which will result from building exercise back into normal life activities. With cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in the US and with obesity increasing at an alarming rate it is time to consider making changes that benefit both human health and the environment while lowering transportation costs. Bicycling is the most efficient form of transportation known and expanding its use within our transportation system should be used to solve urban congestion problems. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000221/c819d54e/attachment.htm From rrusso at uclink4.berkeley.edu Tue Feb 22 12:09:56 2000 From: rrusso at uclink4.berkeley.edu (Ryan Russo) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 19:09:56 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Message-ID: <3.0.32.20000221190956.008f6a60@uclink4.berkeley.edu> the bikeway is an interesting idea. a proforma on costs and maybe revenues would do your website well if possible. At 06:35 PM 2/21/00 -0800, you wrote: >>>> RE: [sustran] RE: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun 0000,0000,ffff I'm not sure about rail, but if in the cities or within the city itself if a bus takes more then half an hour to travel from one point to another( or even within the city and it's suburbs) , it's usually stuck in a traffic jam. Hence by using a bike, from my experience, uses fairly less time than buses or private vehicles(PVs).0000,0000,ffff As for rails and there is slightly any excuse for frequently delay that I would agree with you, Alok Jain. Pedal power Jimmy STEP -----Original Message----- From: Jain Alok [SMTP:ajain@kcrc.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 9:24 AM To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Subject: [sustran] RE: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Yeah...but where your commute takes over half an hour by bus or rail, bike cannot substitute. In big cities, I would consider bike's role more as feeder to rail transit or other public transport, with some sort of bike-sharing concept (to use at the destination end). Cheers Alok Jain -----Original Message----- From: Milnor H. Senior, III [<mailto:msenior@uswest.net] Sent: February 22, 2000 5:43 AM To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun In response to the comments made regarding the high cost of transit products the issue is a combination of high capital costs to build these rail products plus the operating costs which will always exceed fare revenues so that constant operating subsidies are required. I believe the answer lies in building transit infrastructure which can be built at an affordable cost and operated on a profit making basis by private enterprises so that no public subsidies are required. Please examine the web site www.biketrans.com to see an example of the type of transit infrastructure which can exceed the carrying capacity of highway lanes, most light rail systems and which offers higher speeds in congested urban areas. The System is not only less expensive to build and operate than current transit products but the real savings will come from the improvement in public health which will result from building exercise back into normal life activities. With cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in the US and with obesity increasing at an alarming rate it is time to consider making changes that benefit both human health and the environment while lowering transportation costs. Bicycling is the most efficient form of transportation known and expanding its use within our transportation system should be used to solve urban congestion problems. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. 0000,0000,ffff From msenior at uswest.net Wed Feb 23 07:15:47 2000 From: msenior at uswest.net (Milnor H. Senior, III) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 15:15:47 -0700 Subject: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun References: Message-ID: <38B30A93.5C337785@dnvr.uswest.net> Dear Jain Alok, Please consider that in the air movement powered TransGlide System cycling speeds will be 40 km in urban areas which is faster than either bus or rail speeds. Studies show that trip time is the major factor in determining mode choice. By making cycling the fastest mode of transportation in urban areas it will attract much greater market segments. Also, there are electric power assisted cycles and carts with ranges of up to 35 km. There are already such a wide variety of cycling products on the market that almost any transportation consumer can more inexpensively fill their transportation needs with a cycling product than using a motor vehicle. Most travel trips are within reasonable cycling distance. According to the 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey in the U.S. the average length of a travel trip is 9 miles. Trips to work are slightly longer, while shopping and other utilitarian trips are shorter. Work trips account for about 20% of all trips for private motor vehicles. The 80% non-work trips may be more easily converted to bicycle mode than work trips. These short, frequent intra-urban trips place a great strain on the transit system overall. You should find this quote interesting, "Automobile dominance creates a set of problems so relentless that societies in coming decades will have no choice but to seek transportation alternatives." That is not a quote from some radical environmental group - it is a quote from the Motor Vehicle Manufactures Association. Under the category of actions speak louder than words - in the last 30 days Ford Motor Company has begun selling electric power assisted cycles. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. Jain Alok wrote: > Yeah...but where your commute takes over half an hour by bus or rail, bike > cannot substitute. In big cities, I would consider bike's role more as > feeder to rail transit or other public transport, with some sort of > bike-sharing concept (to use at the destination end). > > Cheers > Alok Jain > > -----Original Message----- > From: Milnor H. Senior, III [mailto:msenior@uswest.net] > Sent: February 22, 2000 5:43 AM > To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org > Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > > In response to the comments made regarding the high cost of transit products > the > issue is a combination of high capital costs to build these rail products > plus > the operating costs which will always exceed fare revenues so that constant > operating subsidies are required. I believe the answer lies in building > transit > infrastructure which can be built at an affordable cost and operated on a > profit > making basis by private enterprises so that no public subsidies are > required. > Please examine the web site www.biketrans.com to see an example of the type > of > transit infrastructure which can exceed the carrying capacity of highway > lanes, > most light rail systems and which offers higher speeds in congested urban > areas. The System is not only less expensive to build and operate than > current > transit products but the real savings will come from the improvement in > public > health which will result from building exercise back into normal life > activities. With cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in > the > US and with obesity increasing at an alarming rate it is time to consider > making > changes that benefit both human health and the environment while lowering > transportation costs. Bicycling is the most efficient form of > transportation > known and expanding its use within our transportation system should be used > to > solve urban congestion problems. > Sincerely, > Milnor H. Senior, III > President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. From msenior at uswest.net Wed Feb 23 07:33:33 2000 From: msenior at uswest.net (Milnor H. Senior, III) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 15:33:33 -0700 Subject: Mumbai Rail Corp. will become a reality References: <38B1C1A4.B6135942@bom5.vsnl.net.in> <38B1C48C.4EC39E19@bom5.vsnl.net.in> Message-ID: <38B30EBC.6AB6095@dnvr.uswest.net> Dear Save Bombay Committee, To deal with the problems noted in your e-mail you may wish to look a this web site www.biketrans.com. It provides a much less costly solution which can be placed in urban areas with a great deal of flexibility due to its light weight. Since it is designed to be a profit generating system it may attract attention from the World Bank or other sources of investment. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. SAVE BOMBAY COMMITEE wrote: > Part 1.1 Type: Plain Text (text/plain) > Encoding: 7bit From kerry.wood at paradise.net.nz Wed Feb 23 12:09:50 2000 From: kerry.wood at paradise.net.nz (Kerry Wood) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 16:09:50 +1300 Subject: [sustran] Blowing bicycles References: <38B30A93.5C337785@dnvr.uswest.net> Message-ID: <38B34F7A.A58129A3@paradise.net.nz> Dear Milnor My first reaction to your proposals is that they would need too much power, especially at the relatively high speeds you propose, so I tried some crude calculations. If a bicycle is to be blown along at 40 km/h, the cycling resistance equation in the CROW manual gives an air speed of some 55 km/h. Taking a minimum cross section of say 3 m diameter, that gives an air flow of just over 100 cubic metres per second, or much more uphill. Cyclists will resist the idea of going through a non-return valve, so the air flow will have to be induced by jets of high pressure air - noisy and inefficient. I make the frictional pressure loss about 6 cm of water gauge per kilometre. That puts the frictional losses at about 60 kW per kilometre, or say at least 250 kW/km allowing for jet losses and both directions. Air flow could be shut down when there were no cyclists in the section, but this is still a lot of energy: possibly more than using buses. I hope this means my figures are wrong. Do you have any information on power requirements, and construction costs? What maximum gradient would you expect to be able to manage, at reduced speed? Regards -- Kerry Wood MICE MIPENZ MCIT Transport Consultant 1 McFarlane Street, Wellington 6001, New Zealand Phone + 64 4 971 5549 "Milnor H. Senior, III" wrote: > Dear Jain Alok, > Please consider that in the air movement powered TransGlide System cycling > speeds will be 40 km in urban areas which is faster than either bus or rail > speeds. Studies show that trip time is the major factor in determining mode > choice. By making cycling the fastest mode of transportation in urban areas it > will attract much greater market segments. Also, there are electric power (cut) From papon at inrets.fr Wed Feb 23 18:50:30 2000 From: papon at inrets.fr (Francis PAPON) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 10:50:30 +0100 Subject: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun In-Reply-To: <013f01bf7cd8$3ba4cee0$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> References: <0C1FC1F95058D311BF3700104B6621FB01271364@kmsx01.komag.com> Message-ID: leftWell my commute in the suburbs of Paris is 55 min by bike. It would be 1h35 by rail and 2 hours by bus (and uniformely distributed between 30 min and 1h30 by car). To be more general the average commercial speed of buses in Paris is below 10 km/h, which, taking into account waiting times and longer routes is often not faster than a brisk walk. Survey data show that door to door speeds for actual bicycle trips in France are better than those for public transport trips for distances up to 10 kilometres. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendell Cox" < To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Sent: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 19:57:52 -0600 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > In the US, Canada and Western Europe it is quite normal for a bus or rail commute to take more than one-half hour over distances that could not be covered in a reasonable period by bicycle. > ----- Original Message ----- From: <Jimmy Tan To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 8:35 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > I'm not sure about rail, but if in the cities or within the city itself if a bus takes more then half an hour to travel >from one point to another( or even within the city and it's suburbs) , it's usually stuck in a traffic jam. Hence by using a bike, from my experience, uses fairly less time than buses or private vehicles(PVs). > > As for rails and there is slightly any excuse for frequently delay that I would agree with you, Alok Jain. > >Pedal power Jimmy STEP > > >-----Original Message----- From: Jain Alok [SMTP:ajain@kcrc.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 9:24 AM To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Subject: [sustran] RE: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > >Yeah...but where your commute takes over half an hour by bus or rail, bike cannot substitute. In big cities, I would consider bike's role more as feeder to rail transit or other public transport, with some sort of bike-sharing concept (to use at the destination end). > >Cheers Alok Jain > >-----Original Message----- From: Milnor H. Senior, III [mailto:msenior@uswest.net] Sent: February 22, 2000 5:43 AM To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > >In response to the comments made regarding the high cost of transit products the issue is a combination of high capital costs to build these rail products plus the operating costs which will always exceed fare revenues so that constant operating subsidies are required. I believe the answer lies in building transit infrastructure which can be built at an affordable cost and operated on a profit making basis by private enterprises so that no public subsidies are required. Please examine the web site www.biketrans.com to see an example of the type of transit infrastructure which can exceed the carrying capacity of highway lanes, most light rail systems and which offers higher speeds in congested urban areas. The System is not only less expensive to build and operate than current transit products but the real savings will come from the improvement in public health which will result from building exercise back into normal life activities. With cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in the US and with obesity increasing at an alarming rate it is time to consider making changes that benefit both human health and the environment while lowering transportation costs. Bicycling is the most efficient form of transportation known and expanding its use within our transportation system should be used to solve urban congestion problems. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. Francis Papon, charg? de recherche mailto:francis.papon@inrets.fr INRETS/DEST/EEM, fax +33145475606 2, av. du G?n?ral Malleret-Joinville, F-94114 Arcueil France http://www.inrets.fr/infos/centres/inrets/velo_arcueil.html From wcox at publicpurpose.com Wed Feb 23 20:31:09 2000 From: wcox at publicpurpose.com (Wendell Cox) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 05:31:09 -0600 Subject: [sustran] Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun References: <0C1FC1F95058D311BF3700104B6621FB01271364@kmsx01.komag.com> Message-ID: <001e01bf7df1$7cbe4d60$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> Similar findings have been determined with respect to commuting in central London. The question is the extent to which this is the case. Not likely to be so virtually anywhere in North America or Oceania. ----- Original Message ----- From: Francis PAPON To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 3:50 AM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Well my commute in the suburbs of Paris is 55 min by bike. It would be 1h35 by rail and 2 hours by bus (and uniformely distributed between 30 min and 1h30 by car). To be more general the average commercial speed of buses in Paris is below 10 km/h, which, taking into account waiting times and longer routes is often not faster than a brisk walk. Survey data show that door to door speeds for actual bicycle trips in France are better than those for public transport trips for distances up to 10 kilometres. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendell Cox" To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Sent: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 19:57:52 -0600 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > In the US, Canada and Western Europe it is quite normal for a bus or rail commute to take more than one-half hour over distances that could not be covered in a reasonable period by bicycle. > ----- Original Message ----- From: Jimmy Tan To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 8:35 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > I'm not sure about rail, but if in the cities or within the city itself if a bus takes more then half an hour to travel >from one point to another( or even within the city and it's suburbs) , it's usually stuck in a traffic jam. Hence by using a bike, from my experience, uses fairly less time than buses or private vehicles(PVs). > > As for rails and there is slightly any excuse for frequently delay that I would agree with you, Alok Jain. > >Pedal power Jimmy STEP > > >-----Original Message----- From: Jain Alok [SMTP:ajain@kcrc.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 9:24 AM To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Subject: [sustran] RE: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > >Yeah...but where your commute takes over half an hour by bus or rail, bike cannot substitute. In big cities, I would consider bike's role more as feeder to rail transit or other public transport, with some sort of bike-sharing concept (to use at the destination end). > >Cheers Alok Jain > >-----Original Message----- From: Milnor H. Senior, III [mailto:msenior@uswest.net] Sent: February 22, 2000 5:43 AM To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > >In response to the comments made regarding the high cost of transit products the issue is a combination of high capital costs to build these rail products plus the operating costs which will always exceed fare revenues so that constant operating subsidies are required. I believe the answer lies in building transit infrastructure which can be built at an affordable cost and operated on a profit making basis by private enterprises so that no public subsidies are required. Please examine the web site www.biketrans.com to see an example of the type of transit infrastructure which can exceed the carrying capacity of highway lanes, most light rail systems and which offers higher speeds in congested urban areas. The System is not only less expensive to build and operate than current transit products but the real savings will come from the improvement in public health which will result from building exercise back into normal life activities. With cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in the US and with obesity increasing at an alarming rate it is time to consider making changes that benefit both human health and the environment while lowering transportation costs. Bicycling is the most efficient form of transportation known and expanding its use within our transportation system should be used to solve urban congestion problems. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. Francis Papon, charg? de recherche mailto:francis.papon@inrets.fr INRETS/DEST/EEM, fax +33145475606 2, av. du G?n?ral Malleret-Joinville, F-94114 Arcueil France http://www.inrets.fr/infos/centres/inrets/velo_arcueil.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000223/8ca2ac9e/attachment.htm From a.j.plumbe at Bradford.ac.uk Thu Feb 24 03:28:21 2000 From: a.j.plumbe at Bradford.ac.uk (Antony J Plumbe) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 18:28:21 +0000 () Subject: transport externalities in south In-Reply-To: <200002201753.MAA17408@department-of-alchemy.mit.edu> Message-ID: Dear Chris, Yes, I would very much appreciate receipt of electronic files of your full report. I did in fact try last year to obtain a copy of your report from the IIEC but the report never arrived! It is one of the few examples around of full costing applied to a developing country context. Tony Plumbe > Hi all, > > Todd Litman and I conducted a full cost study of transport in Santiago > Chile, published by the International Institute for Energy Conservation > in March, 1997. We looked at internal and external costs - including > vehicle ownership, accident costs, air pollution, congestion, infrastructure, > etc. > > I don't know if IIEC still has any hard copies left. A summary of the report > was published in Transport Policy in 1998. I could also probably gather up > the original electronic files and zip them up to send electronically to > those interested. > > Cheers, > Chris > ---------------------- A. J. Plumbe, Director, Outside Programmes, Co-ordinator M.Sc. in Project Planning and Management, email: a.j.plumbe@bradford.ac.uk Fax: International: +44-1274-235280 Domestic : 01274-235280 Phone: International : +44-1274-235264 Domestic : 01274-235264 Mailing Address: DPPC, Bradford University, Richmond Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire, U.K., BD7 1DP. From megarcia at xpnet.com.br Thu Feb 24 12:44:53 2000 From: megarcia at xpnet.com.br (Mario Eduardo Garcia) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 19:44:53 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Transport externalities Message-ID: <004c01bf7e79$8419f720$950ebec8@srgarcia> Dear Chris, I would very much appreciate receipt of electronic files of your full report. Many thanks Mario E. Garcia Sao Paulo - Brazil -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000223/0e6f9dc6/attachment.htm From heckler at quickweb.com.ph Wed Feb 23 23:40:35 2000 From: heckler at quickweb.com.ph (Heckler) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 22:40:35 +0800 Subject: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Message-ID: <007601bf7e4d$ea9cf640$9bc2e2d8@heckler> My fifteen kilometer commute to work takes me 45 minutes on my bike. It takes at least an hour by bus in light traffic and one-and-a-half in normal rush hour traffic. They've also done this test in New York (that I heard of when I lived there) and the bike commuter also won a door-to-door contest with the bus. Maybe New York is just like the rest of the world and only the rest of North America is differently! -----Original Message----- From: Wendell Cox To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 8:49 PM Subject: [sustran] Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Similar findings have been determined with respect to commuting in central London. The question is the extent to which this is the case. Not likely to be so virtually anywhere in North America or Oceania. ----- Original Message ----- From: Francis PAPON To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 3:50 AM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Well my commute in the suburbs of Paris is 55 min by bike. It would be 1h35 by rail and 2 hours by bus (and uniformely distributed between 30 min and 1h30 by car). To be more general the average commercial speed of buses in Paris is below 10 km/h, which, taking into account waiting times and longer routes is often not faster than a brisk walk. Survey data show that door to door speeds for actual bicycle trips in France are better than those for public transport trips for distances up to 10 kilometres. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendell Cox" To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Sent: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 19:57:52 -0600 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > In the US, Canada and Western Europe it is quite normal for a bus or rail commute to take more than one-half hour over distances that could not be covered in a reasonable period by bicycle. > ----- Original Message ----- From: Jimmy Tan To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 8:35 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > I'm not sure about rail, but if in the cities or within the city itself if a bus takes more then half an hour to travel >from one point to another( or even within the city and it's suburbs) , it's usually stuck in a traffic jam. Hence by using a bike, from my experience, uses fairly less time than buses or private vehicles(PVs). > > As for rails and there is slightly any excuse for frequently delay that I would agree with you, Alok Jain. > >Pedal power Jimmy STEP > > >-----Original Message----- From: Jain Alok [SMTP:ajain@kcrc.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 9:24 AM To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Subject: [sustran] RE: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > >Yeah...but where your commute takes over half an hour by bus or rail, bike cannot substitute. In big cities, I would consider bike's role more as feeder to rail transit or other public transport, with some sort of bike-sharing concept (to use at the destination end). > >Cheers Alok Jain > >-----Original Message----- From: Milnor H. Senior, III [mailto:msenior@uswest.net] Sent: February 22, 2000 5:43 AM To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > >In response to the comments made regarding the high cost of transit products the issue is a combination of high capital costs to build these rail products plus the operating costs which will always exceed fare revenues so that constant operating subsidies are required. I believe the answer lies in building transit infrastructure which can be built at an affordable cost and operated on a profit making basis by private enterprises so that no public subsidies are required. Please examine the web site www.biketrans.com to see an example of the type of transit infrastructure which can exceed the carrying capacity of highway lanes, most light rail systems and which offers higher speeds in congested urban areas. The System is not only less expensive to build and operate than current transit products but the real savings will come from the improvement in public health which will result from building exercise back into normal life activities. With cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in the US and with obesity increasing at an alarming rate it is time to consider making changes that benefit both human health and the environment while lowering transportation costs. Bicycling is the most efficient form of transportation known and expanding its use within our transportation system should be used to solve urban congestion problems. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. Francis Papon, charg? de recherche mailto:francis.papon@inrets.fr INRETS/DEST/EEM, fax +33145475606 2, av. du G?n?ral Malleret-Joinville, F-94114 Arcueil France http://www.inrets.fr/infos/centres/inrets/velo_arcueil.html From mobility at igc.org Thu Feb 24 08:35:26 2000 From: mobility at igc.org (ITDP) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 18:35:26 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: bike vs transit commuting times References: <007601bf7e4d$ea9cf640$9bc2e2d8@heckler> Message-ID: <38B46EBE.7E2119A7@igc.org> Well, my door-to door commute in Manhattan is about 25 minues BOTH by bike and by subway. And that is my pedal power competing against the 7th Avenue express subway, one of the fastest ways to get around in any city. (It goes express from 96th to 34th Streets with only 2 stops in between). The bus would take at least twice as long, since it stops every 4 streets or so. ---Deike Heckler wrote: > My fifteen kilometer commute to work takes me 45 minutes on my bike. It > takes at least an hour by bus in light traffic and one-and-a-half in normal > rush hour traffic. They've also done this test in New York (that I heard of > when I lived there) and the bike commuter also won a door-to-door contest > with the bus. Maybe New York is just like the rest of the world and only the > rest of North America is differently! From msenior at uswest.net Thu Feb 24 10:16:18 2000 From: msenior at uswest.net (Milnor H. Senior, III) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 18:16:18 -0700 Subject: Blowing bicycles References: <38B30A93.5C337785@dnvr.uswest.net> <38B34F7A.A58129A3@paradise.net.nz> Message-ID: <38B48661.164FA29B@dnvr.uswest.net> Dear Kerry Wood, The engineering work done for calculating air movement within the System was first done by ex John Mansville engineers that had extensive experience with air movement in mining operations. That work was later reviewed by Dutch engineers which found that the project was indeed realistic. I am not an engineer so I rely on PEs for performing these functions. The basic determinations are that air can be moved through a 10 mile long system using van axial fans powered with 150 hp. electric motors. The air movement components contain noise and vibration reduction functions. To move air both ways in a 10 mile long system would require 11 air movement units which at the current cost of electricity in the U.S. would cost a total of $200 per hour to operate for the entire system. All the calculations where done using an open system to provide the maximum cost figures. Part of the engineering work done included developing custom software which allows for all the variables to be changed with the air movement needs being instantly recalculated. Savings can be achieved through design changes and with different materials. Air locks are commonly used in commercial buildings in the U.S. so for example you may enter a grocery store through an air lock opening without even feeling the air movement. The TransGlide System will be able to have the same air lock technology. When cyclists enter the System the lack of resistance will provide them with the feeling of being gently pulled along. In areas where the air is heated or cooled the same air can be recirculated through the System, however the air will be filtered to remove pm 10 particulates. Heating, cooling and air movement functions can be accomplished using a wide range of products already on the market allowing for the use of those products and technologies which are already established and for which installers and maintenance workers would be readily available in any local market. Our goal is to use as many local venders and suppliers as possible. A large advantage of the low-tech nature of the System is that it has a wide range of flexibility in how it is constructed and what materials can be used. As to construction costs, they will of course vary depending on site specific issues and the functions which are included in the System. Based on bids from suppliers in the U.S. the System can be built at a profit in the U.S. charging a cost of $8 million a mile which would include all components, parking and be a turnkey operation. A large transit building company is considering building Systems for 10% of the cost paid in advance with the balance of the capital costs to be paid from the profits generated by the System. A corridor study done for a 10 mile open air system from downtown L.A. to Pasadena a distance of almost 10 miles showed that in the first 30 years of operations with charging a fare of only $.50 per direction the system would generate a profit of $111 million after repaying capital costs, maintenance costs and operating costs. The engineering work for that study was done be CH2M-Hill. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. Kerry Wood wrote: > Dear Milnor > > My first reaction to your proposals is that they would need too much power, > especially at the relatively high speeds you propose, so I tried some crude > calculations. > > If a bicycle is to be blown along at 40 km/h, the cycling resistance equation in > the CROW manual gives an air speed of some 55 km/h. Taking a minimum cross section > of say 3 m diameter, that gives an air flow of just over 100 cubic metres per > second, or much more uphill. Cyclists will resist the idea of going through a > non-return valve, so the air flow will have to be induced by jets of high pressure > air - noisy and inefficient. I make the frictional pressure loss about 6 cm of > water gauge per kilometre. That puts the frictional losses at about 60 kW per > kilometre, or say at least 250 kW/km allowing for jet losses and both directions. > Air flow could be shut down when there were no cyclists in the section, but this is > still a lot of energy: possibly more than using buses. > > I hope this means my figures are wrong. > > Do you have any information on power requirements, and construction costs? What > maximum gradient would you expect to be able to manage, at reduced speed? > > Regards > > -- > Kerry Wood MICE MIPENZ MCIT > Transport Consultant > 1 McFarlane Street, Wellington 6001, New Zealand > Phone + 64 4 971 5549 > > "Milnor H. Senior, III" wrote: > > > Dear Jain Alok, > > Please consider that in the air movement powered TransGlide System cycling > > speeds will be 40 km in urban areas which is faster than either bus or rail > > speeds. Studies show that trip time is the major factor in determining mode > > choice. By making cycling the fastest mode of transportation in urban areas it > > will attract much greater market segments. Also, there are electric power > > (cut) From msenior at uswest.net Thu Feb 24 10:23:41 2000 From: msenior at uswest.net (Milnor H. Senior, III) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 18:23:41 -0700 Subject: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun References: <0C1FC1F95058D311BF3700104B6621FB01271364@kmsx01.komag.com> <001e01bf7df1$7cbe4d60$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> Message-ID: <38B4881D.87BDF932@dnvr.uswest.net> Dear Wendell Cox, The research I have seen on bus speeds around the world is that average bus speeds are 16 km per hour. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. Wendell Cox wrote: > Part 1.1 Type: Plain Text (text/plain) > Encoding: quoted-printable From rajendra.aryal at undp.org Thu Feb 24 14:23:45 2000 From: rajendra.aryal at undp.org (Rajendra Aryal) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 10:53:45 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: transport externalities in south References: Message-ID: <38B4C061.A4829E8C@undp.org> > Dear Chris, I acknowledge the receipt of the document. I would like to thank you very much for it. I personnaly admire your effort in informing all of us abour the publication and hope that it will be continued. Rajendra Aryal UNCDF > > > > Hi all, > > > > Todd Litman and I conducted a full cost study of transport in Santiago > > Chile, published by the International Institute for Energy Conservation > > in March, 1997. We looked at internal and external costs - including > > vehicle ownership, accident costs, air pollution, congestion, infrastructure, > > etc. > > > > I don't know if IIEC still has any hard copies left. A summary of the report > > was published in Transport Policy in 1998. I could also probably gather up > > the original electronic files and zip them up to send electronically to > > those interested. > > > > Cheers, > > Chris > > > > ---------------------- > A. J. Plumbe, > Director, Outside Programmes, > Co-ordinator M.Sc. in Project Planning and Management, > email: a.j.plumbe@bradford.ac.uk > Fax: International: +44-1274-235280 > Domestic : 01274-235280 > Phone: International : +44-1274-235264 > Domestic : 01274-235264 > Mailing Address: DPPC, > Bradford University, > Richmond Road, > Bradford, > West Yorkshire, > U.K., BD7 1DP. From jhrhee at kuic.kyonggi.ac.kr Thu Feb 24 10:47:13 2000 From: jhrhee at kuic.kyonggi.ac.kr (=?euc-kr?B?wMzBvsij?=) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 10:47:13 +0900 Subject: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Message-ID: <000801bf7e85$bf63c480$7304f9cb@ns.kuic.kyonggi.ac.kr> Seoul with population of over 10 mil. has been expanding the bike lane. Still, only few people(mostly junior or high students) are using it for going to school. Surveyed main reasons not using the bike lane are safety, weather, missing link. Jongho Rhee Dept. of Urban & Transportation Eng. Kyonggi University Suwon and Seoul, Korea -----?? ???----- ?? ??: Wendell Cox ?? ??: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org ??: 2000? 2? 23? ??? ?? 9:18 ??: [sustran] Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Similar findings have been determined with respect to commuting in central London. The question is the extent to which this is the case. Not likely to be so virtually anywhere in North America or Oceania. ----- Original Message ----- From: Francis PAPON To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 3:50 AM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun Well my commute in the suburbs of Paris is 55 min by bike. It would be 1h35 by rail and 2 hours by bus (and uniformely distributed between 30 min and 1h30 by car). To be more general the average commercial speed of buses in Paris is below 10 km/h, which, taking into account waiting times and longer routes is often not faster than a brisk walk. Survey data show that door to door speeds for actual bicycle trips in France are better than those for public transport trips for distances up to 10 kilometres. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendell Cox" To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Sent: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 19:57:52 -0600 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > In the US, Canada and Western Europe it is quite normal for a bus or rail commute to take more than one-half hour over distances that could not be covered in a reasonable period by bicycle. > ----- Original Message ----- From: Jimmy Tan To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 8:35 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > I'm not sure about rail, but if in the cities or within the city itself if a bus takes more then half an hour to travel >from one point to another( or even within the city and it's suburbs) , it's usually stuck in a traffic jam. Hence by using a bike, from my experience, uses fairly less time than buses or private vehicles(PVs). > > As for rails and there is slightly any excuse for frequently delay that I would agree with you, Alok Jain. > >Pedal power Jimmy STEP > > >-----Original Message----- From: Jain Alok [SMTP:ajain@kcrc.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 9:24 AM To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Subject: [sustran] RE: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > >Yeah...but where your commute takes over half an hour by bus or rail, bike cannot substitute. In big cities, I would consider bike's role more as feeder to rail transit or other public transport, with some sort of bike-sharing concept (to use at the destination end). > >Cheers Alok Jain > >-----Original Message----- From: Milnor H. Senior, III [mailto:msenior@uswest.net] Sent: February 22, 2000 5:43 AM To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > >In response to the comments made regarding the high cost of transit products the issue is a combination of high capital costs to build these rail products plus the operating costs which will always exceed fare revenues so that constant operating subsidies are required. I believe the answer lies in building transit infrastructure which can be built at an affordable cost and operated on a profit making basis by private enterprises so that no public subsidies are required. Please examine the web site www.biketrans.com to see an example of the type of transit infrastructure which can exceed the carrying capacity of highway lanes, most light rail systems and which offers higher speeds in congested urban areas. The System is not only less expensive to build and operate than current transit products but the real savings will come from the improvement in public health which will result from building exercise back into normal life activities. With cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in the US and with obesity increasing at an alarming rate it is time to consider making changes that benefit both human health and the environment while lowering transportation costs. Bicycling is the most efficient form of transportation known and expanding its use within our transportation system should be used to solve urban congestion problems. Sincerely, Milnor H. Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. Francis Papon, charg?de recherche mailto:francis.papon@inrets.fr INRETS/DEST/EEM, fax +33145475606 2, av. du G??al Malleret-Joinville, F-94114 Arcueil France http://www.inrets.fr/infos/centres/inrets/velo_arcueil.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/private/sustran-discuss/attachments/20000224/8d09fcd1/attachment.htm From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Thu Feb 24 19:11:07 2000 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric.britton@ecoplan.org) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 11:11:07 +0100 Subject: [sustran] =?Windows-1252?Q?First_Things_First_=91Creative_Resistance=94_campaign?= Message-ID: I cannot too strongly recommend the latest Adbusters campaign - the First Things First 'Creative Resistance" campaign. In their words: "As part of First Things First 2000, we challenged people to create social marketing concepts that best represented their concerns about the world we live in. Here are some of the best..." You will find the results at http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/first/toolbox/contest/, and if I draw them to your attention, it's because I believe that these are important tools for creating a climate of awareness, thoughtfulness and change in support of sustainability. eric britton From LEYLAND at maf.org Fri Feb 25 03:40:16 2000 From: LEYLAND at maf.org (leyland) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 10:40:16 -0800 Subject: [sustran] road safety training Message-ID: <007A232A.C21317@maf.org> Dear All I am working with a road maintenance project in Western Uganda that is assisting the Ministry of Works to rehabilitate the main gravel road network. There is a community participation component within the project which includes a road safety programme. With the improvement of the roads, there is a risk that the number and severity of accidents could increase so we are also trying to tackle road user behaviour within the project. We are carrying out a training programme for teachers from schools near the roads, using flipcharts that we have produced, to improve children's safety and behaviour on the roads. We are also constructing footpaths along some of the key sections of the gravel roads that are used by many pedestrians e.g. between trading centres and schools or entry stretches to district towns etc. Now we are looking to develop a road safety training programme with the Police and the National Road Safety Council for public transport operators in the project area, primarily the 'taxi' (minibus) drivers, 'machara' (motorcycle) operators and the 'boda boda' (bicycle) operators. We are meeting with the transporter associations and relevant parties to work out with them what their training needs are and develop the programme and training materials as necessary. However, we are interested to find out what training resources and materials are currently available and to learn from other relevant experiences. Does anyone have, or know of, relevant training materials or documentation that we could access? Please let me know. Thanks Jo Leyland Western Uganda Road Maintenance Capacity Building Project email: leyland@maf.org From a.j.plumbe at Bradford.ac.uk Fri Feb 25 03:30:44 2000 From: a.j.plumbe at Bradford.ac.uk (Antony J Plumbe) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 18:30:44 +0000 () Subject: road safety training In-Reply-To: <007A232A.C21317@maf.org> Message-ID: Hello Jo, See "Towards Safer Roads in Developing Countries; A Guide for Planners and Engineers" written by the Ross Silcock Partnership and two members of the Overseas Unit at the Transport and Road Research Laboratory and distributed by DfID. The persons who can help you on a commercial basis at the TRL is Andrew Downing or Brian Hills or Chris Bageley or Ivor Sayer. Almost all UK local authorities have school child safety units with suitable materials for children here. Best wishes. Tony Plumbe On Thu, 24 Feb 2000 10:40:16 -0800 leyland wrote: > Dear All > > I am working with a road maintenance project in Western Uganda that is > assisting the Ministry of Works to rehabilitate the main gravel road > network. There is a community participation component within the > project which includes a road safety programme. With the improvement > of the roads, there is a risk that the number and severity of > accidents could increase so we are also trying to tackle road user > behaviour within the project. > > We are carrying out a training programme for teachers from schools > near the roads, using flipcharts that we have produced, to improve > children's safety and behaviour on the roads. We are also > constructing footpaths along some of the key sections of the gravel > roads that are used by many pedestrians e.g. between trading centres > and schools or entry stretches to district towns etc. > > Now we are looking to develop a road safety training programme with > the Police and the National Road Safety Council for public transport > operators in the project area, primarily the 'taxi' (minibus) drivers, > 'machara' (motorcycle) operators and the 'boda boda' (bicycle) > operators. We are meeting with the transporter associations and > relevant parties to work out with them what their training needs are > and develop the programme and training materials as necessary. > > However, we are interested to find out what training resources and > materials are currently available and to learn from other relevant > experiences. Does anyone have, or know of, relevant training > materials or documentation that we could access? > > Please let me know. Thanks > > Jo Leyland > Western Uganda Road Maintenance Capacity Building Project > > email: leyland@maf.org ---------------------- A. J. Plumbe, Director, Outside Programmes, Co-ordinator M.Sc. in Project Planning and Management, email: a.j.plumbe@bradford.ac.uk Fax: International: +44-1274-235280 Domestic : 01274-235280 Phone: International : +44-1274-235264 Domestic : 01274-235264 Mailing Address: DPPC, Bradford University, Richmond Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire, U.K., BD7 1DP. From Pguitink at worldbank.org Fri Feb 25 04:01:00 2000 From: Pguitink at worldbank.org (Pguitink@worldbank.org) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 14:01:00 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: road safety training Message-ID: <8525688F.00687495.00@WBLN0014.worldbank.org> While 'Towards Safer Roads in Developing Countries' is an excellent publication, it is focusing on the paved road network, and only has a few recommendations for the low-volume, unpaved network mentioned in Leyland's message. I think we have to collect bits and pieces from various experiences and lessons learned in rural areas to find what works and what not. A major constraint is the lack of accident data for these areas, where they do exist they often only look at fatalities and/or accidents involving material damages to vehicles. There is a serious underreporting problem for injuries and fatalities amongst unidentified pedestrians in developing countries, especially in rural areas. In any case, I think the community involvement mentioned in the message is a good start to better understand the nature of the problem on this type of infrastructure. I have contacted Mr./Ms. Leyland by separate Email to see how we can be of assistance. Best regards, Paul Guitink From rajendra.aryal at undp.org Fri Feb 25 12:28:13 2000 From: rajendra.aryal at undp.org (Rajendra Aryal) Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 08:58:13 +0530 Subject: road safety training References: <007A232A.C21317@maf.org> Message-ID: <38B5F6CD.7EF27507@undp.org> Dear Jo and all, It is interesting to hear that you are working on a road safety programme in Uganda. We are presently doing the same in Nepal. UNCDF is currently supporting the rehabilitation of two Feeder Roads and we realized that the people living along the road corridors are now getting exposed to fast moving vehicles for the first time. Morover, we felt that there si every risk with school going children and women. We have thus integrated also traffic safety aspect ans recently recrited a Road safety Officer. We are now closely working with the communities living along the road corridors, police, transporters, local youth clubs and schools. The working modality we are adopting is more or less similar to what Jo is doing in Uganda. Moreover, Department of Roads in Nepal has established a Traffic Safety Unit at the central level and this unit has become pretty effective now. We are also closely working with this unit. For your information this unit has brought out a significant number of publications. Some of them are "Identifying and Treating Accident Sites", "Designing Safe Side Drains", "Road Users' Rules and Regulations", "Safety Barriers", and few others. If you are interested in receiving a copy of these documents I would be pleased to forward your message to the Department of Roads in Kathmandu. With best regards. leyland wrote: > Dear All > > I am working with a road maintenance project in Western Uganda that is > assisting the Ministry of Works to rehabilitate the main gravel road > network. There is a community participation component within the > project which includes a road safety programme. With the improvement > of the roads, there is a risk that the number and severity of > accidents could increase so we are also trying to tackle road user > behaviour within the project. > > We are carrying out a training programme for teachers from schools > near the roads, using flipcharts that we have produced, to improve > children's safety and behaviour on the roads. We are also > constructing footpaths along some of the key sections of the gravel > roads that are used by many pedestrians e.g. between trading centres > and schools or entry stretches to district towns etc. > > Now we are looking to develop a road safety training programme with > the Police and the National Road Safety Council for public transport > operators in the project area, primarily the 'taxi' (minibus) drivers, > 'machara' (motorcycle) operators and the 'boda boda' (bicycle) > operators. We are meeting with the transporter associations and > relevant parties to work out with them what their training needs are > and develop the programme and training materials as necessary. > > However, we are interested to find out what training resources and > materials are currently available and to learn from other relevant > experiences. Does anyone have, or know of, relevant training > materials or documentation that we could access? > > Please let me know. Thanks > > Jo Leyland > Western Uganda Road Maintenance Capacity Building Project > > email: leyland@maf.org From sustran at po.jaring.my Sat Feb 26 15:22:44 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 14:22:44 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: New Book Announcement on Sustainable Transport Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000226142244.00836bb0@relay101.jaring.my> forwarded from the TMIP list (on transport modelling). -------------- New Book Announcement: Sustainable Transportation Networks by Anna Nagurney Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, England (2000) Book Description Transportation networks are essential to the functioning of societies and economies and provide the infrastructure for the movement of people and goods over space and time. The existence and utilization of transportation networks are fundamental to the modern age and the negative effects of congestion and pollution associated with their increasing usage demand urgent attention. This book cogently addresses the question as to whether transportation networks are sustainable: that is, can they last, given the growing demands on the network, on the one hand, and the desire to alleviate the associated negative impacts, on the other. Anna Nagurney answers the question positively by providing a rigorous foundation for the formulation, analysis, and computation of solutions to such problems through the use of appropriate policies ranging from tolls and tradable pollution permits to the design of the networks themselves. Sustainable Transportation Networks will be of great value to students, researchers, and practitioners of transportation studies, environmental economics, regional science, and urban planning. Contents: Preface Part I: Introduction and Overview 1. Introduction 2. Foundations 3. Emissions Paradoxes in Transportation Networks 4. Viable and Sustainable Transportation Networks Part II: Policies for Sustainable User-Optimized Transportation Networks 5. Emission Pricing for Sustainability - User-Optimized Perspective 6. Permits for User-Optimized, Fixed Demand Networks 7. Permits for User-Optimized, Elastic Demand Networks Part III: Policies for Sustainable System-Optimized Transportation Networks 8. Sustainable System-Optimized Networks 9. Tradable Permits for System-Optimized Networks Part IV: Special Topics 10 Spatial Oligopolies and Marketable Pollution Permits 11 Spatial Price Networks and Emission Policies 12 Technology and Network Design Issues Part V: Summary and Conculsions 12 Concluding Comments A. Optimization Theory B. Variation Inequality Theory C. Problems Bibliography 304 pages Hardback 1 84064 375 9 About the Author Anna Nagurney is the John F. Smith Memorial Professor, Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts at Amherst From sustran at po.jaring.my Sat Feb 26 16:12:36 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 15:12:36 +0800 Subject: [sustran] more sustran-discuss administrative matters Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000226151236.0087d9e0@relay101.jaring.my> Hi there sustran-discussers A few small admin matters. 1. Please do not to include too much of previous messages in your responses. It is best to cut out everything except the section that you are directly replying to. 2. Again, please turn off your HTML and do not send attachments to the list. 3. When appropriate, please reply only to a specific person (and not the list). An example is messages such as "Please send me the document you offered on the list." If the list gets busy then such messages will become annoying. 4. A reminder: the topic of the list is "people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries." But we are not too strict on that. News and debate about issues in the "North" is also welcome (within reason) especially if it has special relevance to the lower-income countries in the global "South". 5. VOLUNTEERS WANTED I am looking for one or two volunteers to be backup list managers. If you would be willing to help then please contact me. It would be helpful but not essential to be familiar with discussion lists. Mostly it will be very little work. 6. Feeling overwhelmed by too many emails? If so then please consider the digest option in which several messages from the list get bundled together. Instructions for switching to digest are in the introductory message. Or ask me. Sorry to bother you all with these boring administrative matters but they are important to keep things running smoothly. As the list gets busier it becomes more important to follow netiquette a little more closely. Paul list-owner The SUSTRAN Network PS. the [sustran] in the header is supposed to be added automatically by the majordomo software that runs the list. But for some reason this is not working perfectly at the moment and some messages are coming through without the [sustran] tag. Apologies to those for whom this is inconvenient. I will try to get it fixed by the JCA technical people. PPS. I was away for a few days last week. While away I received a very large attachment which put my mailbox over quota. Sorry if anyone's emails to me bounced yesterday. From sustran at po.jaring.my Sun Feb 27 19:58:07 2000 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Network Secretariat) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 18:58:07 +0800 Subject: [sustran] fwd: Update on the Millennium Forum Message-ID: <3.0.6.32.20000227185807.007eae80@relay101.jaring.my> >From: "Millennium Forum" >To: >Subject: Update on the Millennium Forum >Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 14:38:54 -0500 > >Sustainable Urban Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific >(SUSTRAN) > >To: All non-governmental organizations, humanitarian and community-based >organizations, private voluntary organizations, academic institutions, >unions, parliamentarians, local authorities and other representatives and >groups of civil society. > >From: The Millennium Forum > >Date: 18 February 2000 > >Re: Update on the Millennium Forum > >PLEASE DISTRIBUTE AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE >PLEASE FORWARD TO OTHER INTERESTED GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS >PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES FOR CROSS-POSTINGS > > >Dear Friend(s), > >Because of your recent involvement in a major United Nations conference or >related NGO event, we are adding your email address to the Millennium Forum >Announcement list. > >The Millennium Forum, as you may know, is the next step towards >strengthening the influence of civil society in international affairs, >particularly at the United Nations. > >Scheduled for 22-26 May 2000 at United Nations headquarters as part of the >preparations for the UN's Millennium Assembly in September, the Millennium >Forum in particular will strive to solicit the best thinking of civil >society in all its sectors worldwide as they relate to six broad themes: >peace, the eradication of poverty, human rights, the environment, >globalization, and "strengthening and democratizing" the United Nations. > >In tackling such a wide range of issues, and in its attempts to reach a new >level of global diversity and participation, the Forum is unique for a >United Nations-related civil society conference. > >Since your organization is involved in one or more of these topics, we are >seeking your participation in this process, which we believe will result in >more effective efforts by NGOs and civil society organizations in global >decision-making and the implementation of action plans, especially at the >United Nations and in other international organizations. > >In particular, we hope that you will take one or more of the following >actions: > >-- Log-on to our Website at http://www.millenniumforum.org and register for >participation in the Forum's main meeting in May via our on-line >registration form (which can be found under the "How to get involved" >section). (Please note: we do hope to have some travel funds available in >the near future for organizations from the Global South.) > >-- Log-on to our Website at http://www.millenniumforum.org and read through >the various draft papers on the themes that interest your organization and >send comments on those drafts to the thematic convenors, which are listed on >the website. YOUR INPUT INTO THESE PAPERS IS VITAL IF WE ARE TRULY TO >REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF CIVIL SOCIETY WORLDWIDE. > >-- If you do not have access to a web browser, please consider registering >via the emailable registration form included below. PLEASE NOTE: ON-LINE >REGISTRATION IS MUCH FASTER AND MORE EFFICIENT. > >-- Send this message to other NGOs and civil society organizations in your >network and/or to the appropriate person within your own organization. > >-- Print out this message and share it with others at various NGO/Civil >Society organization meetings such as you may be attending or organizing in >the next few weeks. We do understand that many organizations in the Global >South do not have email, so we are counting on those that do to spread this >message. > >-- Publish news about the Forum in your organization's newsletter, magazine >or website. We have on our website a range of press releases and publishable >background materials that are available for downloading and publication. > >If you have any questions, please contact us by email reply at our main >address: mngof@bic.org. If you hit our reply button, your message will also >return to us. > >If you do NOT wish to receive further announcements, please also hit reply >and write "UNSUBSCRIBE" in your message header. We will strive to remove >your from our list. However, we are seeking to reach our worldwide to as >many NGOs and civil society organizations as possible and you may end up on >our list again, especially if you subscribe to any of the various list servs >on the Forum's main topics. > >We expect to be making periodic announcements about the Forum to this list, >at a rate of roughly no more than one per week until the Forum takes place >in May. Please regard this as a process whereby YOU and your organization >can be included in a process of global decision-making that is open, >transparent and representative manner, reflecting democratic principles. > >Up to 1,400 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and >other groups of civil society will be able to gather at the United Nations >in May to discuss these topics through an innovative program of "interactive >plenaries" that have been designed to advance the often overly >"compartmentalized" processes of discussion that often takes place at >international meetings. > >Plans are also being made to allow representatives of civil society >worldwide to participate through various on-line and satellite meetings. In >all Millennium Forum events, achieving a gender and geographically >representative balance will be a priority. > >In the planning process for more than two years, the Forum has been an >up-by-the-bootstraps process of cross-boundary networking by some of civil >society's most prominent organizations. Members of the Forum's Steering >Committee, for example, include representatives of groups ranging from the >World Federation of United Nations Associations to the All-India Women's >Federation; from the Earth Council to the Third World Network. > >Among the main expected outcomes of the Forum will be an extended document >on the topics of peace, poverty, human rights, environment, globalization >and "strengthening and democratizing the United Nations and other >International Organizations," all under the main theme of "the United >Nations for the Twenty-First Century." This document will be presented to >the world leaders who gather at the Millennium Summit in September. > >The Millennium Forum >mngof@bic.org >866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 120 >New York, NY 10017, USA >Phone: USA 212-803-2522 >Fax: USA 212-803-2561 > ... very long application form snipped ... From gtewari at ee.iitd.ernet.in Tue Feb 29 02:53:14 2000 From: gtewari at ee.iitd.ernet.in (gtewari) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 11:53:14 -0600 Subject: [sustran] Re: sustran-discuss V1 #581 References: <200002251700.CAA63762@mail.jca.apc.org> Message-ID: <38BAB609.52FF8543@ee.iitd.ernet.in> Dear Jo Leyland, Since majority of the road accident victims in developing countries are vulnerable road users(VRUs)- people out side the vehicles, road safety strategies must address their concerns and special needs. A lot of the training material available overemphasizes the need for "teaching" safe behaviour and discipline on the roads and developing education material for the "victims". One must look into the excellent research efforts done in OECD countries for VRUs which explains the importance of influencing road user behavior by altering road designs and encouraging correct behavior by meeting the needs of bicyclists pedestrians in road designs. Education and policing seem to have low impacts on altering behaviour and inculcating safe practices. You may wish to look at a new ETSC( European Transport Safety Council) report " The Safety of Pedestrians and Cyclists in Urban Areas", which identifies best practices internationally. Geetam Tiwari, IIT, Delhi sustran-discuss wrote: > * To leave, send the message UNSUBSCRIBE sustran-discuss-digest > * to majordomo@mail.jca.ax.apc.org > > sustran-discuss Saturday, February 26 2000 Volume 01 : Number 581 > > In this issue: > > [sustran] road safety training > Re: road safety training > [sustran] Re: road safety training > Re: road safety training > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 10:40:16 -0800 > From: LEYLAND@maf.org (leyland) > Subject: [sustran] road safety training > > Dear All > > I am working with a road maintenance project in Western Uganda that is > assisting the Ministry of Works to rehabilitate the main gravel road > network. There is a community participation component within the > project which includes a road safety programme. With the improvement > of the roads, there is a risk that the number and severity of > accidents could increase so we are also trying to tackle road user > behaviour within the project. > > We are carrying out a training programme for teachers from schools > near the roads, using flipcharts that we have produced, to improve > children's safety and behaviour on the roads. We are also > constructing footpaths along some of the key sections of the gravel > roads that are used by many pedestrians e.g. between trading centres > and schools or entry stretches to district towns etc. > > Now we are looking to develop a road safety training programme with > the Police and the National Road Safety Council for public transport > operators in the project area, primarily the 'taxi' (minibus) drivers, > 'machara' (motorcycle) operators and the 'boda boda' (bicycle) > operators. We are meeting with the transporter associations and > relevant parties to work out with them what their training needs are > and develop the programme and training materials as necessary. > > However, we are interested to find out what training resources and > materials are currently available and to learn from other relevant > experiences. Does anyone have, or know of, relevant training > materials or documentation that we could access? > > Please let me know. Thanks > > Jo Leyland > Western Uganda Road Maintenance Capacity Building Project > > email: leyland@maf.org > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 18:30:44 +0000 () > From: Antony J Plumbe > Subject: Re: road safety training > > Hello Jo, > > See "Towards Safer Roads in Developing Countries; A Guide for Planners > and Engineers" written by the Ross Silcock Partnership and two members > of the Overseas Unit at the Transport and Road Research Laboratory and > distributed by DfID. The persons who can help you on a commercial basis > at the TRL is Andrew Downing or Brian Hills or Chris Bageley or Ivor > Sayer. > > Almost all UK local authorities have school child safety units with > suitable materials for children here. > > Best wishes. > > Tony Plumbe > > On Thu, 24 Feb 2000 10:40:16 -0800 leyland wrote: > > > Dear All > > > > I am working with a road maintenance project in Western Uganda that is > > assisting the Ministry of Works to rehabilitate the main gravel road > > network. There is a community participation component within the > > project which includes a road safety programme. With the improvement > > of the roads, there is a risk that the number and severity of > > accidents could increase so we are also trying to tackle road user > > behaviour within the project. > > > > We are carrying out a training programme for teachers from schools > > near the roads, using flipcharts that we have produced, to improve > > children's safety and behaviour on the roads. We are also > > constructing footpaths along some of the key sections of the gravel > > roads that are used by many pedestrians e.g. between trading centres > > and schools or entry stretches to district towns etc. > > > > Now we are looking to develop a road safety training programme with > > the Police and the National Road Safety Council for public transport > > operators in the project area, primarily the 'taxi' (minibus) drivers, > > 'machara' (motorcycle) operators and the 'boda boda' (bicycle) > > operators. We are meeting with the transporter associations and > > relevant parties to work out with them what their training needs are > > and develop the programme and training materials as necessary. > > > > However, we are interested to find out what training resources and > > materials are currently available and to learn from other relevant > > experiences. Does anyone have, or know of, relevant training > > materials or documentation that we could access? > > > > Please let me know. Thanks > > > > Jo Leyland > > Western Uganda Road Maintenance Capacity Building Project > > > > email: leyland@maf.org > > - ---------------------- > A. J. Plumbe, > Director, Outside Programmes, > Co-ordinator M.Sc. in Project Planning and Management, > email: a.j.plumbe@bradford.ac.uk > Fax: International: +44-1274-235280 > Domestic : 01274-235280 > Phone: International : +44-1274-235264 > Domestic : 01274-235264 > Mailing Address: DPPC, > Bradford University, > Richmond Road, > Bradford, > West Yorkshire, > U.K., BD7 1DP. > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 14:01:00 -0500 > From: Pguitink@worldbank.org > Subject: [sustran] Re: road safety training > > While 'Towards Safer Roads in Developing Countries' is an excellent publication, > it is focusing on the paved road network, and only has a few recommendations for > the low-volume, unpaved network mentioned in Leyland's message. I think we have > to collect bits and pieces from various experiences and lessons learned in rural > areas to find what works and what not. A major constraint is the lack of > accident data for these areas, where they do exist they often only look at > fatalities and/or accidents involving material damages to vehicles. There is a > serious underreporting problem for injuries and fatalities amongst unidentified > pedestrians in developing countries, especially in rural areas. In any case, I > think the community involvement mentioned in the message is a good start to > better understand the nature of the problem on this type of infrastructure. > > I have contacted Mr./Ms. Leyland by separate Email to see how we can be of > assistance. > > Best regards, > > Paul Guitink > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 08:58:13 +0530 > From: "Rajendra Aryal" > Subject: Re: road safety training > > Dear Jo and all, > > It is interesting to hear that you are working on a road safety programme in > Uganda. We are presently doing the same in Nepal. UNCDF is currently supporting > the rehabilitation of two Feeder Roads and we realized that the people living > along the road corridors are now getting exposed to fast moving vehicles for > the first time. Morover, we felt that there si every risk with school going > children and women. We have thus integrated also traffic safety aspect ans > recently recrited a Road safety Officer. We are now closely working with the > communities living along the road corridors, police, transporters, local youth > clubs and schools. The working modality we are adopting is more or less similar > to what Jo is doing in Uganda. > > Moreover, Department of Roads in Nepal has established a Traffic Safety Unit at > the central level and this unit has become pretty effective now. We are also > closely working with this unit. For your information this unit has brought out > a significant number of publications. Some of them are "Identifying and > Treating Accident Sites", "Designing Safe Side Drains", "Road Users' Rules and > Regulations", "Safety Barriers", and few others. If you are interested in > receiving a copy of these documents I would be pleased to forward your message > to the Department of Roads in Kathmandu. > > With best regards. > > leyland wrote: > > > Dear All > > > > I am working with a road maintenance project in Western Uganda that is > > assisting the Ministry of Works to rehabilitate the main gravel road > > network. There is a community participation component within the > > project which includes a road safety programme. With the improvement > > of the roads, there is a risk that the number and severity of > > accidents could increase so we are also trying to tackle road user > > behaviour within the project. > > > > We are carrying out a training programme for teachers from schools > > near the roads, using flipcharts that we have produced, to improve > > children's safety and behaviour on the roads. We are also > > constructing footpaths along some of the key sections of the gravel > > roads that are used by many pedestrians e.g. between trading centres > > and schools or entry stretches to district towns etc. > > > > Now we are looking to develop a road safety training programme with > > the Police and the National Road Safety Council for public transport > > operators in the project area, primarily the 'taxi' (minibus) drivers, > > 'machara' (motorcycle) operators and the 'boda boda' (bicycle) > > operators. We are meeting with the transporter associations and > > relevant parties to work out with them what their training needs are > > and develop the programme and training materials as necessary. > > > > However, we are interested to find out what training resources and > > materials are currently available and to learn from other relevant > > experiences. Does anyone have, or know of, relevant training > > materials or documentation that we could access? > > > > Please let me know. Thanks > > > > Jo Leyland > > Western Uganda Road Maintenance Capacity Building Project > > > > email: leyland@maf.org > > ------------------------------ > > End of sustran-discuss V1 #581 > ****************************** From wcox at publicpurpose.com Tue Feb 29 04:59:28 2000 From: wcox at publicpurpose.com (Wendell Cox) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 13:59:28 -0600 Subject: [sustran] Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun References: <0C1FC1F95058D311BF3700104B6621FB01271364@kmsx01.komag.com> <001e01bf7df1$7cbe4d60$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> <38B4881D.87BDF932@dnvr.uswest.net> Message-ID: <051301bf8226$543cc4a0$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> Would be very interested in that research. Average auto commutes... during peak travel periods in the US are approx 55 kph... though considerably slower than that in NY (perhaps slower than bicycles). ----- Original Message ----- From: Milnor H. Senior, III To: Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 7:23 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > Dear Wendell Cox, > The research I have seen on bus speeds around the world is that > average bus speeds are 16 km per hour. > Sincerely, > Milnor H. Senior, III > President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. > > Wendell Cox wrote: > > > Part 1.1 Type: Plain Text (text/plain) > > Encoding: quoted-printable > > From wcox at publicpurpose.com Tue Feb 29 05:02:54 2000 From: wcox at publicpurpose.com (Wendell Cox) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 14:02:54 -0600 Subject: [sustran] Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun References: <007601bf7e4d$ea9cf640$9bc2e2d8@heckler> Message-ID: <051401bf8226$cf22dd80$0100a8c0@newmicronpc> That would indeed be the case. There is no place, from an urban development perspective, in the US that is more unlike the US than NY. Has to do with population densities of 50k in Manhattan (per sq mi), and nearly 2 million jobs in something like six square miles of the business district. Less than 300,000 of the US population of 250m in 1990 lived in densities above 20k (outside NY). --- Outside NY living in more than 10k densities was approx 11 million. ----- Original Message ----- From: Heckler To: Sustran Discuss Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 8:40 AM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > My fifteen kilometer commute to work takes me 45 minutes on my bike. It > takes at least an hour by bus in light traffic and one-and-a-half in normal > rush hour traffic. They've also done this test in New York (that I heard of > when I lived there) and the bike commuter also won a door-to-door contest > with the bus. Maybe New York is just like the rest of the world and only the > rest of North America is differently! > > -----Original Message----- > From: Wendell Cox > To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org > Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 8:49 PM > Subject: [sustran] Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > > > Similar findings have been determined with respect to commuting in > central London. The question is the extent to which this is the case. Not > likely to be so virtually anywhere in North America or Oceania. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Francis PAPON > To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org > Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 3:50 AM > Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > > > > Well my commute in the suburbs of Paris is 55 min by bike. It would > be 1h35 by rail and 2 hours by bus (and uniformely distributed between 30 > min and 1h30 by car). > To be more general the average commercial speed of buses in Paris is > below 10 km/h, which, taking into account waiting times and longer routes is > often not faster than a brisk walk. > Survey data show that door to door speeds for actual bicycle trips > in France are better than those for public transport trips for distances up > to 10 kilometres. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendell Cox" > To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Sent: Mon, 21 > Feb 2000 19:57:52 -0600 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > > In the US, Canada and Western Europe it is quite normal for a bus > or rail commute to take more than one-half hour over distances that could > not be covered in a reasonable period by bicycle. > > ----- Original Message ----- From: title=Jimmy.Tan@komag.com>Jimmy Tan To: 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' > Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 8:35 PM Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > > I'm not sure about rail, but if in the cities or within the city > itself if a bus takes more then half an hour to travel >from one point to > another( or even within the city and it's suburbs) , it's usually stuck in a > traffic jam. Hence by using a bike, from my experience, uses fairly less > time than buses or private vehicles(PVs). > > > > As for rails and there is slightly any excuse for frequently delay > that I would agree with you, Alok Jain. > > > >Pedal power Jimmy STEP > > > > > >-----Original Message----- From: Jain Alok [SMTP:ajain@kcrc.com] > Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 9:24 AM To: > 'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org' Subject: [sustran] RE: Cox & Litman V5 & > Bruun > > > >Yeah...but where your commute takes over half an hour by bus or > rail, bike cannot substitute. In big cities, I would consider bike's role > more as feeder to rail transit or other public transport, with some sort of > bike-sharing concept (to use at the destination end). > > > >Cheers Alok Jain > > > >-----Original Message----- From: Milnor H. Senior, III > [mailto:msenior@uswest.net] Sent: February 22, 2000 5:43 AM To: > sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Subject: Re: Cox & Litman V5 & Bruun > > > >In response to the comments made regarding the high cost of transit > products the issue is a combination of high capital costs to build these > rail products plus the operating costs which will always exceed fare > revenues so that constant operating subsidies are required. I believe the > answer lies in building transit infrastructure which can be built at an > affordable cost and operated on a profit making basis by private enterprises > so that no public subsidies are required. Please examine the web site > www.biketrans.com to see an example of the type of transit infrastructure > which can exceed the carrying capacity of highway lanes, most light rail > systems and which offers higher speeds in congested urban areas. The System > is not only less expensive to build and operate than current transit > products but the real savings will come from the improvement in public > health which will result from building exercise back into normal life > activities. With cardiovascular disease as the number one cause of death in > the US and with obesity increasing at an alarming rate it is time to > consider making changes that benefit both human health and the environment > while lowering transportation costs. Bicycling is the most efficient form of > transportation known and expanding its use within our transportation system > should be used to solve urban congestion problems. Sincerely, Milnor H. > Senior, III President - Bicycle Transportation Systems, Inc. > > > Francis Papon, charg? de recherche mailto:francis.papon@inrets.fr > INRETS/DEST/EEM, fax +33145475606 > 2, av. du G?n?ral Malleret-Joinville, F-94114 Arcueil France > http://www.inrets.fr/infos/centres/inrets/velo_arcueil.html > > > From halubis at trans.si.itb.ac.id Tue Feb 29 15:55:30 2000 From: halubis at trans.si.itb.ac.id (Harun al-Rasyid Sorah Lubis) Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 13:55:30 +0700 Subject: [sustran] Info on Danish Trust Fund Message-ID: <003901bf8281$f8060780$1102cda7@harun.si.itb.ac.id> Dear netters, Anybody knows about the above info on governance. Thank you Harun al-Rasyid S. Lubis http://trans.si.itb.ac.id Traffic Lab, Transport Engineering Division Dept. of Civil Engineering - ITB Jl. Ganeca 10 Bandung 40132 - Indonesia Tel/Facs. +62 22 250 23 50 halubis@trans.si.itb.ac.id From rajendra.aryal at undp.org Tue Feb 29 19:30:12 2000 From: rajendra.aryal at undp.org (Rajendra Aryal) Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 16:00:12 +0530 Subject: Info on Danish Trust Fund References: <003901bf8281$f8060780$1102cda7@harun.si.itb.ac.id> Message-ID: <38BB9FB4.614FFCF6@undp.org> Dear Harun, I am happy to forward you the message I received from my Danish colleague, who is working together with me. Apart from their ordinary contributions to UNDP, several donor countries have established their own trust funds which can be drawn upon for projects within specific areas. Denmark has establish a number of funds. The trust funds are administrated by UNDP in New York. More specifically it is the Division for Resource Mobilization within the Bureau for Resources and Strategic Partnerships. The persons to contact are: Mercedes Hinton, Donor Specialist (ext. 5761, email mercedes.i.hinton@undp.org), or Jonas Kjaer, Resource Analyst (ext 6357, email jonas.kjaer@undp.org) The Bureau of Management also maintains a list of the trust funds but I would recommend that the first contact is made to DRM as above. Being dane, Jonas would probably have specific knowledge about Danish trust funds. I hope that the information is useful. Best regards Rajendra Aryal United nations Capital Development Fund Harun al-Rasyid Sorah Lubis wrote: > Dear netters, > > Anybody knows about the above info on governance. > > Thank you > > Harun al-Rasyid S. Lubis http://trans.si.itb.ac.id > Traffic Lab, Transport Engineering Division > Dept. of Civil Engineering - ITB > Jl. Ganeca 10 Bandung 40132 - Indonesia > Tel/Facs. +62 22 250 23 50 halubis@trans.si.itb.ac.id