[sustran] Re: bus lanes

Lake Sagaris sagaris at lake.mic.cl
Fri Jan 7 00:15:23 JST 2000


I've been following the exchange on bus lanes with great interest. There is
a very successful example of express lanes along Avenida Grecia in
Santiago, Chile -- curiously, it has not been duplicated anywhere else in
the city, in spite of the fact that some 60% of daily trips are still made
by bus here, versus 20% by car. As a citizens' group that started up by
fighting a major highway project and that has gone on from there to learn
about and advocate with increasing commitment express and other bus lanes,
bike lanes, pedestrian preference, etc. in the city, Eric's final question
hit the spot --

>A final point on this.  It strikes me that at present we, i.e., all those of
>us who care about these matters, do not yet have the means to ensure that
>the case of sustainable transport concepts such as these get their full and
>fair hearing, when and where it is needed. (We can preach to the converted,

>All this leaves me with what I think is an interesting thought.  Who can
>walk in to the office of the mayor and governor responsible for Chennai
>(already quite a task to arrange), get them to sit down, listen hard and
>come on board the sustainable transportation bandwagon once and for all --
>and then help guide them to do what is needed and possible, when it is
>needed and possible, without bringing the crowds out into the street and
>getting them hung and/or thrown out of office for all their fine thoughts?

Curiously, this may not be as difficult as planners believe -- if you're
willing to get out and take your message directly to neighborhood
associations and other citizens' groups. These differ from the usual NGOs
very significantly (although we often work well together with NGOs and I'm
certainly not knocking them) in that these organizations usually have
elected leaders who represent a sizeable mass of people -- ie voters. 

Our experience in dealing with three different municipal governments (we
are a 25-orgnanization coalition spread through different municipal areas)
is that a determined, well-informed citizens' group can have enormous
impact on city policy, whether city officials are particularly competent or
not (competence, obviously, helps). The fact that our circle of advisors
includes some of Chile's most distinguished urbanists and transport
engineers has strengthened both the academics -- we have functioned as an
amplifier for the opinions and information most relevant to our territory
-- and of course to our groups, because of the quality of our proposals. 

Part of our impact, of course, is that we represent the groups who normally
oppose major changes to basic city infrastructure and public space,
particularly when we have not been consulted PRIOR to implementation. If
planners, experts, elected officials begin by consulting community
organizations during the DIAGNOSIS stage, their proposals will be much MUCH
better, and good ones tend to have the ACTIVE SUPPORT of community groups,
who are more than happy to be fighting for something worthwhile, rather
than against a plan that looks and may indeed be disastrous.

Chile has neighborhood associations, Juntas de Vecinos, built into the
political structure, which helps, but even here, social capital, civil
society  and participation was very badly damaged by 17 years of military
rule. Nonetheless, neighborhood groups are formidable opponents to many
official projects. This strength can be put to very good use when
academics/experts join their knowledge with our practical experience.

All best
Lake Sagaris
Ciudad Viva (Living City), Chile




More information about the Sustran-discuss mailing list