[sustran] A Very Public Solution - a book review

[Matthew Burke]

Dear Sustrans subscribers,

Below is a book review I have just completed for Dr Paul Mees new text on
urban transport policy. The book has been very well received here in
Australia and it may be of interest to policy-makers and others on this
forum. Feel free to distribute this message widely.

Matt

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Matthew Burke
Department of Geographical Sciences and Planning
University of Queensland
Brisbane  Qld  4072
AUSTRALIA
[w] +61 7 3365 3836
e-mail: matt.burke at mailbox.uq.edu.au
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A Very Public Solution: transport in the dispersed city
by Dr Paul Mees
March, 2000
Melbourne University Press
Melbourne, Australia
http://www.mup.unimelb.edu.au/catalogue/0_522_84867_2.html

Reviewed by Matthew Burke
Department of Geographical Sciences and Planning
University of Queensland


Given the social and economic problems related to contemporary society's
dependence on the motor vehicle, how do we plan for transport in dispersed
cities?

Those who either work or study in the vexed sphere of public transport
policy will no doubt obtain much from a comprehensive and insightful
discussion of this very question. Dr Paul Mees, a lecturer in the Faculty
of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne in
Victoria, Australia, has written his first book explicitly for activists
and policy makers in all cities 'faced with the problem of providing
ecologically sustainable and socially equitable transport'. It is an
attempt to share the implications of his extensive research and his
understandings as to what can actually be done to improve the situation.

A Very Public Solution flows logically with the book effectively
constructed in two halves, though this structure is unhelpfully not made
clear at any stage in the introduction. The first is a thorough treatment,
or embedding for the uninitiated, in the theory and debates of urban [and
not just public] transport policy. The second is a comparative case-study
of two similar cities on two separate continents, the findings of which are
presented to answer the pressing questions brought forth in the first half
of the text. This structure gives the work great strength – afterall, one
cannot have the answers if one first does not know what the questions are.

The theoretical section is a treat. The high-quality reference material,
insightful anecdotes and the judicious use of wider research findings
provided throughout both underpin and strengthen the discussion, ensuring
the reader is not left in the realm of either ill-informed conjecture or
brash misplaced emotion. The language is rich and descriptive with a depth
of information that is commendable. Clinical dissection of arguments about
the role of public transport, density and urban form, 'sustainable
automobility' and the like are dealt with one after another, taking us to
the point where we understand the pressing question of the text. That is,
if we are going to achieve transport systems that maintain or improve the
ecological and social welfare of our cities there seems to be a real role
for public transport, or transit as it is referred to elsewhere in the
world. But it is not as yet certain just which policies are those most
likely to make public transport successful. Is it freeing up the invisible
hand of the market to produce entrepreneur-driven flexible public transport
responses that is necessary, such as is advocated by Roth, Hensher and
others  - an approach Mees calls the Bangkok Model? Or is a more
interventionist comprehensive planning approach needed as has been
undertaken in Zurich?

Dr Mees' most significant research efforts have been into this question and
he has studied in depth both his home city, Melbourne, Australia, and a
place with a somewhat comparable urban character, form and history, namely
Toronto, Canada. Toronto has received much attention in the Australian
transport planning scene over the last decade, particularly given its
dominance over both Australian and US cities in terms of its higher shares
of public transport ridership, and other 'sustainable' transport
performance indicators. The latter half of the book is Mees most
significant contribution. A thorough socio-historical analysis of the two
cities is used to present answers to many of the most pressing issues in
the field – the 'success' of free market approaches, just how 'flexible'
public transport is under such a model, and how to unlock the 'network
effect'.

The result is a real-world study that illustrates very effectively the need
for comprehensive planning if cities are to achieve successful outcomes. 

An insightful and original work, worthy of both its volume of sales and the
praise it is receiving. It is not surprising to hear that a retitled North
American edition may be released shortly.

Matthew Burke
July 2000