[sustran] Re: Reducing number of cars on the road

[Mohsin J. Sarker]

I did a research on the topic "Gap Between Demand and Supply of Auto-related
Road Infrastructure and Urban Characteristics". I used the data of various
Japanese cities and got significant relation between this gap and modal
shares. We defined a gap index as the ratio of demand and supply of auto
related road infrastructure. The result shows that at high gap index, there
is higher public transport share and lower automobile share. On the other
hand, there is low public transport share and higher automobile share at low
gap index. So if we continue to make automobile more convenient by
constructing or providing more auto-related facilities, then number of
automobile will continue to increase simultaneously. Most interesting point
is that in Japan, even after ensuring large tax revenues for road
development, the increasing rate of automobile always surpassed the rate of
road development. I think, this is not the case of Japan only, but also of
other countries all over the world.

Mohsin J. Sarker
Ph,D, Candidate
Regional Planning
Department of Civil Engineering
Utsunomiya University
7-1-2 Yoto, Utsunomiya, Japan 321-8585
Tel : +81-28-689-6223
Fax: +81-28-689-6230
Email: t9802 at cc.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp



----- Original Message -----
From: "Car Busters" <carbusters at ecn.cz>
To: <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 10:22 PM
Subject: [sustran] Re: Reducing number of cars on the road


> Dear everyone,
>
> The most obvious way to reduce the number of cars on the road seems to
> have escaped mention in this discussion -- reducing the amount of road
> space devoted to cars. And when you think about it, that's what most
> of us are after anyway -- not keeping the same wide roads filled with
> half-used car lanes, but re-allocating some of these lanes to other
> uses (bicycles, trams, trees and plants, playgrounds, pedestrians,
> etc.).
>
> It may be obvious, but if you take a four-lane road, re-allocate two
> of the lanes to trams and bicycle lanes, leaving two car lanes, you
> thereby cut the maximum allowable car traffic by half, physically, and
> quite cheaply, too. The amount of road space we give to cars will
> ultimately set the maximum amount of traffic that the road system will
> allow for (see studies on traffic generation and evaporation).
>
> I used to live in a town, Arcata, California, that did this on two
> streets. Now, instead of four car lanes there are only two, plus a
> wide park-like center-divider with trees and grass, and a bike lane on
> each side. It was not a popular idea when first proposed, but
> afterward everyone sees that there are no negative side-effects, and
> no more congestion than before. The cars also go slower than before.
>
> However utopic this all may sound, places like Oxford, England, are
> doing this, too. Instead of only talking of traffic calming, the city
> council is seriously getting into closing roads to cars. But so often
> people think of public transport as something to add on top of the
> existing car infrastructure. Instead we need to replace car
> infrastructure.
>
> > if we continue to improve transportation infrastructure or systems
> related to both
> > automobile and public transport in parallel, then I think, there
> will be no
> > reduction of car use.
>
> Totally in agreement. This is why, among other things, two things need
> to happen (which are not normally politically popular) to turn things
> around:
>
> 1) We must stop further expansion of automobile infrastructure (road
> building, widening, parking lots...), or else the gains from our
> efforts will be cancelled out by sprawl.
> 2) In most places a lot of public transport (and pedestrian and
> cycling) infrastucture needs to be put in place, but not by doing it
> "parallel" to car infrastructure. Rather, repeated from above, space
> now devoted to the car needs to be reallocated to the alternatives, as
> well as for transformation into public space that doesn't devote
> itself exclusively to mobility.
>
> Randy Ghent
>
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