[sustran] SUSTRAN News Flash #40

[SUSTRAN Resource Centre]

SUSTRAN News Flash #40		20 September 2000
News update on people-centred, equitable and sustainable 
transport with a focus on countries in the global 'South'.  

Produced for the Sustainable Transport Action Network for 
Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) 
URL: http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran/ or
http://www.geocities.com/sustrannet


The SUSTRAN Network is five years old this week! Congratulations 
to all who have played a part so far.


CONTENTS
1.  Car Free Day This Week!
2.  World Bank Urban Transport Strategy Review
3.  Profile: Indonesian NGO Forum for Sustainable Transport
4.  E-Conference: Urban Public Transport in Developing Countries
5.  Bangalore Busway Project?
6.  Bremen awards
7.  INFORMATION RESOURCES AND LINKS
	   Sustran-discuss list
	   Community Action Guide to Urban Transport
	   E-discussion for Santiago
	   Report on Japanese Motorcycles in Indonesia
	   SIDA Report on Urban Transport
	   Delft Low-cost Mobility Statement
	   Book on Planning in Hong Kong
	   Discussion paper: Can Rail Pay?
	   World Transport Policy & Practice journal online
	   Online Sustainable Urban Travel Resources- New Address
	   Online Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment
8.  COMING EVENTS
9.  LIGHTER SIDE


Please recommend the SUSTRAN News Flash service to your colleagues.


1. CAR FREE DAY THIS WEEK!
In order to popularise the benefits of reducing dependence on 
private cars, this week over 700 cities around the world will 
hold Car Free Day events (some of them on Thursday, many on 
Friday and some over the weekend). Among the web pages devoted to 
this are the @World Car Free Day site at 
http://ecoplan.org/carfreeday, the European Car Free day site at
http://www.22september.org/ and the Carbusters World Car Free Day 
site at http://www.carbusters.ecn.cz/WCFD2.htm. Europe has been 
most enthusiastic in embracing the idea while North America and 
Asia appear to have been rather slow. Nevertheless, several cities 
in China, Japan, Korea and Thailand have been reported to be staging 
events. Many cities in Latin America are taking part, including 
Bogotá and Buenos Aires.

Do not despair if there are no formal events in your area. You can 
still make your own small statement by choosing alternatives to the 
private car on Thursday (and/or Friday)!! 

Ironically, Car Free Day comes during a month of high oil 
prices, concerns about energy supplies, and protests by truckers 
and others in Europe over fuel prices. Blockades instead of 
'Car Free Days' have already removed traffic from roads in many 
parts of Europe. 

Meanwhile in Bangkok the link has been made explicit! The Prime 
Minister's Office has declared its car-free day on September 22 
to be in protest against soaring fuel costs. Thailand's economy 
is highly dependent on imported oil and is severely affected by 
high oil prices. 


2. WORLD BANK URBAN TRANSPORT STRATEGY REVIEW
The World Bank is reviewing its Urban Transport Strategy. The 
Review has created a Web Portal which has more information on 
the review process, the draft strategy document, many 
background papers on various transport issues. The Strategy 
outline and the background papers are available for comment. 
A series of consultations on the strategy will be held worldwide.  
Feedback can also be given directly on the web site which is at 
http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/transport/utsr.nsf


3. PROFILE: INDONESIAN NGO FORUM FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT
Earlier this year a new national coalition of NGOs was formed in 
Indonesia, the Indonesian NGO Forum for Sustainable Transport 
(Infortrans). Infortrans promotes sustainable transport and also 
accessibility for the poor. There are 28 organisations in the 
coalition, including environmental, consumer, legal aid, academic, 
social justice, urban poor and community-based organisations.  
Infortrans was prominent in May at the International Conference on 
Sustainable Transport and Clean Air held in Jakarta. 
Pelangi Indonesia was chosen to host the secretariat of Infortrans.  

Next month Pelangi will also become host for the Secretariat of 
the SUSTRAN Network!!  Contact: Infortrans Joint Secretariat, 
d.a. Pelangi Indonesia, Jl. Danau Tondano No. A-4, Jakarta 10210, 
Indonesia. Tel. +(62 21) 573 5020, 571 9360, Fax +(62 21) 573 2503, 
Email: infortrans at pelangi.or.id, infortrans at lycos.com


4. E-CONFERENCE ON URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
A electronic conference on "urban public transport and sustainable
livelihoods" began on 6 September and will continue until 20 
October 2000. The conference will also present experience gained 
from a DFID research project, "Partnerships to Improve Access and 
Quality of Public Transport for the Urban Poor", which involved a 
case study of Karachi, Pakistan. The organisers hope to bring 
together a wide range of stakeholders - NGO's, researchers, 
government staff, consultants - to discuss practical elements 
behind urban transport provision.  To join this e-conference, 
send a message to the organisers via: 
transport-partnerships-request at mailbase.ac.uk. 
Other information and resources about the 
e-conference can be found at: 
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/wedc/projects/ptup/index.htm or contact 
Dr. M.Sohail, Research Manger, Institute for Development Engineering, 
Water, Engineering and Development Centre, Loughborough University, 
Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK Tel: +44 1509 222890; 
Fax: +44 1509 211079, email: m.sohail at lboro.ac.uk


5. BANGALORE BUSWAY PROJECT?
Bangalore in Southern India is reported (by The Hindu newspaper 
on July 30, 2000) to be considering implementing a dedicated 
busway project using bi-articulated buses similar to those 
popularised in Curitiba's famous "surface metro". Karnataka state 
Transport Minister, C.R.Sageer Ahmed said the first phase of the 
Metro Bus Project involved a 12 km dedicated track between 
Jayanagar Bus Station and Shivajinagar Bus Station, passing 
through Basavanagudi and Krishnarajendra Market. The buses made by 
Volvo have three articulated compartments and can carry up to 270 
passengers. However, the state of funding for the project appears 
to be uncertain as the Minister was quoted as saying that the 
Government plans to seek the assistance of the Swedish Development 
Agency for the project. A similar project is under way in Bogotá 
in Colombia (where it is known as Transmilenio - see
http://www.alcaldiabogota.gov.co/transmilenio/index.html - the site 
is in Spanish).


6. BREMEN AWARDS
The bremen initiative is inviting submissions of best practices 
involving partnerships between business and municipalities (local 
government) that offer tangible solutions for urban quality of 
life and which are favourable to economic activities and above 
all sustainable. Applications must be jointly submitted by the 
business and municipality partners. The closing date is 15 January 
2001. See also bremen initiative's website for application forms 
http://www.bremen-initiative.de/award. Contact: Jana Ludmann at 
the bremen partnership award office c/o ecolo, Fax +49(0)421 
23001118 or email award at bremen-initiative.de.



7. INFORMATION RESOURCES AND LINKS

Sustran-discuss list
If you find the SUSTRAN News Flashes useful then you might enjoy 
a more interactive forum, the sustran-discuss list (for 
announcements and discussions on sustainable and people-centred 
transport issues with a focus on the South). For more information 
see http://www.geocities.com/sustrannet/discussion.htm


Community Action Guide to Urban Transport
The SUSTRAN Network book (TAKING STEPS: A Community Action Guide 
to People-Centred, Equitable and Sustainable Urban Transport) is 
now more affordable than before: US$7 in developing countries, 
US$12 for those in OECD countries, RM20 inside Malaysia.  
Several sections can also be downloaded for free via 
http://www.geocities.com/sustrannet/actionguide/outline.htm.  
Details on how to order are at
http://www.geocities.com/sustrannet/actionguide/AGorder.htm. 


E-discussion (in Spanish) on Sustainable Transport for Santiago
For more information see the Transporte Agenda page, at
http://www.ciudadviva.cl. Contact: Ciudad Viva, 
Fax: 562 732 3079, Email: info at cuidadviva


Report on Japanese Motorcycles in Indonesian Urban Transport
A new report entitled, "The Role of Japanese Motorcycle in Urban 
Transport in  Indonesia: Past and the Future" funded by the 
Sumitomo Foundation has been produced by the Center for Transport 
and Communication Research at the Institute of Technology Bandung. 
Contact: Harun A Sorah Lubis, Center for Transport and 
Communication Research, ITB / Bandung, Indonesia. Email: 
halubis at trans.si.itb.ac.id


SIDA Report on Urban Transport and Development Assistance
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) 
has identified urban transport as an area of strategic importance. 
Sida's policy study on urban transport is available in pdf-format
http://www.sida.se/Sida/articles/500-599/514/pdf/UrbanTransp.pdf 
(warning - this link will immediately begin downloading the 
document) and hard copies of the report may be ordered from 
Ms Madeleine Goetzinger (e-mail: madeleine.goetzinger at sida.se). 


Delft Low-cost Mobility Statement
In June 2000 an Expert Group Meeting on Low-Cost Mobility in 
African Cities was held in Delft, The Netherlands. It was 
organised by IHE Delft on behalf of the World Bank. Proceedings 
will soon be available. The meeting also produced the 'Delft 
Low-Cost Mobility Statement'.  Contact: Mrs T. van der Klis, Tel: 
+31 15 2151896; fax +31 15 2122921; E-mail kli at ihe.nl.


Book on Planning in Hong Kong
"Land-use/Transport Planning in Hong Kong: The End of an Era: 
A review of principles and practices" (Edited by Harry Dimitriou 
and Alison Cook, 1998, Ashgate).


Discussion paper: Can Rail Pay?
Discussion paper from the Institute for Sustainability and 
Technology Policy (ISTP), entitled 'Can Rail Pay? - Light Rail 
Transit and Urban Redevelopment with Value Capture Funding and 
Joint Development Mechanisms' by Jan Scheurer, Peter Newman, Jeff 
Kenworthy and Thomas Gallagher. It can be downloaded at 
http://wwwistp.murdoch.edu.au/lightrail/istp.html


World Transport Policy & Practice journal goes online
This quarterly journal edited by John Whitelegg, is now 
available free of charge as Adobe Acrobat PDF files. Several 
issues are now available via 
http://www.ecoplan.org/wtpp/wt_index.htm


Online Sustainable Urban Travel Resources - New Web Address
The Comprehensive Sustainable Urban Travel bibliographies have 
moved to http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sbe/planbiblios/ then click 
on 'Planning Bibliographies' and then 'Sustainable Urban Travel'. 
Contact: Hugh McClintock, Institute of Urban Planning, School of 
the Built Environment, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. 
Email: Hugh.McClintock at nottingham.ac.uk


Online Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment
ARIC has produced a one-stop source of information on a range of
atmospheric issues, including air quality, acid rain, global 
warming and ozone depletion at http://www.doc.mmu.ac.uk/aric/eae/ 
Contact: Sue Hare / Joe Buchdahl - Coordinators, E-mail: 
aric at mmu.ac.uk



8. COMING EVENTS

"Traffic Safety on Three Continents", September 20-22, 2000, CSIR
Conference Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. Contact: Dr Richard 
Pain, Transportation Research Board, 2101 Constitution Ave. NW, 
Washington DC, 204 18 USA. Fax: +1 202 334 2003, Email: 
rpain at nas.edu

"Asia Pacific Conference on Tourism for Persons with Disabilities",
September 24-28, 2000 in Bali, Indonesia. Contact: conference 
secretariat, cbr at indo.net.id  or see http://www.aptpwd.com

"Accessible Transportation Seminar", October 12, 2000, Petaling 
Jaya Community Library, Selangor, Malaysia. Keynote speaker is 
Dr Kit Mitchell, an international expert on access to transport 
for people with disabilities. Co-organised by Petaling Jaya City 
Hall and the Access Initiative Group (AIG). Contact: 
Mr LEE Lih Shyan, Local Agenda 21 Officer, MPPJ. Tel: +60 3 
7563544 x351, lee at mppj.gov.my or Ms Lily Wong, Community Liaison, 
MPPJ, Tel: +60 3 7563544 x364, wdmlilly at mppj.gov.my  

"UITP Melbourne 2000 Public Transport Conference Event", 8-13 
October 2000, includes both the International Union of Public 
Transport (UITP) Light Rail Conference and the Asia/Pacific 
Congress and City Transport Exhibition. See  
http://www.lightrail2000.vic.gov.au. Contact: International 
Association of Public Transport (UITP), Avenue Herrmann-
Debroux 17, B-1160 Brussels, Belgium, Tel +32 2 673 6100, Fax +32
2 660 1072, E-mail: administration at uitp.com, URL: 
http://www.uitp.com

"Seminar Workshop on Accessible Transportation" on October 16-17, 
2000organised by DPI-Thailand, in collaboration with DPI-A/P 
Regional Office. Contact to Ms.Wannao dpith at loxinfo.co.th 

"Smart Urban Transport - Using Transitways and Busways" conference, 
17-20 October 2000, Brisbane, Australia.  Contact: Ozaccom 
Conference Services, PO Box 164, Fortitude Valley QLD, 
Australia 4006. Tel: +617-38541611 Fax: +617-38541507, Email: 
tra at ozaccom.com.au or see http://www.transportroundtable.com.au

"Regional Policy Seminar on Transport and Communication 
Challenges for Urban Local Governments in the 21st Century", 
Organised by CITYNET, UN-ESCAP and the City of Kuala Lumpur, 
8-10 November 2000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Contact: CITYNET 
Secretariat, 5F, International Organizations Center, Pacifico 
Yokohama, 1-1-1 Minato Mirai,  Nishi-ku, Yokohama 220-0012 Japan. 
Tel: (81-45) 223-2161, Fax: (81-45) 223-2162, E-mail: 
citynet at po.iijnet.or.jp, Web-site: 
http://www2.itjit.ne.jp/~citynet

"Seminar on Accessible Transport in South China", November 9-14, 
Shenzen, Guangdong, China.  Contact Access Exchange International 
(AEI), 112 San Pablo Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127-1536, USA. 
Fax: +1 415  661 1543, E-mail: globalride-sf at worldnet.att.net 

"XI Panamerican Conference in Traffic and Transportation 
Engineering", 19-23 November, 2000, Gramado, state of Rio Grande 
do Sul, Brazil. Contact: Dr. Luis Antonio Lindau, President of 
the Organising Committee, Escola de Engenharia/UFRGS, Praça 
Argentina n.9 Sala 408, 90040-020 Porto Alegre, Brasil. Tel: 
+55 51 316 3596, Fax : + 55 51 316 4007, email: 
panam at orion.ufrgs.br, Web: http://www.ufrgs.br/panam

"Seminar on Accessibility and Rural Development Planning", 
November 25-26, 2000 at Birla Institute Of Technology & Science, 
Bits Pilani. Contact: Prof. Ashoke K. Sarkar, Civil Engineering 
Group, BITS Pilani, 333 031, Rajasthan, India. Email: 
asarkar at bits-pilani.ac.in

"4th International Workshop on Transportation Planning & 
Implementation Methodologies for Developing Countries: Transport 
Infrastructure" 5-7, December, 2000. Contact: Prof. S. L. Dhingra/
Dr  K. V. Krishna Rao, Co-ordinators, TPMDC-2000, Transportation 
Systems Engineering Group, Civil Engineering Department, Indian 
Institute of Technology  Bombay, Powai, Mumbai - 400 076, India. 
Fax: +91 22 5767302/5783480,  Email: tpmdc2k at civil.iitb.ernet.in

"Australia: Walking the 21st Century - An International Walking
Conference", 20-22 February 2001. Perth, Western Australia.  
Contact: John Seaton - Manager, Pedestrian Strategy, Metropolitan 
Division, Department of Transport, PO Box 7272 Cloisters Square,  
Perth  6850, Western Australia, Australia. Tel: +61 8 9313 8680,  
Fax: +61 8 9320 9497, e-mail: jseaton at transport.wa.gov.au

"54th UITP International Congress" to be held in London, 20-25 
May 2001. International Exhibition of Public Transport - City 
Transport 2001. London, England, 21-24 May 2001. In conjunction 
with the 54th UITP International Congress.  Contact: International 
Association of Public Transport (UITP), Avenue Herrmann-Debroux 17, 
B-1160 Brussels, Belgium, Tel +32 2 673 6100 - Fax +32 2 660 1072, 
E-mail: administration at uitp.com, URL: http://www.uitp.com 

"Transed 2001: Towards Safety, Independence and Security. 9th 
International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly 
and Disabled People." Warsaw, Poland, 2-5 July 2001.  Contact: 
TRANSED, PO Box 10, 02-783 Warsaw 59, Poland.  Fax: +48 22 8316526, 
Email: transed2001 at idn.org.pl, Web: http://transed2001.idn.org.pl 

"9th World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR)" to be held at 
ASEM International Convention Center, Seoul, July 22-27, 2001. 
Co-organisers: Korean Society of Transportation & The Korea 
Transport Institute. Deadline for abstracts April 15, 2000. Contact: 
Secretariat of 9th WCTR Conference, The Korea Transport Institute,
2311 Daehwa-Dong, Ilsan-Gu, Koyang-city, Kyonggi-Do, 411-410, KOREA. 
Tel: +82-344-910-3100, Fax: +82-344-910-3200, Email: 
secretariat at wctr2001.org, Web: http://www.wctr2001.org

"Fourth Conference of the Eastern Asian Society for Transportation 
Studies (EASTS)", Hanoi, Vietnam, 24-26 October, 2001 hosted by the 
Transportation Science Society of Vietnam (TSSV).  Contact: Office 
of the EASTS Secretary General, c/o Association for Planning and 
Transportation Studies, K-Wing 6F, 5-2-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, 
Tokyo 102-0083, Japan. Tel: +81 3 32651774, Fax: +81 3 32215489, 
Email: easts at sa2.so-net.ne.jp, http://ichini.cv.titech.ac.jp/~easts/


9.  LIGHTER SIDE
For a light hearted column that asks the question "Is there a 
conspiracy to eliminate all pedestrians in Malaysia?" see
http://www.malaysiakini.com/archives_news/2000/aug/aug9/news4.htm


I am told by an unreliable source that Clinton and Gore are two
neighbouring towns in New Zealand's South Island.  The road between 
the two has been officially named the President's Highway.  Another 
less direct road, that takes half an hour longer to travel, has been 
named the Monica Lewinski Highway - the Alternative Route.


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We welcome your news and announcements. Thank you to all who 
have contributed. 

The Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific 
(the SUSTRAN Network) promotes and popularises people-centred, 
equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on Asia and the 
Pacific.