[sustran] Re: Car free day reports - ex. Europe

[Lake Sagaris]

Hi -- Just a note of encouragement. The Car-Free day received a rapid but
interesting and heartening news report on one of the Chilean TV channels the
other day. It looked good and sounded good. We'll see if Santiago can get
its act together to do something for next year (we need a long lead time!).
Best, Lake

----- Original Message -----
From: Craig Townsend <craig_townsend at hotmail.com>
To: <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
Sent: September 27, 2000 6:32 AM
Subject: [sustran] Re: Car free day reports - ex. Europe


> Eric,
>
> Below is another news item of Bangkok's first car free day.
>
> For information on the Thai car free day go to:
>
> http://www.nepo.go.th/index-E.html
>
> There is a light blue circular background with some Thai text and "22" on
> it. Click and it will take you to the car free day home page. Most of it
is
> in Thai but if you click around a bit you should find the main logo which
> also includes the English "In town, without my car!" Some of the Thai text
> will translate into symbols unless your browser can encode Thai text.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Craig
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> >From the Nation (Thailand) Internet Edition, 27 September 2000
>
> Car-free day a breath of fresh air
>
>
> DECREASED traffic congestion and air pollution in Bangkok last Friday,
> Thailand's first Car-Free Day, was a direct result of fewer cars on the
> roads, PM's Office Minister Savit Bhotiwihok told Cabinet yesterday.
>
> Savit, in charge of the National Energy Policy Office (Nepo), said the
> Car-Free Day campaign successfully persuaded about 8 per cent of the
> capital's motorists to leave their cars at home, an estimated decrease of
> 104,000 vehicles. Fewer vehicles meant improved air quality, he said.
>
> According to a Nepo study, traffic congestion on expressways eased between
> 10 to 20 per cent and traffic flow on ordinary roads was 5 to 10 per cent
> better than a week before.
>
> "The number of vehicles on the second-stage expressway approximately
reduced
> by 50,000, to only 340,000 cars when compared to September 15," Savit
said.
>
> He said the campaign had effectively encouraged more people to use public
> transport - the number of train passengers increased by 35.8 per cent and
> Microbus passengers increased by 3.9 per cent.
>
> "The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority also had 6.9 per cent more
passengers,"
> said Savit. And the Bangkok Transit System, the Skytrain operator,
reported
> a 14.9 per cent increase in passengers.
>
> Savit said air-quality tests on Friday revealed the Car-Free Day had had
an
> immediate effect on air pollution levels. Pollution Control Department
> monitoring stations tracked significant decreases in the levels of carbon
> monoxide and PM-10, another major pollutant produced by cars.
>
> The campaign's success has prompted Nepo to draft measures aimed at
> encouraging people to use public transport more in the future.
>
>
> *******************************************************
> Craig Townsend, PhD Candidate & Researcher
>
> Apt. 35, Krisda Mansion
> 11/26 Sukhumvit Soi 1, Wattana, Bangkok 10110  Thailand
> tel: (66 2) 251-6472     fax: (66 2) 255-5933
>
> Institute for Sustainability & Technology Policy (ISTP)
> Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch
> Perth, Western Australia 6150
> tel: (61 8) 9360-6293     fax: (61 8) 9360-6421
>
> email: townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au
>
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