[sustran] Dhaka: 2/3 wheelers, and 2 stroke engines

[eric.britton at ecoplan.org]

One thing we have learned over the last several decades of doing not very
well on this score, is that a truly sustainable transportation system needs
to be
pieced together from many disparate and uneven parts.  We know, moreover,
that a substantial part of the necessary adjustments will turn out to be
outside of matters which normally fall into the realm of transportation per
se - which of course is one of the reasons why it has proven such a problem
for those with specifically transport expertise to get the needed job done.

In this context of the need for weave solutions of many strands and parts,
the ongoing discussion here about the UNDP et al CNG autorickshaw proposal
is,
for example, taking place at the same time that a local NGO in Bangladesh,
the Environment and Social Development Organization - ESDO, is leading a
parallel campaign which in my view is of at least as much interest.  For the
story on this: the Earth Car Free Day/Sustainable Transportation Forum at
www.carfreeday.com.  Once there you can get the ESDO/Dhaka profile by
clicking the Registration Desk, there "Find a City" where you pop Dhaka.
And there is their program.

The ESDO Profile concludes with the follow comment which we have made on
their project, and concerning which we would be pleased to have your
comments.  And we look forward to working with those responsible for the
UNDP/Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Co. proposal for CNG rickshaws, which we feel
certainly merits coverage in this context as well.

Eric Britton, The Commons, Paris



* * * * *
"This is an excellent initiative, both for the people and the city
of Dhaka, and as a fine example of how people and groups in other places can
move from being passive observers to focused activists ready to make a
useful contribution to their community.  This is the first major
"trickle-up"
effort of this sort known to us that has targeted two-stroke engines in this
way.

"South-east Asian cities and their people are suffering enormously from the
impacts of their present chaotic and unthought out transportation
arrangements.  It is our view that the solution, at least in the near term,
does not lay in investing billions in metro systems or other such magic
wands, but in coming to grips with the contradictions that are out there in
the streets today.  Because of the economic, social and political delicacy
of everything that has to do with transport, the many and major changes that
are needed must have strong public support.  They must be doable without
large injections of cash.  And they must target the needs of all levels of
society, with particular attention to those who are most disadvantaged.

"Two wheeled vehicles continue to be one of the most elusive areas for sound
transport policy and practice, and it has to be said that until now no clear
model has as yet emerged as to how they should best be treated.  They
certainly constitute an enormous menace to well-being in many ways.  On the
other hand, there are strong arguments for them out there in the real world,
including not least of which their sheer presence and numbers, and that is a
fact that needs to be faced.  Starting with two-stroke engines and all the
environmental and health menaces that they bring with them as ESDO is going
in Bangladesh is, in our view, a great way to begin."


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