[sustran] Re: Bus and rail (fwd)

[Craig Townsend]

Not including externalities and long term costs and benefits of operations, 
there are additional benefits to construction of rail. Supply of E & M 
equipment and steel contribute toward heavy industrialization and the 
provision of high skill, well paid jobs, and technological spin-offs: this 
has been done in Japan and more recently in Korea. The benefits are such 
that industrialized nations are willing to offer loans on very favourable 
terms in order to build rail systems in industrializing nations. Bangkok's 
subway is under construction with a loan from the Japan Bank for 
International Cooperation (formerly OECF) with an interest rate of 0.75% 
for 40 years and a 10 year grace period. I would be interested to know how 
the costs of capital for construction differ between rail and busway.

Some of the comparisons being made appear to be between at-grade busways 
and elevated rail. I would suggest that this is an inappropriate comparison 
unless the rights of way required are really that different. How do the 
rights of way compare between busway systems in operation versus LRT 
systems in operation?

I too don't like getting into discussions pitting one form of transit 
aganist another. As Lloyd suggests, the way around this is to state the 
values and objectives and then choose appropriate means of working toward 
those objectives. Thus, busways should be supported if they are part of a 
package of measures supporting public transport and non-motorized 
transport. However, they are being used as a "trojan horse" to make massive 
road building more politically palatable in some places. My concern for the 
enthusiasm over urban busways is not that they perform poorly, but that 
they are promoted as a means of facilitating an eventual shift to a road 
based, private, and motorized transport system. (I should have stated that 
assumption explicitly in my previous message.) Alan suggests that busways 
can be "picked up" and moved: I doubt that, but I would be interested to 
hear of specific cases. I suspect that they will be converted into road 
space for private vehicles in the future, which is why those of us 
concerned about sustainable transport should be wary of them in the first 
place!

At 05:58 PM 27/02/02 +0530, you wrote:
>Contd.
>
>Correction  Please read  "Population 8-10 millon or more" in place of
>population 80-100 million or more" in my earlier mail.
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 20:10:17 +0530 (IST)
>From: Prof S L Dhingra <dhingra at civil.iitb.ac.in>
>To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
>Subject: Re: [sustran] Re: Bus and rail

________________________________________________
Craig Townsend
Institute for Sustainability & Technology Policy
Murdoch University
South Street, Murdoch
Perth, Western Australia 6150

tel: (61 8) 9360 6278
fax: (61 8) 9360 6421
email: townsend at central.murdoch.edu.au