[sustran] The 2002 Taliban World Environment Prize Competition

[Eric Britton]

Re: Kathmandu anti-public transport even-odd rule during SAARC’s summit
(oringal annoucment follows below)

Ladies, Gentlemen, Others,

 

Might we not at Sustran, World Transport and our many extensions not get
together and see if we can cobble together and offer the authors of this
fabulous piece of legislation some high profile international booby
prize?  Let's see, what might we call it?  The 2002 Taliban World
Environment Prize?  (Also known perhaps as the LLEA - “Last Laugh
Environment Award”?)

 

Okay, there may be something slightly wrong with that title and I am
sure that you all can do better.  But the only way that I can think of
to bring the necessary pressure on this world level sad dumbness --
would be to see if we can laugh them out of it.

 

Then if it actually works we might even think about institutionalizing
it? We could even present it as an instrument of socio-technical change
to the Johannesburg Summit in September. (And if it actually works,
someone might even nominate it for one of the true international awards
for accomplishment at the Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities
– www.partnerships.stockholm.se/.)

 

Could we network this?

 

Refreshingly yours,

 

Eric Britton

 

PS. And your nominations for the 2002 Stockholm Partnerships Awards?

 

 

Chair of the Stockholm Partnerships Jury

www.partnerships.stockholm.se/ 

 

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= = = = =

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Paul Barter [mailto:geobpa at nus.edu.sg]

Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 6:57 AM

To: 'sustran-discuss at jca.apc.org'

Subject: [sustran] Fwd: Kathmandu anti-public transport even-odd rule
during SAARC summit

 

 

An interesting item seen in 

Clean Energy NEWS

Vol. 2, Number 6, January 8, 2002

...

 

Even/Odd Rule: A Discriminating Transportation Policy

 

During the recent SAARC Summit, held in Kathmandu, the government
introduced the even/odd system, where vehicles with even number plates
are allowed to enter the city on even numbered days and odd numbered
vehicles in odd days, to control the number of vehicles within Ring
Road. Although similar systems have been successfully introduced in many
other cities where congestion is a problem, the one in Kathmandu was
different in that only public vehicles had to follow this new rule while
private vehicles were free to enter the city whenever they wanted.
Usually it is the other way around. Restricting the access of private
vehicles encourages the use of public transportation and thus reducing
congestion and pollution while ensuring that people have access to
affordable transportation services. In Kathmandu, however, the system
caused a lot of inconvenience to people who have to depend on public
transportation services. 

 

A recent study conducted by the Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme of
Kathmandu Metropolitan City, estimated that public transport vehicles
accounted for only about 17.5 percent of the total vehicle kilometer
performance on the urban road network in Kathmandu but they carried 60
percent of all passengers. This indicates that the new policy reduced
the congestion by only about 17.5 percent while causing inconvenience to
60 percent of the commuters. 

 

The Coalition for Clean Environment (CCE), a network of 12 environment
groups, has lodged a letter of protest in DoTM and Traffic Police Office
against the new system, which discriminates against public
transportation. Initially the government had announced that the new
even/odd rule would be applicable to all vehicles. This is logical, but
later private vehicles were spared from the rule probably to satisfy the
rich and powerful sections of our society. Even the environmentally
friendly vehicles like Safa Tempos have been restricted to ply on the
occasion of SAARC Summit. CCE strongly feels that this is discriminatory
rule and should not be continued in its present form. 

 

The Department of Transport Management is studying the possibility of
having the even/odd system in Kathmandu permanently even after the SAARC
summit. ...

 

Edited by Bhushan Tuladhar, Anil K. Raut, and Bimal Aryal

Clean Energy Nepal (CEN) and Martin Chautari (MC) are independent,
not-for-profit organizations working in the field of Energy and
Environment.

 

 

CEN: 254 Sahayog Marg, Anamnagar, Kathmandu, Nepal

P.O. Box: 8846, Tel: 977-1-242381 E-mail: cen at mos.com.np 

 

MC: Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal

P.O. Box: 13470, Tel: 977-1-256239 Fax: 977-1-240059 E-mail:
chautari at mos.com.np

 

 

 

 

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