[sustran] Re: Assistance Requested-Cincinnati Light Rail Project

[Tim Frodsham]

>From: "kisan mehta" <kisansbc at vsnl.com>
>Reply-To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
>To: <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
>Subject: [sustran] Assistance Requested-Cincinnati Light Rail Project
>Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 07:04:20 +0530
>
>
>  Dear Colleagues,
>
>It is interesting to learn about the hot fight for a light
>  rail line in an automobile centred country. We do not
>have  any data that can help the fight however we wish the
>promoters of  sustainable transit a great sucess.
>
>We in Mumbai are faced with a serious threat. Our
>  authorities have developed Mumbai Urban Transport Project
>  (MUTP) with active World Bank support.  In a city of 11.91
>  million residents (Census of India 2001) where public
>  transport and motor cars account for 88%  and 7% journeys
>  respectively the Bank has extended multimillion dollar loan
>  for supporting motorisation and denigrating public transport.
>  Six and eight lane link roads without pavements would pass
>  through crowded areas. State-of-art Computerised Traffic
>  Signal System would be instaled on pavementless roads where
>  flyovers and elevated roads have been recently built for
>  exclusive use by motor cars.
>
>  The Bank has not proposed levying of toll on vehicles so
>  common man not owning motorised vehicles will be required
>to pay back the loan. Road accident rate is very high with pedestrians
>forming 95% of the victims (Bank observation).
>Traffic control is conspicuous by total absence. Not a single
>road or lane is closed to personal cars but many roads and all
>flyovers are closed to public buses.
>
>  This is what the poor countries have to accept to avail the
>  Bank loan.  The Bank swears by sustainability and poverty
>  reduction! Best wishes.
> >
>  Kisan Mehta  and Priya Salvi
>Save Bombay Committee
>620 Jame Jamshed Road, Dadar East,
>Mumbai 400 014 India
>Tel:  00 91 22 414 9688
>Fax: 00 91 22 415 5536

kishan and priva,
sounds like MUPT are endorsing yet another world bank funded tansport 
planning disaster waiting to happen. my advice would be to let the 
authorities in mumbai know they are making a HUGE mistake by misconstrueing 
uncontrolled motorisation with modernisation.  a few companies will do very 
well with some fat contracts, but the consequences will be assuredly 
nightmarish.  a good place to start your counter-actions against the world 
bank supported freeway project in Mumbai is the book,  newman p.w.g & 
kenworthy, j.r (1999) 'sustainability and cities, overcoming car dependence' 
[new york: island press]. it has information in its appendices on how to 
systematically account for urban growth with checklists, as well as 
guidelines for sustainable urban development.  these would be useful 
advocacy tools.

having done a lot of cycling around india, about 7 and 10 years ago, i can 
vouch firsthand the hazards and constraints of non-motorised transport in 
the sub-continent. i cycled through every major indian mega-city, except 
mumbai. i was impressed by both the sheer scale and the huge unlocked 
potential for cycling as a tool for sustainable development in that country. 
  mumbai's city transport authorities could learn a lot on bicycle traffic 
engineering from the chinese experience, where dedicated lanes for bikes 
exist in most cities. unfortunately, in some chinese cities, particularly 
those in the industrial zones experiencing high economic growth (and 
subsequently higher growth in car ownership), the official policy is now 
sadly that bicycles are seen as the primary cause of traffic congestion, and 
are now increasingly excluded both physically and in future planning 
scenarios. cycling is now banned, for example, in the main thoroughfares of 
many chinese cities, including beijing, shanghai and guangzhou.

no doubt that mumbai has been experiencing high growth of car ownership in a 
growing middle-upper class minority, since deregulation of indian markets in 
the 1990s. it would be interesting to know precisely whose interests are 
being represented on the Mumbai Urban Transport Project. it would also be 
interesting to know of the official policy (or fantasy!) in relation to 
cycling and congestion in mumbai.
let me know if my company can be of any use to you.
best,
tim




Sustainable Universal Mobility

International Transport Consultancy

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