[sustran] Re: Information on 'Bike Taxi'

Viet Hung Khuat kviethung at gmx.de
Wed Aug 25 00:22:04 JST 2004


Hallo Anil,
It is nice to see yuor dicussion. However, we should consider some points as
follows:
1. The MC Taxis in BKK are mainly serving the Thai who really have lower
income than any foregn tourists but high quaily in Thai language.
2. In between 20-50 years the city like Hanoi, New Dehli or som other cities
have no money to provide enough Mass Transit Serivice.
What are the alternatives? and What is the cheapeast one?
Have a nice day,
HUNG
> Very interesting debate. There are many points, I need to address on the
> discussions.
> 
> First: Jonathan. You mentioned the positive role of these 'bike-taxis' on
> the streets of Bangkok. This was what I assumed when I saw them on the
> streets of Bangkok. I was even trying to ride one. But I was not familiar
with
> the city and these drivers were not good enough on English. So there was a
> high chance that I could be taken to unwanted area. I gave up the idea.
> 
> Another point is: I am not talking about the higher share of these
> bike-taxis on public transport. There is obviously role for
mass-transport. I just
> wanted to see what could be role of these bike-taxis on a balanced
> modal-split. I am not pushing this forward but it is good have idea on
what is
> going on around the world and importantly WHY it is happening, what are
the
> driving forces. We could then localise these knowledge and plan our city
> accordingly.
> 
> I agree with Jonathan's point. 'A bike operating on demand in a suburban
> area can be considerably more efficient than buses circulating most of the
> day almost empty.' This was also my observation which forced me to think
> about the possibility of bike-taxis. I am not saying; mass-transport will
> consume less fuel than bike. I was intended to say what you mentioned.
Bike
> taxi can consume less fuel (and space) than a car-taxi with almost most of
> time with single occupancy. BUT, there is certain role of mass transit.
Bike
> taxi should not be alternative to the mass-transit rather to their
> supplement.
> 
> Second: Mr. Mehta. I do agree with you in all ways. Yes, the oil price has
> been going up and this has already creating problem in our country in
> terms of revenue. We are advocating for alternative energy (which are
available
> within our country- hydropower) and its use in transportation sector. Till
> now electric vehicles are bit costly than fossil fuel vehicles. But I
> guess a time will come, when the fossil fuel price will be higher than
electric
> and we could easily promote electric vehicles. This is what the market
> drive. At this time, we can not just push the entrepreneurs to go for
electric
> vehicles. They will obviously go for low cost options. However, we have
> already more than 600 electric three-wheelers in Kathmandu. And possibly
in
> future the share of electric transport will be increased (trolley, trams).
> 
> But as I said earlier, this was what I intended to look for various
> options. Our goal is the effective transport management with less emission
> overall. For that we need to explore both the long and short term
possibilities.
> 
> Karl: Thanks for adding more point to understand the Bangkok bike-taxis. I
> know they were being parked within the walkways. But don't you think this
> is a management problem rather than the particular mode? I would love to
> know more about the Bangkok taxis from you. If there has been any study on
> the impact on environment, transport management due to these taxis.
> 
> The discussion is being interesting. Any additional thoughts????
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Anil K. Raut
> ----------------------------
> Anil K. Raut
> P. O. Box 8846
> Kathmandu, NEPAL
> E-mail: ankraut at wlink.com.np; anil at environmentnepal.com.np
> Tel: 977-1-4232761 (Res.)/977-9841233941 (Mobile)
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Karl Fjellstrom 
>   To: 'Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport' 
>   Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 8:44 AM
>   Subject: [sustran] Re: Information on 'Bike Taxi'
> 
> 
>   One of the downsides is that motorcycle taxis tend to lounge around and
> park
>   on walkways, and ride on walkways for at least part of their journey,
>   honking aggressively to clear away those bothersome pedestrians.
> Further,
>   the areas they congregate in tend to be more concentrated areas of
>   pedestrian activity such as major bus stops, markets, etc. In Bangkok
> it's
>   common for them to cordon off areas near a bus stop to the detriment of
>   waiting bus passengers - e.g. in front of Pata Pinklao. Not to mention
> the
>   noise and air pollution they contribute, often in areas with lots of
> people
>   which already suffer noise and air pollution (there's been an
> interesting
>   debate on noise pollution recently in Bangkok following data released by
> the
>   Env Ministry).
> 
>   Another consideration is that many of the motorcylce taxi trips in
> Bangkok
>   are within an easy walking distance - if only there was a navigable,
>   pleasant walkway. If conditions for short distance trips by walking were
>   improved, the demand for motorcycle taxis would diminish. Also, where
> trips
>   are too long to walk, bicycles could easily substitute for motorcycle
> taxis
>   for many trips, if only secure parking areas and other forms of
>   encouragement were provided for cycling. Such measures need not cost a
> lot.
> 
>   But there seems to be little interesting in encouraging alternatives to
>   motorcycle taxis, and this leads to the point that the motorcycle taxi
>   industry is also a major contributor to corruption, by most estimates
>   contributing tens of millions of dollars each year in pay-offs to police
> and
>   others. It's great to have these motorcycle taxi services in outlying
> areas
>   where otherwise no other service might be available, but the real issue
> is
>   their presence in congested urban areas. They can play a valuable role
> as
>   Jonathan outlines. However, at least in Bangkok which I'm more familiar
>   with, encouraging walking and cycling and improved bus routings as an
>   alternative to motorcycle taxis wherever possible, and strictly
> prohibiting
>   motorcycle taxis from parking or driving on walkways, would have many
>   benefits.
> 
>   Regards, Karl 
> 
> 
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: sustran-discuss-bounces+karl=dnet.net.id at list.jca.apc.org
>   [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+karl=dnet.net.id at list.jca.apc.org] On
> Behalf
>   Of Jonathan E. D. Richmond
>   Sent: Monday, 23 August 2004 11:18 PM
>   To: Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport
>   Subject: [sustran] Re: Information on 'Bike Taxi'
> 
> 
>   It is a mistake to assume that official public transport will
> necessarily
>   result in the consumption of less fuel than motorbike taxis or that it
> can
>   replace them in many instances. A bike operating on demand in a suburban
>   area can be considerably more efficient than buses circulating most of
> the
>   day almost empty.
> 
>   In fact, many motorbike services do operate as public transport --
> charging
>   about the same fare but providing a level of frequency not possible with
>   buses. For low-income people living in outlying suburbs, there may be no
>   alternative if density is inufficient for more formal operations -- in
> fact,
>   in many cases, the bikes actually operate from bus stops and provide
>   services to locations not served by buses.
> 
>   So we have to be careful about making generalizations.
> 
>   Note that in my case the alternative to taking a motorbike, which I
>   frequently use to complete a journey after a bus or train ride, would be
> to
>   take a regular taxi for the whole journey as it would simply take too
> long
>   otherwise.
> 
>                                               --jonathan
> 
>   -----
> 
>   Jonathan E. D. Richmond                               02 524-5510
> (office)
>   Visiting Fellow                               Intl.: 662 524-5510
>   Transportation Engineering program
>   School of Civil Engineering, Room N260B               02 524-8257 (home)
>   Asian Institute of Technology                 Intl.: 662 524-8257
>   PO Box 4
>   Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120                        02 524-5509 (fax)
>   Thailand                                      Intl:  662 524-5509
> 
>   e-mail: richmond at ait.ac.th               Secretary:  Ms. Nisarat
> Hansuksa
>           richmond at alum.mit.edu               02 524-6051
>         Intl:  662 524-6051
>   http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
****************************************
Khuat Viet Hung, M.Eng
(C/o: Prof. Manfred Boltze)
Institut fuer Verkehr, TU Darmstadt
Petersenstrasse 30, 64287 Darmstadt, Deutschland
Tel. : + 49-6151-16 2026
Fax:  + 49-6151-16 2045

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