[sustran] Draft proposal to Principal Voices - Quick progress report

EcoPlan, Paris eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Wed Dec 22 18:55:16 JST 2004


Wednesday, December 22, 2004, Paris, France, Europe

 

Dear Sustainable Friends,

 

In addition to several much appreciated private letters of cautious
encouragement on this proposed initiative of 21 Dec, I have received in the
last day the following two mailings from proponents of advanced
transportation technologies, in a phrase free standing new systems based on
"new surface transport infrastructure".  I would like to comment briefly
because I believe this is one of the central pillars that we have to deal
with one way or another as we make our important decisions about the future
of the sector.

 

Personally I have a great weakness for these proposals and the engineering
technologies that they bring to the fore. On a number of occasions during my
career I have carried out pretty extensive international surveys looking at
the category in general and more specifically things like PRT, GRT, DRT,
ITT, ATT, monorails, skycabs by many names, maglev, air cushion vehicles,
accelerating moving sidewalks, pneumatic tube transport, and the long list
goes on. But as my respected colleague and a central force in this movement,
Jerry Schneider, Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering and Urban Design
and Planning at the University of Washington (see below) has said on
numerous occasions: "The problem is implementing it."  

 

That's it and from the horse's mouth! To whit my regretful conclusion as a
hands-on advisor of policy: given the immediate needs of sustainability and
our societies, we have to put this on the back burner for now and
concentrate on what we can do with the infrastructure we have.  Sad and
possibly even narrow conclusion that it may seem.  Fortunately however,
there is a huge amount that we can in fact achieve working within the broad
envelope of the infrastructure we have in hand, so to my mind the challenge
is to get on with that task.

 

Mr. Daryl Oster, an active proponent of "ETT" and "space travel on earth",
for his part goes quite a bit further than I do in his criticism of the way
in which the Voices  people have set out to organize their initiative:
starting with a rather unjust hit on the qualifications of the respected Mr.
Ellatuvalapil Sreedharan to be one of the Voices.  I could not agree less.
The object of any truly creative dialogue, at least as I understand it, is
to trot out a wide range of views and perspectives, and indeed it would be a
major error if we packed the jury in any way. Not only is Mr. Sreedharan a
person of real accomplishment in our sector, but also by the way if you
Google "Sreedharan  + "transport OR transportation" you get no less than
2830 call-ups this morning. So we can put that one to rest, eh? ;-)

 

That said Mr. Oster does propose a candidate with international credentials
who might indeed make another interesting apex for a debate triangle,
Wendell Cox of  <http://www.publicpurpose.com/index.html> The Public Purpose
("To facilitate the ideal of government as the servant of the people by
identifying and implementing strategies to achieve public purposes at a cost
that is no higher than necessary).  Fine idea Daryl.  I will add him to our
short list, not least because of his rigor, persistence, international
reach, at times surprising flexibility -- and the fact that at least half
the time I for one do not agree with him.  Which of course is the stuff of a
good debate.

 

So there we have it for today.  I will let this cook for another 24 hours
before dispatching to our contacts there - so there is still time for you to
share both your criticisms, ideas and even encouragement if there is any of
that in your end year larder.  It's their party of course, but perhaps they
will open it up a bit to ensure that it is fully informed, lively, varied
and creative - the stuff of a really successful party.

 

Salamaat, Shalom, Merry Christmas, and Peace on Earth, 

 

Eric Britton 

 

PS. You may want to check out the latest bulletin of the ITDP at
http://www.itdp.org/. Talk about new transportation ideas and on street
progress.

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Schneider [mailto:jbs at peak.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 10:48 PM
To: eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Subject: Re: [sustran] Draft proposal to Principal Voices team - For comment


 

At 09:18 AM 12/21/04 -0800, you wrote:

 

>snip ------------

>These fora and the individuals and groups behind them offer a clear cut,

>leading edge, world level state of the art, 21st century awareness of the

>issues and the full range of solutions -- and while there is no aversion on

>the part of most of us to building new systems and expanding infrastructure

>in specific cases, we tend to be far more reserved and I would like to say

>sophisticated, and indeed practical, when it comes to better management of

>the infrastructure and systems we already have in place. Moreover, we tend

>too to be rather ambitious when it comes to the creative integration of new

>communications technologies into the overall systemic infrastructure, and

>that too might be one of the more promising avenues of the discussions and

>debate.

 

One wonders what "new systems" you might have in mind? You are welcome to

add my ITT website to your list of promising avenues for discussion.

 

   Best regards,

 

    Jerry      

 

-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+eric.britton=ecoplan.org at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+eric.britton=ecoplan.org at list.jca.apc.org]
On Behalf Of Daryl Oster
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 6:46 AM
To: principalvoices at cnn.com; Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport
Cc: policy at advancedtransit.org
Subject: [sustran] principal voices

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

According to your "principal voices" website, the principal voices are

"globally-renowned experts".  If this is true, why is it that a Google

search for Ellatuvalapil Sreedharan (the principal voice for transportation)

turns up ZERO hits?  If you are looking for an expert try the Google search:

 

"Jerry Schneider" +transportation

 

This will turn up over 800 hits leading to Transportation Professor

(retired) Jerry Schneider.  Dr. Schneider is likely the most renowned expert

on leading edge transportation alternatives.  

 

Another Google search:

 

"Wendell Cox" +transportation 

 

This search will turn up 11,000 hits on this transportation expert. Why not

ask either of these experts to debate with Ellatuvalapil Sreedharan?

 

If this is really a debate, why are the public questions limited to 4, and

why is there no criteria on selection? It appears to that the principal

voices debates could likely be a showcase for a hidden agenda that will

after the fact be claimed to have been an internationally recognized debate.

 

 

Daryl Oster

(c) 2004  all rights reserved.  ETT, et3, MoPod, "space travel on earth"

e-tube, e-tubes,  and the logos thereof are trademarks and or service marks

of et3.com Inc.  For licensing information contact:    et3 at et3.com ,

www.et3.com  POB 1423, Crystal River FL 34423-1423  (352)257-1310

 

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