[sustran] Re: info on monorails and post traffic calming

[Brendan Finn]

In reply to Walter Hook,

There is a monorail in Kuala Lumpur, which I presume is the one you mean.
This is basically an elevated down-town people-mover. It starts at the
Central Station, goes east through the main shopping drag (Jalan Bukit
Bintang) then heads north and veers north west to connect with STAR LRT at
Titiwangsa station. This serves the 'Golden Triangle', although it doesn't
actually serve the Petronas Towers/KLCC complex. Actually, it doesn't quite
serve the Central Station either, since it stops across the road with about
300m walk across a car park. Apparently there was an issue with the owner,
so the monorail was not able to link across as originally planned/hoped for.

I visited three facilities in late November for comparative purposes : the
Brisbane Busway, the PUTRA LRT lines in KL, and the monorail in KL. I have
requested the capacity and cost data, so your e-mail reminds me to chase
that. I'll share it with you when/if I receive it. From previous information
and discussions, I believe that the KL monorail has low actual capacity, and
had a high capital cost.

>From travelling on the three systems, and discussions with the facility
owners, I would make the following observations :

* PUTRA LRT has the highest carryings at the moment. However, Brisbane
Busway is also moving quite a lot of people and has plenty of additional
capacity. The monorail is way below either of them in terms of capacity or
of actual carryings.
* The capacity of PUTRA is very respectable, although it's well below the
original forecasts (let's blame that on the promoters and their
consultants). They are at peak capacity at the moment, but they could take
more trains on the system if they can cut a deal with the car manufacturer.
* Ride quality is smoothest on the Brisbane Busway (excellent), and next
best is PUTRA (very good). The monorail is rough by comparison.
Non-scientific comparison method is how easy it is to hold the video-cam
still while filming the drive through the front window, and observation on
the playback.
* Operations on both Brisbane Busway and PUTRA are slick and professional,
although the Busway can be more flexible about dwell times at stops at the
outer end. This reflects the heavy throughput pressure both on PUTRA
systemwide, and at Brisbane near the centre. The monorail does not have the
same feel about it.

Overall, both Brisbane Busway and PUTRA LRT have been designed as serious
transportation elements, and this is apparent not only in the technical
design, but also in the organisational capability. (I make a clear
distinction for PUTRA between how it functions and the funding/buyout
history). By contrast, the monorail is more like a theme park element (such
as the one on Sentosa, Singapore).

If anyone else has observations or hard data on monorail systems -  good or
otherwise - I would be very interested. I'm currently working on transport
policy in a Central Asia country where the two main cities have had some
'hard sell' on monorails and are talking about building them as the core
elements of the transit infrastructure, and quite independently of the rest
of the transit system. If someone knows of cases where monorails can
actually function as a high volume transit element, then I would be quite
willing to visit it and change my views. In the meantime, they look to me
like vehicles for mobilisation of funds rather than of people.

With best wishes,


Brendan Finn,
ETTS Ltd, Ireland
____________________________________________________________________________
_______________________
Tel : +353.87.2530286     e-mail : etts at indigo.ie

-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+etts=indigo.ie at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+etts=indigo.ie at list.jca.apc.org]On Behalf Of
Walter Hook
Sent: 08 February 2005 20:46
To: Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport
Subject: [sustran] info on monorails and post traffic calming

I am wondering if anyone knows any details about the new monorails built in
Qiongqing in China and the one in Malaysia, particularly with regard to
their capacity pphpd and their capital cost per kilometer and their
profitability and the conditions of the BOT contracts.    The monorail folks
seem to be selling the products hard in Asia these days.

I am also wondering if anyone knows anything about how the recent work on
"Post Traffic Calming" deals with parking, whether these completely
undefined streetscapes have completely deregulated parking or whether the
parking is still somehow regulated.

finally, i am wondering if there are any good studies of the process by
which pedestrian zones have been developed in different countries.

best
walter hook



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