[sustran] Re: Sustran-discuss Digest, Vol 40, Issue 13

[joshua odeleye]

Multimodalism,road traffic environment redesign i.e integration of speed breakers,humps,enforcement at all time, not during festive seasons only are feasible solution to reduction of road carnage in Nigeria.Eric! thanks a lot for this piece.
  Regards,
  JOSHUA ODELEYE
  NIGERIAN INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY
  ZARIA,NIGERIA.

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Today's Topics:

1. - India Pune should focus on public transport
(eric.britton at free.fr)
2. Nigeria -- How to Curb the Menace of Road Accidents
(eric.britton at free.fr)
3. Re: Pune First City in India to have BRT System (Alan Howes)
4. New documents : Benin - NMT, Germany - street paving
(Robert Bartlett)
5. VTPI News - Autumn 2006 (Todd Alexander Litman)
6. Manila / China / Bangladesh / Ho Chi Minh City rail projects
(Todd Edelman)


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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:58:16 +0100
From: 
Subject: [sustran] - India Pune should focus on public transport
To: , 
Message-ID: 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Pune should focus on public transport: study

Friday, December 15, 2006 http://www.indiaenews.com/business/20061215/32637.htm

Asian cities like Pune need to give priority to public transport that meets
their economic requirements rather than accommodating more vehicles, says a new
study backed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

'In many cases, the emphasis has been on adding roads or building high cost
systems such as rail-based metros at the expense of more environmentally
sustainable modes such as non-motorised transport and lower-cost bus systems,'
says the study 'Sustainable Urban Transport in Asia' made available Friday.

The result is high level of pollution, says the research carried out by the
Partnership for Sustainable Urban Transport in Asia (PSUTA), a pilot programme
of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia).

The study was funded by the Swedish International Development Agency and the
Shell Foundation through ADB, and the World Resources Institute's Center for
Transport and the Environment.

Done in partnership with three Asian cities (Hanoi in Vietnam, Pune in India,
and Xi'an in China), the study is aimed at helping decision makers better
understand the long term viability of the urban transport systems and develop
more structured approaches to policy making.

'The air pollution from motor vehicles is particularly serious in Pune but also
bad in Xi'an and in Hanoi, because roughly 50-70 percent of all trips in these
cities are made on foot or by two or three-wheeled vehicles. Exposure of a
majority of people to direct emissions from motor vehicles is a problem,' the
study states.

'Vehicle fleets are doubling every five-seven years,' Bindu Lohani, director
general of ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department, is quoted in
the study as saying.

'Poor road safety, increased congestion and air pollution not only negatively
affect the quality of life but also carry large economic and social costs.

'An effective and sustainable transport system for people and goods is a
prerequisite for sustainable economic growth.'

The study developed a set of indicators for each of the three cities, including
access, safety, environment, economic and social sustainability, and governance.

The project found that based on these indicators, passenger transport is heading
in unsustainable directions in all three cities.

'This is because the number of individual vehicles is growing more rapidly than
public or private forces can accommodate them and is slowing all traffic,' the
report says.

'Traffic deaths are low relative to population, but high relative to distances
travelled. Average speeds are low, except in the outlying regions of cities, but
there the high speeds lead to greater traffic deaths.'



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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 17:47:35 +0100
From: 
Subject: [sustran] Nigeria -- How to Curb the Menace of Road Accidents
To: 
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Joyful Season Tidings Note: I love it when folks who write on and on about all
these various aspects of sustainability and social justice use the magic
problem-solving words: "should", for example which appears ten times in this
text. We, innocent sheep that we are, should do this, should do that. Course
good words like "Stakeholders" and that great one "experts" all help to solve
the problems. Eh? (And oh yes, PS: this is not a putdown of our Nigerian
friends. It is a put down of the whole mess of which we here are apparently
part. So now what? Eric Britton 


How to Curb the Menace of Road Accidents




Despite consistent efforts at checking the frightening dimension road accidents
have assumed in the country lately, statistics show that the figures on
fatalities are still on the upward swing. A study by Shell Petroleum Development
Company Nigeria Limited (SPDC) shows the need to change approach into bringing
all stakeholders into the efforts, writes Ahamefula Ogbu
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=66063

Penultimate week, there was a gathering of all strata of authorities on road
usage at the Presidential Hotel Port Harcourt where brainstorming was done on
the way out of the huge losses that attends road accidents in the country.
After a careful evaluation of past efforts by the stakeholders, it was
discovered that there was need to have a slight change in approach to the issue.
Initially, most efforts were geared towards enlightenment campaigns which many
have consigned to the usual rhetoric and therefore thrown into the waste basket
of time while continuing life on the roads as usual.

The above may have necessitated the need for them to change approach having at
the back of their minds that there were constants in the problem which could on
basic adjustments, achieve more than all efforts put into the scheme before.
That is the human factor which has high level of inputs on any of the stoppers
openly or remotely connected to road traffic.

As the deputy managing director of SPDC, Mr. Mark Corner noted at the Road
Transport Stakeholders Workshop with theme, "Taking safety on Nigerian roads to
a higher level", reported accidents on Nigerian roads in the past 17 years show
that 111,049 lives were lost while no fewer than 278,673 sustained injuries from
such mishaps.

He also pointed out that there were indicators from world bodies like the World
Bank report on road accidents that by 2010, road accidents would have taken over
as the leading cause of deaths in the world. It may, unless proper precaution
was taken, account for more loss of lives than wars, malaria and the dreaded
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

The frightening thing about the statistics of deaths on the road is that
developing countries account for more than 90 percent of the total annual deaths
of 1.2million in road accidents in the world. Corner noted that breaking down
the statistics meant that a death by road accident occurs every 30 seconds.
Taking the matter home, the fact that the rail system has long packed up while
marine transport except where there were no alternatives remain undeveloped,
added to the high cost of air freighting in a prostrate economy, the Nigerian
economy has depended on road haulage for most of its bulk movement of goods and
passengers.

"In Nigeria for instance, the roads account for more than 98 percent of the
haulage and about 96 percent of passenger traffic. By expert opinions, Nigerian
roads contribute to 95 percent of goods and services and compared to the volume
of traffic, the network of surfaced roads is low and there is desperate shortage
of four-lane highways that can accommodate the heavy volumes of traffic. This
also negatively impacts on good road safety performance", he said.

Corner said the need for all stakeholders to brainstorm and arrive at the way
out was predicated on the need for road users to "Arrive Alive" in consonance
with the theme of their 2006 road safety week, adding that reasoned suggestions,
learning on best practices as well as working on basic infrastructure which have
high human inputs would mark the beginning of a way out of the problem.

Presenting his keynote address, Rivers State Commissioner for Transport, Chief
Gloria Emeh said the high dependence on road transportation in the country
accounted for the over-congestion and extreme pressure exerted on the
facilities, which in turn, increases accident rates.

He noted that the introduction of commercial motorcycles as a mode of
transportation has worsened the problem in Nigerian cities, adding that the sad
aspect of the scenario was that most of the accidents happen in avoidable
circumstances.

"We believe that accidents do not just happen. They are caused. We have
therefore identified three major causes of accidents in the Niger Delta in
particular and Nigeria as a whole, which this workshop should deliberate upon.
They are: topographical factors, mechanical factor and human factor", he pointed
out.

Emeh who was represented at the occasion by Permanent Secretary in his Ministry,
Mrs. Esther Anucha said the natural endowments of the region have caused a
population explosion which in turn, strains all utilities. He further observed
that the constant use of heavy duty vehicles by oil and gas companies damages
the roads and added to constant heavy down pour which lasts for between nine to
10 months yearly; roads were either washed away or damaged.

Commenting on human factors in causing road accidents, Emeh said, "disobedience
to traffic rules/ regulations, careless driving, use of cell phones and other
distractions while driving, excessive speeding, non use of seat belts and crash
helmets for motor-cycle drivers" were most prominent among others.
The corporate health, safety and environment (HSE) manager of SPDC, Mr. Austen
Ezebuilo described the 7,000 deaths per annum in Nigeria through road accidents
as unacceptable and stressed the need for everybody involved in making the road
safe to take up their own parts and immediately ensure that compliance level to
road traffic laws and regulations were enforced.

"However, even with the best of policies, very little could be achieved in our
aspiration for safer road transportation and reduced fatalities, if we fail to
address the absence of strong culture of compliance. In doing this, it is
important to reflect on some transportation safety blockers. These include
excessive speeding, poor or non-application of standards and laws, as well as
inadequate road vehicular maintenance", he pointed out.

Presentation by experts drawn from various organizations like the Federal Road
Safety Corps and transport division of companies brought the issues more into
focus with more emphasis on predictability of carnages from collated data over
time.

Mr. Charles Abocchi, the deputy corps commander who stood in for his boss,
Commander Hamisu Haruna in the " Five-year National Road Traffic Accidents
Trend" said that from statistics, most people involved in road accidents were
those within the productive years which flushes their economic contribution to
the economy of 2.5 of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) down the
drains.

Abocchi said that there was a decline in the rate of accidents in 2005 because
of the stakeholders intervention approach, pointing out that they had to take
the campaign to tyre manufacturers when they noticed that most of the accidents
were being caused by frequent tyre bursts while at the same time partnering with
the all organized bodies in the road transport sector.
He however pointed out that the reduced night travels owing to their campaigns
as well as sensitization accounted for the drastic reduction in carnage but
called for more stringent legislations that would be strictly enforced for the
trend of reduced accidents to be sustained.
The FRSC boss however regretted that his organization still lacks funds to
properly discharge their functions as ambulances, patrol vehicles, communication
equipment, construction of road side clinics and help areas were still lacking.
This is added to high level of assault cases on their officers by powerful
people in the society.

Among his opinions on the way forward was that bad roads should be fixed and
road signs provided, education on road uses as well as a multi-sectoral approach
to the road safety administration in the country.

Chief Chris Adigbo, National President of the Nigerian Institute of Safety
Professionals defined road transport safety show-stoppers as "those
things/incidents which do not enable or engender effective performance in road
transport business activities and identified them as road designs, construction,
maintenance, legal requirements/enforcements, vehicle owners/operators, vehicle
standards/maintenance, drivers, journey management system and night driving
/journeys.

Adigbo insisted that roads in the country were often not designed with safety in
mind which manifests in lack of vehicle and pedestrian separation. Such designs
he continued, were without road signs, zebra crossings and lighting while on the
other hand, rather than being economically considered, were designed with
political consideration in mind.

Adigbo submitted that if the issues though not exhausted were addressed, there
would be a drastic reduction in the statistics of accidents as well as good
culture of transportation on the Nigerian roads. 

Head of Safety in SPDC, Mr. Chris Onwudinjo in justifying the programme said
that they have always trained and retrained their own staff on the basis of
their postulation for safety on roads and had to take the campaign to those
external publics to the oil company.
Also contributing to the debate, Mr. Maxwell Egwugwu, head of transport safety
in SPDC said the issue of transportation safety has to be taken seriously going
by the number of people killed or injured in sometimes, avoidable circumstances.
He also posited that if all road users know what was expected of them to do and
do them, the problem would be half solved.

Contributors to the programme in question and answer sessions dwelt on weak
enforcement of the traffic laws while they also agreed that there was need for
more legislations to address issues hitherto not thought of in the transport
sector. 

Road contracts they said should be carried out by competent contractors who have
to carry out the necessary tests while designs should provide all necessary
signs. Also, they called on the National Assembly to make stringent laws to
cover perceived legal loopholes while the Standards Organization of Nigeria and
Customs should check influx of substandard vehicles and spare parts into the
country.

They advocated the ban of fairly used tyres and granting of incentives to local
manufacturers as well as the establishment of mechanic villages and standard
workshops which would enforce maintenance charts on road users.

Rewards they said should be given to good and responsible drivers, constant
reviews of laws made and awareness campaigns on them mounted. Also government
drivers should be trained, road blocks abolished while enforcement against bad
convoy and bullion vans driving should be enforced strictly as they pose dangers
to other road users.

On Okada riders whose attitude from film clips were the same all over the world,
it was suggested that training, insistence on life assurance policies,
subsidizing cost of crash helmets, immediate stop of use of touts by local
authorities to collect tolls and hound cyclists, compulsory registration in a
recognized union of proper identification should be enforced.









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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:06:58 -0000
From: "Alan Howes" 
Subject: [sustran] Re: Pune First City in India to have BRT System
To: "Global 'South' Sustainable Transport"

Message-ID:
<324DCD7680954F468CF306EE5404F00103120F4D at mail01.cbuchanan.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

So what is the latest news on this? Has operation resumed?

--
Alan Howes
Associate Transport Planner
Colin Buchanan 
4 St Colme Street
Edinburgh EH3 6AA
Scotland
email: alan.howes at cbuchanan.co.uk 
tel: (0)131 226 4693 (switchboard)
(0)7952 464335 (mobile)
fax: (0)131 220 0232
www: http:/www.cbuchanan.co.uk/



________________________________

From:
sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk at list.jca.apc.
org] On Behalf Of Sujit Patwardhan
Sent: 04 December 2006 20:09
To: SUSTRAN Asia and Pacific Sustainable Transport
Subject: [sustran] Pune First City in India to have BRT System



4 December 2006







Friends in SUSTRAN,


You will be happy to know that Pune inaugurated its BRT System on 3
December 2006, one day short of two years from the date on which Enrique
Penalosa made a landmark presentation at a public meeting jointly
organized by PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) and PTTF (Pune Traffic &
Transportation Forum) on 4 December 2004 at the Bal Gandharva Rang
Mandir, Pune. 

Pune becomes the first city in India to start BRT, on what still is an
incomplete Pilot corridor of about 12.5 Kilometers. As enthusiastic
supporters of BRT in Pune we have also been concerned about the hasty
way in which projects get implemented without proper attention to
detail. Yesterday's inauguration at the hands of the Union Urban
Development Minister Mr Jaipal Reddy was also an example of this -
largely a political affair with the ruling Congress Party rushing to get
the project off the ground in time to beat the political deadline set by
the oncoming elections to the Local Civic body. Under the election rules
no new projects can be announced after the set date which is about 2
months from the date of polling. 

We are therefore treading cautiously and pressing the authorities to
attend to important components of the project to ensure that by the time
the full corridor becomes operational it will be a big success and win
support from citizens. There are plans for implementing BRT in a phased
manner on major roads stretching over 100 Kms throughout the city. 



Dr Geetam Tiwari and Dr Dinesh Mohan from IIT (Indian Institute of
Technology), New Delhi, have played a key role in designing the Pilot
project. Dr Nitin Kareer the Municipal Commissioner also deserves credit
for having initiated the BRT project despite absence of political
support. Although we as a local NGO have ongoing arguments with him and
his officers, we acknowledge that without his backing BRT would have
remained merely an idea discussed at transportation seminars. 


In the coming weeks we hope to post photographs and articles on Pune's

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