[sustran] Re: [NewMobilityCafe] World's Most Congested Cities

Sujit Patwardhan sujitjp at gmail.com
Mon Dec 25 17:16:15 JST 2006


25 December 2006
Christmas



Haven't read what Eric's written (and I'm sure he wouldn't say that) but in
my humble opinion advocating underground (especially Underground Metros)
transportation mode as a means of reducing with the traffic congestion on
the roads is like an Ostrich burying its head in the sand.

Perhaps the same logic was put forward by the pioneers of flyovers (plenty
of them hale and hearty in Asian cities) to overcome the problem of crowded
streets. What many (not all) advocates of the underground are saying is that
we simply can't do anything about the mess we have created on our streets so
let's not waste time on locating the "source" of the problem (too many auto
vehicles) but get on with building the underground tunnels with their
promise of high (overkill levels) capacity,  which may de-congest the
streets.

This of course never happens. Just like flyovers (ones meant to relieve
congestion, not the ones meant to cross railway lines etc) constructed at
huge cost become magnets inviting even more auto vehicles (cars and two
wheelers) to come on the roads, underground metros consume huge finances at
the cost of other needs of the city and fail to attract level of ridership
projected in the concocted project reports.

But by this time the politicians have pocketed their loot, the
infrastructure companies their obscenely high profits and the public left
high and dry with over-crowded streets, crowded flyovers and underutilised
underground metro.

If one is really concerned with sustainable transportation and indeed
sustainable life on our planet one has to acknowledge that auto vehicles
have long crossed the limit in terms of their ecological footprint. NEW
faster/high capacity modes, NEW cleaner fuels,  we can certainly pursue but
let's not lose sight of the REAL problem and see how that can be reduced.
Incentives for Public Transport, Non Motorised Modes (Walking and Cycling)
and real disincentives for auto vehicles through various TDM measures
appropriate for each city. I know I'm not saying anything new but in all the
technical discussions of pphpd and cost per Km etc we sometimes miss the
most obvious.
--
Sujit








On 12/25/06, Lee Schipper < SCHIPPER at wri.org> wrote:
>
>  Kind'a naive: Where does underground  transportation relieve
> congestion?
>
> I would call Hanoi congested because of all the motorbikes parked on the
> sidewalks - last week I walked as much in the street (at great peril) as on
> so called sidewalks. And there are only 150 000 cars, a few thousand buses,
> and well over 1 MILLION two-wheelers!
>
> To leave Jakarta from a meeting..on congestion pricing - a bunch of us
> were given a police escort. I got to ride shotgun in the  police car itself
> (no they were kicking us out..the police escort didnt help much;    Jakarta
> has pay tollways as well as free surface streets, and while the pay tollways
> are  crowded they are much faster than the parallel streets that are free..
>
> Bangalore? Bangkok? Calcutta? Delhi? All bad.
>
> It really depends what you mean by congestion.  In cars/lane-km of street?
> In cars/sq km of city? Where do we count motorbikes? In lost time compared
> with travel time at freeflow? That's unfair because there really is no such
> thing as free flow except at 2 AM...
>
> The best emblem of all of this - the CICI bank in Pune  with a card table
> set up in front and a sign offering low cost loans for two wheelers - even
> though the streets themselves have no real sidewalks...why is there lots of
> private money for private transport but not even money to p rovide
> the public infrastructure for private transport but neither money for cost
> effective, clean public transport nor the will to charge people  for using
> the public infrastructure.
>
>
>
> >>> eric.britton at free.fr 12/24/2006 9:00 AM >>>
>
>
>
>
> Energy
> World's Most Congested Cities
> Robert Malone <javascript:fdcBioWindow('robertmalone')> , 12.21.06, 6:00
> AM ET -
> *http://www.forbes.com/business/energy/2006/12/20/worlds-most-congested-cities-bi
> *
> z-energy-cx_rm_1221congested.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
> <javascript:popit('http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/20/worlds-most-congested-cities
> -biz-energy-cx_rm_1221congested_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=10000',800,700)>
> pic
> <javascript:popit('http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/20/worlds-most-congested-cities
> -biz-energy-cx_rm_1221congested_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=10000',800,700)>
>
>
> In Pictures: World's
> <javascript:popit('http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/20/worlds-most-congested-cities
> -biz-energy-cx_rm_1221congested_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=10000',800,700)>
> Most
> Crowded Cities
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Having the worst traffic can mean the worst accidents, worst pollution,
> worst
> crowding, worst commutes and a host of other ugly conditions and
> experiences.
>
> The list of the worst world cities for traffic is skewed by the growing
> impact
> of transportation revolutions in developing countries. It takes time to
> build a
> road infrastructure. It takes time to install and maintain a traffic
> system.
> Traffic lights have to be coordinated and their power source has to have
> redundancy. It takes time to train and educate drivers.
>
> The list of the world's most congested cities centers on many Asian and a
> few
> African and Latin American cities that for the most part are playing catch
> up or
> trying to. For the moment, at least, their growth is defeating them.
> Moreover,
> "traffic is only one of the side effects of growth," says Roy Barnes, the
> author
> and former Georgia governor, who had to contend with his own problems of
> congestion and growth.
>
> The inner cities in developing countries normally don't have underground
> transportation, and that means street traffic, and that means congestion.
> Even
> the presence of a new subway as in Cairo has not really relieved the
> pressure of
> ever more vehicles on Cairo's roads.
>
> Cities with the highest density of population per square kilometer are the
>
> logical candidates for becoming the most congested, because congestion
> increases
> as the growth in their wealth increases the number of cars versus the less
> expensive alternatives of bicycles, motor scooters or motorcycles. Cars
> take up
> more room whether they are in motion or when parked--if they can be
> parked. U.S.
> and European cities have often chosen to place garages in new buildings,
> while
> older non-industrialized cities often lack such amenities. Cars may
> therefore be
> parked everywhere, legally or illegally.
>
> The cities with the highest level of population congestion are:
>
> * Manila, the Philippines;
>
> * Cairo, Egypt;
>
> * Lagos, Nigeria;
>
> * Macau, off the Chinese coast;
>
> * Seoul, South Korea;
>
> * Dhaka, Bangladesh;
>
> * Buenos Aires, Argentina;
>
> * Jakarta, Indonesia;
>
> * Kaohsiung, Taiwan; and Santo Domingo,
>
> * the Dominican Republic.
>
> To drive a car in any of them might be the ultimate challenge.
>
> Well over 50 million cars are being manufactured in the world each year,
> and
> they have to go someplace. There are over 240 million vehicles in the U.S.
> alone, while the world estimate is over 750 million vehicles and counting.
> The
> tilt is toward more vehicles for those places least able to cope with
> them. It
> is estimated that by 2030 the number of vehicles in the world will double.
>
> These cities have priorities, but the priorities rarely include building
> new
> roads or repairing old roads. The investment that's required also includes
> elements that go far beyond digging, filling and paving. There is a
> political
> nightmare that involves the need for land to build the road and a buy-in
> from
> the government, local despots and citizens. Making a better commute can
> get lost
> in the shuffle of appeasing or greasing each of these individuals or
> groups.
>
> The last word is from an expert musing over Los Angles--a candidate for
> congestion if there ever was one. "If they'd lower the taxes and get rid
> of the
> smog and clean up the traffic mess, I really believe I'd settle here until
> the
> next earthquake," said Groucho Marx.
>
>
> In
> <javascript:popit('http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/20/worlds-most-congested-cities
>
> -biz-energy-cx_rm_1221congested_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=6000',800,600);>
> Pictures: World's Most Crowded Cities
>
>
> In
> <javascript:popit('http://www.forbes.com/energy/2006/12/19/india-congested-citie
> s-biz-energy-cx_rm_1219congested_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=6000',800,600);>
> Pictures: India's Populace
>
>
> *http://www.forbes.com/energy/2006/12/19/india-congested-cities-biz-energy-cx_rm_
> *
> 1219congested_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=6000
>
>
>
>
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-- 
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Sujit Patwardhan
sujit at vsnl.com
sujitjp at gmail.com

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