[sustran] Commercial motorcycles shut-down in Lagos

[Eric Britton]

As Walter put it so well, they are playing with fire in the streets of  Lagos
today. For the reasons that he and Joshua mention, but also because - and this
is something that transport planners often simply do not take into consideration
since they try to 'solve' their problems within a very partial systems analysis
in a broadly and relentlessly systemic world - they either have no memory or no
knowledge of what happens when you mess with the 'small details' of people's
lives. In this case as Walter points out, actually millions of people.

 

History is strewn with the bodies of specialists who proposed 'transportation
solutions' to inconvenient problems, only to see a fast and massive reaction on
the streets that has toppled governments in very many cases. (It's really quite
a long list and at some point we might all sit down and draw it up as a sweet
reminder.  Transportation is indeed dynamite!)

 

And oh yes, I have not forgotten in this that push from the law enforcement side
for whatever reasons. My best guess is though that the transport guys were just
looking for  good excuse to get these guys out of circulation.

 

This leaves us at the end of the day, however, with what is among the most
'inconvenient truths' of transport planning and policies in cities across the
Global South today - those damn motorized two-wheelers. Certainly an enormous
problem, but a far more subtle and astute response is called for. 

 

Eric Britton

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20060906/f4540e5b/attachment.html