[sustran] Re: Second Master Plan for Chennai. - request for comments

[Sunny]

Nice comments Eric. Agree with you entirely. The following were my 
comments which I posted on CAI lists where I first saw this post of 
Chennai Master Plan

********
Dear Arul,

Thanks very much for the report and it is very interesting.

Dear All,

After reading the report I felt that CMDA aims to strike a balance on 
providing the road for both cars, PT and NMT. The important factor in 
achieving sustainable transport is making a city transport fit for 
moving more people (which was stated somewhere in the report) and this 
can be done by increasing the importance for Public Transport.

CMDA states that they will be purchasing new fleet of buses which is a 
good idea but wht will be the use of so many new buses when they are 
stuck in the traffic same like the older ones. It has to be noted by the 
city authorities that when buses move faster than the cars then there 
will surely be a increase in bus ridership. One good thing in the report 
is the vision for implementing bus lanes and other mass transit options. 
I would also suggest CMDA to look into the scope of implementing a BRT 
system which is way far cheaper than the LRT/ mono rail and equally 
efficient.

I have noticed in the report that plans are being made in increasing the 
parking supply which I feel is not a good idea if the city wishes to 
achieve sustainable transport. Parking spaces in a city are a factor 
determining the automobile (esp. private) dependency in a city. So 
providing multi-storied parking will not be a solution to reduce car 
dependency.

Coming to the topic of emissions it is very surprising to learn from the 
report about the emissions increase in future. For this aspect improving 
mass transit and NMT is very very crucial. People generally compare 
vehicles when they observe and often say that the bus is very polluting 
while my car is very clean. This statement becomes false when per capita 
emissions are considered. 30 people travelling in a polluted bus 
obviously emit less pollution than 30 people driving in 30 different cars.

A city with good public transport running on alternative/cleaner fuels 
along with a increased importance for NMT would definitely make the air 
cleaner.

Lastly, I was surprised to see that nothing about accidents and 
fatalities has been discussed in the report. If this is also shown then 
it would be evident to how much social cost is transport responsible.

Please give your comments on the above.

Kind regards
Sunny

For more information on improving mass transit, Bus rapid transit, 
non-motorised transport and, air quality management please visit our 
website www.sutp.org You can download our modules for free on the 
aforementioned topics after a free registration. In case if you have any 
difficulty please email me.

Eric Britton wrote:
>
> Okay Arul, I have had my first quick look at the draft chapter and a 
> couple of things strike me that may end up being useful to you and 
> your colleagues as you work to come up with an Alternate proposal or 
> suggestions for your Master Planners.
>
>  
>
>     * Strikes me that they are doing a largely competent job in
>       setting the stage with the usual purely transport statistics in
>       those first pages. It’s at least a start. Of  sorts.
>
>     * But then they quickly veer off on old and familiar habits -- and
>       if I were to judge it on the basis of my very fast look, it
>       would strike me that this is basically driving them to “more of
>       the same”. And while there is a certain amount of comforting
>       language about TDM, passing mentions of good Dutch, Danish and
>       German practices, but as a clue – on almost every place in the
>       chapter where you see the word “demand” it is usually prelude to
>       a conclusion that you gotta build something to meet it. I think
>       we have seen that before.
>
>  
>
>     * The Bible that my old grandmother used to carry around with her,
>       says that a man who will steal a talon (a penny_ will steal your
>       fortune. So I say down and ran a bunch of words through a
>       frequency scan and here is what I came up with.
>
>           o Accident – 1. Sprawl - 1. Waiting  -1. Environment – 2.
>             Bicycle – 2. Maintenance – 3. Safe/safety – 4. TDM - 4.
>              Congestion – 6. Parking – 30.  
>
>           o Health – 0. Injury – 0. Handicapped - 0, Elderly - 0,
>             Disabled – 0. Respiratory – 0. Death – 0. Life – 0.
>
>           o Children – 0. Gender – 0. Women – 0. Female – 0.
>
>           o Walking – 0. Public space – 0. Parks - 0, Community - 0,
>             Participation – 0. Independent – 0.
>
>           o Ecology/ecological – 0. Planet – 0. CO2 – 0.  GHG – 0.
>             Greenhouse – 0,  
>
>  
>
>           o Traffic – 46.
>
>           o Roads -124 times.
>
> I guess that gives us a few clues, and while I have a number of 
> further thoughts on this, let me get off the stage and her what the 
> others have to offer.
>
>  
>
> Eric Britton
>
>  
>
> PS. May I suggest in the interests of economy that these discussions 
> continue mainly in Sustran and the New Mobility Agenda Idea Factory, 
> and I hope that we shall be hearing from our Gatnet friends 
> (www.gatnet.net) on this as well? Thanks
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
>
>       *Posted by: "arul rathinam" arulgreen at yahoo.com
>       <mailto:arulgreen at yahoo.com?Subject=%20Re%3A%5Bsustran%5D%20Transport%20-%20the%20Second%20Master%20Plan%20for%20Chennai%2E>*
>
>
>         *Sat Apr 14, 2007 10:15 pm (PST) *
>
> Dear Friends
>
> Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA)
> published the draft version of the Second Master Plan
> for Chennai on 11 April 2007. Any person interested in
> Master Plan II could send in their suggestions to CMDA
> on or before 12 July 2007.
>
> We, as a NGO, wish to bring an ‘Alternate’ Second
> Master Plan for Chennai, particularly on Transport. We
> are planning to organize awareness campaign and
> consultation meetings for it.
>
> I am attaching the link to Transport Chapter from the
> Second Master Plan for Chennai.
>
> http://www.cmdachennai.org/design/pdfs/SMP/D_Chapt%20%20IV%20_Transportation.pdf 
> <http://www.cmdachennai.org/design/pdfs/SMP/D_Chapt%20%20IV%20_Transportation.pdf>
>
> We need your advice and support.
>
> with kind regards.
>
> R.ARUL,
> Secretary,
> PASUMAI THAAYAGAM (Green Mother Land),
> No. 9,(old No: 5), Lyn wood Lane,
> Mahalingapuram,
> CHENNAI -600 034,
> Tamil Nadu,
> INDIA.
>
>  
>
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