[sustran] On the politics of transportation -- and breaking gridlock

[Eric Britton (Commons)]

(The following note came in this morning from João Lacerda of Transporte
Ativo n Rio de Janeiro. I am sure that these are familiar themes to many of
you out there, but it is important that we keep them in mind.  Eric
Britton.)

Dear Eric,

First of all thanks for your help concerning the Clinton Foundation
activities here in Rio. But reading your draft about Paris and having
Rio´s daily life (concerning mostly transportation) I see so much room
for improvement here. The biggest problem is that we lack the most
needed leadership to put simple and effective matters into place.

Rio´s inhabitants (the Cariocas) live quite frightened and the car
represents a lot. If I´m not mistaken, we are second to São Paulo in the
biggest fleet of bullet proof cars. Those who can, protect themselves
more and more, closing their eyes to city needs. With such a scared
elite it is quite hard, politically, to implement the needed change in
behavior. From what I can see, city planners here lack the daily
knowledge of how the city works for those who don´t use the private car.
In an informal conversation I once had with Enrique Peñalosa he told me
the hardest part about implementing the BRT system in Bogotá was dealing
with private bus owners. The complexity here is close to that, we have
fewer bus operators, but still a very powerful group.

Despite the difficulties, I tend to believe that, with political will,
improvements in mega cities from the south are capable of reaching quite
big goals.

With all that in mind, I leave you a question that I can´t see any
simple answer. How to build political will for the New Mobility? In our
relationship with the city administration they seldom look down at our
ideas for improvements in bicycle mobility, but it always seem to take
anywhere from 2 to 10 years for ideas to become reality. Are there any
good examples scattered around of "pressure in the fast lane" for better
mobility in any world city?

Last but not least, in case you might want to work on your Portuguese
reading skills, one of Transporte Ativo´s members has recently made a
brief cycling planning manual for his hometown.
http://blog.transporteativo.org.br/2007/05/30/projeto-cicloviario/ or
the full document in
http://www.ta.org.br/site/banco/7manuais/arquivos3/plan_ciclo_moc.pdf

Sorry for the quite long email. And if there is any objective need you
think I might help, just let me know.

Best Regards,

João Guilherme Lacerda
----------------------
Transporte Ativo - www.ta.org.br
Membro do Fórum Brasileiro de Mobilidade por Bicicleta
Prêmio ANTP-Abradibi de Estímulo ao Uso da Bicicleta 2005
Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
+55 (21) 9588 5618
Skype: Dysprosio