From hghazali at gmail.com Tue Mar 6 16:04:23 2007 From: hghazali at gmail.com (Hassaan Ghazali) Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 12:04:23 +0500 Subject: [sustran] Integrated Traffic Management System Message-ID: Friends, My organization, the Urban Unit, was established to integrate the urban sector and to find collective and participatory solutions to problems related to urbanization, motorization and population increase. Please find below a news article showcasing one of the projects we initiated. ** ** ** *Inauguration of integrated traffic management system:* *TEPA tells Forest Dept to relocate nursery* ** Chief minister to inaugurate project within a couple of days By Arshad Dogar* LAHORE: The Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) has served notice to the Forest Department to relocate a nursery on Ferozepur Road for the opening ceremony of a pilot project that will introduce an integrated traffic management system from Qurtaba Chowk to General Hospital. The nursery is located near a laboratory of the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) close to the Ferozepur Road-Canal intersection and is in the way of traffic. A TEPA official said the agency had served notice because Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi was going to open the project within a couple of days and that the nursery had to be removed for the project's smooth implementation. He said TEPA had in its notice suggested an alternative piece of land for the nursery. The Punjab Planning and Development Department has planned the project called 'An Efficient Ferozepur Road'. This it did on the orders of Elahi for an integrated traffic management plan for five large cities of Punjab. Private consultants were hired to conduct a study of the road in which it was found that the following irregularities have been creating traffic problems. They are as follows: imperfect intersection geometry, lack of proper lane markings, non-standardised signage (international standards not being followed), poorly designed and managed signals, lack of a holistic approach (pedestrians, non-motorised and public transport, parking, facilities for special people), gaps in regulation and enforcement, poorly trained and irresponsible road users, disorganised institutional framework and lack of maintenance and futuristic planning. The study also revealed that the traffic load had multiplied from Qurtaba Chowk to General Hospital (11 kilometres) by 150 percent between 1990 and 2001. About 136,000 vehicles ply on this road every day. The Punjab government plans to resolve all existing traffic problems with the help of the pilot project. This will act as a model not only for Lahore, but also for roads in Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi. The TEPA official said stakeholders like the Traffic Police and Transport Department had been brought on one platform to resolve all issues related to the flow of traffic. He also said the project would be completed by the end of 2007 and would cost Rs 600 million. He said that during the first phase of the project work would be done on the stretch from Canal Road to Railway Lines. He said TEPA would deal with the engineering and development, Traffic Police would deal with operations while the Transport Department would try to change the mindset of drivers. The official said TEPA would improve the road, expand a certain stretch of service roads by 20 feet, widen and rehabilitate the remaining par of the service roads, remodel 14 bus stops (improve their capacity and depth) and remodel 22 accesses to service/side roads. The drainage system would be improved with the Water and Sanitation Agency's cooperation, he added. "Under the Urban Traffic Control (UTC) system about 17 signals will be interconnected and linked with the Area Traffic Control Room for a smooth and integrated flow of traffic," he said, adding that existing signals were not connected to each other, which was one of the main causes of traffic congestion. He said signals that would be connected to the central control room were the one at Qurtaba Chowk, Sanam Chowk, LOS, Shama, Shalimar, Muslim Town More, Canal Crossing, Gadaffi Stadium Chowk, Kalma Chowk, Model Town More, Bhabra, Gulab Devi, Ittefaq Hospital, Qainchi and Ghazi Road. Regards, Hassaan Ghazali -- Institutional Development Specialist Urban Sector Policy and Management Unit (The Urban Unit) Planning & Development Department, Government of the Punjab A: 4-B Lytton Road, Lahore, Pakistan T: 9213579-84 (Ext.116) F: 9213585 M: 0345 455 6016 Skype: halgazel http://hghazali.googlepages.com *When conditions are right, everything will go wrong* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070306/2e9a39e7/attachment.html From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Tue Mar 6 18:10:49 2007 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 10:10:49 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Punjab Integrated Traffic Management System In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <041101c75fcf$567c1570$6501a8c0@home> 1. >>The Punjab government plans to resolve all existing traffic problems with the help of the pilot project. This will act as a model not only for Lahore, but also for roads in Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi<< 2. >> . . . the agency had served notice because Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi was going to open the project within a couple of days and that the nursery had to be removed for the project's smooth implementation.<< 3. >> *When conditions are right, everything will go wrong*<< I would very much appreciate comment on this project, which somehow deeply troubles me. Perhaps wrongly? Eric Britton PS. I do like Hassan's PS. The New Mobility Agenda: 2007-2010 Francis Eric Knight Britton Innovation advisory The Commons EcoPlan Association 1901 8/10, rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris, France eric.britton@ecoplan.org fekbritton@gmail.com www.ecoplan.org tel: mobile: Skype ID: +338 7044 0343 +336 7321 5868 ericbritton -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070306/d5c95627/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/octet-stream Size: 11542 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070306/d5c95627/attachment.bin -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/octet-stream Size: 345 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070306/d5c95627/attachment-0001.bin From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Tue Mar 6 19:31:57 2007 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 11:31:57 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Punjab Integrated Traffic Management System Message-ID: <00d801c75fda$acd8ff40$6501a8c0@home> 1. >>The Punjab government plans to resolve all existing traffic problems with the help of the pilot project. This will act as a model not only for Lahore, but also for roads in Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi<< 2. >> . . . the agency had served notice because Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi was going to open the project within a couple of days and that the nursery had to be removed for the project's smooth implementation.<< 3. >> *When conditions are right, everything will go wrong*<< I would very much appreciate comment on this project, which somehow deeply troubles me. Perhaps wrongly? Eric Britton PS. I do like Hassan's PS. The New Mobility Agenda: 2007-2010 Francis Eric Knight Britton Innovation advisory The Commons EcoPlan Association 1901 8/10, rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris, France eric.britton@ecoplan.org fekbritton@gmail.com www.ecoplan.org tel: mobile: Skype ID: +338 7044 0343 +336 7321 5868 ericbritton -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: application/octet-stream Size: 345 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070306/9f1195a1/attachment-0003.bin From edelman at greenidea.info Tue Mar 6 23:51:25 2007 From: edelman at greenidea.info (Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory) Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2007 15:51:25 +0100 Subject: [sustran] YOU can change BBC World Service transport-related content Message-ID: <45ED7FED.1040206@greenidea.info> Hi, A producer of the BBC World Service radio show "The Beat" responded to a complaint of mine that the programme's occasional "Driving Songs" segment does not reflect the reality of how most people in the world get around, i.e. by public transport [if not walking, etc.]. So on last week's show, originally broadcast on 27 February - which is on their website until 21.30 GMT this Thursday, 8 March - the host reads most of my comments and also those from someone talking about what people listen to whilst cycling... and of course he makes some cheeky comments of his own. I also think they intentionally picked someone from Ghana, i.e. a developing world example, as the featured driver. To find it on the web go to: and click on "Audio - Listen to the Beat" The whole bit is about 90 seconds and starts at 1:09:00 but without reloading the page it is awkward to forward and impossible to rewind so I suggest just listening to the preceding nine minutes, which is about the great Ry Cooder. *** REQUESTED ACTION: I am sure they are monitoring listener comments - if any - on this issue, and will probably change the content a bit if people want it. To comment, just fill out the form on the right side of the page and click "submit". It will be automatically sent to the show's producers. If this email reaches you too late to listen to my comments, you can of course still make your opinion known on the issue on the same page. Thanks for listening, T -- -------------------------------------------- Todd Edelman Director Green Idea Factory Korunn? 72 CZ-10100 Praha 10 Czech Republic ++420 605 915 970 ++420 222 517 832 Skype: toddedelman edelman@greenidea.eu http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain Green Idea Factory, a member of World Carfree Network From chuizenga at adb.org Wed Mar 7 11:20:07 2007 From: chuizenga at adb.org (chuizenga at adb.org) Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 10:20:07 +0800 Subject: [sustran] CAI-Asia - Vacancy Executive Director Message-ID: Apologies for cross posting Executive Director Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) Center 1. BACKGROUND ON CAI-ASIA In 2001, Asian Development Bank together with the World Bank and the US Agency for International Development /US-Asia Environmental Partnership established the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) as a multisector network promoting measures to improve air quality in the region. Since then, CAI-Asia has become the recognized knowledge manager and regional convener on urban air quality in Asia. By early 2007, a new CAI-Asia Center will be incorporated as a regional non-profit organization based in the Philippines to continue this work. 2. POSITION OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Candidates for the position of Executive Director, CAI-Asia Center, are currently being sought. The incumbent will lead the establishment and start-up of the CAI-Asia Center, thereby contributing to the institutionalization of CAI-Asia?s role as the main regional convener and facilitator on air quality management in the Asia region. 3. REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS The position of Executive Director reports to the Board of Trustees of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) Center. The Executive Director will oversee the staff of the Center, which initially will be 8-10 persons but which can increase to 13-15 over the first six months of operations depending on the success of ongoing fundraising activities. The CAI-Asia Center actively coordinates with local CAI-Asia networks, which have been recognized by the CAI-Asia Partnership in People?s Republic of China (PRC), Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam. In some cases, this involves financial support and supervision of consultants placed in the secretariats of such local networks. 4. IMMEDIATE RESPONSIBILITIES a. Organizational Development ? Formulate a vision to guide the medium-term development of the CAI-Asia Center ? Development and maintain effective linkages with strategic AQM partners in Asia and in other regions of the world ? Oversee the strengthening of existing CAI-Asia local networks in the People?s Republic of China (PRC), Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam ? Establish linkages with potential CAI-Asia local networks in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Mongolia and Thailand ? Maintain and strengthen relationship with the Clean Air Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Clean Air Initiative for Latin American Cities ? Oversee the CAI-Asia Center?s functioning as the Secretariat of the CAI-Asia Partnership b. Management ? Represent the CAI-Asia Center in all contracts and agreements entered into for and in behalf of the Corporation ? Conduct regular periodic financial planning and budgeting ? Submit regular financial and programmatic reports to the Board of Trustees, private sector members and development agencies ? Manage and supervise staff of the CAI-Asia Center, including the implementation of staff development programs ? Oversee the planning and implementation of activities undertaken by the CAI-Asia Center with respect to knowledge management, capacity building, networking, and policy development on air quality management c. Fund raising ? Develop and implement a fund raising strategy for the CAI-Asia Center ? Oversee the development of project proposals for submission to development agencies, international NGOs and foundations d. Policy Advocacy ? Formulate jointly with UNEP, and with the strategic partners of the CAI-Asia Center, a long-term vision on urban air quality management in Asia in preparation of the second Governmental Meeting on urban air quality in Asia which the CAI-Asia Center is expected to organize together with UNEP in 2008 ? Represent the CAI-Asia Center in workshops, seminars and conferences on air quality management 5. CORE COMPETENCIES a. Technical Knowledge and Skills ? Communicates complex urban air quality issues in developing countries to a range of different stakeholders ? Uses technical knowledge and skills to oversee staff work ? Uses technical knowledge and skills to identify new areas of focus and funding for the CAI-Asia Center b. Achieving results ? Delivers agreed upon work programs ? Sets priorities for the team and ensures they are followed through ? Finds ways to improve work processes and reduce overhead costs of the CAI-Asia Center ? Recognizes strengths of team members and allows them to grow in their fields of expertise c. Strategic Thinking ? Identifies strategic partners to help overcome internal problems and finding alternative ways to complete work when necessary ? Identifies future priorities in urban air quality management and rally potential partners around such future priorities d. Learning and knowledge sharing ? Provides practical support and encouragement for team members ? Learns new skills and knowledge and applies them ? Continuously finds new solutions to problems ? Leads the team in sharing knowledge and expertise 6. EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS An advanced university degree in an environment or development related discipline. 7. OTHER QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED ? At least 10 years of relevant experience in working on environmental issues in developing countries (including in Asia), preferably on urban air quality management ? At least 3-5 years experience in a managerial position ? Experience in fund raising evidenced by at least three established funding agreements ? Practical experience in the formulation and implementation of development projects as evidenced by three successful project proposals ? Excellent oral and written communication skills in English ? Able to work in multi-cultural and multi-skilled teams ? Able to inspire trust and confidence and to promote a strong culture of honesty, trust and openness ? International work experience working in several countries, preferably in Asia. 8. IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION The Executive Director will be appointed by the Center?s Board of Trustees for an initial period of two years by early May 2007 and is expected to be in position no later than June 2007. The position is based at the CAI-Asia Center in Manila, Philippines and involves frequent travel. The successful candidate will be offered an internationally competitive salary paid in US dollars which will be subject to tax by the Government of the Philippines. The initial term of appointment will be for two years. Considering the funding for the position only applicants from Asian Development Bank member countries will be considered (see www.adb.org for an overview of ADB member countries). For further information on the position please contact Cornie Huizenga, the Head of the CAI-Asia Secretariat, at chuizenga@adb.org. Applicants should send their expression of interest electronically, quoting Ref. Application Executive Director on subject line and with an application letter and current cv to the email address chuizenga@adb.org no later than 27 March 2007, 5:00 pm, Manila time. All applicants should state the reasons for their interest in the position, relevant details of qualifications and experience, and contact details for three referees. Only short listed candidates will be contacted. Gender and cultural diversity are core recruitment values, and women are actively encouraged to apply. Cornie Huizenga (Mr) Head of Secretariat Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) Asian Development Bank Tel (632) 632-5047 chuizenga@adb.org www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia www.adb.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070307/916fed51/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1763 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070307/916fed51/attachment.gif From carlos.pardo at sutp.org Thu Mar 8 11:39:19 2007 From: carlos.pardo at sutp.org (Carlos F. Pardo SUTP) Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:39:19 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Gender and Urban Transport module Message-ID: <45EF7757.6000500@sutp.org> Dear all, Commemorating Womens' day on March 8th 2007, GTZ SUTP has published a new module on Gender and Urban Transport, written by Mika Kunieda and Aim?e Gauthier (Module 7a of the GTZ Sourcebook). The module was written due to the need to deepen understanding of gender differences, needs and characteristics in urban transport, and as a next step in GTZ's sourcebook towards covering social aspects of urban transport. You can download it from www.sutp.org - documents section, topic 7 (available to registered users). If you are not registered, please register at the bottom left corner of the website. As always, comments and suggestions are most welcome. Please address these to sutp@sutp.org or carlos.pardo@sutp.org Best regards, -- Carlos F. Pardo (change in address details/ cambio en datos de direcci?n) Coordinador de Proyecto- Project Coordinator GTZ - Proyecto de Transporte Sostenible (SUTP, SUTP-LAC) Cl 93A # 14-17 of 708 Bogot? D.C., Colombia Tel/fax: +57 (1) 236 2309 Mobile: +57 (3) 15 296 0662 carlos.pardo@sutp.org www.sutp.org From chuwasg at yahoo.com Fri Mar 9 15:26:04 2007 From: chuwasg at yahoo.com (chuwa) Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2007 22:26:04 -0800 (PST) Subject: [sustran] Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <17798.89537.qm@web36913.mail.mud.yahoo.com> - primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but parents' concerns are stopping them. - 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would like to cycle to school, only 1% actually do - parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance - It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to experience this (cyling) independence because parents are worried about their safety on the roads All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to Singapore directly. I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are facing similar problems? Chu Wa Commuter cyclist Father of two The full news: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070308/3730d361/attachment.html From wzainab at usm.my Fri Mar 9 16:11:32 2007 From: wzainab at usm.my (Zainab Wahidin) Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:11:32 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Re: Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't Message-ID: <7cd73805f4.805f47cd73@usm.my> Dear Chu Wa, Thank you fo raising this issue. I would love to see more people cycle but the traffic system in Penang is not cycle or pedestrian friendly. I myself was knocked down while cycling on Gurney Drive. In the race to develop and gain industrial country status, we have robbed children of the right to mobilty. Perhaps this is the right time to capitalise on the climate change issue and make governments realise their auto dependence policy is back firing. Zainab W. -------------- next part -------------- - primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but parents' concerns are stopping them. - 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would like to cycle to school, only 1% actually do - parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance - It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to experience this (cyling) independence because parents are worried about their safety on the roads All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to Singapore directly. I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are facing similar problems? Chu Wa Commuter cyclist Father of two The full news: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070309/a8c1e0bc/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- -------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via YAHOOGROUPS. Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement. ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). From info at autofrei-wohnen.de Sat Mar 10 01:50:48 2007 From: info at autofrei-wohnen.de (Autofrei Wohnen) Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2007 17:50:48 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Re: Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't References: <17798.89537.qm@web36913.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <03da01c7626b$36c43700$0100a8c0@Markus> Hi Chu Wa. in Berlin is a working Group "Mobility Education Berlin", several environmental and education-NGOs are involved: www.mobilitaetserziehung-berlin.de/ (only german, will be relaunched soon) * for more information contact Mr Martin Schlegel, Friends of the Earth, section Berlin (in german: BUND Berlin e.V.): Martin Schlegel Verkehrsreferent BUND Berlin e.V. Crellestr. 35 D-10827 Berlin Germany Fon: +49 - (0)30 - 78 79 00-17 Fax: +49 - (0)30 - 78 79 00-18 e-Mail: mschlegel [at] BUND-berlin [dot] de * see also the (german) website from BUND Berlin e.V. about mobility education with a lot of useful information and links. I think it`s worth to translate: www.bund-berlin.de/index.php?id=124&type=10 * Not to forget the annual "I walk to school" campaign: www.iwalktoschool.org/ (in engl.) * best wishes, Markus Heller Carfree Living Berlin Collaborative www.autofrei-wohnen.de/homeEngl.html ----- Original Message ----- From: chuwa To: sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 7:26 AM Subject: [sustran] Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't - primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but parents' concerns are stopping them. - 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would like to cycle to school, only 1% actually do - parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance - It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to experience this (cyling) independence because parents are worried about their safety on the roads All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to Singapore directly. I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are facing similar problems? Chu Wa Commuter cyclist Father of two The full news: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via YAHOOGROUPS. Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement. ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070309/b908a208/attachment.html From edelman at greenidea.info Sat Mar 10 02:50:14 2007 From: edelman at greenidea.info (Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory) Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2007 18:50:14 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Re: Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't In-Reply-To: <03da01c7626b$36c43700$0100a8c0@Markus> References: <17798.89537.qm@web36913.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <03da01c7626b$36c43700$0100a8c0@Markus> Message-ID: <45F19E56.7080604@greenidea.info> Hi, I think there be possibilities for some EU - Developing World Twinning projects on this (but the funding for these programmes is changing)... ... including knowledge sharing of "Safe Routes to School" programmes: Click on: There is also Cycle Training for Children. One example: My main advice is to prioritize creation or re-creation of infrastructure which slows down, reduces or eliminates private traffic... RATHER than making children (and really everybody) feel that they are guests in the road, and the road is dangerous (and will always be). This is to say that it is not the fault of the children that the streets are dangerous, and also relying too much on things like orange safety vests for children just enforces the idea that the street is for transport, rather than for play and interaction. Finally, someone like Todd from VTPI probably has information about how many deaths and injuries to children riding or walking to school are caused by cars which themselves are being used to take children to school! T Autofrei Wohnen wrote: > Hi Chu Wa. > > in Berlin is a working Group "Mobility Education Berlin", several > environmental and education-NGOs are involved: > www.mobilitaetserziehung-berlin.de/ > (only german, will be > relaunched soon) > * > for more information contact Mr Martin Schlegel, Friends of the Earth, > section Berlin (in german: BUND Berlin e.V.): > Martin Schlegel > Verkehrsreferent > BUND Berlin e.V. > Crellestr. 35 > D-10827 Berlin > Germany > Fon: +49 - (0)30 - 78 79 00-17 > Fax: +49 - (0)30 - 78 79 00-18 > e-Mail: mschlegel [at] BUND-berlin [dot] de > * > see also the (german) website from BUND Berlin e.V. about mobility > education with a lot of useful information and links. I think it`s > worth to translate: > www.bund-berlin.de/index.php?id=124&type=10 > > * > Not to forget the annual "I walk to school" campaign: > www.iwalktoschool.org/ (in engl.) > * > best wishes, > Markus Heller > Carfree Living Berlin Collaborative > www.autofrei-wohnen.de/homeEngl.html > > -- -------------------------------------------- Todd Edelman Director Green Idea Factory Korunn? 72 CZ-10100 Praha 10 Czech Republic ++420 605 915 970 ++420 222 517 832 Skype: toddedelman edelman@greenidea.eu http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain Green Idea Factory, a member of World Carfree Network From zvi at inro.ca Sat Mar 10 03:34:21 2007 From: zvi at inro.ca (Zvi Leve) Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2007 13:34:21 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't In-Reply-To: <17798.89537.qm@web36913.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <17798.89537.qm@web36913.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <45F1A8AD.9090508@inro.ca> I think that different cities/regions face different problems. Generalizing from one place to another is a problem.... There are cultural factors as well. I grew up in the 1970's riding a bicycle everywhere in upstate NY (and I certainly caused my parents quite a few gray hairs at the time), but I doubt that this is a common practice anymore. I still commute to work on bicycle (weather permitting), and I drop my children off on the way. They are not yet old enough to ride their own bicycles, but I imagine that we will encourage them to ride (or walk) to school when they are a bit older (and assuming that they go to a close-by school). I agree that it is important to 'empower' children to be independent and responsible, but this requires a certain level of trust (and faith perhaps), both within the family, and within the community. There are many reasons for this decline in child bicycle commuting, not all of which are related to the road environment: * increase in two-worker (and two-car) households -> more stress on family travel time budgets, plus parents don't want their children home alone! * more flexibility in school choices and fewer extra-curricular activities -> fewer children attend their 'neigbourhood' school and are in the school's "care" less time. * greater traffic congestion -> more safety concerns (both perceived and real). Todd mentioned that parents dropping off their own children seem to be particularly dangerous (presumably to other children) near schools, and from anecdotal experience I tend to agree. One of the things which struck me in China was how few /children/ I saw on bicycles! I asked a colleague about this (were there special bicycle driving licenses required?), and he told me that basically they will ride with the other bicycles when they feel comfortable. Given the speed at which things are changing there, I could imagine China having a significantly reduced bicycle rider population within a generation! Cheers, Zvi --- __ o __~o __ o ---- _`\<, _`\<, _`\<, --- ( )/( ) ( )/( ) ( )/( ) ========================== V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V > < < zvi leve, programmeur/analyste/bicycliste > > email: zvi@inro.ca zvileve@videotron.ca < < > ^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^ Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race. - H.G. Wells chuwa wrote: > - primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but > parents' concerns are stopping them. > > - 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would like to > cycle to school, only 1% actually do > > - parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of > dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance > > - It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to > experience this (cyling) independence because parents are worried > about their safety on the roads > > All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to Singapore > directly. I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are > facing similar problems? > > Chu Wa > Commuter cyclist > Father of two > > > > The full news: > http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > -------------------------------------------------------- > IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via YAHOOGROUPS. > > Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement. > > ================================================================ > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). From c_bradshaw at rogers.com Sun Mar 11 01:34:56 2007 From: c_bradshaw at rogers.com (Chris Bradshaw) Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2007 11:34:56 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: [LotsLessCars] Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't References: <038101c76226$1ccdd800$6501a8c0@home> Message-ID: <034401c76333$c8db5dd0$0202a8c0@acer56fb35423d> The idea that children should get to school via independent movement, rather than being driven in school buses or their caregiver's car is a worthy goal. However, cycling is a poorer choice than walking. First, cycling without an adult is not recommended by cyclist-trainers before the age of 10, and then only on residential streets. Second, such children need a cycling course first. Unfortunately, children are provided bikes long before their 10th birthdays. During that time, they use it as a plaything, usually emulating their parents' behaviour towards cars. Also, they don't learn how to get places on their own. These are bad attitudes that must be changed before letting them move about on their own. Since the use of a bike is only an advantage over walking when the trip is in excess of about 2 kms, the child should not need using it until their cognitive abilities allow them to grasp the specifics of the road-path network over a 16-square-km area. And that is about the time that they can survive along the cruel, car-dominated streets they will encounter, and have the strength for that length of trip. In any case, within the 2-km distance, I find that children quickly tire of bike use for the trip to school, and switch back to walking. It's far more social, and it avoids them having their favourite 'steed' stolen. Chris Bradshaw Ottawa = = = original message = = = = - primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but parents' concerns are stopping them. - 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would like to cycle to school, only 1% actually do - parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance - It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to experience this (cyling) independence because parents are worried about their safety on the roads All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to Singapore directly. I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are facing similar problems? Chu Wa Commuter cyclist Father of two The full news: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Calendar "LotsLessCars in Cities" at http://lotslesscars.org Organize a Car/Free Day: The nose of the camel. World Car/Free Days at http://worldcarfreeday.com To leave list: LotsLessCars-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com To post messages: LotsLessCars@yahoogroups.com Also check out New Mobility Agenda at http://newmobility.org Need some help? Send an email to Help@newmobility.org Or call via Skype to "newmobility' Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity 1New Photos Visit Your Group SPONSORED LINKS Ecology Ecology book General ecology Lot Car Top Scientist 10 Greatest Ever Share and vote on Bix.com! Take a Trip Find Great Deals Yahoo! Travel makes it easy Yahoo! News Space News Get the latest space related news. __,_._,___ From edelman at greenidea.info Sun Mar 11 10:03:07 2007 From: edelman at greenidea.info (Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory) Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 02:03:07 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Re: [LotsLessCars] Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't In-Reply-To: <034401c76333$c8db5dd0$0202a8c0@acer56fb35423d> References: <038101c76226$1ccdd800$6501a8c0@home> <034401c76333$c8db5dd0$0202a8c0@acer56fb35423d> Message-ID: <45F3554B.2080908@greenidea.info> Hi Chris, WALKING is better than cycling in general, no matter what the distance. I have some other comments on your response, starting in CAPS: Chris Bradshaw wrote: > The idea that children should get to school via independent movement, rather > than being driven in school buses or their caregiver's car is a worthy goal. > > However, cycling is a poorer choice than walking. > > First, cycling without an adult is not recommended by cyclist-trainers > before the age of 10, and then only on residential streets. > IN a car city, arterials can have fully separated bike paths. IN a carfree city or quarter (i.e. an area encompassing both the home and school of the child, a child could ride anywhere (though arterials might haver surface public transport), and possibly even at a younger age, especially if accompanies by older children or older children-at-heart (i.e. adults), or there could even be a coloured line or signs with some familiar animal to guide them. > Second, such children need a cycling course first. > I AGREE some kind of course is useful even in a carfree area, but not as necessary. It is more about bike control, than defensive driving. There are of course pedestrians, animals, people playing in the street, children sitting on the street, children lying in the street for no reason at all, cycle rickshaws as mobile sales points for ice cream causing riots, and so on. > Unfortunately, children are provided bikes long before their 10th birthdays. > During that time, they use it as a plaything, usually emulating their > parents' behaviour towards cars. Also, they don't learn how to get places > on their own. These are bad attitudes that must be changed before letting > them move about on their own. > I AM no expert on teaching children but I learned to ride through just riding, in a relatively calm suburban setting. We did use it for fun, but also for getting to close by places quickly. Most stores - but not school - were only reachable by crossing big streets. But I don't see what is the problem with play, even now: During Critical Mass rides in Prague, a few times I have led the group, and when I do things like leading other adults around (and around, and around) a kind of circle-square near the traditional starting point of the Mass, people get confused and ask me where we are going. I respond of course that we are going in circles. And when after that I just ride randomly (but not on big streets, or illegally) people still get confused because I am not being linear. On the other hand the Mass here - as opposed to most other places - usually starts with a man (male) telling us where we are going. We are simultaneously told that (in general) driving is unnecessary for many trips but that having a geographical goal is necessary for a fun bike ride. I hate that. There is no reason to need a reason, and while it is essential to know a bike can be used for transport (and to enable that as much as possible), it can also be mixed with play (on the same ride or just in general, but also on the same streets). > Since the use of a bike is only an advantage over walking when the trip is > in excess of about 2 kms, the child should not need using it until their > cognitive abilities allow them to grasp the specifics of the road-path > network over a 16-square-km area. And that is about the time that they can > survive along the cruel, car-dominated streets they will encounter, and have > the strength for that length of trip. > WHERE do these 2km and 16km2 rules come from? What kind of density (in a car city) are they based on? What about uncruel, fun-dominated streets? I am sure there is something to do what you say about strength (and also children have to be mature enough to keep their bike secure or in their possession, unless of course there are free bikes). > In any case, within the 2-km distance, I find that children quickly tire of > bike use for the trip to school, and switch back to walking. It's far more > social, BACK to what I said at the top, walking IS generally better, but bikes can open up other possibilities. > and it avoids them having their favourite 'steed' stolen. > I THINK there are relatively very simple solutions for that, in a car- or carfree city. IN any city, kids need to be within comfortable walking distance of school, but bikes will extend their range, and in a carfree area or city this can be done much more easily. To mention again what I said in an earlier reply, we need to build or adapt cities to children, rather than adapt children to car-cities. It is necessary of course for interim defensive measures, but if we place too much emphasis on them (or only talk about them), we will ALWAYS be doing that, for our grandchildren, and so on. And please remember that I am in Prague, THE most automobilised city in Europe, though not the most dangerous, but where I fear that new initiatives like "Safe Routes to School" I mentioned in an earlier email will limited effect if they focus too much on symptoms. It should also be mentioned that the Safe Routes programme here is a project of an organisation which takes money from the automobile industry... T p.s. This reminds me: I am going to look at the schedule for VeloCity in Munich this June (where I am also giving a presentation, as well as a few others on this list) and see how many presentations, workshops etc. are about defensive cycling, or are in general about cycling in cities where cars are a given. VeloCity also has an automobile company as a main sponsor. > Chris Bradshaw > Ottawa > > = = = original message = = = = > > - primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but parents' > concerns are stopping them. > > - 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would like to cycle > to school, only 1% actually do > > - parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of > dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance > > - It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to experience > this (cyling) independence because parents are worried about their safety on > the roads > > All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to Singapore directly. > I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are facing similar > problems? > > Chu Wa > Commuter cyclist > Father of two > > > > The full news: > http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php > - > -------------------------------------------- Todd Edelman Director Green Idea Factory Korunn? 72 CZ-10100 Praha 10 Czech Republic ++420 605 915 970 ++420 222 517 832 Skype: toddedelman edelman@greenidea.eu http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain Green Idea Factory, a member of World Carfree Network From chuwasg at yahoo.com Mon Mar 12 11:38:13 2007 From: chuwasg at yahoo.com (chuwa) Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:38:13 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [sustran] Re: Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't In-Reply-To: <17798.89537.qm@web36913.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <439428.62547.qm@web36905.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Thanks to all who share their views. I am frustrated and am a bit shocked to see how cities are developing in the same way in terms of automotive against human powered transport. I believe the energy goes into automotive transport yield 1% transport value and 99% pollution (air, noise, danger) while cycling yield 20% transport value and 80 % fitness for the rider. http://jz88.com/jz88-blog/?p=4 This argument is valid for me but obviously not for the majority. I have friends who earn much less and able to justify to use half of their income for buying a small car in Singapore. The "status symbol" and perceived utility factors are the driving force behind. I wish more high profile persona will help to raise the status of cyclist and pedestrian. I also wish more government agencies will see the connection between transport planning and the consequences in population health and living environment. Practically, I don't want my children to risk their life nor want to block them from developing a life long skill in cycling, they need a solution now. I will bring them out cycling on pavement and safer streets, highlight to them the potential danger in common places. Bit by bit, to built up their competent level and confident. Chu Wa chuwa wrote: - primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but parents' concerns are stopping them. - 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would like to cycle to school, only 1% actually do - parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance - It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to experience this (cyling) independence because parents are worried about their safety on the roads All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to Singapore directly. I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are facing similar problems? Chu Wa Commuter cyclist Father of two The full news: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php -------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via YAHOOGROUPS. Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement. ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070311/3af0f805/attachment.html From edelman at greenidea.info Mon Mar 12 13:16:29 2007 From: edelman at greenidea.info (Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory) Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 05:16:29 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Re: Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't In-Reply-To: <439428.62547.qm@web36905.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <439428.62547.qm@web36905.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <45F4D41D.7040704@greenidea.info> Hi again, I would like to re-emphasize that cycling education for children and other measures to protect them - and other vulnerable road users - are fine, but they have to be in the correct balance with longer-term measures. I do not want to denigrate the great efforts of anyone who has done brilliant work to save lives. But, just as higher-efficiency personal automobiles can arguably perpetuate bad urban planning, safety measures we take now - especially if applied inconsistently and/or for emotional, rather than logical reasons - can also have unintended effects. I wrote the following to fellow local "reasonable street advocates" at the recent occasion of the one-year anniversary of the death of a well-known bicycling activist in Prague. - T PHOTO EVIDENCE Look at this photo from the memorial ride for Jan Bouchal on Friday: As you can see in the glare of a camera flash (or headlights of a car) all the reflective material on the vests gets really bright. In the photo, the guy on the right does not have a vest, but his bike seems to have most of the legally-required reflectors and front light, though possibly missing pedal reflectors. The guy on the bike in the middle is riding illegally as he has no front light, no reflectors, etc.. BUT he is more visible, at least to cars... but NOT to pedestrians, nor to people in cars looking in a rear direction in side-view mirrors, for example, when they are pulling out of a parking space or opening a door facing the street. MAIN PROBLEM IS FAST CARS, right? The problem is that cars go too fast, not that equipment for night-riding is inadequate. The other problem is that cars think they own the road. A properly-equipped bike is more visible to drivers going slower than 50km/h, but while wearing a vest might seem to give you more protection, I have yet to see a study that proves this. And it just makes cyclists think they are safer when they might not be. (It is also unclear if having a pink [http://ruzovekolo.cz] bike helps in road safety, though it obviously has other benefits, and probably indirectly contributes to road safety by creating a bigger psychological presence for cycling). The orange safety vests read as "emergency" or "roadwork in progress". Motorcyclists only wear those while training, and cops and road construction people do too for obvious reasons. Cycling is not an emergency!! WHEN NOT EVERYONE WEARS A VEST When you have a vest it makes you more visible than other riders, which means that other riders are NEGATIVELY affected by your vest-wearing. In addition to saying "emergency", the vest sends the message to drivers that we (cyclists) are going beyond legal minimums BUT you (drivers) don't have to. To draw on another current example, ECF and ETRA are campaigning against the law for cars to have daytime running lights. See . It seems like having cars turn their lights on all the time would be helpful, but it is not, as it obscures turn signals on the cars and also makes drivers think they can be seen so people get out of their way. In cycle-friendly places like Germany, Netherlands, Denmark it is only a requirement to have lights and reflectors on bikes, similar to here, except that the lights - in Germany at least - have to have a capacitor feature which keeps the lights on for awhile while you are stopped at a light, for example. And of course all these lights are run off generators and are built on to the bike. So, no batteries to go dead (and throw away), no lights to forget somewhere, no vests to care about. GET LEGAL In addition to slower speeds for cars and less arrogant behaviour by drivers, we need to at least get people to equip their bikes properly and legally, and we should recommend generator power over Temelin [more controversial than normal nuclear power plant near Austrian border] power. ONLY then can we say: "We are behaving responsibly and within the law. How about you, drivers?" Reflective vests are a well-intentioned and emotional response to the danger of automobiles and other road vehicles. But they are counter-productive to safety. VESTS (like traffic signs) SEND A SECOND MESSAGE Vests and too many traffic signs on the street are part of a visual language which sends an implicit message: "You don't have to take personal responsibility, think and communicate with eyes/body language with the other people on the street." I am not as strongly against very young children wearing safety vests, but when a city implements this AHEAD of lowering speed limits (not just in front of schools) it is a [big] mistake. ******** chuwa wrote: > Thanks to all who share their views. I am frustrated and am a bit > shocked to see how cities are developing in the same way in terms of > automotive against human powered transport. > > I believe the energy goes into automotive transport yield 1% transport > value and 99% pollution (air, noise, danger) while cycling yield 20% > transport value and 80 % fitness for the rider. > http://jz88.com/jz88-blog/?p=4 > > This argument is valid for me but obviously not for the majority. I > have friends who earn much less and able to justify to use half of > their income for buying a small car in Singapore. The "status symbol" > and perceived utility factors are the driving force behind. > > I wish more high profile persona will help to raise the status of > cyclist and pedestrian. I also wish more government agencies will see > the connection between transport planning and the consequences in > population health and living environment. > > Practically, I don't want my children to risk their life nor want to > block them from developing a life long skill in cycling, they need a > solution now. I will bring them out cycling on pavement and safer > streets, highlight to them the potential danger in common places. Bit > by bit, to built up their competent level and confident. > > Chu Wa -- -------------------------------------------- Todd Edelman Director Green Idea Factory Korunn? 72 CZ-10100 Praha 10 Czech Republic ++420 605 915 970 ++420 222 517 832 Skype: toddedelman edelman@greenidea.eu http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain Green Idea Factory, a member of World Carfree Network From rajendra_media at yahoo.com Mon Mar 12 13:21:14 2007 From: rajendra_media at yahoo.com (Rajendra A (Hindustan Times)) Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 21:21:14 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [sustran] (NEWS) Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! In-Reply-To: <20061123030121.C8B132BD39@mx-list.jca.ne.jp> Message-ID: <308285.8319.qm@web61317.mail.yahoo.com> Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! http://www.hindustantimes.in/news/181_1949087,000600010004.htm Rajendra Aklekar Mumbai, March 11, 2007 Mumbai?s Bus Rapid Transit System or simply the dedicated bus lanes? project turned into a joke. The BEST General Manager is ready with his fleet of buses, got them painted in devoted colours, a special fare structure and timetable has been set, more fleet of international brand of buses ordered and comprehensive plans drawn to run them on these hi-speed corridors. But there?s no road to run these buses and kick off the plan! The state transport ministry has appointed a ?core group? to look to the project and study its aspects. The group will submit a report, the government will then consider it, after which a decision will be taken. Simply speaking, it?s stuck in red tape and won?t kick off before 2008 or even later. This is not all. The latest problem is a dispute between the core group officials and the MMRDA as to where should the bus lane be. While the MMRDA wants the lanes to be on the left, state government officials want it on the right side of the roads. With no decision on the issue, the matter is now hanging fire. To the specific question when will buses start running on the BRTS project principal secretary (transport) GS Gill told HT, ?By the end of this calendar year hopefully.? Asked about the lane problem, a senior MMRDA official, on the condition of anonymity, said bus lanes on the left would be helpful as they would not slow down buses. ?If lanes are built in the right, they would be obstructed by parked vehicles and hawkers, but in left, there would not be any such problem. We will, however, have to invest in infrastructure to build stops.? There?s another group of experts who are proposing that the bus lanes should be in the middle of the road for higher speeds. Pushed by the Central Ministry of Urban Transport and with a promise that the project would be eligible for funding under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, a number of cities woke up to the reality of BRTS last year, a globally accepted mode of urban mass transit in crowded areas. Pune was the first city in Maharashtra to kick off the BRTS in November. Mumbai?s BEST too drew plans in the middle of last year, got test-run done, placed an order for 20 hi-end Kinglong brand of buses for its project and also converted 20 of its existing Star Bus fleet of buses. It was decided that these hi-end fast buses would run between Thane and Dadar for four hours in morning and evening each, segregated from existing traffic by spring posts. But officials woke up to reality after they found the buses simply would jam all traffic during the peak hours and it would be difficult to stop other vehicles from coming in these bus lanes. State officials said that actual project had been delayed for the benefit of the city. The core group has been formed so that there is better planning and co-ordination between the state government, transport department and all the agencies concerned to ensure better planning for the project. The core group set up by the All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG), will decide the terms of reference, after which the MMRDA will issue the bids and appoint the consultants. The core group consists of officials from the MMRDA, BEST, AIILSG and the BMC, among others. ?My buses are ready. The moment I get a green signal from the government, I shall run them,? says BEST general manager Uttam Khobragade. But the green signal, it seems, may take a few more years. Email author: rajendra.aklekar@hindustantimes.com --- Rajendra Aklekar Transport Correspondent Hindustan Times HT Media Limited Mumbai Edition -- 140-4752, Nehru Nagar Mumbai, 400024 Mobile: +91 9892 190 761 Office: 66539200 Fax: 66539250/60 --- ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL From litman at vtpi.org Tue Mar 13 01:42:20 2007 From: litman at vtpi.org (Todd Alexander Litman) Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 09:42:20 -0700 Subject: [sustran] Will you let your children cycle to school? In-Reply-To: <45F3554B.2080908@greenidea.info> References: <038101c76226$1ccdd800$6501a8c0@home> <034401c76333$c8db5dd0$0202a8c0@acer56fb35423d> <45F3554B.2080908@greenidea.info> Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20070312092947.074457a8@mail.islandnet.com> Urban planners are increasingly aware of the importance of allowing children to travel to school under their own power, for a variety of economic, social, environmental and health reasons. The portion of children walking or bicycling to school can be considered a key indicator of community sustainability. In recent years a number of programs have developed to support non-motorized school travel, in both developed and developing countrires. Some address community design, emphasizing the value of having smaller, neighborhood schools instead of larger, more centralized schools, and the location of schools in the center of neighborhoods rather than on busy arterials and highways. Some focus on physical design, including sidewalks, crosswalks, bike paths and traffic calming on streets around schools. Some include bicycle safety education and encouragement. For information see the "School Transport Management" (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm36.htm ) and "Campus Transport Management" (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm5.htm ) chapters of our Online TDM Encyclopedia. Best wishes, -Todd Litman Chu Wa wrote: > > > > - primary school pupils want to cycle to school on their own but parents' > > concerns are stopping them. > > > > - 90% of youngsters have bikes and more than 30% of them would > like to cycle > > to school, only 1% actually do > > > > - parents who drive their children to school risk creating a habit of > > dependency that undermines children's confidence and self-reliance > > > > - It's a great shame children are being denied the opportunity to > experience > > this (cyling) independence because parents are worried about > their safety on > > the roads > > > > All above remarks from THE HERALD (UK) can be applied to > Singapore directly. > > I am just wondering how many cities (developing or not) are facing similar > > problems? > > > > Chu Wa > > Commuter cyclist > > Father of two > > > > > > > > The full news: > > http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1247222.0.0.php > > - > > Sincerely, Todd Alexander Litman Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org) litman@vtpi.org Phone & Fax 250-360-1560 1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity" -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070312/d858e7b3/attachment.html From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Tue Mar 13 15:42:37 2007 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 07:42:37 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Bus only lanes - Seoul-inspiring change Message-ID: Seoul-inspiring change By MIKE KOREEN http://torontosun.com/News/World/2007/03/12/pf-3736397.html Buses in Seoul now travel faster than cars thanks to an extensive network of bus-only lanes. It was Seoul's version of the Gardiner Expressway -- a bumper-to-bumper elevated highway blocking the water. For years, the South Korean capital deemed the Cheonggyecheon road a necessary evil. That changed in 2003. After 400 meetings with worried downtown business owners, Seoul send in the wrecking ball. Four years later, the results are spectacular. The Cheonggyecheon stream, previously invisible, is now a major attraction and wildlife has returned. Almost 75,000 fewer cars travel in the area each day thanks to major public transit improvements. "What Seoul has been able to do has been nothing short of incredible," said executive director Brian Shifman of Smart Commute North Toronto, Vaughan. "It's absolutely astonishing." With the population doubling to 10.4 million in 2003 (from 5.4 million in 1970) and the number of vehicles climbing 46 times in the same period, Seoul was dealing with a transportation and environmental nightmare. With its back against the wall, Seoul built an extensive network of bus-only lanes, running through the middle of roads. Now buses often race past cars at rush hour. The average bus speed has doubled to 20 km/h. Cars average 16 km/h downtown. "We told them if you use public transit, you can keep your appointments ... your life will improve," said Dr. Gyeng Chul Kim, of the Seoul Development Institute's department of urban transit. Seoul also reduced parking spaces downtown and has made Monday a transit day, taking away even more spaces and raising parking rates. A popular electronic debit device available as a card, necklace or bracelet, which allows users to pay for subways and bus rides, is another effective tool in taking people out of cars. BY THE NUMBERS A quick comparison of three subway transit systems: LONDON - Began operation: 1863 - System length: 408 km - No. of lines: 12 - No. of stations: 275 - Daily ridership: 2.7 million SEOUL - Began operation: 1974 - System length: 490 km - No. of lines: 8 - No. of stations: 112 - Daily ridership: 8 million TORONTO - Began operation: 1954 - System length: 68 km - No. of lines: 4 - No. of stations: 69 - Daily ridership: 1.2 million STAFF, Transport for London, Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp., Toronto Transit Commission -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070313/c3ff85f2/attachment.html From info at autofrei-wohnen.de Wed Mar 14 04:35:50 2007 From: info at autofrei-wohnen.de (Autofrei Wohnen) Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 20:35:50 +0100 Subject: [sustran] exhibition "on the move in Africa" Message-ID: <02f701c765a6$d5f75080$0100a8c0@Markus> a Senegalese painter is looking for the next location to present his exhibition: * "on the move in Africa" Pictures of Louis Armstrong Gomes - Senegal Locomotion and Transport in Africa - the Heidelberg exposition "Moving in Africa" - we might think of travellers and globetrotters - but the Senegalese painter Louis Armstrong Gomes shows how Africans themselves are moving in their daily life: In overcrowded busses, on animal-tracted carts, at the coast on boats and in the rural Africa where there is no motorized transport the women and children are moving on foot and carry their loads on the head. http://www.armstrong-gomes.de/heidelberg/ Contact: in co-operation with: Partnership Westafrica - Kanalweg 54 - D-76149 Karlsruhe - Germany Hannes Schindler - tel +49 (0)721 9714088 * best wishes, Markus Heller www.autofrei-wohnen.de/homeEngl.html ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 8:11 PM Subject: [afl-Forum] Jemand eine Idee f?r Bilderausstellung? Hat jemand Idee f?r eine Lokalit?t oder eigenes Interesse an einer Bilderausstellung eines afrikanischen Malers zum Thema nichtmotorisierte Fortbewegung? http://www.armstrong-gomes.de/heidelberg/ Hannes Schindler 0721 9714088 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070313/6215e2d0/attachment.html From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Wed Mar 14 18:59:32 2007 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:59:32 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Citizen proejcts adn programs to helpguide city policiees Message-ID: Thanks Sean Roche for the heads-up on this excellent initiative of Streetsblog and Aaron Naparstek, which we copy below in full text in the hope of getting yet further additions. My hope is that you will not only mail your leads here but that you will also go to http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/02/22/help-us-find-livable-streets-blogs-in- cities-outside-nyc/ to add them there as well. For our part, we are in the process of developing a set of related links, which you can find today if you go to the Agenda at http://newmobility.org and click the link Citizens Speak Out at the top of the left menu. Your thoughts and suggestions on all this are more than welcome. Eric Britton Help us Find Livable Streets Blogs in Cities Outside NYC We are interested in creating a new feature -- a collection of links to Streetsblog-ish web sites in other cities around the world. Ideally, this collection of links will represent the best, most comprehensive, most readable group of Livable Streets bloggers anywhere. We could really use the help of the Streetsblog online community to build this collection. If you know of a site that fits the bill, or if you wouldn't mind spending a few minutes poking around online to find some good potential sites in specific cities, please do. Just add your finds to the comment section. Here are some starter links to give you a sense of the kinds of sites we've been finding so far... Boston: http://newtonstreets.blogspot.com http://www.livablestreets.info Toronto: http://bikingtoronto.blogspot.com Portland: http://www.bikeportland.org Cleveland: http://www.gcbl.org Washington DC: http://washcycle.typepad.com http://pedshed.net San Fran: http://bikecommutetips.blogspot.com Berkeley: http://www.localecology.org/localecologist Miami: http://www.transitmiami.blogspot.com London: http://www.kingscrossenvironment.com Vancouver: http://sfucity.wordpress.com/about/ Filed by Aaron Naparstek under Livable Streets , Pinned Comments ( latest by Fran Taylor ) Link E-Mail This Post/Page _____ 23 Comments (leave a comment) 1. Here's a good one from Edinburgh, Scotland: http://cyclingedinburgh.wordpress.com/ And, they're not blogs, but here are a couple sites from Scotland's biggest city, Glasgow: http://www.sustrans.org.uk www.gobike.org/ Comment by ddartley ? February 22, 2007 @ 10:48 am | Link 2. Atlanta, Georgia: http://peds.org Savannah, Georgia: http://www.pacesavannah.org Comment by john ? February 22, 2007 @ 11:06 am | Link 3. From Berkeley: http://www.preservenet.com/freeways/ Comment by Clarence ? February 22, 2007 @ 11:56 am | Link 4. Also from Portland, Oregon http://www.portlandtransport.com Comment by nuovorecord ? February 22, 2007 @ 12:03 pm | Link 5. Not exactly localized, but This Place Is... covers "people-centered place design." Shin-pei from Bird to the North just started blogging for them about NYC public spaces. Comment by Nick ? February 22, 2007 @ 12:29 pm | Link 6. Minneapolis, Minnesota http://www.wowflutter.com Comment by sjt ? February 22, 2007 @ 12:57 pm | Link 7. SF used to have San Francisco Cityscape (sfcityscape.org) which was terrific until they stopped blogging and became a discussion forum. I'm still looking for a good replacement one (the one you list is a bike blog written by someone in SF but it doesn't seem to be about local SF issues in particular). DC has Richard Layman's Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space (http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/) and Beyond DC (http://beyonddc.com/log) It'd be nice to distinguish between bike blogs and more general livable streets blogs. Streetsblog is great because it covers development, parking, walking, transit, and biking, and everything from policy decisions in City Hall to specific neighborhood incidents. Some of the blogs listed above are just about how to pedal around the cities, which is great but less broad, while others are more similar to StreetsBlog. Comment by David Alpert ? February 22, 2007 @ 1:47 pm | Link 8. (Oops, SF Cityscape is actually sfcityscape.com not .org). Comment by David Alpert ? February 22, 2007 @ 1:51 pm | Link 9. Los Angeles: http://www.cicle.org/wordpress/ http://www.bike-los-angeles.com/ (looks to be just getting started) Haven't found pedestrian or public space-focused blogs yet but I will keep looking. Comment by keri ? February 22, 2007 @ 1:52 pm | Link 10. Yeah, that's kind of the challenge, David -- trying to find the blogs that go beyond just being about bicycling. But I'm still interested in getting links to the good bike blogs. So feel free to post those too. Comment by Aaron Naparstek ? February 22, 2007 @ 1:56 pm | Link 11. New Jersey (getting started) http://walkbikejersey.blogspot.com/ Comment by keri ? February 22, 2007 @ 2:05 pm | Link 12. San Francisco: http://livablecity.org/path.html Comment by carrie ? February 22, 2007 @ 5:35 pm | Link 13. It's an honor to be "Streetsblog-ish" -- thanks! Another great DC-area blog is Rethink College Park: http://www.rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/. They get into a lot of design details and development politics too. College Park is small, but may have some useful lessons for other college towns. Comment by Laurence Aurbach ? February 22, 2007 @ 7:21 pm | Link 14. Kansas City, Missouri KCBike.Info - http://kcbike.info Clearing the Air - http://bikefriendlykc.blogspot.com/ Comment by eric ? February 23, 2007 @ 10:53 am | Link 15. Thanks for the link... a really good one based in Toronto is the Spacing Wire (http://spacing.ca/wire) - "your hub for daily dispatches from the streets of Toronto to cities around the world, offering both analysis and a forum for discussion. The Wire covers news, events, art, architecture, urban planning and just about anything that involves the public realm of our cities. Comment by Joe (BikingToronto) ? February 23, 2007 @ 1:14 pm | Link 16. Aaron: If you'll lower your standard from "good bike blogs" to just "bike blogs," I'd like to offer mine to your list. Comment by John ? February 24, 2007 @ 9:00 am | Link 17. Thessaloniki, Greece (mostly Greek): http://streetpanthers.blogspot.com/index.html Comment by James ? February 24, 2007 @ 11:15 am | Link 18. The above post focuses on pedestrian and bicycle issues. You can translate the site at http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr Choose Greek to English Comment by James ? February 24, 2007 @ 11:19 am | Link 19. Seattle: http://friendsofseattle.typepad.com/blog/ http://citycomfortsblog.typepad.com/cities/ Comment by Aaron Naparstek ? February 26, 2007 @ 12:17 am | Link 20. Actually, Its Just www.TransitMiami.com I got rid of the blogspot address although it will still redirect you to the proper site... Comment by Gabriel Lopez-Bernal ? March 1, 2007 @ 8:43 pm | Link 21. Another good one from Down Under www.spinopsys.com Comment by Clarence Eckerson Jr. ? March 2, 2007 @ 2:59 am | Link 22. Philadelphia Bicycle News Blog http://bcgp.blogspot.com Comment by John ? March 10, 2007 @ 1:17 pm | Link 23. San Francisco Monthly column on transportation issues: http://www.missiondispatch.com/news/view_alt_category.html?category_id=406 Comment by Fran Taylor ? March 13, 2007 @ 1:41 pm | Link -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070314/45cef6cd/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/octet-stream Size: 579 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070314/45cef6cd/attachment.bin -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/octet-stream Size: 541 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070314/45cef6cd/attachment-0001.bin -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/octet-stream Size: 588 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070314/45cef6cd/attachment-0002.bin From c_bradshaw at rogers.com Fri Mar 16 00:03:10 2007 From: c_bradshaw at rogers.com (Chris Bradshaw) Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:03:10 -0400 Subject: [sustran] Re: [LotsLessCars] Will you let your children cycle to school ? I won't References: <038101c76226$1ccdd800$6501a8c0@home> <034401c76333$c8db5dd0$0202a8c0@acer56fb35423d> <45F3554B.2080908@greenidea.info> Message-ID: <053701c76713$898bab60$0202a8c0@acer56fb35423d> Todd, Sorry I didn't notice this as a personal message sooner. > WALKING is better than cycling in general, no matter what the distance. I agree, and I hope my response -- which was about cycling -- suggested anything else. I have been a walking advocate for over 25 years, and even debated a cyclist on the relative merits of the two modes on a radio show 15 years ago. > I have some other comments on your response, starting in CAPS: > > Chris Bradshaw wrote: >> First, cycling without an adult is not recommended by cyclist-trainers >> before the age of 10, and then only on residential streets. . . . > IN a car city, arterials can have fully separated bike paths. These I am not a fan of. I favour segregating by speed, as in my CURBBBB proposal. > IN a carfree city or quarter (i.e. an area encompassing both the home and > school of the child, a child could ride anywhere (though arterials might > haver surface public transport), and possibly even at a younger age, > especially if accompanies by older children or older children-at-heart > (i.e. adults), or there could even be a coloured line or signs with some > familiar animal to guide them. Obviously, in a car-FREE city, cycling becomes less dangerous and simpler. My personal vision is for a PRIVATE-car-OWNERSHIP-free city, in which cars are available only via collective fleets, and individuals don't NEED or WANT to have their own, thus saving huge amounts of road and parking space, reducing vehicle size, and allowing for a new, more comprehensive regime of enforcing civil road behaviour by drivers. >> Second, such children need a cycling course first. >> > I AGREE some kind of course is useful even in a carfree area, but not as > necessary. It is more about bike control, than defensive driving. There > are of course pedestrians, animals, people playing in the street, children > sitting on the street, children lying in the street for no reason at all, > cycle rickshaws as mobile sales points for ice cream causing riots, and so > on. I would think that a city of bicycles would still require defensive driving (riding), as cyclists don't conform as much to the formalities that highway traffic legislation -- and the physics of car-driving -- impose. I have not travelled to a more bike-dominant part of the world, but I have never seen children pictured with adults moving along in heavy city traffic. >> Unfortunately, children are provided bikes long before their 10th >> birthdays. >> During that time, they use it as a plaything, usually emulating their >> parents' behaviour towards cars. Also, they don't learn how to get >> places >> on their own. These are bad attitudes that must be changed before >> letting >> them move about on their own. >> > I AM no expert on teaching children but I learned to ride through just > riding, in a relatively calm suburban setting. We did use it for fun, but > also for getting to close by places quickly. Most stores - but not > school - were only reachable by crossing big streets. Crossing big streets is best done by walking, rather than cycling. > But I don't see what is the problem with play, even now: "Go play in traffic!" is a favour joke. Play is fine, and child's play is even more natural (studies show children who cannot play enough suffer in the development process). But I specfically refer to role playing, as if they are adults. That too, is good and natural, but often means they emulate the ownership thing, and that they use their bikes to intimidate pedestrians and other cyclists. Parents need to notice the kind of play children do with bikes, and both admonish where appropriate, and also to learn about their own bad behaviour that their child picks up on. > During Critical Mass rides in Prague, a few times I have led the group, > and when I do things like leading other adults around (and around, and > around) a kind of circle-square near the traditional starting point of the > Mass, people get confused and ask me where we are going. I respond of > course that we are going in circles. And when after that I just ride > randomly (but not on big streets, or illegally) people still get confused > because I am not being linear. On the other hand the Mass here - as > opposed to most other places - usually starts with a man (male) telling us > where we are going. We are simultaneously told that (in general) driving > is unnecessary for many trips but that having a geographical goal is > necessary for a fun bike ride. I hate that. There is no reason to need a > reason, and while it is essential to know a bike can be used for transport > (and to enable that as much as possible), it can also be mixed with play > (on the same ride or just in general, but also on the same streets). Whew! I don't consider your circular mass rides to be play, but rather a political act to prove a point. But the critics do have a point. If you are taking precious road space (and motorists are in no position to criticize uneconomical use of it), you should have a reason. Having a political reason is a reason, but it must compete with other road users' reasons, coupled with the amount of road space that they need. For instance, how WIDE is your demonstration? >> Since the use of a bike is only an advantage over walking when the trip >> is >> in excess of about 2 kms, the child should not need using it until their >> cognitive abilities allow them to grasp the specifics of the road-path >> network over a 16-square-km area. And that is about the time that they >> can >> survive along the cruel, car-dominated streets they will encounter, and >> have >> the strength for that length of trip. >> > WHERE do these 2km and 16km2 rules come from? What kind of density (in a > car city) are they based on? What about uncruel, fun-dominated streets? I > am sure there is something to do what you say about strength (and also > children have to be mature enough to keep their bike secure or in their > possession, unless of course there are free bikes). I think you misread me. I am not talking about rules, but about normal human sense of value. Use of a vehicle imposes 'overhead' costs related to obtaining the mode of travel for each leg of the trip, and having to follow a longer route to comply with the demands of the mode. In this way, walking is a faster mode of travel for trips up to 2 kms. It's not based on any study, but on my own experience. >> In any case, within the 2-km distance, I find that children quickly tire >> of >> bike use for the trip to school, and switch back to walking. It's far >> more >> social, > BACK to what I said at the top, walking IS generally better, but bikes can > open up other possibilities. >> and it avoids them having their favourite 'steed' stolen. >> > I THINK there are relatively very simple solutions for that, in a car- or > carfree city. > > IN any city, kids need to be within comfortable walking distance of > school, but bikes will extend their range, and in a carfree area or city > this can be done much more easily. I believe that schools should be sized and located so that the children can navigate the trip on their own -- by whatever mode they choose. That is at the heart of independence. That means that elementary schools should be split between the Grade 3 and 4, with separate schools for the younger group being smaller and located in the 'quarter' of the neighbourhood where the children live, rather than the whole neighbourhood. As to range, yes, the range is extended with a bike, but then the issue is whether the child can navigate the longer trip without adult assistance. A longer trip by a group of young people might be OK, as ONE of them will probably have the navigation skills. Another factor re: human economy, that comes in to the equation of picking mode is the length of the stay at the other end. My mention of bikes being subject to being stolen at schools is partly a factor of the length of the child's stay. For 6-7 hours, a walk will seem economical, whereas the same distance of travel for a shorter stay will make the bike seem more economical. And the shorter stay will reduce the chance of theft of the bike (if you don't ever leave your bike, as with a tour, then theft is not a factor at all -- you don't even need to bring along a lock). > To mention again what I said in an earlier reply, we need to build or > adapt cities to children, rather than adapt children to car-cities. It is > necessary of course for interim defensive measures, but if we place too > much emphasis on them (or only talk about them), we will ALWAYS be doing > that, for our grandchildren, and so on. Agreed completely. That is also why convenience shopping needs to be on a smaller scale and this closer to where people live. It is also the kind of shopping that can be done by a child, relieving the parent of having to do it, leaving very young children in harm's way, either alone at home or alone in a car with a running engine (a 2-year-old in Calgary just suffocated when she out her head out of such a car, and her knee triggered the auto window to close.) And, the child doing the buying is getting both good practice and feeling important to the functioning of the family. > And please remember that I am in Prague, THE most automobilised city in > Europe, though not the most dangerous, but where I fear that new > initiatives like "Safe Routes to School" I mentioned in an earlier email > will limited effect if they focus too much on symptoms. It should also be > mentioned that the Safe Routes programme here is a project of an > organisation which takes money from the automobile industry... That's not surprising. Since SFTS is so popular, don't be surprised that car companies will want to get some of 'the glow' of being associated with it. > T > > p.s. This reminds me: I am going to look at the schedule for VeloCity in > Munich this June (where I am also giving a presentation, as well as a few > others on this list) and see how many presentations, workshops etc. are > about defensive cycling, or are in general about cycling in cities where > cars are a given. VeloCity also has an automobile company as a main > sponsor. Ditto. Chris Bradshaw Ottawa From zvi at inro.ca Fri Mar 16 00:59:10 2007 From: zvi at inro.ca (Zvi Leve) Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:59:10 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: Citizen proejcts adn programs to helpguide city policiees In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <45F96D4E.8030501@inro.ca> My personal favourite is the UrbanPhoto blog - it is not specific to any one city, but there is a concentration of Montreal-related entries. Zvi Eric Britton wrote: > > Thanks Sean Roche for the heads-up on this excellent initiative of > Streetsblog and Aaron Naparstek, which we copy below in full text in > the hope of getting yet further additions. > > > > My hope is that you will not only mail your leads here but that you > will also go to > http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/02/22/help-us-find-livable-streets-blogs-in-cities-outside-nyc/ > to > add them there as well. > > > > For our part, we are in the process of developing a set of related > links, which you can find today if you go to the Agenda at > http://newmobility.org and click the link *Citizens Speak Out* at the > top of the left menu. Your thoughts and suggestions on all this are > more than welcome. > > > > Eric Britton > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20070315/a7fa4b7b/attachment.html From binac at rediffmail.com Fri Mar 16 17:00:28 2007 From: binac at rediffmail.com (Bina C. Balakrishnan) Date: 16 Mar 2007 08:00:28 -0000 Subject: [sustran] Re: (NEWS) Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! Message-ID: <20070316080028.29065.qmail@webmail101.rediffmail.com> ? I am surprised and frankly disappointed at Rajendra?s reporting: I always thought you were one of the more responsible reporters. The following response has been approved by the Core Working Group, of which I am also a member, and is being posted as a collective reply. Left to myself, I should have responded with a little more bite! ?Let?s start with the Core Group: As Coordinator of the Core Working Group (CWG) on BRTS for Mumbai, we at the MTSU have already submitted our report to the Government of Maharashtra- as long back as the 6th of February 2007. The CWG is formed of one officer from all the directly concerned departments, as you have said, to ensure better co-ordination between them. (For the benefit of our international readers, Mumbai has about 17 different agencies dealing with transportation- and this is all aspects of transportation.) The Core Working Group, however, has only 7 members, including representatives from NGOs. The CWG Report was formally presented on the 6th of February, 2007, to all the departments in the presence of the Principal Secretary, Transport, and this was accepted by the Government of Maharashtra right there. At the same meeting, we were asked to draw up the Terms of Reference for the Consultants to be appointed by the MMRDA to carry out the Feasibility Study for BRTS. The study will examine the feasibility of a city wide BRTS, with priority on the corridors that we have identified for phase I. These Terms of Reference have also been finalized, and submitted to the MMRDA. The CWG will continue to monitor the progress of the project, as well as the work of the consultants. The whole process of appointing a CWG and going thru a pre- feasibility study and recommending a Feasibility Study was to avoid the mistakes made by the BEST when they arbitrarily introduced a dedicated bus lane between CST (formerly called Victoria Terminus) and Churchgate, and which failed because of various reasons- primarily lack of adequate planning. Prior to the formation of the CWG, the Government did have a proposal to start a Dedicated Bus Lane between Thane and Dadar, with a pilot section between Dadar and Sion. In this section, the BEST have about 45 routes operating, and there would have been no question of the lane being under-utilised and therefore being over-run by other traffic. Moreover, we had already identified and verified supplementary networks to accommodate any spillover traffic on this route. It was in this context that the BEST had their buses painted, but before it could be implemented, the Election Code of Conduct time bar came into force, and the project had to be temporarily shelved. Regarding the concerned BRTS lane ? you are all confused. The CWG has recommended the median lanes ? ie the lanes alongside the median - to capitalize on the available infrastructure, and reduce delays from other traffic. This will enable the BRT buses to use all the flyovers, and improve their operating speeds. Also, the median width can be used to accommodate the bus stations. Bus lanes on the LEFT will definitely be affected by parked vehicles. (Where did the right lane come into the picture? We drive on the left side of the road, right?) However, the scope of work for the consultants includes examining the feasibility of using either the median or the kerb-side lane for the BRTS. Additionally, another aspect we are working on at the MTSU is removal of all parking on all arterial roads ? so the interference from parked cars will not a problem: but the direct access to private properties along all roads in Mumbai will definitely be a major problem if the kerb-side lane is used. But, as I said ? the Consultant is expected to look into all these aspects, and recommend the best option. As the Principal Secretary, Transport has said, ?Hopefully, by the end of the year.? End of formal reply. My apologies for being so dense ? but what is the joke? Bina C. Balakrishnan Consultant Transportation Planning & Engineering Mumbai, India On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 Rajendra A(Hindustan Times) wrote : >Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! > >http://www.hindustantimes.in/news/181_1949087,000600010004.htm > >Rajendra Aklekar > >Mumbai, March 11, 2007 > >Mumbai?s Bus Rapid Transit System or simply the dedicated bus >lanes? project turned into a joke. >The BEST General Manager is ready with his fleet of buses, got them >painted in devoted colours, a >special fare structure and timetable has been set, more fleet of >international brand of buses >ordered and comprehensive plans drawn to run them on these hi-speed >corridors. But there?s no road >to run these buses and kick off the plan! > >The state transport ministry has appointed a ?core group? to look >to the project and study its >aspects. The group will submit a report, the government will then >consider it, after which a >decision will be taken. Simply speaking, it?s stuck in red tape and >won?t kick off before 2008 or >even later. > >This is not all. The latest problem is a dispute between the core group >officials and the MMRDA as >to where should the bus lane be. While the MMRDA wants the lanes to be >on the left, state >government officials want it on the right side of the roads. With no >decision on the issue, the >matter is now hanging fire. > >To the specific question when will buses start running on the BRTS >project principal secretary >(transport) GS Gill told HT, ?By the end of this calendar year >hopefully.? > >Asked about the lane problem, a senior MMRDA official, on the condition >of anonymity, said bus >lanes on the left would be helpful as they would not slow down buses. >?If lanes are built in the >right, they would be obstructed by parked vehicles and hawkers, but in >left, there would not be >any such problem. We will, however, have to invest in infrastructure to >build stops.? There?s >another group of experts who are proposing that the bus lanes should be >in the middle of the road >for higher speeds. > >Pushed by the Central Ministry of Urban Transport and with a promise >that the project would be >eligible for funding under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal >Mission, a number of cities >woke up to the reality of BRTS last year, a globally accepted mode of >urban mass transit in >crowded areas. Pune was the first city in Maharashtra to kick off the >BRTS in November. > >Mumbai?s BEST too drew plans in the middle of last year, got test-run >done, placed an order for 20 >hi-end Kinglong brand of buses for its project and also converted 20 of >its existing Star Bus >fleet of buses. It was decided that these hi-end fast buses would run >between Thane and Dadar for >four hours in morning and evening each, segregated from existing >traffic by spring posts. > >But officials woke up to reality after they found the buses simply >would jam all traffic during >the peak hours and it would be difficult to stop other vehicles from >coming in these bus lanes. >State officials said that actual project had been delayed for the >benefit of the city. The core >group has been formed so that there is better planning and >co-ordination between the state >government, transport department and all the agencies concerned to >ensure better planning for the >project. > >The core group set up by the All India Institute of Local Self >Government (AIILSG), will decide >the terms of reference, after which the MMRDA will issue the bids and >appoint the consultants. The >core group consists of officials from the MMRDA, BEST, AIILSG and the >BMC, among others. ?My buses >are ready. The moment I get a green signal from the government, I shall >run them,? says BEST >general manager Uttam Khobragade. But the green signal, it seems, may >take a few more years. > >Email author: rajendra.aklekar@hindustantimes.com > > >--- >Rajendra Aklekar >Transport Correspondent >Hindustan Times >HT Media Limited >Mumbai Edition >-- >140-4752, Nehru Nagar >Mumbai, 400024 > >Mobile: +91 9892 190 761 >Office: 66539200 >Fax: 66539250/60 >--- > > > >____________________________________________________________________________________ >Get your own web address. >Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. >http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL >-------------------------------------------------------- >IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via YAHOOGROUPS. > >Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement. > >================================================================ >SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). Bina C. Balakrishnan Consultant Transportation Planning & Engineering Mumbai, India e-mail: binac@rediffmail.com Mobile : +91 98926 41341 Home : +91 22 23630572 Skype : binacb From Alan.Howes at cbuchanan.co.uk Fri Mar 16 19:15:47 2007 From: Alan.Howes at cbuchanan.co.uk (Alan Howes) Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:15:47 -0000 Subject: [sustran] Re: (NEWS) Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! In-Reply-To: <20070316080028.29065.qmail@webmail101.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: <324DCD7680954F468CF306EE5404F001037E7202@mail01.cbuchanan.co.uk> My problem is that having spent six weeks in Mumbai last year, while I mastered reasonably well the transport issues and the geography, I still have not got all these institutions and acronyms sorted out! What is the MTSU? I would guess Mumbai or Maharashtra Transport Studies Unit - but knowing the name does not tell me what it is or what it represents. Would anyone like to volunteer to put a glossary of Maharashtra transport acronyms on a website somewhere? Anyway, it's obvious that judgement of "responsible reporting" is something of a subjective matter - but I did wonder whether Raj could tell his right from his left. My understanding is that all proposed Mumbai bus lanes will be on divided highways - when Raj wrote about lanes in the "middle of the road" I really did not know whether he meant the middle of the carriageway or next to the median (and did "right" mean on the wrong side?). Anyway, my understanding of the MMRDA proposals is as explained in Bina's post. The problem, however, with with-flow bus lanes placed immediately to the left of the median is that, assuming bus stops are on the median, the bus doors are on the wrong side (an expensive problem to fix). MMRDA explained to me an ingenious proposal for overcoming this - at the stops the buses would swap sides, crossing the median through a gap immediately before and after the stop. This sounds perfectly feasible to me - the only potential problem I foresee is that the necessary gaps will be used (illegally) by other traffic, or even pedestrians (who get a pretty raw deal in terms of getting across the road). I would be interested to know if this proposal is still being pursued. But I have to say that I will be very pleasantly surprised if a significant amount of properly-designed, properly-enforced bus lanes are in operation in Mumbai by the end of 2007. Regards, Alan -- Alan Howes Associate Transport Planner Colin Buchanan 4 St Colme Street Edinburgh EH3 6AA Scotland email: alan.howes@cbuchanan.co.uk tel: (0)131 226 4693 (switchboard) (0)7952 464335 (mobile) fax: (0)131 220 0232 www: http://www.cbuchanan.co.uk/ -----Original Message----- From: sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of Bina C. Balakrishnan Sent: 16 March 2007 08:00 To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport Cc: Rajendra A(Hindustan Times) Subject: [sustran] Re: (NEWS) Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! ? I am surprised and frankly disappointed at Rajendra's reporting: I always thought you were one of the more responsible reporters. The following response has been approved by the Core Working Group, of which I am also a member, and is being posted as a collective reply. Left to myself, I should have responded with a little more bite! "Let's start with the Core Group: As Coordinator of the Core Working Group (CWG) on BRTS for Mumbai, we at the MTSU have already submitted our report to the Government of Maharashtra- as long back as the 6th of February 2007. The CWG is formed of one officer from all the directly concerned departments, as you have said, to ensure better co-ordination between them. (For the benefit of our international readers, Mumbai has about 17 different agencies dealing with transportation- and this is all aspects of transportation.) The Core Working Group, however, has only 7 members, including representatives from NGOs. The CWG Report was formally presented on the 6th of February, 2007, to all the departments in the presence of the Principal Secretary, Transport, and this was accepted by the Government of Maharashtra right there. At the same meeting, we were asked to draw up the Terms of Reference for the Consultants to be appointed by the MMRDA to carry out the Feasibility Study for BRTS. The study will examine the feasibility of a city wide BRTS, with priority on the corridors that we have identified for phase I. These Terms of Reference have also been finalized, and submitted to the MMRDA. The CWG will continue to monitor the progress of the project, as well as the work of the consultants. The whole process of appointing a CWG and going thru a pre- feasibility study and recommending a Feasibility Study was to avoid the mistakes made by the BEST when they arbitrarily introduced a dedicated bus lane between CST (formerly called Victoria Terminus) and Churchgate, and which failed because of various reasons- primarily lack of adequate planning. Prior to the formation of the CWG, the Government did have a proposal to start a Dedicated Bus Lane between Thane and Dadar, with a pilot section between Dadar and Sion. In this section, the BEST have about 45 routes operating, and there would have been no question of the lane being under-utilised and therefore being over-run by other traffic. Moreover, we had already identified and verified supplementary networks to accommodate any spillover traffic on this route. It was in this context that the BEST had their buses painted, but before it could be implemented, the Election Code of Conduct time bar came into force, and the project had to be temporarily shelved. Regarding the concerned BRTS lane - you are all confused. The CWG has recommended the median lanes - ie the lanes alongside the median - to capitalize on the available infrastructure, and reduce delays from other traffic. This will enable the BRT buses to use all the flyovers, and improve their operating speeds. Also, the median width can be used to accommodate the bus stations. Bus lanes on the LEFT will definitely be affected by parked vehicles. (Where did the right lane come into the picture? We drive on the left side of the road, right?) However, the scope of work for the consultants includes examining the feasibility of using either the median or the kerb-side lane for the BRTS. Additionally, another aspect we are working on at the MTSU is removal of all parking on all arterial roads - so the interference from parked cars will not a problem: but the direct access to private properties along all roads in Mumbai will definitely be a major problem if the kerb-side lane is used. But, as I said - the Consultant is expected to look into all these aspects, and recommend the best option. As the Principal Secretary, Transport has said, "Hopefully, by the end of the year." End of formal reply. My apologies for being so dense - but what is the joke? Bina C. Balakrishnan Consultant Transportation Planning & Engineering Mumbai, India On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 Rajendra A(Hindustan Times) wrote : >Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! > >http://www.hindustantimes.in/news/181_1949087,000600010004.htm > >Rajendra Aklekar > >Mumbai, March 11, 2007 > >Mumbai's Bus Rapid Transit System or simply the dedicated bus lanes' >project turned into a joke. >The BEST General Manager is ready with his fleet of buses, got them >painted in devoted colours, a special fare structure and timetable has >been set, more fleet of international brand of buses ordered and >comprehensive plans drawn to run them on these hi-speed corridors. But >there's no road to run these buses and kick off the plan! > >The state transport ministry has appointed a "core group" to look to >the project and study its aspects. The group will submit a report, the >government will then consider it, after which a decision will be taken. >Simply speaking, it's stuck in red tape and won't kick off before 2008 >or even later. > >This is not all. The latest problem is a dispute between the core group >officials and the MMRDA as to where should the bus lane be. While the >MMRDA wants the lanes to be on the left, state government officials >want it on the right side of the roads. With no decision on the issue, >the matter is now hanging fire. > >To the specific question when will buses start running on the BRTS >project principal secretary >(transport) GS Gill told HT, "By the end of this calendar year... >hopefully." > >Asked about the lane problem, a senior MMRDA official, on the condition >of anonymity, said bus lanes on the left would be helpful as they would >not slow down buses. >"If lanes are built in the >right, they would be obstructed by parked vehicles and hawkers, but in >left, there would not be any such problem. We will, however, have to >invest in infrastructure to build stops." There's another group of >experts who are proposing that the bus lanes should be in the middle of >the road for higher speeds. > >Pushed by the Central Ministry of Urban Transport and with a promise >that the project would be eligible for funding under Jawaharlal Nehru >National Urban Renewal Mission, a number of cities woke up to the >reality of BRTS last year, a globally accepted mode of urban mass >transit in crowded areas. Pune was the first city in Maharashtra to >kick off the BRTS in November. > >Mumbai's BEST too drew plans in the middle of last year, got test-run >done, placed an order for 20 hi-end Kinglong brand of buses for its >project and also converted 20 of its existing Star Bus fleet of buses. >It was decided that these hi-end fast buses would run between Thane and >Dadar for four hours in morning and evening each, segregated from >existing traffic by spring posts. > >But officials woke up to reality after they found the buses simply >would jam all traffic during the peak hours and it would be difficult >to stop other vehicles from coming in these bus lanes. >State officials said that actual project had been delayed for the >benefit of the city. The core group has been formed so that there is >better planning and co-ordination between the state government, >transport department and all the agencies concerned to ensure better >planning for the project. > >The core group set up by the All India Institute of Local Self >Government (AIILSG), will decide the terms of reference, after which >the MMRDA will issue the bids and appoint the consultants. The core >group consists of officials from the MMRDA, BEST, AIILSG and the BMC, >among others. "My buses are ready. The moment I get a green signal from >the government, I shall run them," says BEST general manager Uttam >Khobragade. But the green signal, it seems, may take a few more years. > >Email author: rajendra.aklekar@hindustantimes.com > > >--- >Rajendra Aklekar >Transport Correspondent >Hindustan Times >HT Media Limited >Mumbai Edition >-- >140-4752, Nehru Nagar >Mumbai, 400024 > >Mobile: +91 9892 190 761 >Office: 66539200 >Fax: 66539250/60 >--- > > > >_______________________________________________________________________ >_____________ >Get your own web address. >Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. >http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL >-------------------------------------------------------- >IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via YAHOOGROUPS. > >Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement. > >================================================================ >SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). Bina C. Balakrishnan Consultant Transportation Planning & Engineering Mumbai, India e-mail: binac@rediffmail.com Mobile : +91 98926 41341 Home : +91 22 23630572 Skype : binacb -------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via YAHOOGROUPS. Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement. ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). From edelman at greenidea.info Fri Mar 16 19:44:08 2007 From: edelman at greenidea.info (Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory) Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:44:08 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Re: (NEWS) Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! In-Reply-To: <324DCD7680954F468CF306EE5404F001037E7202@mail01.cbuchanan.co.uk> References: <324DCD7680954F468CF306EE5404F001037E7202@mail01.cbuchanan.co.uk> Message-ID: <45FA74F8.5060505@greenidea.info> Alan Howes wrote: > [...] The problem, however, with with-flow bus lanes placed immediately to the left of the median is that, assuming bus stops are on the median, the bus doors are on the wrong side (an expensive problem to fix). MMRDA explained to me an ingenious proposal for overcoming this - at the stops the buses would swap sides, crossing the median through a gap immediately before and after the stop. This sounds perfectly feasible to me - the only potential problem I foresee is that the necessary gaps will be used (illegally) by other traffic, or even pedestrians (who get a pretty raw deal in terms of getting across the road). > That seems really dangerous unless there are electronic safety systems, etc. Am I missing something? - T -- -------------------------------------------- Todd Edelman Director Green Idea Factory Korunn? 72 CZ-10100 Praha 10 Czech Republic ++420 605 915 970 ++420 222 517 832 Skype: toddedelman edelman@greenidea.eu http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain Green Idea Factory, a member of World Carfree Network From Alan.Howes at cbuchanan.co.uk Fri Mar 16 19:52:38 2007 From: Alan.Howes at cbuchanan.co.uk (Alan Howes) Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:52:38 -0000 Subject: [sustran] Re: (NEWS) Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! In-Reply-To: <45FA74F8.5060505@greenidea.info> Message-ID: <324DCD7680954F468CF306EE5404F001037E7222@mail01.cbuchanan.co.uk> I thought someone might think that! I take it what concerns you is the (two per stop) conflicts between buses moving in opposite directions? Remember that the buses will be moving slowly as they are about to stop or are just leaving the stop. I don't know offhand what the maximum bus flows are likely to be, but I would not have thought that even in Mumbai there would be more than 120 buses per hour - correct me someone if I'm wrong (I could do a check, but it would take some time). At that level I see no problem with a simple "give way" arrangement (e.g. incoming buses always give way to leaving buses) - you could have traffic signals, but IMO that would be an unnecessary expense. Regards, Alan -- Alan Howes Associate Transport Planner Colin Buchanan 4 St Colme Street Edinburgh EH3 6AA Scotland email: alan.howes@cbuchanan.co.uk tel: (0)131 226 4693 (switchboard) (0)7952 464335 (mobile) fax: (0)131 220 0232 www: http://www.cbuchanan.co.uk/ -----Original Message----- From: sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory Sent: 16 March 2007 10:44 To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport Subject: [sustran] Re: (NEWS) Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! Alan Howes wrote: > [...] The problem, however, with with-flow bus lanes placed immediately to the left of the median is that, assuming bus stops are on the median, the bus doors are on the wrong side (an expensive problem to fix). MMRDA explained to me an ingenious proposal for overcoming this - at the stops the buses would swap sides, crossing the median through a gap immediately before and after the stop. This sounds perfectly feasible to me - the only potential problem I foresee is that the necessary gaps will be used (illegally) by other traffic, or even pedestrians (who get a pretty raw deal in terms of getting across the road). > That seems really dangerous unless there are electronic safety systems, etc. Am I missing something? - T -- -------------------------------------------- Todd Edelman Director Green Idea Factory Korunn? 72 CZ-10100 Praha 10 Czech Republic ++420 605 915 970 ++420 222 517 832 Skype: toddedelman edelman@greenidea.eu http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain Green Idea Factory, a member of World Carfree Network -------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via YAHOOGROUPS. Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement. ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 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From etts at indigo.ie Fri Mar 16 20:20:24 2007 From: etts at indigo.ie (Brendan Finn) Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:20:24 -0000 Subject: [sustran] BRT - switchover lanes - has it been tried and does it work? References: <324DCD7680954F468CF306EE5404F001037E7202@mail01.cbuchanan.co.uk> Message-ID: <002d01c767bd$1acc8780$0a01a8c0@finn> Dear all, I would also be interested to know if there are any practical examples of the switching lanes through the median at the bus stops. As Alan says, it seems attractive and perfectly feasible, but does it work well in practice and is it safe? It would be good if we could include it as an option in our toolboxes. The big motivation is to gain the speed advantages of running in the roadway away from the kerbside obstructions, without having to put the doors on the "wrong" side of the bus, or to have doors on both sides. 'Wrong-side' doors are OK in a totally closed system, but obviously this completely prohibits buses from other routes joining and leaving the bus facility, since they could then not function at regular stops. Doors on both sides are an expense which cost-constrained schemes would rather avoid, leaving aside the possible problems of procuring vehicles and being constrained about which operators you can work with. I think the potential problems of switchovers lie in two areas - potential conflict between buses on switch-over, and potential conflicts with other road-users. - For potential bus-bus conflict, intuitively I would have thought this should not be a problem as long as there are clear traffic rules. The vehicles will be coming head-on towards each other, so there is no risk of being blindsided, the issue is mostly driver training and discipline. The switch-over point will be at the stopping place, so speeds should be lower. Perhaps as an operations person I am placing excessive confidence in the people? - For potential bus / road-user conflict, the candidate victims are motor vehicles which illegally use the median cut, cyclists who illegally use or cross the median cut, and pedestrians who stray through the switchover point. (I assume that cyclists would not be permitted to use the bus lane). For motor vehicles, first, I don't see how it benefits them unless they want to do a u-turn, and anyway that can be made difficult by kerb alignment. Note that the vehicle would have had to already violate the bus lane to enter the median gap, and then emerge in the opposite side bus lane. Likewise for cyclists, although I don't discount the possibility of cyclists or handcarts actually travelling along the median itself. - I think the big potential conflict is with pedestrians. First, there will be the general population of pedestrians crossing the roads and using the median. Second, the switchovers will take place at the stopping places which (we hope) will be attracting thousands of persons per hour, with lots of potential for jay-walking unless they are channelled through the stops (e.g. for fare-collection and boarding management purposes) and pedestrian crossing facilities. The big question is whether having bus switchover areas close to the stopping places creates NEW conflict zones (remember, the buses and pedestrians will pass through there anyway whatever arrangement you choose) and what risk is associated with these. OK, that's my hypothesis, does anyone know if it's been tried and what were the outcomes? I guess the best indicator is whether it's been tried and is still in place! On a technical question, is there a minimum width of median needed, and what advice on alignments? I would like to thank Mumbai for explaining the process they are using, to wish them good luck in the next stages, and I would appreciate if they keep us informed of how it goes. With best wishes, Brendan Finn. _____________________________________________________________________________________ >From Brendan Finn, ETTS Ltd. e-mail : etts@indigo.ie tel : +353.87.2530286 ----- Original Message ----- From: Alan Howes To: Bina C. Balakrishnan ; Global 'South' Sustainable Transport Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 10:15 AM Subject: [sustran] Re: (NEWS) Mumbai's BRTS project turns into a joke! My problem is that having spent six weeks in Mumbai last year, while I mastered reasonably well the transport issues and the geography, I still have not got all these institutions and acronyms sorted out! What is the MTSU? I would guess Mumbai or Maharashtra Transport Studies Unit - but knowing the name does not tell me what it is or what it represents. Would anyone like to volunteer to put a glossary of Maharashtra transport acronyms on a website somewhere? Anyway, it's obvious that judgement of "responsible reporting" is something of a subjective matter - but I did wonder whether Raj could tell his right from his left. My understanding is that all proposed Mumbai bus lanes will be on divided highways - when Raj wrote about lanes in the "middle of the road" I really did not know whether he meant the middle of the carriageway or next to the median (and did "right" mean on the wrong side?). Anyway, my understanding of the MMRDA proposals is as explained in Bina's post. The problem, however, with with-flow bus lanes placed immediately to the left of the median is that, assuming bus stops are on the median, the bus doors are on the wrong side (an expensive problem to fix). MMRDA explained to me an ingenious proposal for overcoming this - at the stops the buses would swap sides, crossing the median through a gap immediately before and after the stop. This sounds perfectly feasible to me - the only potential problem I foresee is that the necessary gaps will be used (illegally) by other traffic, or even pedestrians (who get a pretty raw deal in terms of getting across the road). I would be interested to know if this proposal is still being pursued. But I have to say that I will be very pleasantly surprised if a significant amount of properly-designed, properly-enforced bus lanes are in operation in Mumbai by the end of 2007. Regards, Alan -- Alan Howes Associate Transport Planner Colin Buchanan 4 St Colme Street Edinburgh EH3 6AA Scotland email: alan.howes@cbuchanan.co.uk tel: (0)131 226 4693 (switchboard) (0)7952 464335 (mobile) fax: (0)131 220 0232 www: http://www.cbuchanan.co.uk/ -----Original Message----- From: sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of Bina C. Balakrishnan Sent: 16 March 2007 08:00 To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport Cc: Rajendra A(Hindustan Times