[sustran] [NewMobilityCafe] Re: Right to Walk and Pollution in Hyd: Interesting read

[Sujit Patwardhan]

*
in response to Kanthi Kannan's mail*

I don't see much difference between short term measures and the long term
ones. Basically whether in the short term or long we need:-

-- radically improved adequate, efficient and affordable Public Transport
-- safe, attractive and adequately wide pedestrian footpaths (not the same
as Skywalks)
-- safe, comfortable (good surface) and citywide bicycle paths. These need
not be exclusive or protected ones on all the streets, ie in congested areas
sharing the street with motor vehicles should be possible provided traffic
calming is introduced and rigidly enforced. City bike scheme like Velib in
Paris after thorough planning
-- appropriate TDM measures to discourage use of personal auto vehicle use
at least during peak hours - the usual options are tighter parking control,
higher parking charges, congestion charging, auto vehicle-free areas,
pollution taxes etc

One should avoid talking in terms of short term and long term strategies as
this gives too wide an option to an administration that isn't really keen to
do anything for sustainable transportation/new mobility but seems to be
pre-programmed to build more and more facilities to reduce the problems for
the auto vehicles. As a concrete example the Comprehensive Mobility Plan for
Pune has a Trojan horse in form of a statement "flyovers may be built as an
interim measure in view of many more people with higher incomes wanting to
buy cars". In one of the meetings we asked the consultants if they were
"interim" would they be demolished in a couple of years? The answer was of
course a very uncomfortable smile (or a smirk)?? !!!!!

Rest of the Mobility Plan talks the language of the National Urban Transport
Policy (which said "People not vehicles" will be at the centre of mobility
planning. It also said personal vehicles need to be discouraged and public
transport pedestrians and cyclists given a boost).

It's time to stop our city bosses from getting away with this kind of
sabotage.

--
Sujit Patwardhan
Parisar
Pune





On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 7:37 AM, Kanthi Kannan <kanthikannan at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> http://www.epa.gov/ies/pdf/india/iesfinal_0405.pdf
>
>
> The study in the link given above is a well documented effort by a US
> agency
> and an Indian agency about the various facets of pollution control.
> Throughout the Study one of the major pollution reduction strategies
> suggested is Separation of Vulnerable Road Users (Provision of Footpath).
> I quote: "The intermixing of vehicles and pedestrian movements in the
> absence of footpaths results in reduced speeds and increase in number of
> accidents. The provision of footpaths and pedestrian crossings and can
> reduce these conflicts to a great extent and increase the average speed."
> The statistics given in support of the suggestion is interesting to check.
>
> In Hyderabad, the Right to Walk Foundation is trying to check with the
> Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) as to whether any of these
> recommendations have been adopted?
>
> Needless to say that widened roads are replacing the existing footpaths
> because the authorities feel that widened roads are the solution for all
> traffic problems.
>
> We definitely need to take a few short term measures and a few long term
> strategies so that our city does not have the tag of the most polluted
> metro
> in the country.
>
> Kanthi Kannan
>
> The Right to Walk Foundation
>
> www.right2walk.com
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> 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').
>



-- 
------------------------------------------------------
Sujit Patwardhan
sujitjp at gmail.com

"Yamuna",
ICS Colony,
Ganeshkhind Road,
Pune 411 007
India
Tel: +91 20 25537955
Cell: +91 98220 26627
-----------------------------------------------------
Hon. Secretary:
Parisar
www.parisar.org
------------------------------------------------------
Founder Member:
PTTF
(Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum)
www.pttf.net
------------------------------------------------------