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

[Carlosfelipe Pardo]

Hi,

In reading Kanthi's email, it seems that the important issue were to 
reduce congestion and emissions by increasing vehicle speeds... (!) From 
my point of view, it's better to actually concentrate on reducing 
demand, and in that way you won't need to segregate or to spend money on 
infrastructure, plus you won't have to force pedestrians to walk even 
more than they have to (detour factors for pedestrians in developing 
cities are much higher than for any other mode). For instance, take 20 
car drivers and put them in one bus: you'll have freed up road space, 
increased speeds and reduced pollution (per person, which is the 
important individual). Plus you can still stop and wait for pedestrians 
to cross without the need of a bridge. AND you will have spent less money!

My point is that thinking of speed and throughput as a solution to 
congestion (and emissions) will not solve the problem, but rather worsen 
it in the long run (induced travel generates more traffic, thus more 
pollution, even at higher speeds). Thinking of speed per individual 
vehicle is always a problem (as is thinking about vehicles).

But the point from Sudhir regarding a possibly "evolution" towards 
improvement (first flyovers, then pedestrian bridges, and in future even 
better) is well taken. Above may be the vision of what we want, and 
reality may take some time to adjust... but let's please always propose 
the vision, and then adjust it to reality!

These issues are better explained in some publications of GTZ SUTP: NMT 
training document, Economic Instruments, Mobility Management. All are 
available from www.sutp.org .

Best regards,

Carlosfelipe Pardo
Coordinador de Proyecto- Project Coordinator
GTZ - Proyecto de Transporte Sostenible (SUTP, SUTP-LAC)
Cl 93A # 14-17 of 708
Bogotá D.C., Colombia
Tel/fax:  +57 (1) 236 2309  Mobile: +57 (3)15 296 0662
carlos.pardo at gtz.de        www.gtz.de
(carlos.pardo at sutp.org   www.sutp.org )

Sudhir wrote:
> Dear all,
>
>
>
> Any argument which brings better pedestrian infrastructure is fine with
> me. :-) (capacity, congestion .. if it gets the results).
>
>
>
> 1-2 decades back it was small isolated flyovers and now its elevated
> roads and in  future......
>
>
>
> (I would dream of best pedestrian and cycle infrastructure integrated with
> eco-friendly mass transport systems implemented in cities :-))...
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Sudhir
>
>
>
>
> On 21/08/2008, Sujit Patwardhan <sujitjp at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> *
>> 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
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>       
>>
>> --
>> ------------------------------------------------------
>> 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
>> ------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>     
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