RE: [sustran] Re: Sustainable transport and the media (in India, and Bogotá, and...)

[Madhav Badami, Prof.]

Paul, et al,

I was unaware of this latest decision because I have been avoiding reading the newspapers of late (I am holed up in Bangalore in South India on my sabbatical leave) ... but it appears that the power of the media to influence policy (negatively) is greater than I feared.

By the way, due to the extensive (and persistent) criticisms of BRT in the media in November/December 2007, which I alluded to in my original posting on Sustran a few days ago, the Chief Minister of Delhi was under a considerable amount of pressure to go slow on the project. An important factor in this pressure being relieved was Mayor Ken Livingstone who, during his visit to Delhi in late November, praised the Metro (after the customary escorted ride accorded to all visiting dignitaries), but also praised the BRT project.

Here is how the Indian Express, another leading English language national daily, reacted to his praise for the BRT project:

Bad timing, Mayor 
London Mayor Ken Livingstone and the London Commissioner of Transport, Peter Hendey, unwittingly walked into a controversy during their recent visit to the national capital. Livingstone, known for many achievements as London Mayor, especially his environmental initiatives, is also renowned for his move to decongest London and his traffic management projects in the UK. On his visit, both he and the transport commissioner lauded the Delhi Government’s initiative to implement the High Capacity Bus System corridors. The timing could not have been worse, for the praise came on the heels of the first HCBS corridor accident. Angry citizens’ groups wrote to the British High Commission, asking them to ensure that the Mayor withdraw his praise. Livingstone, meanwhile, had already gone to Mumbai. But the Londoner’s comments were like a shot in the arm for the Delhi Chief Minister. Dikshit and transport minister Haroon Yusuf had maintained an ominous silence in the aftermath of the accident. But the London team’s kudos allowed the CM to go on record saying that under no circumstance will the Government now withdraw its HCBS plans, leaving the citizens’ groups fuming.


As I was arguing, the opposition to BRT (based largely on implementation problems, such as the few tragic deaths in the construction area, which are attributed to the concept itself), but more generally, to non-car/highway/metro alternatives, in the mainstream Indian media is – with a very few exceptions -- widespread (in other words, not restricted to one or two newspapers), sustained, and as we see now, quite effective.

Madhav

************************************************************************

"As for the future, your task is not to foresee, but to enable it."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
 
Madhav G. Badami, PhD
School of Urban Planning and McGill School of Environment
McGill University
Macdonald-Harrington Building
815 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, QC, H3A 2K6, Canada
 
Phone: 514-398-3183 (Work); 514-486-2370 (Home)
Fax: 514-398-8376; 514-398-1643
URLs: www.mcgill.ca/urbanplanning
www.mcgill.ca/mse
e-mail: madhav.badami at mcgill.ca




-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+madhav.g.badami=mcgill.ca at list.jca.apc.org on behalf of Paul Barter
Sent: Wed 2/20/2008 11:04 PM
To: sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org
Subject: [sustran] Re: Sustainable transport and the media (in India, and Bogotá, and...) 
 
Unfortunately, it appears that the attacks on Delhi's BRT have now drawn a policy response from the authorities.

Urban Transport News (www.transportnews.com) alerts us that on 19 Feb the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, was reported (somewhat triumphantly by the Times of India) to have halted further BRT development beyond the initial corridor's first phase. Other routes will apparently need to wait until the initial phase proves its worth.

I blogged a short item on this at http://reinventingtransport.blogspot.com and would welcome any comments or corrections.

Paul





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