[sustran] sustran] 2008 Sustainable Urban Transport Award announced in Washington DC

[K. Tsourlakis]

Once again the usual hype about the congestion charge (though emission-based tolls make somehow more sense, but suffer the same shortcomings as the carbon emission rights trading system) - for a more elaborate discussion 
http://www.geocities.com/pezosgr/LCC.htm 
However, although I don't have anything particular against the London mayor (actually I have in mind some much worse than him), I wonder how such a "sustainability" policy is compatible with the persecution of bikers I saw recently in 
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2338091070755237169
It seems London has created a special squadron to pursue bikers




>Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:28:16 +0700
>From: SUTP Team <sutp at sutp.org>
>Subject: [sustran] 2008 Sustainable Urban Transport Award announced in
>	Washington DC
>To: Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport
>	<sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
>Message-ID: <478C4470.8020508 at sutp.org>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
>*LONDON, PARIS EDGE OUT GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA; EUGENE, OREGON; AND 
>PEREIRA, COLOMBIA FOR 2008 SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT AWARD* 
>
>/Finalists to be honored tonight in Washington, DC for cutting traffic 
>and air pollution, fighting climate change to create high-quality public 
>spaces/
>
>(Washington, DC ? January 14, 2008) London and Paris edged out Guatemala 
>City, Guatemala; Eugene, Oregon; and Pereira, Colombia to win the 2008 
>Sustainable Transport Award. These cities were nominated for the 4th 
>annual international honor for enhancing the sustainability and 
>livability of their community or region by adopting innovative 
>transportation strategies that lessen the impact of climate change by 
>reducing transportation greenhouse and air pollution emissions. 
>
>"All of these cities took politically risky decisions that made a huge 
>contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making their 
>cities more livable," said selection committee member Dr. Walter Hook, 
>executive director of the Institute for Transportation and Development 
>Policy. ?With their success, dozens of mayors around the world are now 
>finding the courage to take similar steps.  We are proud to honor these 
>cities tonight.? 
>
>*London* is the largest city to adopt congestion pricing and its success 
>has inspired cities in the United States, such as *New York City* and 
>*San Francisco*, to consider implementing it. Cities in developing 
>countries such as Shenzen, P.R. China also see congestion pricing as a 
>meaningful instrument to address the problems associated with the rapid 
>growth in vehicles. In 2007, London expanded on the success of its 
>groundbreaking 2003 congestion pricing plan with a doubling of the 
>congestion zone, increased fees for motor vehicles, and new city-wide 
>emission-based tolls that are spurring more rapid adoption of cleaner, 
>fuel efficient vehicles. 
>
>?London is providing the political cover for major cities like New York 
>to adopt congestion pricing because --once it's implemented -- it?s 
>popular with most voters, even with those who initially oppose it,? said 
>selection committee member Michael Replogle, transportation director for 
>Environmental Defense and a former consultant for the U.S. Federal 
>Highway Administration. ?Congestion pricing is a superior gridlock and 
>pollution solution because it has a financial incentive that discourages 
>driving, encourages mass transit and funds it.? 
>
>Prior to the charge, London drivers spent 50 percent of their time in 
>traffic jams, costing the city between
>
>?2?4 million ($4?8 million) every week.  Now, congestion has dropped 21 
>percent in 2007.  About 70,000 fewer vehicles enter the extended 
>congestion pricing zone on a daily basis, reducing global warming carbon 
>dioxide emissions by 16 percent.  Each year more than ?123 million ($243 
>million) are raised for public transport improvements. Bus ridership has 
>increased 45 percent as people are switching to bus transportation in 
>London because their travel time has decreased due to congestion 
>pricing.  Bike use has increased by 43 percent. Emission-based toll 
>incentives further boost environmental benefits. 
>
>*Paris* revolutionized bike sharing programs of the past to create an 
>individualized mass transit system called V?lib (?Freedom Bikes?).  
>People pay a low fee to use the bikes from one of the many bike parking 
>stations located in the city and they can return the bikes to any 
>station they wish.  By the end of 2007, V?lib had more than 1,200 
>stations and 15,000 bikes in the system.  ?Freedom bikes? in Paris fill 
>the streets, proving more popular than anticipated.  As of November 
>2007, more than 11 million trips have been made on these bikes. 
>
>V?lib is just one component of Paris? new mobility plan that uses 
>transportation innovation to revitalize community life in public 
>spaces.  Paris is prioritizing pedestrians by renovating public squares 
>and plazas, widening sidewalks, and adding new landscaping and raised 
>crosswalks.  Paris has built more than 314 kilometers (195 miles) of 
>bike lanes, and bicycling has increased 48 percent during the past five 
>years.  Three corridors of the new bus rapid transit system also opened 
>in 2007.  These improvements led to a decrease in private vehicle 
>traffic by 20 percent and a nine percent reduction in carbon dioxide 
>emissions.  
>
>?Paris is a great example of how a city can transform by implementing a 
>package of measures, like V?lib or the Quartiers Verts, that all aim to 
>improve transport in the city and quality of life for its citizens,? 
>said selection committee member Manfred Breithaupt from GTZ, the German 
>Technical Cooperation. 
>
>?Paris and London have demonstrated that effective leadership can result 
>in real change,? said selection committee member Cornie Huizenga, 
>executive director of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities 
>(CAI-Asia) Center. ?Asian city authorities should carefully look at the 
>experience of Paris and London and decide what can be replicated in 
>their cities. We hope that this will help to bring back the award to 
>Asia in the near future."
>
>*Guatemala City, Guatemala* won an honorable mention for implementing 
>TransMetro, the first bus rapid transit system in Central America.  The 
>first 11 kilometers of dedicated median busways with on-level boarding 
>have reduced travel times by 20 percent, as well as significantly 
>reducing air pollution and traffic accidents.  The first corridor 
>carries 145,000 passengers a day and by the end of the year more than 50 
>million people will have taken the new service.  TransMetro is part of a 
>grander vision of Mayor Arz? to create ?A City for Living.?  This plan 
>focuses on sustainable development for the fastest growing city in the 
>region, as well as bringing social cohesion to Guatemala City after 
>suffering 30 years of civil war.   
>
>*Eugene, Oregon* won an honorable mention for opening one of the first 
>full bus rapid transit systems in the United States using 
>diesel-electric hybrid articulated buses.  The Green Line of the Emerald 
>Express Rapid Transit system (EmX) has dedicated busways and on-level 
>boarding, as well as having a parallel bicycle lane along the corridor.  
>The buses were also designed so people can bring their bikes onto the 
>buses with them.  Since opening, bus ridership has doubled on the 
>corridor, surpassing projections. More corridors are being planned 
>because EmX has shown that it is politically possible to take traffic 
>lanes in the United States from private cars for a high-quality, 
>lower-cost rapid transit system.
>
>*Pereira, Colombia* garnered an honorable mention by continuing to be a 
>leading city in the country for coordinating land use development and 
>transport planning.  Megabus, its bus rapid transit system and one of 
>the key elements to this development strategy, was appropriately 
>designed according to the local conditions and financial capacity, and 
>carries 155,000 passengers per day. In the narrow streets of downtown 
>Pereira, Megabus makes a clear statement of the importance of giving 
>priority to bus users, rather than the users of private vehicles.  It is 
>also well coordinated with the improvement of pedestrian facilities in 
>downtown, the redevelopment of the old marketplace area into large 
>plazas, and redevelopment of the city center. 
>
>The award presentation for the two winning and three honorable mention 
>cities will take place tonight, 6pm-7:30pm, at the Washington Hilton in 
>Washington, DC as part of the international Transportation Research 
>Board Annual Conference, which is expected to attract 10,000 
>transportation professionals from around the world. 
>
>The award selection committee includes the most respected experts and 
>organizations working internationally on sustainable transportation. It 
>includes representatives from the Institute for Transportation and 
>Development Policy, Environmental Defense, the Transportation Research 
>Board Committee on Transportation in Developing Countries, the Clean Air 
>Initiatives for Asia, Latin America, and Africa, GTZ (Deutsche 
>Gesellschaft f?r Technische Zusammenarbeit), and the United Nations? 
>Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD). For more information, photos, 
>and videos about the award and its current and past winners, visit 
>http://www.itdp.org/index.php/news_events/event_detail/sustainable_transport_award/. 
>
>
>_Contacts_:
>
>Sean Crowley, Environmental Defense, +1-202-550-6524, scrowley at ed.org 
>This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need 
>JavaScript enabled to view it
>
>Aimee Gauthier, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, 
>+1-212-629-8001, agauthier at itdp.org This e-mail address is being 
>protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
>Cornie Huizenga, Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) 
>Center, cornie.huizenga at cai-asia.org This e-mail address is being 
>protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
>Carlosfelipe Pardo, German Technical Cooperation, carlos.pardo at sutp.org 
>This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need 
>JavaScript enabled to view it
>



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