[sustran] Re: Tata Nano: Criminalizing Mobility or Mobilizing Crime

[Sudhir]

Sir,

Rapid Motorisation is the main cause of urban chaos in India. The problem 
with cars such as tata is that is is highly affordable to the Indian middle 
class. The middle class which generally prefer 2 wheelers would start 
shifting towards cars which would further increase the congestion problems. 
The safety is not an issue here as the car would be much safer than walking, 
2 wheelers. already cities are undergoing multiple vehicle ownership 
phenomenon without having space to park at home/work/road.
The  public transportation would suffer  further degradation as  competition 
would bring 2-wheeler price down in order to keep the sales.

One lakh car (price) would add many lakhs of vehicles on road and that is 
the main problem.
Regards
Sudhir


-----Original Message-----

From: "Walter Hook" <whook at itdp.org>

To: "'Lee Schipper'" <schipper at wri.org>, <bruun at seas.upenn.edu>, 
<sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>

Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:42:17 -0500

Subject: [sustran] Re: Tata Nano: Criminalizing Mobility or Mobilizing   
Crime




I was interviewed by a few reporters on this, and I said I didn't think that

the low cost of the vehicle was in and of itself a problem.  If the vehicle

is not fully road worthy, crash worthy, or up to minimum tailpipe emission

standards, those are serious social problems.  Other than this, it is great

if the cost of vehicles goes down.  However, it will create pressure on the

governments to charge prices that more accurately reflect the full social

cost of the use of the vehicle, through coherent parking charges and road

user charges.  Cheap cars do not generate any more congestion than expensive

ones.  I suppose this was not what they wanted to hear, so maybe it wasn't

picked up. 



-----Original Message-----

From: sustran-discuss-bounces+whook=itdp.org at list.jca.apc.org

[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+whook=itdp.org at list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf

Of Lee Schipper

Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 3:21 PM

To: bruun at seas.upenn.edu; sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org

Subject: [sustran] Re: Tata Nano: Criminalizing Mobility or Mobilizing Crime



 WE had a discussion of these issues on "On Point" , a US radio show,

today which you

Can hear at wbur.org. Email me if you have problems as I know where

there is an mp3 of the 50 minute broadcast. Anumita Roychowdry of CSE

and a Professor from MIT were also on the show and there were call ins

as well.



lee





Lee Schipper

EMBARQ Fellow

EMBARQ, the WRI Center for Sustainable Transport

www.embarq.wri.org [http://www.embarq.wri.org/]

and

Visiting Scholar

UC Transportation Center

Berkeley CA USA www.uctc.net [http://www.uctc.net/]

skype: mrmeter

+1 510 642 6889

Cell +1 202 262 7476

 



-----Original Message-----

From: sustran-discuss-bounces+schipper=wri.org at list.jca.apc.org

[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+schipper=wri.org at list.jca.apc.org] On

Behalf Of bruun at seas.upenn.edu

Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 12:17 PM

To: sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org

Subject: [sustran] Re: Tata Nano: Criminalizing Mobility or Mobilizing

Crime



Hassaan



The reason people are alarmed is because they can see where this is

going -- in the wrong direction against sustainable development and

livable cities. But mostly the discussion in the press has been about

fuel consumption, greenhouse gasses, and air pollution.



One thing that has been under-reported is the consequences to

pedestrians and biyclists. Far more are killed than motorists themselves

in India. An increase in cars will increase the death and maiming to

them far more than to motorists. But being piles of junk built to a very

lax safety standard, these TATAs will no doubt be killing a lot of their

users as well, and bring the ratio up.



This negative impact will only be temporary. One of the things people

haven't talked about in the press at all, as this is not as well known,

is the sheer physical impossibility of accommodating so many cars.

Within a short period of time, all the parking and road space within

many cities will be used up and traffic will move to slowly to cause

many serious accidents. Look at Chinese cities already, with only 2.5

percent auto ownership.



On the other hand, how can this be stopped? You are certainly right that

the regulatory oversight is not yet in place. But if India's government

works even remotely like the US government, the auto interests will be

working behind the scenes to slow this oversight down as much as

possible. If the rich are allowed to drive around, why can't other

people? Until some restraints are put on cars in general, it would be

class warfare to only ban these small cheap cars.



Eric Bruun









Quoting Hassaan Ghazali <hghazali at gmail.com>:



> Friends,

>

> There was a time when a Model T rolled off the Ford assembly line 

> every few seconds. I do believe that was probably the most exciting 

> and the most positive time for the US economy. Now, it seems Tata's 

> mobility breakthrough has everyone on the edge and I am surprised to 

> see so many negative sentiments being expressed within South Asia. I 

> don't remember so many issues abounding when Daimler-Chrysler's Smart 

> car came out. Regardless of the fact that the Smart car was probably 

> one major reason for the eventual divorce between Daimler and 

> Chrysler, how does the economic and social disparity between the 

> developed and developing world create the context to despise such an

incredible product?

>

> Shall we all begin by shunning technology which aims to empower the 

> masses or shall we encourage its uptake and ensure that the whole 

> suite of technological constructs (institutions, policies, regulatory 

> oversight,

> etc.) are also provided.

>

> Regards,

>

> Hassaan

>

>

> --

> 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 [http://hghazali.googlepages.com/]

>

> *When conditions are right, everything will go wrong*

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Apologies for the confusing arrangement.



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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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IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via 
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Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss 
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sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is 
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(even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the 
confusing arrangement.



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SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, 
equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries 
(the 'Global South').