[sustran] Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest Vol. 6 Issue 6 – 10 August 2009

[Kaye Patdu]

Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest Vol. 6 Issue 6 – 10
August 2009

SUMA News Digest is a free monthly e-mail publication that features news,
information, and events related to sustainable urban transportation in Asia.


*** VISIT THE SUMA PAGES: http://www.cleanairnet.org/suma ***

SUMA PARTNERS ON THE MOVE!

*E Bikes in China* - Electric bikes (e-bikes) provide low-cost, convenient,
and relatively energy-efficient transportation to an estimated 40 million–50
million people in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), quickly becoming one
of the dominant travel modes in the country. As e-bike use grows, concerns
are rising about lead pollution from their batteries and emissions from
their use of grid electricity, primarily generated by coal power plants.
This report analyzes the environmental performance of e-bikes relative to
other competing modes, their market potential, and the viability of
alternative battery technologies. It also frames the role of e-bikes in the
PRC’s transportation system and recommends policy for decision makers in the
PRC’s central and municipal governments.

 Read more @ http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73435.html

Ahmedabad BRTS – Ahmedabad BRTS is getting good publicity in media. The
trail runs of BRTS is getting good publicity and people expectations have
raised.  An analysis of media reports of past one year suggests high support
from media to the BRTS.  In case you would like to know more about Ahmedabad
BRTS read @

http://cept.ac.in/cept/File/CRDU/Janmarg%20bus%20trial%20runs%20-%20Driver%20Training.pdf

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ahmedabad-brts-has-best-marketing-strategy_1280829

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/comment_ahmedabad-on-modernity-bus-says-brts-pioneer_1280614

http://cept.ac.in/cept/File/CRDU/KeysToSuccessBRTAhmadabad.pdf

ADB-Clean Energy Week – The presentations from the *4th Asia Clean Energy
Forum* are now available at this link:
http://www.adb.org/documents/events/2009/CCEWeek/program.asp

NEWS REPORTS

HEADLINES
Malaysia : All Systems Go For Synergised Public Transport System - Tee Keat
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73504.html

ASIA: Hanoi, Seoul to promote cooperation in urban planning
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73508.html

Global: U.S., China launch clean vehicle, building project
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73509.html

Bangladesh: Old vehicles causing serious environ threat to Dhaka
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73512.html
Vietnam: HCMC seeks government permission for road price scheme
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73513.html Philippines :
Gov't allocates P500-M to transport sector to convert diesel or gas engine
to LPG
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73516.html Pakistan :
Wardens directed to focus on positive traffic culture
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73518.html China: Road
accidents kill nearly 30,000 in first half of 2009 in China
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73520.html

South Korea: South Korea Sets New Automobile Fuel Economy, Gas Emission
Standards
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73505.html

Thailand: SME Bank sets aside loans for natural gas vehicles (NGV)-van
purchase
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73524.html

Thailand: Thailand offers "eco car" producers tax breaks
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73525.html

Cambodia: Cambodian cops despair as road deaths rise: but SA casualties are
close to ten times higher
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73528.html

India : New levies on vehicles to drive transport services

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Govtplansnewleviesonvehicles/articleshow/4869629.cms

Nepal : Electric city

http://www.nepalitimes.com.np/issue/2009/08/10/Nation/16201

* * * *
INTERESTING FINDS/SEMINARS

Biofuels in Asia – An Analysis of Sustainability Options

Biofuels have been at the center of intense interest, discussion, and debate
in recent years. This recent biofuels report by USAID provides an objective
and comprehensive regional analysis summarizing the benefits and risks of
biofuels development  in Asia, and examining the distribution and use of
biofuels through the lens of global climate change; biodiversity
conservation; energy alternatives; food security; economic development; and
local livelihoods. The report focuses in fist, second and third generation
liquid biofuels for transport applications, and, to a certain extent, its
applications for power generation in decentralized contexts. One of the key
findings of the study is that by 2030, biofuels will meet only an estimated
3-14% of the total transport fuel demand in Asia. This estimate is
predicated on the optimistic scenario that countries will rapidly expand
cultivation of efficient first generation biofuels crops on underutilized
land while promoting second-generation, “cellulosic ethanol” using
agricultural residues. Read more @
http://cleanenergyasia.net/upload/resources/file/file_510.pdf

Urban Research Symposium 2009

The research papers from the Urban Research Symposium are online @
http://www.urs2009.net/papers.html

The papers explore various dimensions of climate change in cities. Special
interest would be of impact of city transport on climate change.

Moving Cooler – An analysis of Transportation Strategies to reduce green
house gas emissions – This report by Cambridge Systematics explores the
impact of various policy options on green house gas emissions from Transport
in US.  The report states that United States can cut greenhouse gas
emissions from transportation in half by 2050 with strategies ranging from
cutting speed limits to imposing road pricing.

Read more @
http://movingcooler.info/Library/Documents/Moving%20Cooler%20Executive%20Summary.pdf

Bus Rapid Transit Impacts on Land Uses and Land Values in Seoul, Korea

Significant gains in bus speeds should be followed by significant land-use
changes, like densification and property value increases, especially in
congested mega-cities like Seoul. Land markets can be expected to place a
high premium on parcels close to transit corridors that enjoy significant
traveltime savings since, after all, such settings have scarcity value –
i.e., there is a finite, limited supply of settings with superior transit
offerings. This paper from UC Berkeley Center for Future Urban
Transport  probes
this hypothesis by studying land-use changes and property-value increases
induced by Seoul’s introduction of exclusive, median-lane BRT services.

Read more @
http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=its/future_urban_transport

* * * *
MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Citynet Congress 2009, 11 September, Yokohama,
http://www.citynet2009yokohama.jp/index_en.html

5th International Marketing Conference  - Successfully marketing
public transport,  7-9 October 2009, Lisbon, Portugal
http://www.uitp.org/events/2009/lisbon/en/

8th International Conference of EASTS, 19-October, 2009, Surabaya
http://www.easts2009.org/

Accident Prevention: Road Safety Measures 4th IRF Regional Conference
on Road Safety, 23 October 2009 , New Delhi, India

http://www.irfnet.org/eventdetail.php?catid=1&id=100&title=4th%20Regi...<http://www.irfnet.org/eventdetail.php?catid=1&id=100&title=4th%20Regional%20IRF%20Conference%20on%20Road%20Safety>

2nd MENA Public Transport Congress and Showcase , 25-27 October 2009,
Doha, Qatar
http://www.uitp.org/events/2009/qatar/en/index.cfm

TRAINING PROGRAMME, 8th Training Programme for Public Transport
Managers ,
16-18 November 2009, Belfast,
http://www.uitp.org/events/2009/8Training/en/index.cfm

Urban Mobility India – 2009, 3-December 2009, New Delhi,
http://www.iutindia.org/urban2009.html

 TRB 89th Annual Meeting, 10 January, 2010, Washington DC
http://www.trb.org/AnnualMeeting/default.asp

* * * CONTRIBUTE * * *

To contribute articles, news items, or event announcements for the next
issue, send an email with the complete details and URL source to
suma-news-owner at googlegroups.com with subject "FOR SUMA NEWS".  Past issues
can be found at http://groups.google.com/group/suma-news

* * * ABOUT SUMA * * *

The Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) program is supported by the
Asian Development Bank through a grant from Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency. SUMA is implemented by the Clean Air
Initiative for Asian Cities Center (www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia), in
partnership with EMBARQ - the World Resources Institute Center for
Sustainable Transport (http://embarq.wri.org), GTZ Sustainable Urban
Transport Project ( www.sutp.org), Interface for Cycling Expertise (
www.cycling.nl), Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (
www.itdp.org), and United Nations Center for Regional Development (
www.uncrd.or.jp/est)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20090810/e556c15d/attachment.html