[sustran] Re: Transport governance is also one such area which is notwell-researched.

[Carlosfelipe Pardo]

On the individual side, laziness can also be a factor... just wanting to 
keep the status quo because they know that changing it implies a 
significant increase in their workload makes Transport Secretaries do 
their best at arguing why they won't do the right thing. Once Peñalosa 
told me that he had started TransMilenio in Bogotá on the Caracas avenue 
because that was the most difficult trunk line to convert and nobody 
else would have the guts to do it... I guess the exact opposite is what 
most policymakers and municipal transport staff feel...

There are two other factors:
- Citizens are generally very basic in their evaluations of a 
policymaker's mandate.
- Citizens are generally too selfish to prefer the general to their 
individual wellbeing.

Thus, they only want to see new roads and big tunnels or bridges but 
never higher charges for car use... so ordinary politicians will do 
their best to buy toys for the city and then show everyone what they 
"achieved"... i.e. they will always prefer the sexy train or the wide 
road rather than the parking pricing policy, public transport 
restructuring or responsible maintenance of the existing infrastructure.

Best regards,

Carlosfelipe Pardo

On 17/06/2010 05:11 p.m., Brendan Finn wrote:
> Dear Eric (and everyone else participating in this issue),
>
> I presume you are inviting us to expand the list and not just write off all decision-takers in Global South as corrupt or hapless wasters. I would suggest the following as additional possible reasons why some reasonably sincere and competent decision-takers and leaders are not visibly promoting and implementing sustainable transport options:
>
> a) The decision-taker for transport and urban development/management is relatively low down the political food chain. Primary decisions get taken higher up - e.g. by the President - and the room for maneouvre is seriously constrained.
>
> b) The primary fiscal and allocative decisions are imposed by Ministry of Finance, without proper (or any) consultation with the urban and transportation decision-takers. This can include awarding major road and metro concessions or PPPs based purely on market ideology (or backhanders), again leaving those tasked with urban and transportation decisions out of the loop and stuck with major projects they didn't support.
>
> c) Lack of (coherent) transport policy, or consensus among the political actors to establish such a policy (for all sorts of reasons), again leaving the urban and transportation decision-takers in a vacuum where every initiative gets played out according to factional interests. Without a permanent policy, concepts and programs cannot get "embedded" so that they can resist vested interests and survive change of government.
>
> d) Urban and transportation issues being made a 'political football', where initiatives get spiked purely for political advantage (e.g. national government party kills off initiatives of region/city, which is controlled by different political party).
>
> e) Lack of a regulatory framework within which pro-transit or pro-soft mode strategies can be implemented, managed or protected.
>
> f) Lack of institutions or institutional capacity to implement sustainable urban and transportation policities and programs. As with (e), on one hand this may lead to apathy and inertia after various efforts fall flat; on the other, the sincere decision-taker may put his/her energy into what has some chance of getting implemented, even if it is not a good sustainable approach.
>
> g) Sustained, and even malignant, opposition from sectors of the media which greatly constrains the room for maneouvre. At the extreme, this can even bring down the political and executive/authority supporters of sustainable urban and transport policies and projects.
>
> h) Lack of interest or support from the citizens. If the people want something else, there's a fine enough line between taking a bold initiative and foisting an unwanted thing on them.
>
> i) Program for change is longer than an electoral cycle. Urban/transport decision-takers might only be able to garner sufficient support among the many factions for just 1 or 2 significant actions throughout a government's lifetime, and not at all for any initiative that will have visible negative impacts but insufficient positives prior to the next election.
>
> Items (a) through (i) are not intended as excuses for the items (1) through (8) on your list.
>
> I guess in simple terms in your list the problem is the people themselves, in my list the problem is mostly the system within which decision-takers must work.
>
> I would be interested in hearing the views of others on this subject.
>
> With best wishes,
>
>
> Brendan.
> _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> Brendan Finn          e-mail : etts at indigo.ie          tel : +353.87.2530286
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Britton"<eric.britton at ecoplan.org>
> To:<Sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>;<NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com>;<WorldTransport at yahoogroups.com>;<Cities-for-Mobility at yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 4:06 PM
> Subject: [sustran] Transport governance is also one such area which is notwell-researched.
>
>
>    
>> Original subject here: JAIPAL REDDY URGES STATES TO PROMOTE PUBLIC TRANSPORT
>>
>> This discussion is all pretty depressing. But might we make something of it?
>> What about this as a group thinking exercise?  By the numbers:
>>
>> 1.     Let's for the moment pretend that the only world there is is the Global South. (We can leave the stupidity, incompetence and meanness of mind of the ROW aside for the moment.)
>>
>> 2.     And let's pretend that some huge proportion of the time that their transport policies and practices are truly misguided  and as close as one might imagine to unsustainable, unfair - and we are speaking here of the reality of these policies, not their rhetoric.
>>
>> 3.     And since we are at it, let's also suppose that there are policies and approaches which are known, proven, affordable (i.e., the 2010 sustainable transport reality) that they could be putting into service. But
>> they are not doing it.
>>
>> 4.     Now my question to the group. Are those responsible for taking the decisions not taking advantage of all that we have learned over these last two decades and could be doing in the interest of sustainability, justice and efficiency, because they are . . .
>>
>>
>>
>> 1.     ___________:  Ignorant (They simply do not know)
>>
>> 2.     ___________:  Stupid (But even if they did, they are not smart enough to figure it out)
>>
>> 3.     ___________:  Incompetent (Not up to the challenges)
>>
>> 4.     ___________:  Weak (They know what they should be doing but do not have the courage to take on the powerful interests that find the current arrangements pretty much to their taste)
>>
>> 5.     ___________:  On the take (I.e., are profiting from following the path present policies and investments, so why change?)
>>
>> 6.     ___________:  Hypocritical (Are culturally shaped so that they feel no discomfort by saying one thing while doing quite another)
>>
>> 7.     ___________:  Elitist (Find it perfectly natural that the lower classes should have lower lives)
>>
>> 8.     ___________:  Perverted (Possibly even take pleasure in the suffering of others.)
>>
>> 9.     ___________:  Other (please explain)
>>
>>
>>
>> 5.     Check one or more and comment as you please.
>>
>> Now my personal guess is that there is a fair amount of 1, 2, and 3 flying around. That there are healthy doses of 5, 6, and 7. And I would hope that there is little of 8.
>>
>> Is this a fair picture? And if so, once we have it in our sights can it help us figure out what to do next?
>>
>> I look forward with interest to comments and clues.
>>
>> Eric Britton | WorldStreets.org | NewMobility.org  |
>> www.facebook.WorldStreets.org
>>
>> 8, rue Joseph Bara.  75006 Paris France  |  +331 7550 3788  |  Skype: newmobility
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: sustran-discuss-bounces+eric.britton=ecoplan.org at list.jca.apc.org
>> [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+eric.britton=ecoplan.org at list.jca.apc.org]
>> On Behalf Of Rutul Joshi
>> Sent: Tuesday, 15 June, 2010 16:23
>> To: joshua odeleye; Sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org
>> Subject: [sustran] Re: JAIPAL REDDY URGES STATES TO PROMOTE PUBLIC TRANSPORT
>>
>> Dear Joshua,
>>
>> You are right. Whatever I said might be biased toward the Indian situation but the same concerns are seen everywhere in the Global South. Of course, we have great opportunities to learn from the Industrialised countries which have already walked on the paths of high motorisation. We can surely learn what not to do. But this would fulfil only a part of what we need to know.
>>
>> A little is known about number of transport issues in the Global south, especially the equity issues, how people survive in cities, how do the innovate - whether legal or not. Transport governance is also one such area which is not well-researched. For example, does anyone know how many authorities/agencies are responsible for some component of transport in Delhi alone? No wonder the city is in a mess! In short, a lot more is required to be known about our cities and we do not have enough time to explore. The climate clock is ticking.
>>
>> cheers,
>>
>> Rutul
>>
>> Phd Researcher,
>> Centre for Transport and Society,
>> University of the West of England,
>> Bristol.
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: joshua odeleye<joshuaodeleye at yahoo.com>
>>
>> To: Sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org
>>
>> Sent: Tue, 15 June, 2010 12:45:32 PM
>>
>> Subject: [sustran] Re: JAIPALREDDY URGES STATES TO PROMOTE PUBLIC TRANSPORT
>>
>> Rutul has indeed presented the true state of urban transport planning in most countries in the Southern Hemisphere.The Indian picture painted by him/her, is a parallel practical situation of urban transport planning, institutional and policy issues in most countries in West Africa sub-region.This situation could be reverse, if authorities  would be sincerely committed to bridging the existing knowledge gaps in transport
>> sub-sectors in most countries of the South.
>>
>> Joshua Odeleye,Ph.D
>> School of Transport
>> Lagos State University
>> P.M.B 0001 Festac,Ojo
>> Lagos,Nigeria
>>
>> --- On Tue, 6/15/10, Rutul Joshi<joshirutul at yahoo.co.in>  wrote:
>>
>> From: Rutul Joshi<joshirutul at yahoo.co.in>
>> Subject: [sustran] Re: JAIPALREDDY URGES STATES TO PROMOTE PUBLIC TRANSPORT
>> To: Sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org
>> Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 6:21 AM
>>
>> Hi Kanthi and others,
>>
>> Patience is a good word to calm people down. Probably, that is why in Indian traditions, someone invented the concept of 're-incarnation'. One can 'have patience' till you are born again!
>>
>> In India, we build metros but we forget all about integrated ticketing or physical integration with the buses/cycles or even walking. We build expensive paid parking lots and right outside, one can park on-street for free. We have cumbersome and expensive public transport (operations, ticketing, info) when it is much cheaper, easier and socially 'superior' to go by cars and motorbikes. We build big bus based projects and forget all about pedestrians and cyclists or the other buses which are running the city. We have expensive public infrastructure projects with something as basic as 'walkable' footpaths being absent. We build expensive flyovers for cheap cars, while rest of city struggles with basic water supply network. If we have nice newly-pedestrianised areas in the city, people wants to start charging it and of course, you can park a car for free outside.
>>
>> We create new transport authorities/companies to 'hide' the old ones or the bad ones. We have different agencies for planning the landuse, planing the transport, regulating vehicles, regulating building/roads, running the buses and deciding 'what-to-do' and they dont 'talk' to each other. We have sensible and sincere govt officials who unfortunatley are 'not allowed' to take decisions. We have lots of money and the right policy now but a little capacity at the local level to spend it in the right direction.
>>
>> Sorry if it sounds pessimistic but sometimes all optimism fade away... unless one believes in re-incarnation!
>>
>> Mr. Reddy heads the most difficult ministry. I sympathise with him!
>>
>> regards,
>>
>> Rutul
>>
>> Phd Researcher,
>> Centre for Transport and Society,
>> University of the West of England,
>> Bristol.
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>>      
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