[sustran] Re: Pedestrian Budget

[jane.]

This does not answer the budget question, but here in Chengdu, China, over the course of the past three months dozens of these pedestrian overpasses have been installed at the city's major intersections. They appear to be hurriedly constructed and installed (reinforcements were being made weeks after they were put up), the surface is steep and slippery (will be extremely difficult even for young, fully mobile people to navigate during the rainy season that is coming up), and while some sides have ramps, other sides are stair-only. But I think in any case the ramps are too steep and narrow for wheelchair access; I think they are meant for bicycles. And when cyclists bring their bikes up, they, combined with the merchants who have taken to laying out their wares on the bridges, make for a massive human traffic jam. Also, for those who are transporting heavy cargo by bicycle, now the only choice is to go about a kilometer farther to a street-level crossing.
 Even under the best circumstances, I (reasonably fit, in my 20s, with no leg or foot injuries), find it a drag to climb the 15 or so meters. So I've been surprised to hear a number of non-driving friends praise these things; they perceive them as "safer" and also "more convenient" because they don't have to wait for the light to change.




________________________________
From: JasonChang <skchang at ntu.edu.tw>
To: Cornie Huizenga <cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org>; Sudhir <sudhir at cai-asia.org>
Cc: Kanchan <kittykanchan at gmail.com>; Salil Bijur <salilb at gmail.com>; Global 'South' Sustainable Transport <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
Sent: Wed, March 10, 2010 11:51:33 PM
Subject: [sustran] Re: Pedestrian Budget

Dear Sudhir and Friends,

I got something from the 2010 Budget Plan of Taipei City Government:

Total Budget of Taipei City Government (2010): US$5,246.06 million 

Budget for Pedestrians
(1) Side walk improvement: US$8.07 million
(2) Pedestrian access facilities to waterfront: US$9.71 million
(3) Pedestrian signal and related devices: US$0.1 million
(4) Others (e.g., access facilities connecting public transport, maintenance, ...): 2.0 million (approximated)

Jason

--------------
張學孔博士 台大土木系教授
Dr. S. K. Jason CHANG (ZHANG Xue-kong)
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
National Taiwan University
Visiting Professor
China Academy of Transportation Sciences, MOT China
Visiting Professor
Tongji University, Shanghai China
#1 Roosevelt Road, Section 4
Taipei, 10617, Taiwan
voice:+886-935178543 fax:+886-223639990
skchang at ntu.edu.tw  skchang2020 at yahoo.com.tw
http://ce11012.ce.ntu.edu.tw






-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+skchang=ccms.ntu.edu.tw at list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+skchang=ccms.ntu.edu.tw at list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of Cornie Huizenga
Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 8:29 PM
To: Sudhir
Cc: Salil Bijur; Kanchan; Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
Subject: [sustran] Re: Pedestrian Budget

Dear Sudhir and others,

I think that it is important, desirable and possible to assess whether
pedestrian $$ are spend in a empowering manner for pedestrians, whether they
are neutral or whether they are (as Sujit might put it) hidden incentives
for cars.

I agree that i some cases, elevated walkways can make sense if they are done
in a structured and systematic manner. E.g. Hong Kong, Bangkok or in parts
of Makati. The reason these work is that they have moved the grade from
ground level to one story up in the air. In the case of  Hong Kong and
Bangkok they are directly linked to public transport. In other cases, as in
other parts of metro Manila they are done so that pedestrians are out of the
way of the cars. Sometimes in a very inconvenient manner - the one at Edsa
and Ortigas avenue is constructed for midgets only. When I passed there I
had to crunch in order not too lose my head!!

Cornie

On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 6:20 PM, Sudhir <sudhir at cai-asia.org> wrote:

> Dear Sujit,
>
> Coming from Bangalore, a city of flyovers which has just started massive
> pedestrian crossings in the air .. i cannot agree more. But i would also
> suggest that if you can have a context sensitive design in place.. it may
> work in few places as shown in Makati in Manila. One  cannot just retrofit
> staircases everywhere.
>
> We are about to complete a project for ADB which looks extensively at the
> issues pertaining to walkability. We are looking at around 10 cities. We
> partnered with local universities and local NGO's from CAI partnership in
> taking this challenge and doing small scale walkability surveys which
> includes infrastructure assessment and pedestrian interviews ( we have
> approx 2000 Asians suggesting their requirements as to what they need from
> policymakers) . We hope to keep this alive with annual surveys and media
> campaign and you would be seeing more local level pressure being exerted in
> coming days.
>
> we would circulate more in coming weeks...
>
> lets hope for the best..
>
> thanks
> Sudhir
>
> On 7 March 2010 17:55, Sujit Patwardhan <patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > 7 March 2010
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear Sudhir,
> > We are doing an analysis of the PMC Budget - passed a few days back. The
> > percentage of all Pedestrian and non motorised infrastructure is very
> small
> > though by including totally unnecessary and horrendous structures like
> the
> > Sky-Walk (another name for Pedestrian Over bridges where pedestrians are
> > made to climb up many steps) under the head -  "pedestrian facilities"
>  the
> > budgets gives a misleading picture. These Sky-Walks just like most
> Flyovers
> > are nothing but opportunities for high kick backs and white elephant
> > projects for the agencies and contractors apart from acting as one more
> stab
> > in the back for pedestrians whose miserable life (having to walk on most
> > roads with poor condition of pavements) is already so painful that it is
> not
> > right to make him climb up many steps just to make the road free for auto
> > vehicles. In fact the impetus for the sky-walks comes from two sources -
> > first is corruption, and the second from the belief that roads are meant
> > mainly for auto-mobiles and getting the pedestrians off the roads is a
> good
> > idea for improving traffic.
> >
> > We feel auto vehicles must stop as often and as long as necessary for the
> > pedestrians to cross roads at grade. If on account of the high number of
> > pedestrians the timing for cars to stop is too long  - that is a proof
> that
> > the road is ripe for pedestrians only treatment. The automobile then
> needs
> > to be banned or severely restricted through TDM measures.
> >
> > As usual I have been liberal in answering your question but I thought one
> > could get a wrong picture by taking too narrow a focus while looking at
> the
> > budget.
> > We will share our findings about the Pune Municipal Corporation Budget
> with
> > you. Should take about three weeks I guess.
> >
> > With warm regards,
> > --
> > Sujit
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 9:52 AM, Sudhir <sudhir at cai-asia.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Dear all,
> >>
> >> We are searching for % of Budget allocated for pedestrians in our cities
> >> and
> >> unfortunately could not find many Asian cities.
> >>
> >> Do you know how much % of money authorities are planning  to invest on
> >> pedestrians in your city?
> >>
> >> thanks,
> >> Sudhir Gota
> >> Transport Specialist
> >> CAI-Asia Center
> >> Unit 3510, 35th Floor, Robinsons-Equitable Tower,
> >> ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City
> >> Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
> >> Tel: +63-2-395-2843
> >> Fax: +63-2-395-2846
> >> Visit our new portal: www.cleanairinitiative.org
> >> Skype : sudhirgota
> >> --------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit
> >> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss
> >>
> >> --------------------------------------------------------
> >> If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to
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> real
> >> sustran-discuss and get full membership rights.
> >>
> >> ================================================================
> >> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> >> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> >> (the 'Global South').
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > “..each million we invest into urban motorways is an investment
> > to destroy the city“
> >
> > Mayor Hans Joachim Vogel
> > Munich 1970
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > Sujit Patwardhan
> > patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com
> > sujitjp at gmail.com
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Yamuna, ICS Colony, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune 411 007, India
> > Tel: +91 20 25537955
> > Cell: +91 98220 26627
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Parisar: www.parisar.org
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Sudhir Gota
> Transport Specialist
> CAI-Asia Center
> Unit 3510, 35th Floor, Robinsons-Equitable Tower,
> ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City
> Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
> Tel: +63-2-395-2843
> Fax: +63-2-395-2846
> Visit our new portal: www.cleanairinitiative.org
> Skype : sudhirgota
> --------------------------------------------------------
> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit
> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to
> http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real
> sustran-discuss and get full membership rights.
>
> ================================================================
> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South').
>



-- 
Cornie Huizenga
Joint Convener
Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport
Mobile: +86 13901949332
cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org
www.slocat.net
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