[sustran] The Seven Simple Truths of Sustainable Mobility (Come argue with me)

[eric britton]

The Seven Simple Truths  of Sustainable Mobility (Come argue with me)
 
Sometimes in life things can be simple. Let's look at one case.
 
One of the problems with the hard up-hill fight for "sustainable transport"
in cities and countries around the world is that so far everyone seems to
have a different definition and a different agenda.  True, there are an
enormous range of interests and concerns. Among them such important things
as :improving conditions for pedestrians and cycles, car access and parking
control, more ridesharing, carsharing, taxisharing, more flexible and
responsive public transport services, strategic deployment of economic
instruments (to reflect full social costs), BRT, congestion charging, speed
reductions, etc. The long list goes on. 
 
And at the same time there are all those other measures and approaches which
claim to fly under the banner of sustainability but which in our view need
to be put to tougher and more public tests.  Many of these last call for
very large investments of taxpayer money or property, and often considerable
lag times before bringing even those benefits to the streets of our cities
or indeed the planet.
 
So we really do need a unifying  strategy.
 
And  if you look hard enough, you will see that there is only one
overarching strategy that will do the job.   It works like this:
 
Truth 1.             You can't have a sustainable planet without sustainable
cities


Truth 2.             Nor sustainable cities without sustainable mobility


Truth 3.             The key to sustainable mobility is to ensure that every
step, every project, every investment you take will end up by reducing motor
vehicle miles or kilometers (VMT, VKT) travelled both in that place and
overall.


Truth 4.             Moreover these reductions have to be achieved
strategically, quickly and at scale. (Otherwise it fails the responsibility
test.)


Truth 5.             The policy response involves a strategic combination of
carrots and sticks, which will of course be different from city to city and
country to country, but even with all the necessary variations the central
lines of the strategy will be the same.


Truth 6.             We know all we need to know about both (a) the sticks
(economic, regulatory and other instruments to reduce, sequester and control
traffic, etc.) and (b) the carrots (all those other ways of getting around
which need in each case to be woven into a mobility system of affordability,
enhanced life quality and choice). 


Truth 7.             When you reduce VKT/VMT notably and rapidly through the
best available means and proven strategies, here are the main benefits
a.       You help save the planet: through resource savings and GHG and
related emissions reductions
b.      You proportionally reduce today's crushing dependence of imported
fossil fuels
 
And in order to achieve these ambitious - but completely doable - goals, you
have to open up more choices and better and fairer mobility for all those in
and around our cities who are at present NOT well served by the old (20th
century dominant) own-car, no-choice  pattern (bearing in mind that this is
a majority of all citizens).
 
Conclusion: You can't do it with the carrots. And you can't do it without
the sticks. We know what they are, so what is hold us back?
 
Your turn:
 
Eric Britton