From Kwang.Poon at dcdmconsulting.com Sat Jan 1 03:02:54 2011 From: Kwang.Poon at dcdmconsulting.com (Kwang.Poon at dcdmconsulting.com) Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:02:54 +0400 Subject: [sustran] DCDMC is closed for end of year holiday period Message-ID: I will be out of the office starting 24/12/2010 and will not return until 04/01/2011. DCDM Consulting will be closed for the end of year festive season from Friday 24th December 2010 till Monday 3rd January 2011. During this time, I shall have intermittent access to my email. For urgent matters, please SMS or call on my phone at (+230) 255-5136. From yanivbin at gmail.com Mon Jan 3 12:39:55 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 09:09:55 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Road to nowheRe: The BRT System on the drawing board for over a decade Message-ID: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/125798/slow-response-rapid-system.html Road to nowhere: The BRT System on the drawing board for over a decade Slow response to rapid system Satish Shile, Bangalore, Jan 2, DHNS : *The global trend is to exploit surface transport to the maximum and then go for alternative modes of transport. But in the case of Bangalore, it is the other way round.* [image: Among the best : The BRT System in Bogota, Colombia, that was commissioned in 2002 is one of the best in the world.]There is no dearth of buses for the City. However, the roads are so congested that buses have to vie for space with other vehicles. Getting into a bus alone can be a daunting task, in the absence of bus bays. Bangalore City, which boasts of many firsts, has failed to go in for Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). Often, policy makers propose this system though there are no concerted efforts to prepare the roads for adopting this transit mode. BRTS has been successfully adopted in Ahmedabad, Delhi and Pune. For the last 10 years, many officers of the Transport Department have gone abroad to study the merits of BRTS. However, so far, the visits have not influenced the government enough to have the system in place. BRTS is an effective bus-based transit system in cities. All it needs is dedicated lanes for the movement of buses meant for public transport. Such a system naturally allows high frequency of bus service and efficient ticketing system. It offers both safer and environment-friendly service. Because the lane is dedicated, chances of accidents are minimal. The commuters can reach the destinations without hiccups. JnNURM, a national mission to improve urban infrastructure facilities, proposed to fund the buses meant for city services or BRTS. BMTC opted to make use of the Mission for city services. Sadly, it did not show interest to take up BRTS under the JnNURM. The Mission approved the BMTC?s proposal to procure 1,000 low-floor buses for urban transport at a cost of Rs 303.07 crore. There are several reasons for this shortsighted planning. But the authorities concerned blame the narrow roads of the City for not being able to provide comfortable and highly economical mode of transport for the citizens. BMTC MD Syed Zameer Pasha says, ?Any fresh concept needs time for implementation. Roads in Bangalore do not belong to BMTC. Now, BDA and BMTC are jointly making efforts for bringing in BRTS on the road connecting to Bengaluru International Airport.? BRTS is considered the best system for public transport worldwide. Curitiba in Brazil, is one of the first cities to have the system in the 1970s. Bogota, the capital of Colombia, has one of the best BRT Systems, commissioned in 2002. Passengers do not wait for more than three minutes to catch a bus to their destinations. Bogota chose BRTS against metro. Traffic experts worldover visit these places to study the system. Many experts and officers from Bangalore have visited these cities to study the system. In India, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Pune have implemented this mode of public transport. The Gujarat government has named the system in Ahmedabad - Janmarg BRTS - to popularise it as people?s route. The system includes electronic fare collection, well-planned terminals, junctions and stations. The facility was introduced in 2009. *In Bangalore* Prof M N Sreehari, traffic engineering adviser, said Bangalore should have implemented BRTS long ago. He argued that 60 percent of Bangalore?s roads are narrow and BRTS could be introduced only on wide roads which allow two way transport. Bangalore city planners have been contemplating this system for more than a decade now. It was first mooted during the regime of S M Krishna. The then transport minister Ramanath Rai had assured the public of easing the traffic problem by adopting BRTS. It was proposed to connect Silk Board Junction and Hebbal flyover via Marathhalli along the Ring Road. Covering a distance of 30 kms, it was aimed at minimising the duration to reach Bengaluru International Airport. Sreehari had done a feasibility study on the proposed BRTS connecting Silk Board junction and Hebbal flyover. BMTC and BDA are holding consultations to widen the ring road for putting a successful BRTS in place. ?There will be dedicated lanes for buses on either directions. I hope this will be a reality in the next two years,? Pasha said. *What is BRTS?* Bus rapid transit system is an effective public transit mode with dedicated lanes for buses. This offers better service for passengers as they do not encounter traffic congestion. It consists of an advanced collection mode and ample number of buses so that passengers need not wait for long in the stations. *What it requires? * * Dedicated lanes of a width of at least 3.5 metres in either direction * No entry for private vehicles to the dedicated lane * Dedicated roads meant for buses, ambulances, police vehicles * Easy access to bus stations * Advanced fare collection mode * Ample number of buses to offer frequent service From yanivbin at gmail.com Mon Jan 3 18:15:31 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 14:45:31 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Low-fare bus service for poor in poor shape Message-ID: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/low-fare-bus-service-for-poor-in-poor-shape/236369.html *Low-fare bus service for poor in poor shape* *By Express News Service 03 Jan 2011 03:36:38 AM IST* BANGALORE: The state government has not kept its promise to improve the lowfare bus service that it had introduced for economically weaker sections in May 2009.Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and Transport Minister R Ashok had launched Atal Sarige bus service to mark the Bharatiya Janata Party government's one year in the state. The fares of the buses are half of the ordinary fare. These buses provide connectivity to areas populated by economically weaker sections of the society.The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) had introduced 25 Atal Sarige buses in 2009. The plans were to add more buses and more routes. At the launch of the service, the chief minister had promised that the scope of the service would be expanded at the second anniversary of the government. However, no action followed that promise. Neither any new bus nor any new route has been added.BMTC Managing Director Syed Zameer Pasha told Express that the proposal to expand the scope of service was still in discussion as there had been significant increase in price of diesel as well as labour cost. Further, he said the bus service was a part of the BMTC's corporate social responsibility. He said as the finances were not supported by the government, they had to work out a feasible action plan. A BMTC official said till now there had been no communication regarding the matter from the state.The buses are in a bad condition. A few seats have become totally unusable. Further, the service is erratic and unreliable.Some of the routes on which Atal Sarige was introduced are:Avalahalli BDA LayoutBanashankari bus stand, SrinagarRamakrishna Ashram, GangondanahalliSirsi Circle. The fare for the route is `4. ? Copyright 2008 ExpressBuzz From sunny.enie at gmail.com Mon Jan 3 19:24:35 2011 From: sunny.enie at gmail.com (Sunny Kodukula) Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:54:35 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: Low-fare bus service for poor in poor shape In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4D21A3E3.2010005@gmail.com> This is the perfect time for BMTC to actually charge the motorists their actual cost of driving. The income can be used to support the public transport and other sustainable transport modes. The outcome mentioned in the news below is a normal case in many cities trying to have low public transport fares. Often the cities at one point will not have enough resources to maintain the quality of service and hence deteriorate the public transport quality further. Our project (GTZ-SUTP) has released a sourcebook module 1f, on how financing of sustainable urban transport can be made possible from various sources. The readers can download the same from our project website. http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=22&Itemid=54&lang=en cheers sunny On 1/3/11 2:45 PM, Vinay Baindur wrote: > http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangalore/low-fare-bus-service-for-poor-in-poor-shape/236369.html > > *Low-fare bus service for poor in poor shape* > > *By Express News Service > 03 Jan 2011 03:36:38 AM IST* > > > > BANGALORE: The state government has not kept its promise to improve the > lowfare bus service that it had introduced for economically weaker sections > in May 2009.Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and Transport Minister R Ashok > had launched Atal Sarige bus service to mark the Bharatiya Janata Party > government's one year in the state. The fares of the buses are half of the > ordinary fare. These buses provide connectivity to areas populated by > economically weaker sections of the society.The Bangalore Metropolitan > Transport Corporation (BMTC) had introduced 25 Atal Sarige buses in 2009. > The plans were to add more buses and more routes. At the launch of the > service, the chief minister had promised that the scope of the service would > be expanded at the second anniversary of the government. However, no action > followed that promise. Neither any new bus nor any new route has been > added.BMTC Managing Director Syed Zameer Pasha told Express that the > proposal to expand the scope of service was still in discussion as there had > been significant increase in price of diesel as well as labour cost. > Further, he said the bus service was a part of the BMTC's corporate social > responsibility. He said as the finances were not supported by the > government, they had to work out a feasible action plan. A BMTC official > said till now there had been no communication regarding the matter from the > state.The buses are in a bad condition. A few seats have become totally > unusable. Further, the service is erratic and unreliable.Some of the routes > on which Atal Sarige was introduced are:Avalahalli BDA LayoutBanashankari > bus stand, SrinagarRamakrishna Ashram, GangondanahalliSirsi Circle. The fare > for the route is `4. > ? Copyright 2008 ExpressBuzz > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). From phaizan at gmail.com Mon Jan 3 19:56:51 2011 From: phaizan at gmail.com (Faizan Jawed) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 16:26:51 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Beijing to limit issuance of new car plates Message-ID: Beijing to limit issuance of new car plates http://www.china.org.cn/china/2010-12/23/content_21604345.htm The Beijing municipal government said Thursday it will limit 2011 issuance of new car license plates to 240,000 and implement harsh traffic control measures to ease the city's traffic congestion. Many Chinese netizens called this the "toughest congestion-tackling measure in history". From Friday, Beijing car buyers will have to draw lots before obtaining a car license plate, said Zhou Zhengyu, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing municipal government. Private car buyers will receive 88 percent, or 17,600 plates per month on average, of the city's new license plates. Two percent will be for commercial use. The remaining 10 percent will go to company and government institutions and others, Zhou said. Among those qualified include permanent residents, military servicemen, foreigners, residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and those who have no residency status but have paid personal income tax or made social security contributions in the city for at least five straight years. Also, the Beijing municipal government agencies and public institutions will not increase the size of their motor vehicle fleets during the next five years. "The number of cars in Beijing has grown quickly as urbanization and modernization progresses. This has caused severe congestions in some downtown areas, especially at rush hour," he added. "Decisive measures shall be taken to control traffic in Beijing. Otherwise, the congestion will only get worse." In 2010, more than 700,000 news cars were sold in Beijing, bringing the city's total number of automobiles to more than 4.7 million, statistics from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport (BMCT) show. According to the city's regulation, a Beijing driver will be permitted to own only one car in his or her name. The regulation says car owners who replace their old vehicles will be automatically given new car plates and not have to take part in the lot-drawing. In order to ease traffic congestion, the regulation also adjusted parking fee standards in non-residential areas. The new standards will take effect from April 1, 2011. Under the new rules, parking fees inside the 5th Ring Road will be charged per 15 minutes rather than per 30 minutes. Parking fees in the city will be from 2 yuan to 10 yuan per hour. Cars registered outside of Beijing will be banned from being driven inside the 5th Ring Road on work days during the rush hours of 7 to 9 a.m.and 5 to 8 p.m. Beijing could also launch an odd-even license plate number system that allows driving cars on alternate days in rush hours in some congested areas in bad weather, at major events or on important holidays. The city used the odd-even traffic control measure to ease traffic during the 2008 Olympic Games. Currently, motor vehicles are banned from the roads inside the 5th Ring Road from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. one work day per week. Amid others measures, Beijing will also improve city planning, speed the development of some outskirt areas and invest more on public transport. The new measures will be a blow to car dealerships in Beijing, said Su Hui, a director of the China Automobile Dealers Association. "Beijing's 450 4S dealerships will have to restructure. Some of them will be forced out of the market, as sales will plunge from about 800,000 annually to 240,000," said Su, a former manager at the Yayuncun Automobile Trade Market, the biggest car dealership complex in Beijing. Xiong Chuanlin, deputy secretary general of the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said the restrictions were unfair to potential buyers. The city should, rather, strengthen transport management and regulate vehicle use to tackle traffic jams, he said. Rumors about the control measures started circulating earlier this month, sparking a car-buying frenzy. In the past week, car ownership in the city increased by 30,000, BMCT figures show. At 4 p.m. Wednesday, near the end of the work day, about 100 cars were seen still lining up at a vehicle registration office in eastern Beijing. A man surnamed Zhao told Xinhua that he was lucky to get his car registered before the new rules come into effect. "Some may have to wait one to two years to get a license plate, given the large population in Beijing and the lot-drawing process," he said. Zhao acknowledged that he did not need a private car badly, but he bought one ahead of schedule amid worries of possible purchase restrictions. New car buyer Zhang Lanjie from the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region said she arrived at the vehicle registration office at 6 a.m. before the release of the new measures. "There should be some measures, otherwise Beijing will become a 'dead city' sooner or later," Zhang said. "The restrictions, however, shouldn't target non-local residents alone," she said. "Many non-local residents who work and live in Beijing also need motor vehicles." From kanthikannan at gmail.com Mon Jan 3 20:02:24 2011 From: kanthikannan at gmail.com (Kanthi Kannan) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 16:32:24 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: Hyderabad and the interest by authorities Message-ID: <4d21ace0.1118640a.0c34.fffff7a8@mx.google.com> Dear all Greetings!! The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation ( GHMC) is split into zones. Recently an IAS officer has been appointed the Zonal Commissioner of the Central Zone. He seems to be interested in doing the walkways for a part of the city. The issue is that The tender by the government will only result in the lowest tender getting the order and doing a shoddy job. So what we are trying and I think also almost convinced him is that the tender should have both technical and a financial part to it. The GHMC had undertaken a complete footpath survey of a 3.6 Km stretch and have submitted the report. The report is interesting because the GHMC has actually identified many parts of the stretch as being poor in terms of walking conditions. After seeing this report we have been actively pursuing the Zonal Comm and have also given him a presentation of basic street design too. Now I think that we need help from experts who have the necessary power with the government to push the issue through. Can any one help us in this regard? In Hyderabad we feel that the time has come for action because there are a number of people both in the print and in the TV who are talking about this issue and demanding positive change. Thanks Regards Kanthi From patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com Mon Jan 3 21:27:30 2011 From: patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com (Sujit Patwardhan) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 17:57:30 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: Hyderabad and the interest by authorities In-Reply-To: <4d21ace0.1118640a.0c34.fffff7a8@mx.google.com> References: <4d21ace0.1118640a.0c34.fffff7a8@mx.google.com> Message-ID: 3 January 2011 Dear Kanthi, I'm sure you have heard of the excellent "Pedestrian Guidelines" and "Street Design Checklist" prepared by UTTIPEC - United Traffic & Transportation (Planning & Engineering) Centre, which is part of the Delhi Development Authority. If not do check out from their site:- http://www.uttipec.nic.in/ from where these reports can be downloaded. It may be a good idea to push the Hyderbad Municipal Corporation to adopt suitable Street Design Specifications on the lines of the UTTIPEC publications, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. Once the specifications are agreed on (after due consultation with citizens and NGOs and prepared in a transparent manner), the problem with "lowest tender" may not be such a hurdle. To my mind the main problem is the absence of properly designed standards. In that respect the documents prepared by UTTIPEC are excellent. With good wishes, -- Sujit On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 4:32 PM, Kanthi Kannan wrote: > Dear all > > > > Greetings!! > > > > The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation ( GHMC) is split into zones. > Recently an IAS officer has been appointed the Zonal Commissioner of the > Central Zone. He seems to be interested in doing the walkways for a part of > the city. > > > > The issue is that > > > > The tender by the government will only result in the lowest tender getting > the order and doing a shoddy job. So what we are trying and I think also > almost convinced him is that the tender should have both technical and a > financial part to it. > > > > The GHMC had undertaken a complete footpath survey of a 3.6 Km stretch and > have submitted the report. The report is interesting because the GHMC has > actually identified many parts of the stretch as being poor in terms of > walking conditions. > > > > After seeing this report we have been actively pursuing the Zonal Comm and > have also given him a presentation of basic street design too. Now I think > that we need help from experts who have the necessary power with the > government to push the issue through. > > > > Can any one help us in this regard? > > > > In Hyderabad we feel that the time has come for action because there are a > number of people both in the print and in the TV who are talking about this > issue and demanding positive change. > > > > Thanks > > > > Regards > > > > Kanthi > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > -- -------------------------------------------------------------------- *?..each million we invest into urban motorways is an investment to destroy the city?* Mayor Hans Joachim Vogel Munich 1970 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sujit Patwardhan patwardhan.sujit@gmail.com sujit@parisar.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yamuna, ICS Colony, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune 411 007, India Tel: +91 20 25537955 Cell: +91 98220 26627 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Parisar: www.parisar.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From kanthikannan at gmail.com Mon Jan 3 21:45:23 2011 From: kanthikannan at gmail.com (Kanthi Kannan) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 18:15:23 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: Hyderabad and the interest by authorities In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <4d21c502.e43fec0a.1f18.373c@mx.google.com> Dear Sujit Greetings!! Thanks for your prompt and positive response. Yes, I have read through the documents and I think that they are really classy but unfortunately our GHMC Commissioner, Mr Sameer Sarma, who is also an IAS officer and also a doctorate in urban planning does not believe in this great document. We need help in pushing the ideas through so that the momentum is not lost. Mr Sameer Sarma is the boss of the Zonal Commissioner and we need to get help in order to be able to move the boss. Thanks Kanthi _____ From: Sujit Patwardhan [mailto:patwardhan.sujit@gmail.com] Sent: 03 January 2011 17:58 To: Kanthi Kannan Cc: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport; Romi Roy Subject: Re: [sustran] Re: Hyderabad and the interest by authorities 3 January 2011 Dear Kanthi, I'm sure you have heard of the excellent "Pedestrian Guidelines" and "Street Design Checklist" prepared by UTTIPEC - United Traffic & Transportation (Planning & Engineering) Centre, which is part of the Delhi Development Authority. If not do check out from their site:- http://www.uttipec.nic.in/ from where these reports can be downloaded. It may be a good idea to push the Hyderbad Municipal Corporation to adopt suitable Street Design Specifications on the lines of the UTTIPEC publications, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. Once the specifications are agreed on (after due consultation with citizens and NGOs and prepared in a transparent manner), the problem with "lowest tender" may not be such a hurdle. To my mind the main problem is the absence of properly designed standards. In that respect the documents prepared by UTTIPEC are excellent. With good wishes, -- Sujit On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 4:32 PM, Kanthi Kannan wrote: Dear all Greetings!! The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation ( GHMC) is split into zones. Recently an IAS officer has been appointed the Zonal Commissioner of the Central Zone. He seems to be interested in doing the walkways for a part of the city. The issue is that The tender by the government will only result in the lowest tender getting the order and doing a shoddy job. So what we are trying and I think also almost convinced him is that the tender should have both technical and a financial part to it. The GHMC had undertaken a complete footpath survey of a 3.6 Km stretch and have submitted the report. The report is interesting because the GHMC has actually identified many parts of the stretch as being poor in terms of walking conditions. After seeing this report we have been actively pursuing the Zonal Comm and have also given him a presentation of basic street design too. Now I think that we need help from experts who have the necessary power with the government to push the issue through. Can any one help us in this regard? In Hyderabad we feel that the time has come for action because there are a number of people both in the print and in the TV who are talking about this issue and demanding positive change. Thanks Regards Kanthi -------------------------------------------------------- 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'). -- -------------------------------------------------------------------- "..each million we invest into urban motorways is an investment to destroy the city" Mayor Hans Joachim Vogel Munich 1970 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sujit Patwardhan patwardhan.sujit@gmail.com sujit@parisar.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Yamuna, ICS Colony, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune 411 007, India Tel: +91 20 25537955 Cell: +91 98220 26627 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Parisar: www.parisar.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Tue Jan 4 00:14:34 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 16:14:34 +0100 Subject: [sustran] India Streets Dispatch: The Road to Nowhere in Bangalore Message-ID: <023f01cbab58$f230fe80$d692fb80$@britton@ecoplan.org> India Streets Heavy traffic on the way to sustainable cities and sustainable lives . . . Paris, Monday, 03 January, 2011 Dear Friends, To kick off the New Year I have this morning taken an independent initiative (i.e., without consulting my associate editors. Sorry.) to upload to India Streets what I propose we will call a "Dispatch" -- specifically a particularly useful piece or article that has appeared in some interesting place and which treats matters which are of interest to this great forum and of course our slowly growing band of readers over at India Streets. The article in question was the Road to Nowhere Bangalore BRT piece which was brought to our attention today by Vinay Baindur. You can find our posting at http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/is-dispatch-the-road-to-nowhere -in-bangalore-2/. Again the idea to see if we can give wider circulation within India and beyond to articles, emails and other outstanding contributions covering from different perspectives what the editors of I/S believe to be important matters concerning India?s streets and well-being which are worthy of both wider circulation and preservation. I/S also by nature of its open technical format and good search engines tends to make it easier to store, call up and access efficiently items which otherwise tend to be more ephemeral and to get lost in the wave of all that is going on in the sector. We intend this to be highly selective, and in each case will make an effort to be in touch with the authors to have both their permission, and, where they wish, to provide contact information on them so that our readers will know where to go to follow up. I would be very grateful to have your views on this. Our idea is by no means to steal the thunder of others, to the contrary, but to provide a handy platform for the further sharing of good work. With all good wishes, Eric | 8-10, rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris. | +331 75503788. | eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: newmobility | New Mobility Partnerships ? http://www.newmobility.org Read World Streets Today at http://www.worldstreets.org | To subscribe to weekly edition: Click here India Streets ? is on-line at www.IndiaStreets.org | To subscribe to weekly edition: Click here Nuova Mobilit? in Italy - http://nuovamobilita.org | To subscribe to weekly edition: Click here From c_bradshaw at rogers.com Tue Jan 4 11:56:47 2011 From: c_bradshaw at rogers.com (Chris Bradshaw) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 21:56:47 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: Beijing to limit issuance of new car plates References: Message-ID: This measure is inherently unjust, as it will 'grandfather' those who already have plates/insurance. The impact on car sales shows how drastic the measure is, with a downturn of about 70%. It would be a good time for the government to consider making _all_ new permissions to be for shared cars, so that there are no winners and losers, only a less free access to a car than was possible before. And then it should announce that those who already have permission for a personal car would have a date in the future to switch to carsharing, and give up their plate/insurance permission. It was not clear what would happen to those who now have permission, but are moving out of the city: would they be able to sell their permission on the open market, as taxi licenses in much of the world are sold? China can take leadership in apportioning access to match a city's capacity. Running a lottery with many early adopters exempted is not the way to do it. Chris Bradshaw Ottawa, Canada ----- Original Message ----- From: "Faizan Jawed" To: Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 5:56 AM Subject: [sustran] Beijing to limit issuance of new car plates > Beijing to limit issuance of new car plates > http://www.china.org.cn/china/2010-12/23/content_21604345.htm > > > The Beijing municipal government said Thursday it will limit 2011 issuance > of new car license plates to 240,000 and implement harsh traffic control > measures to ease the city's traffic congestion. > > Many Chinese netizens called this the "toughest congestion-tackling > measure > in history". From Friday, Beijing car buyers will have to draw lots before > obtaining a car license plate, said Zhou Zhengyu, deputy secretary-general > of the Beijing municipal government. > > Private car buyers will receive 88 percent, or 17,600 plates per month on > average, of the city's new license plates. Two percent will be for > commercial use. The remaining 10 percent will go to company and government > institutions and others, Zhou said. > > Among those qualified include permanent residents, military servicemen, > foreigners, residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and those who have no > residency status but have paid personal income tax or made social security > contributions in the city for at least five straight years. > > Also, the Beijing municipal government agencies and public institutions > will > not increase the size of their motor vehicle fleets during the next five > years. > > "The number of cars in Beijing has grown quickly as urbanization and > modernization progresses. This has caused severe congestions in some > downtown areas, especially at rush hour," he added. "Decisive measures > shall > be taken to control traffic in Beijing. Otherwise, the congestion will > only > get worse." > > In 2010, more than 700,000 news cars were sold in Beijing, bringing the > city's total number of automobiles to more than 4.7 million, statistics > from > the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport (BMCT) show. > > According to the city's regulation, a Beijing driver will be permitted to > own only one car in his or her name. > > The regulation says car owners who replace their old vehicles will be > automatically given new car plates and not have to take part in the > lot-drawing. > > In order to ease traffic congestion, the regulation also adjusted parking > fee standards in non-residential areas. The new standards will take effect > from April 1, 2011. > > Under the new rules, parking fees inside the 5th Ring Road will be charged > per 15 minutes rather than per 30 minutes. > > Parking fees in the city will be from 2 yuan to 10 yuan per hour. > > Cars registered outside of Beijing will be banned from being driven inside > the 5th Ring Road on work days during the rush hours of 7 to 9 a.m.and 5 > to > 8 p.m. > > Beijing could also launch an odd-even license plate number system that > allows driving cars on alternate days in rush hours in some congested > areas > in bad weather, at major events or on important holidays. > > The city used the odd-even traffic control measure to ease traffic during > the 2008 Olympic Games. Currently, motor vehicles are banned from the > roads > inside the 5th Ring Road from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. one work day per week. > > Amid others measures, Beijing will also improve city planning, speed the > development of some outskirt areas and invest more on public transport. > > The new measures will be a blow to car dealerships in Beijing, said Su > Hui, > a director of the China Automobile Dealers Association. > > "Beijing's 450 4S dealerships will have to restructure. Some of them will > be > forced out of the market, as sales will plunge from about 800,000 annually > to 240,000," said Su, a former manager at the Yayuncun Automobile Trade > Market, the biggest car dealership complex in Beijing. > > Xiong Chuanlin, deputy secretary general of the Association of Automobile > Manufacturers, said the restrictions were unfair to potential buyers. The > city should, rather, strengthen transport management and regulate vehicle > use to tackle traffic jams, he said. > > Rumors about the control measures started circulating earlier this month, > sparking a car-buying frenzy. > > In the past week, car ownership in the city increased by 30,000, BMCT > figures show. > > At 4 p.m. Wednesday, near the end of the work day, about 100 cars were > seen > still lining up at a vehicle registration office in eastern Beijing. > > A man surnamed Zhao told Xinhua that he was lucky to get his car > registered > before the new rules come into effect. "Some may have to wait one to two > years to get a license plate, given the large population in Beijing and > the > lot-drawing process," he said. > > Zhao acknowledged that he did not need a private car badly, but he bought > one ahead of schedule amid worries of possible purchase restrictions. > > New car buyer Zhang Lanjie from the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous > Region said she arrived at the vehicle registration office at 6 a.m. > before > the release of the new measures. > > "There should be some measures, otherwise Beijing will become a 'dead > city' > sooner or later," Zhang said. > > "The restrictions, however, shouldn't target non-local residents alone," > she > said. "Many non-local residents who work and live in Beijing also need > motor > vehicles." > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). From sutp at sutp.org Wed Jan 5 20:08:44 2011 From: sutp at sutp.org (SUTP Team) Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:38:44 +0530 Subject: [sustran] We are now GIZ Message-ID: <4D24513C.9030106@sutp.org> The Deutsche Gesellschaft f?r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH was formed on 1 January 2011. It brings together the long-standing expertise of the Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED) gGmbH (German development service), the Deutsche Gesellschaft f?r Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH (German technical cooperation) and InWent ? Capacity Building International, Germany. For further information, please visit http://www.giz.de/ As for the SUTP project the target work areas and groups remain unchanged. We will continue to provide you with information, news and services related to sustainable urban mobility. Any questions for SUTP can be directed to sutp[at]sutp.org. More information on the GIZ profile can be downloaded from http://www.sutp.org/documents/GIZ-Profile.pdf -- SUTP Team sutp[at]sutp.org From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Thu Jan 6 01:04:30 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 17:04:30 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Beijing to limit issuance of new car plates. Proposed strategy: Declare victory and move on. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <0b9b01cbacf2$3f4c9e00$bde5da00$@britton@ecoplan.org> Subject: Beijing to limit issuance of new car plates. Proposed strategy: Declare victory and move on. Your point is excellent Chris, and I would with all due respect take it a bit further. The good news is that the Beijing authorities recognize that they are sitting on a time bomb and have shown themselves ready to deal with it. Their readiness to act is admirable and exemplary. As is their decision to look for an innovative way to get the job done. A Shanghai-level PISA A+ for their creative initiative. The less good news is that this particular approach is almost certainly not the best one for the job, not least because they have chosen to opt for a policy measure that has been tried in other places and situation and which has always led to the problems that you outline. And yet others. Here's my point. I would very much like to think that we might be able to do our part to help them move beyond this to a more appropriate multi-level approach (needed when you are confronted with a multi-level problem such as this). Also, and this is extremely important, it is vital that whatever initiatives that they take will actually work as envisaged and announced. This is a new approach for them, -- and for many other cities in the world -- and so since Beijing is a world city, we want a world level success for them. If they show the way, many many others will follow. How to engage this dialogue? Backup/Contingency Strategy: I propose that they need is a backup strategy and this is something that I think we can help them with. The fundamental idea is to save face and move ahead with a next generation package of measured. In this view of things, the strategy is to run the lottery for some limited time (say two months) and then when they have taken a first bite out of the problem (which they will with no doubt), to shift calmly and seamlessly to another more effective approach. But it is important that this move is preceded by a high profile pubic declaration of victory. The other measures which I am reading about sound right on target: Parking controls and full-cost pricing are definitely part of the winning package. The final package will leave Chinese citizens free to buy as many cars as they wish. But NOT to use them in cities, unless they are ready to pay the FULL COSTS involved. I am sure that we all wish them great good luck and await with real interest the result of the program. Eric Britton From phaizan at gmail.com Fri Jan 7 19:48:17 2011 From: phaizan at gmail.com (Faizan Jawed) Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 16:18:17 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective In-Reply-To: <23926882f3d7ee3726b8fcab5dd92392@wordpress.com> References: <23926882f3d7ee3726b8fcab5dd92392@wordpress.com> Message-ID: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective *Faizan * | 7 January 2011 at 07:37 | Categories: zz| URL: http://wp.me/p15YEC-aA At a time when the Delhi Government, politicos, media and the middle-class is raving about Metro Rail as a panacea to all traffic woes in Delhi (traffic congestion included), an objective assessment of its performance and appropriateness is highly warranted. Built at a cost that could provide free bus-based public transport, and high quality non-motorized [...] Read more of this post Add a comment to this post [image: WordPress] WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions| Unsubscribe| Publish text, photos, music, and videos by email using our Post by Email feature. *Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:* http://subscribe.wordpress.com From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sat Jan 8 19:46:26 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 11:46:26 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Car-sharing will ease Shanghai's traffic problems Message-ID: <005c01cbaf21$4f608be0$ee21a3a0$@britton@ecoplan.org> Article from http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20110108-257076.html. Thanks to Rachel Botsman for the heads-up Car-sharing will ease Shanghai's traffic problems http://motoring.asiaone.com/a1media/site/common/blank.gif SHANGHAI - Residents in the city will soon be able to rent cars for short periods under a new auto-rental model which is expected to reduce congestion and pollution in a city with more than 850,000 private cars. The car-sharing model, one of the most popular projects displayed by Germany at the Urban Best Practices Area of the Expo 2010 Shanghai, will be promoted across the city, the Shanghai Dazhong Car Leasing Company said on Friday. The model would be attractive to customers who only use a car occasionally, as well as to those who would sometimes like access to a vehicle of a different type from the one they use regularly. According to the company's spokeswoman Wang Peihong, the company hopes to start operating in Shanghai some time this year after it sets up interactive platforms for online bookings. Car-sharing, which differs from traditional car rental as it is not limited by office hours and vehicles can be rented by the minute, by the hour or by the day, originated in Zurich, Switzerland, and has been adopted in many cities in Europe. At the recent World Expo, Bremen, a port city in Germany, gave details of its experience with car-sharing to people in Shanghai which, like many other big cities in China, is plagued by traffic jams. Wang said the technical details for using the model in Shanghai are still under negotiation but could be released as early as February. But in Bremen, which has a population of 548,000, only a fraction of Shanghai's population of more than 20 million, has 5,500 households registered as members of a car-sharing company which has 42 sites in the city. People can book cars online, by phone or text message. Members do not pay for fuel, insurance and parking fees as the rental company covers these bills. Members receive a monthly bill, which is much less than the cost of owning a car, according to information provided at the Shanghai fair. On average a shared car can replace six private cars, the case suggested. Many Shanghai residents approved of the idea on Friday. They said the plan will help to remove vehicles from the streets of the city, which has already adopted policies such as charging high fees for car license plates to slow the growth rate of car ownership. "I believe that many people will give up the idea of buying a car if they can easily use a car-sharing system," said Lu Chuan, a 24-year-old Shanghai resident. "Hopefully it will help reduce Shanghai's vehicle density and improve air quality in the long run," he said. Some drivers, however, were concerned about the safety of sharing a car with strangers. "The biggest concern will be whether sharing a car with others can be safe enough," said Yang Yiqi, a 54-year-old Shanghai resident. "What if the previous user puts something dangerous in the car which is not identified before the car is used by another driver?" Replacing private cars with shared ones directly reduces demand for parking spaces. Even more important for congestion, the strict metering of costs provides an incentive for people to drive less. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/png Size: 174 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20110108/82a4c711/attachment.png -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/png Size: 168 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20110108/82a4c711/attachment-0001.png From bruun at seas.upenn.edu Sun Jan 9 07:48:20 2011 From: bruun at seas.upenn.edu (bruun at seas.upenn.edu) Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:48:20 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective In-Reply-To: References: <23926882f3d7ee3726b8fcab5dd92392@wordpress.com> Message-ID: <20110108174820.15323uda88s5mi0k@webmail.seas.upenn.edu> If a 180 km long network is carrying 1.6 million per day, this can hardly be called a failure. This is over double what the Washington DC regional metro network of the same length carries, and it is crush loaded in parts of the network at rush hours. I am not surprised that the DMRC doesn't cooperate with other organizations. This is always potentially a problem when one creates a new private corporation. But keep in mind that without creating a new corporation it would never have been built. The existing government bureaucracies were incapable of building anything in a timely fashion. So the solution is to restructure the organizational relationships and build different contractual and organizational structures, not throw out the concept of building high capacity systems. Yes, the overhead rights-of-way can be intrusive, but would it be better to build motorways in the sky instead? This is the real choice, not feeding starving Indians. If we were to wait in the US until all poverty was gone before we built decent PT, we would still be waiting. If you can show me a case where the REAL choice is between better healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport, I will agree that the PT should be postponed. Eric Bruun Quoting Faizan Jawed : > Delhi Metro - A > Transport Planner's > Perspective > *Faizan * | 7 January > 2011 at 07:37 | Categories: > zz| URL: > http://wp.me/p15YEC-aA > > At a time when the Delhi Government, politicos, media and the middle-class > is raving about Metro Rail as a panacea to all traffic woes in Delhi > (traffic congestion included), an objective assessment of its performance > and appropriateness is highly warranted. Built at a cost that could provide > free bus-based public transport, and high quality non-motorized [...] > > Read more of this > post > > Add a comment to this > post > > > > > > > > > [image: WordPress] > > WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! > Manage > Subscriptions| > Unsubscribe| > Publish text, photos, music, and videos by email using our Post > by Email feature. > > *Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:* > http://subscribe.wordpress.com > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > > From pendakur at interchange.ubc.ca Sun Jan 9 08:09:19 2011 From: pendakur at interchange.ubc.ca (V. Setty Pendakur) Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 15:09:19 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective In-Reply-To: <20110108174820.15323uda88s5mi0k@webmail.seas.upenn.edu> Message-ID: A realistic comparison would be Shanghai and Beijing. Washington, DC does not have the same catchment area population and neither are car ownership rates comparable. Delhi Metro, like several other places, is an empire unto itself and they can afford to get concerned about major issues such as land use or solvency. -- Best wishes; Setty Dr. V. Setty Pendakur Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences Senior Counselor, The State Council of the PRC President, Pacific Policy & Planning Associates 1099 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver, BC Canada V6Z 2Z3 T: 1-604-263-3576; M:1-604-374-3575 Fax: 1-604-263-6493 From: Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:48:20 -0500 To: , Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective If a 180 km long network is carrying 1.6 million per day, this can hardly be called a failure. This is over double what the Washington DC regional metro network of the same length carries, and it is crush loaded in parts of the network at rush hours. I am not surprised that the DMRC doesn't cooperate with other organizations. This is always potentially a problem when one creates a new private corporation. But keep in mind that without creating a new corporation it would never have been built. The existing government bureaucracies were incapable of building anything in a timely fashion. So the solution is to restructure the organizational relationships and build different contractual and organizational structures, not throw out the concept of building high capacity systems. Yes, the overhead rights-of-way can be intrusive, but would it be better to build motorways in the sky instead? This is the real choice, not feeding starving Indians. If we were to wait in the US until all poverty was gone before we built decent PT, we would still be waiting. If you can show me a case where the REAL choice is between better healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport, I will agree that the PT should be postponed. Eric Bruun Quoting Faizan Jawed : > Delhi Metro - A > Transport Planner's > Perspective > *Faizan * | 7 January > 2011 at 07:37 | Categories: > zz| URL: > http://wp.me/p15YEC-aA > > At a time when the Delhi Government, politicos, media and the middle-class > is raving about Metro Rail as a panacea to all traffic woes in Delhi > (traffic congestion included), an objective assessment of its performance > and appropriateness is highly warranted. Built at a cost that could provide > free bus-based public transport, and high quality non-motorized [...] > > Read more of this > post > > Add a comment to this > post > > > > > > > > > [image: WordPress] > > WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! > Manage > Subscriptions| > Unsubscribe| > Publish text, photos, music, and videos by email using our Post > by Email feature. > > *Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:* > http://subscribe.wordpress.com > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > > -------------------------------------------------------- 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'). From datar.ashok at gmail.com Sun Jan 9 14:46:30 2011 From: datar.ashok at gmail.com (ashok datar) Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2011 11:16:30 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective In-Reply-To: References: <20110108174820.15323uda88s5mi0k@webmail.seas.upenn.edu> Message-ID: Yes, Delhi is best compared with Beijing. Besides, in Indian context, it is important that we must identify cost /benefit in a more comprehensive manner for alternative mass transportation projects and such an analysis should consider the external economies such as effects on environment, low carbon life style, affordability to a majority of population and whether it leads to a switch from cars to public transportation. from these angles, BRTS will come far superior than metro in most cases ashok datar On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 4:39 AM, V. Setty Pendakur < pendakur@interchange.ubc.ca> wrote: > A realistic comparison would be Shanghai and Beijing. Washington, DC does > not have the same catchment area population and neither are car ownership > rates comparable. > > Delhi Metro, like several other places, is an empire unto itself and they > can afford to get concerned about major issues such as land use or > solvency. > -- > > Best wishes; Setty > > Dr. V. Setty Pendakur > Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia > Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences > Senior Counselor, The State Council of the PRC > President, Pacific Policy & Planning Associates > 1099 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver, BC > Canada V6Z 2Z3 > T: 1-604-263-3576; M:1-604-374-3575 > Fax: 1-604-263-6493 > > > > From: > Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:48:20 -0500 > To: , > Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective > > > If a 180 km long network is carrying 1.6 million per day, this can > hardly be called a failure. This is over double what the Washington DC > regional metro network of the same length carries, and it is crush > loaded in parts of the network at rush hours. > > I am not surprised that the DMRC doesn't cooperate with other > organizations. This is always potentially a problem when one creates a > new private corporation. But keep in mind that without creating a new > corporation it would never have been built. The existing government > bureaucracies were incapable of building anything in a timely fashion. > So the solution is to restructure the organizational relationships and > build different contractual and organizational structures, not throw > out the concept of building high capacity systems. > > Yes, the overhead rights-of-way can be intrusive, but would it be > better to build motorways in the sky instead? This is the real choice, > not feeding starving Indians. If we were to wait in the US until all > poverty was gone before we built decent PT, we would still be waiting. > If you can show me a case where the REAL choice is between better > healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport, I will > agree that the PT should be postponed. > > Eric Bruun > > > Quoting Faizan Jawed : > > > Delhi Metro - A > > Transport Planner's > > > Perspective< > http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/delhi-metro-a-transport > -planners-perspective/> > > *Faizan * | 7 January > > 2011 at 07:37 | Categories: > > zz| URL: > > http://wp.me/p15YEC-aA > > > > At a time when the Delhi Government, politicos, media and the > middle-class > > is raving about Metro Rail as a panacea to all traffic woes in Delhi > > (traffic congestion included), an objective assessment of its performance > > and appropriateness is highly warranted. Built at a cost that could > provide > > free bus-based public transport, and high quality non-motorized [...] > > > > Read more of this > > > post< > http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/delhi-metro-a-transport-planne > rs-perspective/> > > > > Add a comment to this > > > post< > http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/delhi-metro-a-transport-planne > rs-perspective/#respond> > > < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/> > > < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/ > > > > < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/> > > < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/> > > < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/> > > > > > > > > > [image: WordPress] > > > > WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! > > Manage > > > Subscriptions< > http://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=f80a1502a3e226249d41ef4d4e5049 > 0f&email=phaizan%40gmail.com>| > > > Unsubscribe< > http://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=f80a1502a3e226249d41ef4d4e50490f > > &email=phaizan%40gmail.com&b=uELdf9L14MWN%3DJrP%25h%5B6cfSvARE%7CLY3zpK%2FApi-dE > >| > > Publish text, photos, music, and videos by email using our Post > > by Email feature. > > > > *Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:* > > http://subscribe.wordpress.com > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > 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'). > > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > -- Ashok R.Datar Mumbai Environmental Social Network 20 Madhavi, Makarand Society, S.V.S.Marg, Mahim-400 016 98676 65107/0222 444 9212 see our website : www.mesn.org * I hear, then I forget. I see, then I remember. I do, then I understand.* From whook at itdp.org Mon Jan 10 01:26:43 2011 From: whook at itdp.org (Walter Hook) Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2011 11:26:43 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective In-Reply-To: References: <20110108174820.15323uda88s5mi0k@webmail.seas.upenn.edu> Message-ID: interesting discussion. could the money have been more wisely spent? probably. was or is it likely? not very. we've had recent good experiences w/ some of the metro corps around India being quite open to developing integrated metro/brt systems and i think this approach is showing some promise. On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 12:46 AM, ashok datar wrote: > Yes, Delhi is best compared with Beijing. Besides, in Indian context, it is > important that we must identify cost /benefit in a more comprehensive > manner > for alternative mass transportation projects and such an analysis should > consider the external economies such as effects on environment, low carbon > life style, affordability to a majority of population and whether it leads > to a switch from cars to public transportation. > from these angles, BRTS will come far superior than metro in most cases > ashok datar > > > On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 4:39 AM, V. Setty Pendakur < > pendakur@interchange.ubc.ca> wrote: > > > A realistic comparison would be Shanghai and Beijing. Washington, DC > does > > not have the same catchment area population and neither are car ownership > > rates comparable. > > > > Delhi Metro, like several other places, is an empire unto itself and they > > can afford to get concerned about major issues such as land use or > > solvency. > > -- > > > > Best wishes; Setty > > > > Dr. V. Setty Pendakur > > Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia > > Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences > > Senior Counselor, The State Council of the PRC > > President, Pacific Policy & Planning Associates > > 1099 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver, BC > > Canada V6Z 2Z3 > > T: 1-604-263-3576; M:1-604-374-3575 > > Fax: 1-604-263-6493 > > > > > > > > From: > > Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:48:20 -0500 > > To: , > > > Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective > > > > > > If a 180 km long network is carrying 1.6 million per day, this can > > hardly be called a failure. This is over double what the Washington DC > > regional metro network of the same length carries, and it is crush > > loaded in parts of the network at rush hours. > > > > I am not surprised that the DMRC doesn't cooperate with other > > organizations. This is always potentially a problem when one creates a > > new private corporation. But keep in mind that without creating a new > > corporation it would never have been built. The existing government > > bureaucracies were incapable of building anything in a timely fashion. > > So the solution is to restructure the organizational relationships and > > build different contractual and organizational structures, not throw > > out the concept of building high capacity systems. > > > > Yes, the overhead rights-of-way can be intrusive, but would it be > > better to build motorways in the sky instead? This is the real choice, > > not feeding starving Indians. If we were to wait in the US until all > > poverty was gone before we built decent PT, we would still be waiting. > > If you can show me a case where the REAL choice is between better > > healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport, I will > > agree that the PT should be postponed. > > > > Eric Bruun > > > > > > Quoting Faizan Jawed : > > > > > Delhi Metro - > A > > > Transport Planner's > > > > > Perspective< > > http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/delhi-metro-a-transport > > -planners-perspective/> > > > *Faizan * | 7 > January > > > 2011 at 07:37 | Categories: > > > zz| URL: > > > http://wp.me/p15YEC-aA > > > > > > At a time when the Delhi Government, politicos, media and the > > middle-class > > > is raving about Metro Rail as a panacea to all traffic woes in Delhi > > > (traffic congestion included), an objective assessment of its > performance > > > and appropriateness is highly warranted. Built at a cost that could > > provide > > > free bus-based public transport, and high quality non-motorized [...] > > > > > > Read more of this > > > > > post< > > > http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/delhi-metro-a-transport-planne > > rs-perspective/> > > > > > > Add a comment to this > > > > > post< > > > http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/delhi-metro-a-transport-planne > > rs-perspective/#respond> > > > < > > > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/> > > > < > > > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/ > > > > > > < > > > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/> > > > < > > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/ > > > > > < > > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/ > > > > > > > > > < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/ > > > > > > > > > [image: WordPress] > > > > > > WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with > WordPress! > > > Manage > > > > > Subscriptions< > > http://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=f80a1502a3e226249d41ef4d4e5049 > > 0f&email=phaizan%40gmail.com>| > > > > > Unsubscribe< > > http://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=f80a1502a3e226249d41ef4d4e50490f > > > > &email=phaizan%40gmail.com > &b=uELdf9L14MWN%3DJrP%25h%5B6cfSvARE%7CLY3zpK%2FApi-dE > > >| > > > Publish text, photos, music, and videos by email using our Post > > > by Email feature. > > > > > > *Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:* > > > http://subscribe.wordpress.com > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > > 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'). > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > 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'). > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > 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'). > > > > > > -- > Ashok R.Datar > Mumbai Environmental Social Network > 20 Madhavi, Makarand Society, S.V.S.Marg, Mahim-400 016 > 98676 65107/0222 444 9212 see our website : www.mesn.org > * I hear, then I forget. I see, then I remember. I do, then I understand.* > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > -- Walter Hook Executive Director Institute for Transportation and Development Policy 9 East 19th Street, 7th Floor New York, NY 10003 1-212-629-8001 www.itdp.org Promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide. From navdeep.asija at gmail.com Mon Jan 10 16:27:48 2011 From: navdeep.asija at gmail.com (Asija, Navdeep) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:57:48 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Fazilka Ecocabs making waves across the country In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Fazilka Ecocab Invention is going to give benefit to half a million rickshaw families in Punjab and Haryana State Mahatma Gandhi once quoted ?I would prize every invention of science made for the benefit of all.? and embracing upon Mahatma?s idea of ?doing more, for less, for more,?, Fazilka, the town of god-fearing and hopeful people have given something innovative to this world by following the legacy of great Gandhian Engineering named ?Ecocabs?. Low cost solutions under the concept of democratize technology as a Para transit mode of public transport solution to the already existed Indian Rickshaw operation in the India for the world?s poorest citizens, while aiming to creating profit for them and making it sustainable for the society, following holistic approach. With the order of honorable Punjab & Haryana High Court, the concept which originated at Fazilka two year back has been fully adopted by both the Punjab and Haryana Government. Twice by taking suo-motu on a news item appeared in Indian Express vide their civil writ petition number CWP 7500 of 2010 and CWP 18399 of 2010 issued notices to subsequent Punjab and Haryana Governments, asking ?if such eco friendly rickshaws cane be implemented in Fazilka why not in the rest of the both states?. Recent order of Haryana Government to their Local body department has made this possible. Now more than 5 lakh rickshaw families are going to get the benefit of the same. The small initiative is adding to the big results. To make it further popular GWAF has made a dedicated website for the ecocabs, which will contain all technical information on ecocabs and also on how to start Ecocab-Dial-a-Rickshaw scheme in your town and cities ( http://www.lovefazilka.og/ecocabs). Letters from Principal Secretary and Financial commissioner of Haryana has been received to provide the technical knowhow of ?Fazilka Ecocabs? so that the same shall be implemented in Haryana as well at the Earliest. It is important to note here that Punjab Government through Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board and District Administration Amritsar has already implemented Ecocabs in the holy city of Amritsar and subsequently by the in Patiala; a Local NGO ?The Patiala Foundation? has implemented same concept under name ?Green Cabs?. This year Punjab exhibited ?Ecocabs? as a sustainable mode of transport in their Pavilion during International Trade Fair, 2010 held in the month of November at Pragati Maidan Delhi and overall Punjab Pavilion bags Silver Medal for the same. *Fazilka Ecocabs* A model to generate additional revenue for traction men has already been worked out and this will be same shall be implemented soon. Legalities with the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited have already been completed to resume, once stopped free telephones for the world?s first dial-a-rickshaw service at 7 new Ecocab call centers in Fazilka. The other welfare schemes which are in place at Fazilka are; free winter wears & woolens, free medical consultation by all leading private hospitals and doctors, medicine by the three authorized medical stores and laboratory for discounted medicines and free required laboratory tests, free legal aid by four leading lawyers, permanent Ecocab stands by Municipal Council Fazilka in various zones of Fazilka and computer education for few educated traction men by two computer centers in Fazilka. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 001.JPG Type: image/jpeg Size: 135693 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20110110/831a1950/001-0001.jpe From dazzle_dwds at yahoo.com Mon Jan 10 18:00:49 2011 From: dazzle_dwds at yahoo.com (Roselle Leah K. Rivera) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 01:00:49 -0800 (PST) Subject: [sustran] Women make better, safer bus drivers ?? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <697716.58783.qm@web110114.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> The Philippines has a less than a year old president and people are looking for fresh perspectives on how to tackle the mind boggling concerns of running a metropolitan area in a developing context. ?This time, gender is the center of attention, at least, at this moment in time of the new year, ?to calm the nerves of many. It is a generally disheartening situation in the Philippines-- this urgent job of addressing safety issues in the context of a (1) fossil fuel dominated and predominantly privately owned vehicles in the public transportation system (2) reality where it is difficult to enforce-the-rules for the public good. MMDA: Women make better, safer bus drivers? By Miko Morelos Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 22:55:00 01/09/2011 Filed Under:?Women,?Road Transport,?Health and Safety at Work,?Research MANILA, Philippines?Here?s a proposal from the head of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) that might stir up yet another debate between the sexes. According to MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino, one way to reduce accidents on the roads would be to put women behind the wheel of public utility buses (PUBs) since according to studies, the fairer sex are safer drivers.As if to prove his point, he cited the string of accidents involving male drivers since the start of the year and said that female PUB drivers should make commuting a lot safer than it is now. Help from LTFRBIn a text message to reporters, Tolentino said he plans to course his proposal through the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). In turn, he expected the LTFRB to encourage operators and owners of public utility vehicles (PUV) to be more open to hiring women as drivers, Tolentino added. He pointed out that since most of the leaders of transport groups were women, the ideal situation would be to allot half of the slots for drivers to women ?or better yet, 100 percent.? Tolentino said that ?[women] drivers would give [operators] less headaches because they are more safety-conscious.? He cited ?scientific studies conducted recently in the United States? that indicated that women were less aggressive behind the wheel, more law-abiding and concerned about the condition of the vehicles that they were driving.?It?s in the genes of the males who tend to be hot-headed on the road,? he added. Comparative studiesAlthough Tolentino did not specify what studies he was referring to, a check by the Inquirer of different news websites showed supporting conclusions from comparative studies of men and women drivers.In August 2010, the New York Times published a story based on a study of a city traffic survey conducted by the New York Transportation Commission. According to the study, women were less likely to figure in road accidents than men.Also last year, the Jerusalem Post ran an article citing a nongovernment organization?s analysis of a survey regarding drivers in Israel. The conclusion was similar to the New York study?s findings. More men in fatal mishapsRecords of traffic mishaps also showed that ?lady drivers are seldom involved in fatal accidents,? Tolentino continued as he pointed out that drunk drivers who figured in deadly crashes were mostly men. He also said that men were more likely to be traffic offenders compared with women.A cursory glance of insurance records further showed that female drivers figured in fewer road accidents, Tolentino added. Besides, ?female drivers wear seatbelts,? the MMDA chairman said.? ROSELLE LEAH K RIVERA Faculty Department of Women and Development Studies College of Social Work and Community Development University of the Philippines Diliman Quezon City PHILIPPINES --- On Sun, 1/9/11, ashok datar wrote: From: ashok datar Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective To: "V. Setty Pendakur" Cc: NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com, sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org Date: Sunday, January 9, 2011, 6:46 AM Yes, Delhi is best compared with Beijing. Besides, in Indian context, it is important that we must identify cost /benefit in a more comprehensive manner for alternative mass transportation projects and such an analysis should consider the external economies such as effects on environment, low carbon life style, affordability to a majority of population and whether it leads to a switch from cars to public transportation. from these angles, BRTS will come far superior than metro in? most cases ashok datar On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 4:39 AM, V. Setty Pendakur < pendakur@interchange.ubc.ca> wrote: > A realistic comparison would be Shanghai and Beijing.? Washington, DC does > not have the same catchment area population and neither are car ownership > rates comparable. > > Delhi Metro, like several other places, is an empire unto itself and they > can afford to get concerned about major issues such as land use or > solvency. > -- > > Best wishes; Setty > > Dr. V. Setty Pendakur > Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia > Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences > Senior Counselor, The State Council of the PRC > President, Pacific Policy & Planning Associates > 1099 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver, BC > Canada V6Z 2Z3 > T: 1-604-263-3576; M:1-604-374-3575 > Fax: 1-604-263-6493 > > > > From: > Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:48:20 -0500 > To: , > Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective > > > If a 180 km long network is carrying 1.6 million per day, this can > hardly be called a failure. This is over double what the Washington DC > regional metro network of the same length carries, and it is crush > loaded in parts of the network at rush hours. > > I am not surprised that the DMRC doesn't cooperate with other > organizations. This is always potentially a problem when one creates a > new private corporation. But keep in mind that without creating a new > corporation it would never have been built. The existing government > bureaucracies were incapable of building anything in a timely fashion. > So the solution is to restructure the organizational relationships and > build different contractual and organizational structures, not throw > out the concept of building high capacity systems. > > Yes, the overhead rights-of-way can be intrusive, but would it be > better to build motorways in the sky instead? This is the real choice, > not feeding starving Indians. If we were to wait in the US until all > poverty was gone before we built decent PT, we would still be waiting. > If you can show me a case where the REAL choice is between better > healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport, I will > agree that the PT should be postponed. > > Eric Bruun > > > Quoting Faizan Jawed : > > >? ? ? Delhi Metro - A > > Transport Planner's > > > Perspective< > http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/delhi-metro-a-transport > -planners-perspective/> > > *Faizan * | 7 January > > 2011 at 07:37 | Categories: > > zz| URL: > > http://wp.me/p15YEC-aA > > > > At a time when the Delhi Government, politicos, media and the > middle-class > > is raving about Metro Rail as a panacea to all traffic woes in Delhi > > (traffic congestion included), an objective assessment of its performance > > and appropriateness is highly warranted. Built at a cost that could > provide > > free bus-based public transport, and high quality non-motorized [...] > > > > Read more of this > > > post< > http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/delhi-metro-a-transport-planne > rs-perspective/> > > > > Add a comment to this > > > post< > http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/delhi-metro-a-transport-planne > rs-perspective/#respond> > >? < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/> > > < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/ > > > > < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/> > > < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/> > > < > http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/indiastreets.wordpress.com/656/> > > > > > > > > >???[image: WordPress] > > > > WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! > > Manage > > > Subscriptions< > http://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=f80a1502a3e226249d41ef4d4e5049 > 0f&email=phaizan%40gmail.com>| > > > Unsubscribe< > http://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=f80a1502a3e226249d41ef4d4e50490f > > &email=phaizan%40gmail.com&b=uELdf9L14MWN%3DJrP%25h%5B6cfSvARE%7CLY3zpK%2FApi-dE > >| > > Publish text, photos, music, and videos by email using our Post > > by Email feature. > > > > *Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:* > > http://subscribe.wordpress.com > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > 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'). > > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > -- Ashok R.Datar Mumbai Environmental Social Network 20 Madhavi, Makarand Society, S.V.S.Marg, Mahim-400 016 98676 65107/0222 444 9212 see our website : www.mesn.org * I hear, then I forget.? I see, then I remember. I do, then I understand.* -------------------------------------------------------- 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'). From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Mon Jan 10 18:19:57 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:19:57 +0100 Subject: [sustran] World Streets Weekly digest for 10 January 2011 Message-ID: <03df01cbb0a7$a03f2170$e0bd6450$@britton@ecoplan.org> World Streets weekly digest for 10 Jan. 2011 "CAR-SHARING WILL EASE SHANGHAI'S TRAFFIC PROBLEMS" We very much like this article that has just appeared in motoring.asiaone.com, in that it provides an example of how good new mobility ideas that have enjoyed a certain success in one place -- in this instance the long time carsharing project of the City of Bremen -- can start to make their way into other cities and parts of the world. Will this actually work out for Shanghai? Well at least it's a start. We shall see and keep you informed. In the meantime you may wish to have a look at an earlier W/S background piece on "Will Carsharing Work in China?". A few more references will be found at the end of this article. Read more of this post: http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/car-sharing-will-ease-shanghais -traffic-problems/ GUARANTEED SCOTTISH TECHNIQUE FOR TAMING TRAFFIC As the whole world knows, the Scots are an ingenious lot.? And? in a highly creative response to my yesterday's "Unfair, unsafe and unwise . . . " call for collaborative ideas for car control, one anonymous Scottish expert has just sent in the following technical? illustration showing how they are able to slow down traffic and otherwise create a better smelling and more natural environment in Scotland.? He recommends it as an efficient, affordable, warm and often delicious sustainability strategy. It has worked for a long time in Scotland and will, they guarantee,? work well on your roads and streets too in the future. Auld Lang Syne. Read more of this post http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/guaranteed-scottish-technique-f or-taming-traffic/ UNFAIR, UNSAFE AND UNWISE - A MAJOR CRISIS ABUILDING FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT IN BRITAIN Dear British Friends and Colleagues, Forgive me if I am being na?ve, but based on what I am reading and hearing it strikes me that there is a major crisis abuilding for sustainable transport in Britain in the months immediately ahead -- as a result of the coalition government withdrawing funding from a lot of mainly small and local (since they really have to be small and usually local and focused if they are to succeed) sustainable transport initiatives This strikes me as a caring if distant observer as unfair, unsafe and unwise. Read more of this post: http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/unfair-unsafe-and-unwise-a-majo r-crisis-abuilding-for-sustainable-transport-in-britain/ WORLD TRANSPORT POLICY & PRACTICE ? VOL. 16, NO. 3 The Journal of World Transport Policy and Practice is the long-standing? idea and print partner of World Streets and the New Mobility Agenda since 1995. The Winter 2011 edition appears today, and in the article that follows you will find the lead editorial by founding editor John Whitelegg. (For a more complete introduction to World Transport click here.) Read more of this post http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/world-transport-policy-practice -%e2%80%93-vol-16-no-3/ From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Mon Jan 10 20:12:27 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:12:27 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective Message-ID: <046c01cbb0b7$475b7170$d6125450$@britton@ecoplan.org> I wonder about this Walter. What if the idea of a Metro/BRT link is used as a tactic, fool's bait to get the metro built? Makes sense as a business strategy for the winners, since the money coming to the metro project will way outweigh the BRT share. So in such a case we would be getting ourselves used for a greater bad. For now in most parts of the world, at least in places where there is hyper-limited money around to fund mobility improvements, don't we have to wave the red flag for every metro project that raises its ugly head? Or do I have this wrong? Once again and as we have been reminded recently. Gandhi's: "Doing more, for less, for more." Is the only way to go. Eric Britton -----Original Message----- On Behalf Of Walter Hook Sent: Sunday, 09 January, 2011 17:27 To: ashok datar Cc: NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com; sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective interesting discussion. could the money have been more wisely spent? probably. was or is it likely? not very. we've had recent good experiences w/ some of the metro corps around India being quite open to developing integrated metro/BRT systems and I think this approach is showing some promise. On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 12:46 AM, ashok datar wrote: > Yes, Delhi is best compared with Beijing. Besides, in Indian context, it is > important that we must identify cost /benefit in a more comprehensive > manner > for alternative mass transportation projects and such an analysis should > consider the external economies such as effects on environment, low carbon > life style, affordability to a majority of population and whether it leads > to a switch from cars to public transportation. > from these angles, BRTS will come far superior than metro in most cases > ashok datar > > > On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 4:39 AM, V. Setty Pendakur < > pendakur@interchange.ubc.ca> wrote: > > > A realistic comparison would be Shanghai and Beijing. Washington, DC > does > > not have the same catchment area population and neither are car ownership > > rates comparable. > > > > Delhi Metro, like several other places, is an empire unto itself and they > > can afford to get concerned about major issues such as land use or > > solvency. > > -- > > > > Best wishes; Setty > > > > Dr. V. Setty Pendakur > > Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia > > Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences > > Senior Counselor, The State Council of the PRC > > President, Pacific Policy & Planning Associates > > 1099 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver, BC > > Canada V6Z 2Z3 > > T: 1-604-263-3576; M:1-604-374-3575 > > Fax: 1-604-263-6493 > > > > > > > > From: > > Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:48:20 -0500 > > To: , > > > Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective > > > > > > If a 180 km long network is carrying 1.6 million per day, this can > > hardly be called a failure. This is over double what the Washington DC > > regional metro network of the same length carries, and it is crush > > loaded in parts of the network at rush hours. > > > > I am not surprised that the DMRC doesn't cooperate with other > > organizations. This is always potentially a problem when one creates a > > new private corporation. But keep in mind that without creating a new > > corporation it would never have been built. The existing government > > bureaucracies were incapable of building anything in a timely fashion. > > So the solution is to restructure the organizational relationships and > > build different contractual and organizational structures, not throw > > out the concept of building high capacity systems. > > > > Yes, the overhead rights-of-way can be intrusive, but would it be > > better to build motorways in the sky instead? This is the real choice, > > not feeding starving Indians. If we were to wait in the US until all > > poverty was gone before we built decent PT, we would still be waiting. > > If you can show me a case where the REAL choice is between better > > healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport, I will > > agree that the PT should be postponed. > > > > Eric Bruun > > > > From adhiraj.joglekar at googlemail.com Mon Jan 10 21:34:28 2011 From: adhiraj.joglekar at googlemail.com (Dr Adhiraj Joglekar) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:34:28 +0000 Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective In-Reply-To: <-4852081548125423701@unknownmsgid> References: <-4852081548125423701@unknownmsgid> Message-ID: I have erad this thread with some interest. Couple of comments. As a medic perhaps to me it is very obvious and hence find the need for evidence to make a case where the REAL choice is between better healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport strange. Having thought about it though, anyone who Google's (or is willing to) and indeed any one who understands ground realities of a country like India will not need much of an evidence. Indian Public Health expenditure is 1-2% of its GDP (7-8 % for most Western Nations). Oddly when we include ou-of-pocket spend on health, India spends 6% of its GDP (less than 5% have medical insurance) - telling figures for a country where 40% are under BPL!! Compare National Health / Education budgets with those touted for half dozen metro systems, the difference is stark when one thinks the former is meant to be for 1.2 Billion and latter for 10th of that number. Systematically spending over years has been localised to urban metor cities - no wonder every villager runs to these cities in hope of a decent wager (only to live in shanties though it does become possible to survive than starve). I have to admit I was perturbed by what is a realistic statement / question - could the money have been more wisely spent? probably. was or is it likely? not very. The answer is probably highly likely. But does that make it good enough to to not steer the ship differently or should it become an excuse, rather convinient one to be used to build one industry at cost of many others that are far more vital for masses (many times over than the masses that will use the metro) of what is still a poor country (when thinking per capita incomes). PT does not exist in a bubble, though much of debate seems to suggest this to be the case. Cheers Adhiraj > > agree that the PT should be postponed. On 10 January 2011 11:12, eric britton wrote: > I wonder about this Walter. > > > > What if the idea of a Metro/BRT link is used as a tactic, fool's bait to > get > the metro built? Makes sense as a business strategy for the winners, since > the money coming to the metro project will way outweigh the BRT share. So > in > such a case we would be getting ourselves used for a greater bad. > > > > For now in most parts of the world, at least in places where there is > hyper-limited money around to fund mobility improvements, don't we have to > wave the red flag for every metro project that raises its ugly head? > > > > Or do I have this wrong? > > > > Once again and as we have been reminded recently. Gandhi's: "Doing more, > for > less, for more." Is the only way to go. > > > > Eric Britton > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > On Behalf Of Walter Hook > Sent: Sunday, 09 January, 2011 17:27 > To: ashok datar > Cc: NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com; sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org > Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective > > > > interesting discussion. could the money have been more wisely spent? > > probably. was or is it likely? not very. we've had recent good > > experiences w/ some of the metro corps around India being quite open to > > developing integrated metro/BRT systems and I think this approach is > showing > > some promise. > > > > On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 12:46 AM, ashok datar > wrote: > > > > > Yes, Delhi is best compared with Beijing. Besides, in Indian context, it > is > > > important that we must identify cost /benefit in a more comprehensive > > > manner > > > for alternative mass transportation projects and such an analysis should > > > consider the external economies such as effects on environment, low > carbon > > > life style, affordability to a majority of population and whether it > leads > > > to a switch from cars to public transportation. > > > from these angles, BRTS will come far superior than metro in most cases > > > ashok datar > > > > > > > > > On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 4:39 AM, V. Setty Pendakur < > > > pendakur@interchange.ubc.ca> wrote: > > > > > > > A realistic comparison would be Shanghai and Beijing. Washington, DC > > > does > > > > not have the same catchment area population and neither are car > ownership > > > > rates comparable. > > > > > > > > Delhi Metro, like several other places, is an empire unto itself and > they > > > > can afford to get concerned about major issues such as land use or > > > > solvency. > > > > -- > > > > > > > > Best wishes; Setty > > > > > > > > Dr. V. Setty Pendakur > > > > Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia > > > > Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences > > > > Senior Counselor, The State Council of the PRC > > > > President, Pacific Policy & Planning Associates > > > > 1099 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver, BC > > > > Canada V6Z 2Z3 > > > > T: 1-604-263-3576; M:1-604-374-3575 > > > > Fax: 1-604-263-6493 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: > > > > Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:48:20 -0500 > > > > To: , < > NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com > > > > > > > > Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective > > > > > > > > > > > > If a 180 km long network is carrying 1.6 million per day, this can > > > > hardly be called a failure. This is over double what the Washington DC > > > > regional metro network of the same length carries, and it is crush > > > > loaded in parts of the network at rush hours. > > > > > > > > I am not surprised that the DMRC doesn't cooperate with other > > > > organizations. This is always potentially a problem when one creates a > > > > new private corporation. But keep in mind that without creating a new > > > > corporation it would never have been built. The existing government > > > > bureaucracies were incapable of building anything in a timely fashion. > > > > So the solution is to restructure the organizational relationships and > > > > build different contractual and organizational structures, not throw > > > > out the concept of building high capacity systems. > > > > > > > > Yes, the overhead rights-of-way can be intrusive, but would it be > > > > better to build motorways in the sky instead? This is the real choice, > > > > not feeding starving Indians. If we were to wait in the US until all > > > > poverty was gone before we built decent PT, we would still be waiting. > > > > If you can show me a case where the REAL choice is between better > > > > healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport, I will > > > > agree that the PT should be postponed. > > > > > > > > Eric Bruun > > > > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > From schipper at wri.org Tue Jan 11 03:17:57 2011 From: schipper at wri.org (Lee Schipper) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 13:17:57 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective In-Reply-To: References: <-4852081548125423701@unknownmsgid> Message-ID: <46E2E1971BCEC1459149FBB1A4B4342C0B4AEFB5@wricsex029330.WRI.CRM.Local> These are important concerns --- health, education, sanitation are very important concerns. However, there are other ways of viewing the problem First, why is there so much private money for individual vehicles and cheap fuel in India but not enough to build protected sidewalks, bus stops, bus lanes, and even metros? Clearly individual motorization on two, three or four wheels is underpriced. Rather than providing additional under-priced collective transport to compete against motorization, why not make motorization pay its real costs and orient overall transport policies to a more balanced system than the present course is yielding. Second, transport in India is closely associated with both respiration-related illnesses from transports air pollution (particularly particulate matter) and a very high rate of deaths per kilometer driven or traveled, deaths dominated not by vehicle occupants but by pedestrians, cyclists, and even those moving with animal power. (kindly see our report, PSUTA, which included Pune, here.. http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-60108.html Finally, transport has plenty of money in India, but it is almost entirely for roads, rail, ports and air. Your leaders have "decided" on the balance, but some of us might comment that it appears to be an imbalance when the overwhelming majority of Indians are on foot, pedals, buses, that so much goes for roads and so little for these modes. How to change this I can't say, but something has to give. Lee Schipper, Ph.D. Project Scientist, Global Metropolitan Studies, UC Berkeley Senior Research Engineer, Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, Stanford Univ. -----Original Message----- From: sustran-discuss-bounces+schipper=wri.org@list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+schipper=wri.org@list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of Dr Adhiraj Joglekar Sent: Monday, January 10, 2011 4:34 AM To: eric britton Cc: NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com; Global 'South' Sustainable Transport; xeda702xoda@post.wordpress.com; Eric Bruun; tevi538gada@post.wordpress.com Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective I have erad this thread with some interest. Couple of comments. As a medic perhaps to me it is very obvious and hence find the need for evidence to make a case where the REAL choice is between better healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport strange. Having thought about it though, anyone who Google's (or is willing to) and indeed any one who understands ground realities of a country like India will not need much of an evidence. Indian Public Health expenditure is 1-2% of its GDP (7-8 % for most Western Nations). Oddly when we include ou-of-pocket spend on health, India spends 6% of its GDP (less than 5% have medical insurance) - telling figures for a country where 40% are under BPL!! Compare National Health / Education budgets with those touted for half dozen metro systems, the difference is stark when one thinks the former is meant to be for 1.2 Billion and latter for 10th of that number. Systematically spending over years has been localised to urban metor cities - no wonder every villager runs to these cities in hope of a decent wager (only to live in shanties though it does become possible to survive than starve). I have to admit I was perturbed by what is a realistic statement / question - could the money have been more wisely spent? probably. was or is it likely? not very. The answer is probably highly likely. But does that make it good enough to to not steer the ship differently or should it become an excuse, rather convinient one to be used to build one industry at cost of many others that are far more vital for masses (many times over than the masses that will use the metro) of what is still a poor country (when thinking per capita incomes). PT does not exist in a bubble, though much of debate seems to suggest this to be the case. Cheers Adhiraj > > agree that the PT should be postponed. On 10 January 2011 11:12, eric britton wrote: > I wonder about this Walter. > > > > What if the idea of a Metro/BRT link is used as a tactic, fool's bait > to get the metro built? Makes sense as a business strategy for the > winners, since the money coming to the metro project will way outweigh > the BRT share. So in such a case we would be getting ourselves used > for a greater bad. > > > > For now in most parts of the world, at least in places where there is > hyper-limited money around to fund mobility improvements, don't we > have to wave the red flag for every metro project that raises its ugly head? > > > > Or do I have this wrong? > > > > Once again and as we have been reminded recently. Gandhi's: "Doing > more, for less, for more." Is the only way to go. > > > > Eric Britton > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > On Behalf Of Walter Hook > Sent: Sunday, 09 January, 2011 17:27 > To: ashok datar > Cc: NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com; sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org > Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective > > > > interesting discussion. could the money have been more wisely spent? > > probably. was or is it likely? not very. we've had recent good > > experiences w/ some of the metro corps around India being quite open > to > > developing integrated metro/BRT systems and I think this approach is > showing > > some promise. > > > > On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 12:46 AM, ashok datar > wrote: > > > > > Yes, Delhi is best compared with Beijing. Besides, in Indian > > context, it > is > > > important that we must identify cost /benefit in a more > > comprehensive > > > manner > > > for alternative mass transportation projects and such an analysis > > should > > > consider the external economies such as effects on environment, low > carbon > > > life style, affordability to a majority of population and whether it > leads > > > to a switch from cars to public transportation. > > > from these angles, BRTS will come far superior than metro in most > > cases > > > ashok datar > > > > > > > > > On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 4:39 AM, V. Setty Pendakur < > > > pendakur@interchange.ubc.ca> wrote: > > > > > > > A realistic comparison would be Shanghai and Beijing. Washington, > > > DC > > > does > > > > not have the same catchment area population and neither are car > ownership > > > > rates comparable. > > > > > > > > Delhi Metro, like several other places, is an empire unto itself > > > and > they > > > > can afford to get concerned about major issues such as land use or > > > > solvency. > > > > -- > > > > > > > > Best wishes; Setty > > > > > > > > Dr. V. Setty Pendakur > > > > Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia > > > > Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences > > > > Senior Counselor, The State Council of the PRC > > > > President, Pacific Policy & Planning Associates > > > > 1099 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver, BC > > > > Canada V6Z 2Z3 > > > > T: 1-604-263-3576; M:1-604-374-3575 > > > > Fax: 1-604-263-6493 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From: > > > > Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:48:20 -0500 > > > > To: , < > NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com > > > > > > > > Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's > > > Perspective > > > > > > > > > > > > If a 180 km long network is carrying 1.6 million per day, this can > > > > hardly be called a failure. This is over double what the > > > Washington DC > > > > regional metro network of the same length carries, and it is crush > > > > loaded in parts of the network at rush hours. > > > > > > > > I am not surprised that the DMRC doesn't cooperate with other > > > > organizations. This is always potentially a problem when one > > > creates a > > > > new private corporation. But keep in mind that without creating a > > > new > > > > corporation it would never have been built. The existing > > > government > > > > bureaucracies were incapable of building anything in a timely fashion. > > > > So the solution is to restructure the organizational relationships > > > and > > > > build different contractual and organizational structures, not > > > throw > > > > out the concept of building high capacity systems. > > > > > > > > Yes, the overhead rights-of-way can be intrusive, but would it be > > > > better to build motorways in the sky instead? This is the real > > > choice, > > > > not feeding starving Indians. If we were to wait in the US until > > > all > > > > poverty was gone before we built decent PT, we would still be waiting. > > > > If you can show me a case where the REAL choice is between better > > > > healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport, I will > > > > agree that the PT should be postponed. > > > > > > > > Eric Bruun > > > > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > -------------------------------------------------------- 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'). From ericbruun at earthlink.net Tue Jan 11 02:03:27 2011 From: ericbruun at earthlink.net (Eric Bruun) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:03:27 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective Message-ID: <2908191.1294679008015.JavaMail.root@elwamui-rubis.atl.sa.earthlink.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20110110/7f75ac98/attachment.html From bruun at seas.upenn.edu Tue Jan 11 10:59:38 2011 From: bruun at seas.upenn.edu (bruun at seas.upenn.edu) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:59:38 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective In-Reply-To: References: <-4852081548125423701@unknownmsgid> Message-ID: <20110110205938.14670nbss5ooamq2@webmail.seas.upenn.edu> Hello everyone: I just want to state my assumptions. I take as a given that the political elites in India are also in the minority that drive cars and have a conflict of interest. I reason that they might consider using a metro and maybe even a BRT if it is upscale enough, but not an expanded and improved bus system where one still gets stuck in traffic and has to travel with the riff-raff. Most them probably don't want to spend money on fixing bus services for the masses any more than they want to do anything else for the masses. So I didn't believe fixing bus systems was any more realistic than improving schools, healtcare, nutrition, rural farms. However, they might well be in favor of motorways since it benefits them personally. Am I too cynical? I don't admit to being an expert on Indian politics. I base my cynicism on seeing callous disregard for the people at the bottom in the US. Services for the poor are always underfunded and the first thing to be cut in a recession, as we are seeing right now. Eric Bruun Quoting Dr Adhiraj Joglekar : > I have erad this thread with some interest. Couple of comments. As a medic > perhaps to me it is very obvious and hence find the need for evidence to > make a case where the REAL choice is between better healthcare, food, or > education instead of better transport strange. > > Having thought about it though, anyone who Google's (or is willing to) and > indeed any one who understands ground realities of a country like India will > not need much of an evidence. Indian Public Health expenditure is 1-2% of > its GDP (7-8 % for most Western Nations). Oddly when we include ou-of-pocket > spend on health, India spends 6% of its GDP (less than 5% have medical > insurance) - telling figures for a country where 40% are under BPL!! > > Compare National Health / Education budgets with those touted for half dozen > metro systems, the difference is stark when one thinks the former is meant > to be for 1.2 Billion and latter for 10th of that number. > > Systematically spending over years has been localised to urban metor cities > - no wonder every villager runs to these cities in hope of a decent wager > (only to live in shanties though it does become possible to survive than > starve). > > I have to admit I was perturbed by what is a realistic statement / question > - could the money have been more wisely spent? probably. was or is it > likely? not very. The answer is probably highly likely. But does that make > it good enough to to not steer the ship differently or should it become an > excuse, rather convinient one to be used to build one industry at cost of > many others that are far more vital for masses (many times over than the > masses that will use the metro) of what is still a poor country (when > thinking per capita incomes). > > PT does not exist in a bubble, though much of debate seems to suggest this > to be the case. > > Cheers > > Adhiraj > >> > agree that the PT should be postponed. > > > On 10 January 2011 11:12, eric britton wrote: > >> I wonder about this Walter. >> >> >> >> What if the idea of a Metro/BRT link is used as a tactic, fool's bait to >> get >> the metro built? Makes sense as a business strategy for the winners, since >> the money coming to the metro project will way outweigh the BRT share. So >> in >> such a case we would be getting ourselves used for a greater bad. >> >> >> >> For now in most parts of the world, at least in places where there is >> hyper-limited money around to fund mobility improvements, don't we have to >> wave the red flag for every metro project that raises its ugly head? >> >> >> >> Or do I have this wrong? >> >> >> >> Once again and as we have been reminded recently. Gandhi's: "Doing more, >> for >> less, for more." Is the only way to go. >> >> >> >> Eric Britton >> >> >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> On Behalf Of Walter Hook >> Sent: Sunday, 09 January, 2011 17:27 >> To: ashok datar >> Cc: NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com; sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org >> Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective >> >> >> >> interesting discussion. could the money have been more wisely spent? >> >> probably. was or is it likely? not very. we've had recent good >> >> experiences w/ some of the metro corps around India being quite open to >> >> developing integrated metro/BRT systems and I think this approach is >> showing >> >> some promise. >> >> >> >> On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 12:46 AM, ashok datar >> wrote: >> >> >> >> > Yes, Delhi is best compared with Beijing. Besides, in Indian context, it >> is >> >> > important that we must identify cost /benefit in a more comprehensive >> >> > manner >> >> > for alternative mass transportation projects and such an analysis should >> >> > consider the external economies such as effects on environment, low >> carbon >> >> > life style, affordability to a majority of population and whether it >> leads >> >> > to a switch from cars to public transportation. >> >> > from these angles, BRTS will come far superior than metro in most cases >> >> > ashok datar >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 4:39 AM, V. Setty Pendakur < >> >> > pendakur@interchange.ubc.ca> wrote: >> >> > >> >> > > A realistic comparison would be Shanghai and Beijing. Washington, DC >> >> > does >> >> > > not have the same catchment area population and neither are car >> ownership >> >> > > rates comparable. >> >> > > >> >> > > Delhi Metro, like several other places, is an empire unto itself and >> they >> >> > > can afford to get concerned about major issues such as land use or >> >> > > solvency. >> >> > > -- >> >> > > >> >> > > Best wishes; Setty >> >> > > >> >> > > Dr. V. Setty Pendakur >> >> > > Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia >> >> > > Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences >> >> > > Senior Counselor, The State Council of the PRC >> >> > > President, Pacific Policy & Planning Associates >> >> > > 1099 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver, BC >> >> > > Canada V6Z 2Z3 >> >> > > T: 1-604-263-3576; M:1-604-374-3575 >> >> > > Fax: 1-604-263-6493 >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > > From: >> >> > > Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:48:20 -0500 >> >> > > To: , < >> NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com >> >> > > >> >> > > Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > > If a 180 km long network is carrying 1.6 million per day, this can >> >> > > hardly be called a failure. This is over double what the Washington DC >> >> > > regional metro network of the same length carries, and it is crush >> >> > > loaded in parts of the network at rush hours. >> >> > > >> >> > > I am not surprised that the DMRC doesn't cooperate with other >> >> > > organizations. This is always potentially a problem when one creates a >> >> > > new private corporation. But keep in mind that without creating a new >> >> > > corporation it would never have been built. The existing government >> >> > > bureaucracies were incapable of building anything in a timely fashion. >> >> > > So the solution is to restructure the organizational relationships and >> >> > > build different contractual and organizational structures, not throw >> >> > > out the concept of building high capacity systems. >> >> > > >> >> > > Yes, the overhead rights-of-way can be intrusive, but would it be >> >> > > better to build motorways in the sky instead? This is the real choice, >> >> > > not feeding starving Indians. If we were to wait in the US until all >> >> > > poverty was gone before we built decent PT, we would still be waiting. >> >> > > If you can show me a case where the REAL choice is between better >> >> > > healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport, I will >> >> > > agree that the PT should be postponed. >> >> > > >> >> > > Eric Bruun >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> -------------------------------------------------------- >> 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'). >> > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > > From EMBARQ at wri.org Thu Jan 13 08:02:46 2011 From: EMBARQ at wri.org (WRI EMBARQ) Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:02:46 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Got a minute? Take TheCityFix Reader Survey! Message-ID: <46E2E1971BCEC1459149FBB1A4B4342C0B552580@wricsex029330.WRI.CRM.Local> Hello! This is Erica Schlaikjer, managing editor of TheCityFix.com and online engagement coordinator for EMBARQ. If you could spare a moment of your time and answer 10 questions for our first ever Annual Reader Survey, we'd really appreciate it: http://www.formstack.com/forms/embarq-thecityfix_reader_survey The results from the survey will be used to help improve our future coverage and any site redesigns, so please, tell us what you really think! Don't worry - your responses will remain private and anonymous. We want TheCityFix to be YOUR resource, so let us know what works, what doesn't, and what else you'd like to see. Best wishes and stay in touch! Erica eschlaikjer@wri.org From dazzle_dwds at yahoo.com Thu Jan 13 10:08:32 2011 From: dazzle_dwds at yahoo.com (Roselle Leah K. Rivera) Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:08:32 -0800 (PST) Subject: [sustran] UP Diliman to have light rail transport Message-ID: <365100.53098.qm@web110110.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Yesterday at Trigo cafe at UP Diliman, i crossed paths with colleagues from the other side of our huge campus, some of them i hadnt seen in ?5,10 ?years. We were exchanging about the horror story of last month -- two young students from the University High School ( where i studied decades ago) ?were hit ?by motor vehicles while crossing the Katipunan avenue in front of the school. Well, decades ago, my naughty friends and I used to cut classes and cross that street very safely.? The conversation moved into a amusing disagreement about the utility of a pedestrian overpass crossing on that road. Since one of my co-faculty at the university believed that pedestrians should cross the overpass ( even if the road is like a very narrow 2 lane road stretched to become 4 lanes) because motor vehicles will never stop. Pedestrians should adjust, she implied. But obviously, to this day, most pedestrians choose to dash to cross instead of being inconvenienced to climb that huge cement structure which costs millions. Maybe to their minds, "Im late, so how come motor vehicles get priority over mere me and my feet?" ?Then I said, "In Marikina City where I live, there are 2 people wearing green uniforms,stationed by the local government right on ?the pedestrian lanes, especially in front of public schools. They stop the motor vehicles ?so that people, mostly children, can cross safely."? Then she shared with me the news that by April next year, a monorail will be built inside our campus. Hmmm, I said. Thats in like less than 3 months, its already been decided and where are the public consultations? But this is the Philippines and many miracles and disasters happen. ? ROSELLE LEAH K RIVERA Faculty Department of Women and Development Studies College of Social Work and Community Development University of the Philippines Diliman Quezon City PHILIPPINES UP Diliman to have light rail transport http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNews.htm?f=2011/january/3/news4.isx&d=2011/january/3 by Rio N. Araja A TWO-KILOMETER monorail is on the drawing board to serve the University of the Philippines-Diliman campus and nearby areas in Quezon City starting this year, the Science Department said over the weekend. The department will build the planned electric monorail, to be called automated guideway transit, in a joint venture with the UP management, Secretary Mario Montejo told the Manila Standard. The monorail is expected to complement the jeepney shuttle service plying the 493-hectare Diliman campus, which has a student population exceeding 23,000. The Diliman area extends up to Katipunan Avenue, the site of the Ateneo de Manila University, Miriam College and other private schools. P50 million has been earmarked for the project, including the construction of a 500-meter test track within the campus in April, Montejo said. The monorail will use two electric coaches with a capacity of 60 passengers each and an estimated cost of P10 million. The department?s Metals Industry Research and Development Center will build the coaches and the test track. Private groups will be asked to bid for the construction of the two-kilometer track. The proposed mass transit will be similar to the people-moving systems in the airports in Beijing and Miami in Florida, Montejo said. ?The [Science Department] is on top of the project to develop a low-cost mass transport system. That is our primary purpose,? he said. The rail transit initially will ply the passenger-rich UP campus in the Diliman and Philcoa area. It will have a provision for a link-up with the planned light rail transit line to be built in the Commonwealth-Katipunan area. The Science Department will foot the P50-million bill to develop the mass transit system, including the construction of the first 500-meter track, Montejo said. ?The Department will look for more funds to bankroll the remaining 1.5 kilometer network,? he said. President Benigno Aquino III is bullish about the project, Montejo said. ?He is looking forward to the success of the project,? he said. The UP administration is tasked to hold public consultations with various stakeholders, such as the jeepney drivers plying the UP-Philcoa route and the community, before the project goes fully operational. Assistant Secretary Roberto Dizon said the department and the UP administration firmed up their joint venture by way of a memorandum of understanding. ?We are building a test track and the target completion is April 2011,? Dizon said. ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20110112/500746cf/unnamed.html From bruun at seas.upenn.edu Fri Jan 14 06:22:00 2011 From: bruun at seas.upenn.edu (bruun at seas.upenn.edu) Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:22:00 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Yet more about: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective In-Reply-To: <20110110205938.14670nbss5ooamq2@webmail.seas.upenn.edu> References: <-4852081548125423701@unknownmsgid> <20110110205938.14670nbss5ooamq2@webmail.seas.upenn.edu> Message-ID: <20110113162200.36384hiq0tkik92w@webmail.seas.upenn.edu> Hi everyone: I think this article is an example of the phenomenon I mentioned, specifically, that money won't go to services for the poor. I really don't know the details of this project. But if the line had potential to allow the creation of a trunk feeder system that would allow more frequent bus services through truncation of bus routes, I might support it. If it were just in isolation and only met the needs of affluent people living in the center or town, I would oppose it. Eric Bruun Oklahoma City Leaders Considering Alternatives to Downtown Streetcar Posted: January 12th, 2011 10:25 AM CDT Bryan Dean The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City OKLAHOMA - More than a year after voters approved MAPS 3, city leaders are split on what to do with one of the biggest pieces of the proposal -- $130 million for a downtown streetcar and transit hub. In recent weeks, Ward 4 Councilman Pete White has come out against the plan for a 5- or 6-mile streetcar system that was pitched to voters during the MAPS 3 campaign. Such a streetcar would run on rails and would cost at least $20 million a mile to build. White said he wants to keep the promise to voters of building a downtown circulator, but he would like the city to look at cheaper options such as an enhanced version of the downtown trolley system already in place, which uses modified city buses. The bulk of the money for transit included in MAPS 3 then could be used to improve city bus service or build a light rail line that would serve many more people, White said. "I drive by a bus stop every day that is not sheltered, and there are eight people standing there almost every day," White said. "We don't have a conscience about that." Supporters see the streetcar as a potential economic development tool. They say a bus line can be changed. But a streetcar on rails is permanent and sends a sign to potential business owners that they can bank on the traffic that comes with it. Serving downtown The streetcar mostly would serve those who live and work downtown. It could also convince more downtown workers to move into expanding residential developments, supporters say. Jeff Bezdek, a downtown resident who has fought for a streetcar system since before MAPS 3 was proposed, said people were promised more than a rubber-tire trolley system like the one already in place downtown. He also said MAPS isn't the way to pay for buses, which have a low capital cost but high maintenance and operating costs. "MAPS is not designed to handle ongoing operational costs," Bezdek said. "We build things that are permanent, that are meaningful." Bezdek said a modern streetcar running on rails would be the kind of top-of-the-line project that people have come to expect from MAPS. Mayor Mick Cornett said there is no short-term solution to the problems with the city's bus system. Most people who ride a bus have to connect through downtown, and buses don't run frequently enough to make them practical. Rider's complaints Tramale Jones, of Oklahoma City, rides the bus every day. He said the city needs to run buses 24 hours a day like most major cities and should run routes frequently enough that people would see them as an alternative to driving themselves. "On the weekend they run most routes every hour," Jones said. "It takes you three hours to get there and back." Keyawanna Hawkins rides the bus every other day. She said the long wait is her biggest complaint. "It would be 10 times faster if I had a car," Jones said. Cornett said those complaints are valid, but there is no easy way to address them. "I looked very long and hard at finding a way to enhance our bus system in MAPS 3," Cornett said. "But without a permanent funding source, we just couldn't make the funding work. I would love to find a way to solve the issue. I just don't think we are close to that day" Many believe the streetcar would serve mostly young professionals capable of walking around downtown. Recalling a recent budget fight to preserve two enhanced bus routes that were on the chopping block last summer, White said he'd like to see those who rely most on public transit -- the poor, handicapped and elderly -- get at least a piece of the MAPS pie. "We had to fight for $40,000 to get enough money for buses for people who need those buses to get back and forth to work, and it was like pulling teeth to get it done," White said. "Nobody speaks for those people. And yet we are willing to drop $120 million on a system that will make it easy for people to get from point A to point B a block away." Quoting bruun@seas.upenn.edu: > > Hello everyone: > > I just want to state my assumptions. I take as a given that the > political elites in India are also in the minority that drive cars and > have a conflict of interest. I reason that they might consider using a > metro and maybe even a BRT if it is upscale enough, but not an > expanded and improved bus system where one still gets stuck in traffic > and has to travel with the riff-raff. Most them probably don't want to > spend money on fixing bus services for the masses any more than they > want to do anything else for the masses. So I didn't believe fixing > bus systems was any > more realistic than improving schools, healtcare, nutrition, rural > farms. However, they might well be in favor of motorways since it > benefits them personally. > > Am I too cynical? I don't admit to being an expert on Indian politics. > I base my cynicism on seeing callous disregard for the people at the > bottom in the US. Services for the poor are always underfunded and the > first thing to be cut in a recession, as we are seeing right now. > > Eric Bruun > > > > > Quoting Dr Adhiraj Joglekar : > >> I have erad this thread with some interest. Couple of comments. As a medic >> perhaps to me it is very obvious and hence find the need for evidence to >> make a case where the REAL choice is between better healthcare, food, or >> education instead of better transport strange. >> >> Having thought about it though, anyone who Google's (or is willing to) and >> indeed any one who understands ground realities of a country like India will >> not need much of an evidence. Indian Public Health expenditure is 1-2% of >> its GDP (7-8 % for most Western Nations). Oddly when we include ou-of-pocket >> spend on health, India spends 6% of its GDP (less than 5% have medical >> insurance) - telling figures for a country where 40% are under BPL!! >> >> Compare National Health / Education budgets with those touted for half dozen >> metro systems, the difference is stark when one thinks the former is meant >> to be for 1.2 Billion and latter for 10th of that number. >> >> Systematically spending over years has been localised to urban metor cities >> - no wonder every villager runs to these cities in hope of a decent wager >> (only to live in shanties though it does become possible to survive than >> starve). >> >> I have to admit I was perturbed by what is a realistic statement / question >> - could the money have been more wisely spent? probably. was or is it >> likely? not very. The answer is probably highly likely. But does that make >> it good enough to to not steer the ship differently or should it become an >> excuse, rather convinient one to be used to build one industry at cost of >> many others that are far more vital for masses (many times over than the >> masses that will use the metro) of what is still a poor country (when >> thinking per capita incomes). >> >> PT does not exist in a bubble, though much of debate seems to suggest this >> to be the case. >> >> Cheers >> >> Adhiraj >> >>> > agree that the PT should be postponed. >> >> >> On 10 January 2011 11:12, eric britton wrote: >> >>> I wonder about this Walter. >>> >>> >>> >>> What if the idea of a Metro/BRT link is used as a tactic, fool's bait to >>> get >>> the metro built? Makes sense as a business strategy for the winners, since >>> the money coming to the metro project will way outweigh the BRT share. So >>> in >>> such a case we would be getting ourselves used for a greater bad. >>> >>> >>> >>> For now in most parts of the world, at least in places where there is >>> hyper-limited money around to fund mobility improvements, don't we have to >>> wave the red flag for every metro project that raises its ugly head? >>> >>> >>> >>> Or do I have this wrong? >>> >>> >>> >>> Once again and as we have been reminded recently. Gandhi's: "Doing more, >>> for >>> less, for more." Is the only way to go. >>> >>> >>> >>> Eric Britton >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> On Behalf Of Walter Hook >>> Sent: Sunday, 09 January, 2011 17:27 >>> To: ashok datar >>> Cc: NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com; sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org >>> Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective >>> >>> >>> >>> interesting discussion. could the money have been more wisely spent? >>> >>> probably. was or is it likely? not very. we've had recent good >>> >>> experiences w/ some of the metro corps around India being quite open to >>> >>> developing integrated metro/BRT systems and I think this approach is >>> showing >>> >>> some promise. >>> >>> >>> >>> On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 12:46 AM, ashok datar >>> wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>> > Yes, Delhi is best compared with Beijing. Besides, in Indian context, it >>> is >>> >>> > important that we must identify cost /benefit in a more comprehensive >>> >>> > manner >>> >>> > for alternative mass transportation projects and such an analysis should >>> >>> > consider the external economies such as effects on environment, low >>> carbon >>> >>> > life style, affordability to a majority of population and whether it >>> leads >>> >>> > to a switch from cars to public transportation. >>> >>> > from these angles, BRTS will come far superior than metro in most cases >>> >>> > ashok datar >>> >>> > >>> >>> > >>> >>> > On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 4:39 AM, V. Setty Pendakur < >>> >>> > pendakur@interchange.ubc.ca> wrote: >>> >>> > >>> >>> > > A realistic comparison would be Shanghai and Beijing. Washington, DC >>> >>> > does >>> >>> > > not have the same catchment area population and neither are car >>> ownership >>> >>> > > rates comparable. >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > Delhi Metro, like several other places, is an empire unto itself and >>> they >>> >>> > > can afford to get concerned about major issues such as land use or >>> >>> > > solvency. >>> >>> > > -- >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > Best wishes; Setty >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > Dr. V. Setty Pendakur >>> >>> > > Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia >>> >>> > > Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences >>> >>> > > Senior Counselor, The State Council of the PRC >>> >>> > > President, Pacific Policy & Planning Associates >>> >>> > > 1099 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver, BC >>> >>> > > Canada V6Z 2Z3 >>> >>> > > T: 1-604-263-3576; M:1-604-374-3575 >>> >>> > > Fax: 1-604-263-6493 >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > From: >>> >>> > > Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:48:20 -0500 >>> >>> > > To: , < >>> NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi Metro - A Transport Planner's Perspective >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > If a 180 km long network is carrying 1.6 million per day, this can >>> >>> > > hardly be called a failure. This is over double what the Washington DC >>> >>> > > regional metro network of the same length carries, and it is crush >>> >>> > > loaded in parts of the network at rush hours. >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > I am not surprised that the DMRC doesn't cooperate with other >>> >>> > > organizations. This is always potentially a problem when one creates a >>> >>> > > new private corporation. But keep in mind that without creating a new >>> >>> > > corporation it would never have been built. The existing government >>> >>> > > bureaucracies were incapable of building anything in a timely fashion. >>> >>> > > So the solution is to restructure the organizational relationships and >>> >>> > > build different contractual and organizational structures, not throw >>> >>> > > out the concept of building high capacity systems. >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > Yes, the overhead rights-of-way can be intrusive, but would it be >>> >>> > > better to build motorways in the sky instead? This is the real choice, >>> >>> > > not feeding starving Indians. If we were to wait in the US until all >>> >>> > > poverty was gone before we built decent PT, we would still be waiting. >>> >>> > > If you can show me a case where the REAL choice is between better >>> >>> > > healthcare, food, or education instead of better transport, I will >>> >>> > > agree that the PT should be postponed. >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > Eric Bruun >>> >>> > > >>> >>> > > >>> >>> -------------------------------------------------------- >>> 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'). >>> >> -------------------------------------------------------- >> 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'). >> >> > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > 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'). > > From patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com Fri Jan 14 13:50:34 2011 From: patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com (Sujit Patwardhan) Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:20:34 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Playing Games With Our Cities Message-ID: 14 January 2011 This is a must read.... from Gautam Patel's blog "Prisoner of Agenda" I would particularly like to draw your attention to the comments on Traffic (highlighted in Yellow) and how congestion can never be reduced by building more and more roads. -- Sujit http://www.prisonerofagenda.com/urban_planning/playing_games_with_our_cities.php Playing Games With Our Cities Urban Planning | 14 January 2011 Our planners should spend more time with urban planning simulation models. At least we?d have better cities, and they?d still have their jobs. Part of the process of growing up is the recalibration of the dazzling career ambitions of childhood to far less glamorous endeavours. Few ever realize their dreams. Fewer still know exactly what they want to do when they grow up. Some dreams, like becoming a dentist, are unlikely. One thing no child ever dreams of being is an urban planner. Till 1989, when Will Wright launched SimCity, the idea of a computer game simulating town planning seemed absurd. The game was a runaway success from its first version. A freelance programmer from California, Wright conceived SimCity five years earlier while working on a common shoot-?em-up game. Part of his work involved generating landscapes; from that evolved his idea of building entire cities. He ploughed through borrowed books on planning and began translating the core principles to his game software. In later versions, the game evolved to increasing complexity and sophistication. The game?s publisher, Maxis, calls it ?the ultimate city simulator? and it actually does simulate, with stunning animation, the process of urban growth and development. It uses the theory of urban planning ? public goods, services and choices, land values, accessibility, gated communities, open cities, spatial interactions and equilibrium ? and then complicates matters by adding all manner of planning variables: economics and taxation, budget controls, calamity and crime. It requires the user to balance city planning, civil engineering and economic and social issues. You start by creating an appropriate terrain (a coastal city, perhaps, or one with hills, a river, mountains, forests, lakes, or all or none or some of these). You then zone the land for different uses, residential, industrial and commercial. You provide power. You lay water and transmission lines. You build roads and railways. You can actually see these being used and changing over time. Areas become crowded and degrade. Power supply falls short. You upgrade the plant ? what technology do you choose? Water? Coal? Nuclear? Over time, each has both cost and benefit. You must balance these against your budget. Then water supply is scarce. People move out. You spend more, build a reservoir, and the city rejuvenates with better buildings, better roads, more public transport. The premise is that the richest cities are the ones that are not just best planned but the ones that are best managed with stable economies, adequate infrastructure and most importantly an ear to the voice of its citizens. Cities without police stations, fire stations, hospitals, public transport and parks quickly fail. Areas with high densities and low grade infrastructure rapidly deteriorate. As the city grows, you need a port, a major rail terminus, a town hall, an airport. Throughout, the game is exceedingly realistic with dazzling graphics: moving vehicles and persons (?Sims?), day/night differentiation, buildings being built and torn down, roads getting potholed, calamities and disasters and crime, and an annual budget showing growth and finance. At The University of Wales, Cardiff, SimCity has been usedas part of its planning courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Other universities? planning courses acknowledge its value. Of course it has its limitations. For one thing, it is based entirely on an American conceptualization of a city, typically of the early Mid- and West America, where isolated cities were built on ?clean slates?, drew migrants as they grew and prospered through an exchange with other cities. Early versions were limited ? rail lines turned at right angles, and tunnels were improbable, for instance ? but later versions grew more complex with road roundabouts, elevated rails and monorails, undersea tunnels, over bridges and bus lanes. At some point, SimCity ceased to be just a game. By 2006, policy makers and town planners began playing it for real using grid computing to test the effects of their decisions on actual models of British cities. At the University of Leeds, Dr Mark Birkin developed one such modelusing a 2001 census of the entire UK population. Clearly, SimCity is more than just a way of passing time. It has a real educational appeal and is inherently a strategy-based game and therefore its deployment as a planning-support tool though that was never its primary intention. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee?s Urban Planning Department?s introductory materialsays that the game teaches the basic principles of town planning. In SimCity, land-use (the buildable plots) and citizens both respond to interventions ranging from the abstract (a tax hike) to the mundane (an extra pedestrian crossing or underpass). It emphasizes one basic postulate: a city that does not care for its citizens will always fail. In its latest version, SimCity Societies, the emphasis has shifted from architecture and engineering to social engineering and value-based models. This expressly acknowledges the importances of urban planning as an instrument of social engineering and social change, and while the die-hard Sim-gamers hated the new version it is certainly more attuned to contemporary thinking about urban planning which is about far more than granting building permits and focuses on ways to boost productivity, increase prosperity and emphasizes education. In October 2010 IBM launched its own snazzy version called CityOne. This is meant precisely for officials, agencies and developers to solve real problems derived from headlines (climate change, power grid use, banking and retail supply chain crises). It has over a 100 such scenarios. Unlike SimCity?s development model of building a city from nothing, in CityOne you work with a fully developed city. This makes sense because planner almost never get to build a city from the ground up and even those that are do not remain in stasis permanently. They must be managed. A typical CityOne scenario: *Water Crisis Management*: A city is struggling as water usage increases twice as fast as the population, supplies are becoming strained and possibly polluted, and the municipality is losing almost half of its water through leaky pipes. On top of all that, energy costs continue to rise. To complete the mission, players must come up with a way to deliver the highest water quality at the lowest cost in real-time. CityOne?s logical basis is the prediction that by 2050 the world?s urban populations will double, with a million people moving into cities every week, coupled with the enormous demands that cities make: consuming 75% of global energy, emitting 80% of all greenhouse gases, losing over 20% of water supply to leaks. An even more ambitious software is Betaville, a multiplayer simulation for real cities. Here, a range of experts can tinker with a virtual simulation of an actual city space. In a dramatic illustration, experts are modelling a makeover for Manhattan?s southern tip with an expanded park, sustainable mixed-use development and green (parkland) roofing over housing areas below. In a 2008 paper published in *Planning Theory and Practice* 1, Oswald Devisch2presents a compelling argument for planners to start playing games like SimCity. He points out that in the last 60 years our concepts of the city have changed and we now acknowledge that cities are open, self-organizing, organic and complex. In very compressed time frames, SimCity makes some things apparent: you cannot, for example, solve your city?s traffic woes by building more roads. More roads mean more congestion, not less ? a phenomenon called induced travel (and one which was pointed out by the MCGM?s own consultant as the inevitable result of the Worli-Bandra Sealink at points like Peddar Road and Haji Ali). In *Critical Mass*, Philip Ball quotes Richard Moe, head of the US National Trust for Historic Preservation as saying that building more roads to ease traffic ?is kind of like trying to cure obesity by loosening the belt.? The only viable solution is public transport, and more cycling, more walking, which in turn means a rezoning with shorter commute distances. Incidentally, Ball?s chapter ?On the Road? has a fascinating exposition of the application of physics to traffic planning. One aspect of SimCity is totally unreal and that is the complete control in the hands of the user, a US-style executive Mayor. Basically, the user/Mayor plays God ? there?s even a top-down ?God? view. SimCity allows for incompetence and shows its consequences. It demands that the planner listen to citizens. SimCity allows for incompetence but not for the one factor that most affects our cities: corruption. The reality of planning in India is that the citizen doesn?t matter at all. No one asks what they want, no one listens to them. Hearings on development plans are farcical. There are no studies of public responses to interventions and changes. All we have is corruption and some mandarins in the Urban Development Department deciding how and where we must live, work and travel for the next 20 years. Perhaps if they?d spent some time playing these games we might have had better cities. And they might still have had their jobs . *A shorter version of this article first appeared in the Mumbai Mirrorand Bangalore Mirror on Friday, 14 January 2010.* -- -------------------------------------------------------------------- *?..each million we invest into urban motorways is an investment to destroy the city?* Mayor Hans Joachim Vogel Munich 1970 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sujit Patwardhan patwardhan.sujit@gmail.com sujit@parisar.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yamuna, ICS Colony, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune 411 007, India Tel: +91 20 25537955 Cell: +91 98220 26627 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Parisar: www.parisar.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Fri Jan 14 20:02:24 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:02:24 +0100 Subject: [sustran] IIID Traffic & Transport 2011 - Call for Speakers Message-ID: <00c901cbb3da$89347530$9b9d5f90$@britton@ecoplan.org> The information interface linking users to mobility purveyors of the full range of options available in any given city holds the key to the future of sustainable transport in and around our cities. It is, as we all know here, not new motorway construction or expansion, nor heavy rail, and certainly not EVs, or PRT, etc. etc. In my humble opinion (?), this is the most important single technology area for the public sector to step up to the plate and get behind innovation, demonstrations, and collaborative learning that is before policy makers today. How can we get policy makers in both international organizations and at the national level to understand this and do what they can to get behind this important area of social-technical innovation? For now, they hold the key. Of course there will be innovations at the level of specific projects, specific city implementations and other sources of innovation. But it would be a wonderful thing if we had a clearer public policy perspective on all this. So here you have the full details on their conference and if you will, pass it on. All the best/Eric Britton | 8-10, rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris. | +331 75503788. | eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: newmobility | New Mobility Partnerships ? http://www.newmobility.org Read World Streets Today at http://www.worldstreets.org | To subscribe to weekly edition: Click here India Streets ? is on-line at www.IndiaStreets.org | To subscribe to weekly edition: Click here Nuova Mobilit? in Italy - http://nuovamobilita.org | To subscribe to weekly edition: Click here From: IIID Mail [mailto:mail@iiid.net] Sent: Friday, 14 January, 2011 11:39 To: Eric Britton Subject: IIID Traffic & Transport 2011 - Call for Speakers IIID Expert Forum - Call for Speakers IIID Logo _____ Dear Eric Britton The International Institute for Information Design (IIID) in Vienna continues its highly successful Expert Forum Traffic & Transport Information Systems into the 6th year. Unsurpassed in its field, this year's event is focused on Traffic, Transport and Social Media. Social media facilitates the generation and communication of ideas and information in a much more convenient manner than traditional platforms, and makes market research obsolete by providing public opinion at little or no cost. The Expert Forum will focus on the impacts of social media, how to design services, adjust policies, and communicate improvements as well as evaluating user/customer reactions. In addition to the main conference, Innovations in traffic & transport information is a special session focused on innovative projects and results beyond real time information. The session is geared to the interests of information managers, designers and educators whose professional focus is on traffic and transport information. If your interest and expertise relates to the topic for 2011, we encourage you to submit a proposal (submission deadline: 8 April 2011). More information about the event and details about the Call for Speakers can be found at www.iiid-expertforum.net. We look forward to receiving your submission and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Kind Regards, Alena Morrison Program Coordinator International Institute for Information Design (IIID) T: +43 (0)1 403 66 62 alena.morrison@iiid.net Follow IIID on Twitter Data transformed into high quality information empower people to attain goals. _____ IIID Traffic&Transport 2011 - Traffic, Transport and Social Media 6th IIID Expert Forum Traffic & Transport Information Systems The world's leading event in the field 8 - 9 September 2011, Vienna, Austria Organizer: International Institute for Information Design (IIID) Call For Speakers deadline: 8 April, 2011 www.iiid-expertforum.net/ _____ IIID, Palffygasse 27/17, 1170 Wien | www.iiid.net | www.iiidspace.net _____ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/gif Size: 1693 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20110114/51d9cb5c/attachment.gif From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sat Jan 15 18:22:25 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 10:22:25 +0100 Subject: [sustran] January 2011 TRB Annual Meeting Activities: Emerging and Innovative Public Transport Systems and Technology (AP020) Committee Message-ID: <009701cbb495$c943ed70$5bcbc850$@britton@ecoplan.org> On Behalf Of Susan Shaheen Sent: Saturday, 15 January, 2011 02:12 Emerging and Innovative Public Transport Systems and Technology Committee (AP020) Members and Friends: Below is a list of committee activities for the upcoming 2011 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting (January 23-27, 2011) to be held in Washington, D.C. We've got a great program scheduled! Please share this information with others who might be interested. For more information on registration and session/paper details, see www.trb.org. TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD January 23-27, 2011 Annual Meeting Washington, DC Emerging and Innovative Public Transport Systems and Technology Committee (AP020) Activities (Please confirm rooms with final program) Sunday, January 23rd Workshop 129: How We Double Ridesharing in 10 Years to Enhance Livability and Productivity Location: Hilton, Columbia Hall 9 & 10 Time: Sunday, January 10, 2010, 9:00am to 12:00pm Workshop 188: The Big Picture: Total Transportation Connectivity--Integrating Transportation Technologies to Create Seamless Mobility Solutions for Livable Communities Location: Hilton, Columbia Hall 9 & 10 Time: Sunday, January 10, 2010, 1:30 to 4:30pm New and Young Attendees Welcome Session/Reception Location: Marriott Time: Sunday, January 23, 2011, 2:30 to 4:00pm Monday, January 24th Shared-Use Vehicle Public Transport Systems Subcommittee Meeting (formerly the carsharing subcommittee) Location: Hilton, check for room in program Time: Monday, January 24, 2011, 8:00 to 9:45am Emerging Ridesharing Solutions Joint Subcommittee Meeting Location: Hilton, check for room in program Time: Monday, January 24, 2011, 10:15 to Noon Session 258: Promising Future for Senior Transportation Through Shared Private Capacity: Sharing Cars, Sharing Rides, and Everything in Between Location: Marriott, Maryland B Time: Monday, January 24, 2011, 10:15 to Noon Poster Session 346: Public Transport Innovations Location: Hilton, International Center Time: January 24, 2011, 2:30 to 5:00pm Tuesday, January 25th Session 458: Shared-Use Vehicle Systems from Across the Globe: Carsharing and Bikesharing Location: Hilton, International East Time: Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 8:00 to 9:45am Session 506: Ridesharing: Past, Present, and Future Location: Hilton, Columbia Hall 7 Time: Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 10:15am to Noon Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies Committee Location, Hilton, L'Enfant Time: Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 1:30 to 5:30pm Transit Caucus Reception Location: Hilton Time: Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 5:45 to 7:15pm Looking forward to seeing you soon, Susan Shaheen, Chair Emerging and Innovative Public Transport Systems and Technology Committee (AP020) Transportation Research Board __,_._,___ From edelman at greenidea.eu Sat Jan 15 20:04:06 2011 From: edelman at greenidea.eu (Todd Edelman) Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:04:06 +0100 Subject: [sustran] UK Guardian: How Lagos hopes a railway will end daily endurance test and change lives Message-ID: <4D317F26.2070304@greenidea.eu> How Lagos hopes a railway will end daily endurance test and change lives - In the second part of a series on Nigeria, David Smith talks to an investor aiming to transform commuting in its largest city David Smith in Lagos guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 January 2011 19.02 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/14/lagos-railway-change-lives-nigeria When Danladi Verheijen has to attend an important meeting, he doesn't know whether getting there will take 10 minutes or three hours. "You're going to upset someone," he says. "You're going to arrive very early or very late. It leads to massive loss of productivity." Verheijen works in Lagos, one of the world's fastest growing megacities ? and one of the most congested. The simplest journey here can be a trial of will. Such is the snail's pace of morning traffic that hawkers patrol the queues selling socks and phone chargers, McVitie's digestives and shaving kits. But Verheijen believes he can do something to break the deadlock. The 34-year-old venture capitalist is leading a group of investors in Lagos's first city railway. He believes the multibillion-dollar project could transform daily life for millions of people in this uniquely challenging metropolis, and potentially expand west from Nigeria to Ghana. "I think it will dramatically change the face of Lagos," he said. "One of the lines is in an area people come to in the middle of Lagos island to work. To get to work at 8am, they probably have to leave their house right now about 5.30am or 5.45am. When our trains start working, they can probably leave their home at 7.25am. It's a difference of two hours. If you're saving between two and four hours a day, it's a dramatic effect. "It's cheaper than the alternative, it's faster, it's safer, it's more reliable, it's more environmentally friendly. So it's very exciting." Many railways laid during Africa's colonial era have decayed due to neglect, leaving Cecil John Rhodes's Cape-to-Cairo fantasy more remote than ever. In large parts of Nigeria, overgrown tracks and abandoned stations testify to the triumph of cars and planes. But Lagos is badly in need of mass public transport beyond its recently introduced bus rapid transit system. Nigeria's commercial capital, built on a swamp and a series of islands, will overtake Cairo as Africa's biggest city in the next five years with a population of 12.4 million, according to the UN. Urban expansion is one of the biggest challenges facing Africa as people migrate from rural areas in search of a better life. With its cities set to triple in size over the next 40 years, overcrowded slums, choked roads and pollution are already big problems. It is hoped that a rail renaissance can be part of the solution. Last year, South Africa launched the R24bn (?2.17bn) Gautrain, linking Johannesburg to its international airport at speeds of up to 100mph, with further expansion to include the administrative capital, Pretoria, a notoriously busy route for motorists. Lagos's EkoRail ? Eko means Lagos in the Yoruba language ? is the biggest public-private partnership in Lagos state and will eventually comprise seven railway lines, each costing more than $1bn (?630m). Two lines are already well advanced. The red will run north to south from Lagos island to Agbado through 13 stations. The blue will run 17 miles from the island to Okokomaiko in the middle of an expanded motorway. It is hoped the lines will carry 1.4 million passengers per day. They will be powered by electricity rather than diesel but, with the national grid notoriously unreliable, EkoRail is building its own 30-40 MW power station, with excess power benefiting the motorway and local communities. The trains could begin test runs late next year. Reflecting a growing trend in Africa, the project's infrastructure is being built by a Chinese contractor. Verheijen said: "They're much more competitive and aggressive about doing business. They're working Saturdays, they're working Sundays, they're working at nights. They come here and have big housing estates for their staff and just seem to work like armies. It's very focused and things go up very quickly." Asked who was benefiting from the construction jobs, he said: "A lot of Chinese, some Nigerians as well. I'm not averse to that. "We need infrastructure. We need toll roads, we need airports, we need rail, we need water transportation systems, we need power. That just allows entrepreneurs to take off from there." Verheijen said the first goal was to silence the sceptics and show that rail transport was a viable option. But then, encouraged by wider signs of recovery in the national railway sector, he has ambitions to go further in Nigeria and beyond. "The blue line goes to Badagry [west of Lagos]. It just makes sense to take that on to Togo and to Ghana. It will create trade and move people and also goods across west Africa. It probably sounds ludicrous, it might not even work, but we need to think about expanding in these ways. "I understand it costs more money to take a container from Lagos to Abuja [the Nigerian capital] than it does to ship one from China to Lagos. Unbelievable. Rail, hopefully, will change a lot of that." Verheijen hopes that one day Lagosians will find the railway as indispensable as Londoners. "I think as businesses get more competitive, people care a lot more about their time. Ten years ago we didn't have mobile phones and every time you had a message, you literally had to send somebody. We've become a lot more efficient now with the proliferation of mobile phones and can't even imagine ourselves living in that era. I'm sure rail transportation will be the same here. "Ten years from now, we will not be able to imagine how we were able to slug through traffic every day." Some veterans of Lagos's go-slow traffic arteries have welcomed the new scheme. Tolu Ogunlesi, a journalist and author, would leave home at 5.45am to reach his office at 8am. "It's not unusual to find Lagosians waking at 4am so they can be sure of getting to the office at eight," he said. "It's a crazy life. "I'd definitely use the Lagos rail. I think it's pure insanity for anyone to assume that Lagos's traffic problems can be solved without a means of moving large numbers of people between the mainland and the island with minimum delay outside of the existing road system. And what would that be if not a rail system? "So far the government has tried buses and bus lanes, but clearly something more imaginative, and drastic, is required. Imagine what London would be without the tube ? and Lagos has more people than London." guardian.co.uk ? Guardian News and Media Limited 2011 -- Todd Edelman Green Idea Factory, a member of the OPENbike team Mobile: ++49(0)162 814 4081 edelman@greenidea.eu www.greenidea.eu todd@openbike.se www.openbike.se Skype: toddedelman Urbanstr. 45 10967 Berlin Germany *** OPENbike - Share the Perfect Fit! From sudhirgota at hotmail.com Sat Jan 15 23:20:16 2011 From: sudhirgota at hotmail.com (sudhir gota) Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 14:20:16 +0000 Subject: [sustran] (no subject) Message-ID: http://miglioriamici.com/territory.php From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Jan 16 15:26:17 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2011 11:56:17 +0530 Subject: [sustran] NATIONAL TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT POLICY COMMITTEE Message-ID: http://www.in.com/news/business/fullstory-dr-rakesh-mohan-to-head-a-high-level-national-transport-development-policy-committee-12905539-ea8842c35e91397815e68754c4191016aa82b151-1.html Press Information Bureau Government of India Monday, February 22, 2010 *Planning Commission* * * *DR RAKESH MOHAN TO HEAD A HIGH LEVEL NATIONAL TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT POLICY COMMITTEE * ------------------------------ 15:23 IST The Government of India has set up a High Level National Transport Development Policy Committee to create a policy environment that encourages competitive pricing and coordination between alternative modes of transport in order to provide an integrated and sustainable transport system. The framework that national governments provide for the transport sector largely determines the level of cost and efficiency in transport operations. The Committee will be chaired by Dr. Rakesh Mohan in an honorary capacity, with the rank of Minister of State. Dr. Mohan is a former Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India. He has also chaired the Expert Group on Commercialization of Infrastructure which issued the Indian Infrastructure Report in 1997; and the Expert Group on Railways which issued the Indian Railways Report in 2002. The members of the Committee include Secretaries of all the Ministries associated with the development of transportation along with the leading experts in the field. Such long term policy for the country was last delineated by the National Transport Policy Committee in 1980, which was chaired by the late Shri B.D. Pande, a former Cabinet Secretary. In order to formulate an integrated transport policy that also takes account, inter alia, of new technologies and environmental concerns, it was felt desirable to set up a High Level Committee which may make appropriate recommendations for consideration of the government. An efficient, reliable and safe transport system is vital for fostering rapid economic growth. Despite significant development of all transportation modes over the decades, transport capacity has not developed adequately in the country. This has led to increasing congestion, asset deterioration and high levels of energy consumption, pollution and accidents. Moreover rural areas have inadequate connectivity hampering rural economic growth. The transport system comprises a number of modes like the railways, roads, air and shipping. The capacity of each mode has to be developed in a balanced fashion for ensuring harmonious development of the overall transport system including an appropriate mix between private and public modes of transport so as to optimize energy consumption and efficiency. Choice of modes is also influenced by pricing of hydro carbon fuels apart from adequacy and efficiency of transport services The full composition of the Committee and its terms of reference are: *Terms of Reference * (i) To assess the transport requirements of the economy for the next two decades in the context of economic, demographic and technological trends at local, national and global levels. (ii) To recommend a comprehensive and sustainable policy for meeting the transport requirements keeping in view the comparative resource cost advantages of various modes of transport i.e. road, rail, air, shipping and inland water transport with a special focus on the modes that have developed less than economically desirable and the need to: (a) encourage a rational mix of various modes of transport in order to minimize the overall resource cost to the economy, (b) ensure balance between the ability of transport to serve economic development and to conserve energy, protect the environment, promote safety, and sustain future quality of life, (c) ensure universal rural connectivity, (d) address the special problems of remote and difficult areas on the one hand and of urban and metropolitan areas on the other, and (e) adopt and evolve suitable technologies for cost effective creation, economical maintenance and efficient utilization of transport assets. (iii) To assess the investment requirements of the transport sector and to identify the roles of state and private sector in meeting these investment needs and to suggest measures for greater commercial orientation of transport services. In this context, the Committee should pay particular attention to reviewing the experience with the PPP approach or suggest ways of modifying it further. (iv) To examine the laws, rules and regulations pertaining to various modes of transport and traffic and to suggest measures for strengthening their enforcement in the interest of the community and streamlining the procedures and processes in line with the needs of a fast growing modern economy. (v) To identify areas where data base needs to be improved in order to formulate and implement policy measures recommended by the Committee. (vi) To suggest measures to improve the capacity to evolve and implement projects. (vii) To suggest measures for implementing various components of the recommended policy within a specified time frame. (viii) To recommend any other measure which the Committee consider relevant to the items (i) to (vii) above. The composition of the NTDPC shall be as under: *Chairman* Dr. Rakesh Mohan (in Honorary capacity, with status of MoS). *Members* 1. Chairman, Railway Board 2. Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development 3. Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways 4. Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation 5. Secretary, Ministry of Shipping 6. Secretary, Department of Financial Services 7. Secretary, Ministry of Coal 8. Secretary, Ministry of Power 9. Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas 10. Adviser to Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission 11. *Chairman, RITES* 12. Shri K L Thapar, Chairman, Asian Institute of Transport Development 13. Shri M Ravindra, former Chairman, Railway Board 14. Shri S Sundar, former Secretary, Transport & Shipping 15. Shri DP Gupta, former DG Roads 16. *Professor Dinesh Mohan, IIT Delhi* 17. Shri Bharat Sheth, MD, Great Eastern Shipping 18. Dr Rajiv B Lall, MD, IDFC 19. *Shri Mohandas Pai, Infosys * 20. Shri Cyrus Guzder, Chairman, AFL Group 21. Senior Consultant (Transport), Planning Commission as Member-Secretary The Committee will be serviced by the Planning Commission. Shri B.N. Puri, Senior Consultant (Transport) is Member Secretary of the Committee. From yanivbin at gmail.com Mon Jan 17 02:34:09 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2011 23:04:09 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Fixing India's transport troubles Message-ID: *Fixing India's transport troubles * *Date:25/08/2010* *URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/08/25/stories/2010082553711200.htm* ------------------------------ Opinion - Editorials * * India that aspires to be an economic superpower is visibly in need of a transport policy that is in tune with the times. The constitution of a high level Transport Policy Development Committee, headed by the former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Rakesh Mohan, reflects this. The last time a comprehensive view of transport was taken at the national level was in 1980 when the B.D. Pande committee submitted its report. Much has happened since then. India's economic transformation from a near-closed economy to a fast liberaliser led to a significant stepping up of economic activity, particularly by the private sector, and resulted in higher individual spending capacity. While the former meant increased flow of goods and services, calling for better freight facilities, the latter translated into both higher purchasing power for personal transportation modes and higher effective demand for better public transport. Liberalisation has also spawned its own huge inequities. A fresh policy has to factor in the harsh reality that the overwhelming majority, in the region of 800 million Indians, live in poverty. This calls for a more active state role as a provider of subsidised transport and as an effective regulator, particularly since the trend is to move towards a system that facilitates private players. The terms of reference of the Rakesh Mohan committee are wide: they range from ?assessing the transport requirements for the next two decades? to ?assessing the investment requirements? of the sector. Although there are several issues that jostle for attention, there is an urgent need to develop a comprehensive policy for road transport as this mode carries 87 per cent of India's passengers, moves 60 per cent of its freight, and is in serious disarray. Efficient inter-State, intra-city, and rural transport systems will reduce losses, improve connectivity, and open up more economic opportunities. The most shocking lapse of state policy is the decline of public transport. *As a Parliamentary Standing Committee rightly pointed out, the decline of buses in the total fleet of vehicles from 11 per cent in 1951 to a paltry 1.1 per cent in 2004 h*as meant an increase in personalised transport. This leads to avoidable economic losses due to higher fuel expenditure, apart from widening inequalities. The retrogressive trend needs urgent reversal. A policy that accords primacy of space to an affordable, efficient, and integrated public transport system will be key to fixing India's transport troubles. From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Tue Jan 18 20:46:40 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:46:40 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Frankly I believe that steering a motor car is actually better exercise than walking Message-ID: <00e801cbb705$6172e3f0$2458abd0$@britton@ecoplan.org> This just in from Ezra Goldman - http://onourowntwowheels.com/authors/ Thanks Ezra. I guess I have to take up regular driving to work on my oblique's. I felt I was missing something important these days. 1924 report: "Cars are healthy and make you travel less" ezra goldman | January 18, 2011 at 1:23 pm | Tags: bikeability.dk | Categories: USA | URL: http://wp.me/pZC21-eg My advisor, Thomas Sick Nielsen, dug this lovely piece out of the annals from the early 1920s. Apparently, back in the day, some people argued that car driving was in fact 'healthy'- more so than walking even. U. S. Senator Royal S. Copeland, former Health Commissioner of New York City cited in Motor, July, 1922: Of course motoring bestows its greatest benefits on the person who drives the car. Not only does the driver get the full benefitof open road and fresh air, but he gets actual physical exercise in a form best calculated to repair the damages wrought by our modern existence. The slight physical effort needed in moving the steering wheel reacts on the muscles of the armsand abdomen. Most of us get enough exercise in the walking necessary, even to the most confined life, to keep the leg muscles fairly fit. It is from the waist upward that flabbiness usually sets in. The slight, but purposeful effort demanded in swinging the steering wheel, reacts exactly where we need it most. Frankly I believe that steering a motor car is actually better exercise than walking, becauseit does react on the parts of the body least used in the ordinary man's routine existence. They could never imagine just how sedentary one could be. This sounds like an argument that mousing and typing is sufficient daily exercise as is getting up from the sofa to get a beer from the refrigerator. Here is also a physician describing the difference between working with a car as compared with the horse and buggy days. It is quite interesting to note that the modern communication and transportation technologies of the car and telephone made people travel less, not more. What I have found has always seemed to suggest the opposite but it would be interesting to do more detailed studies. There were two doctors when I came here [rural Connecticut- my home area!]. At times there have been three. But now that I have an automobile I can readily cover the region. But the strange part of it is that I have fewer calls to make on the same people. The fact is that the automobile and the telephone have set people's minds at rest. They don't send for me in the middle ofthe night the way they used to. If it is only a slight matter they wait until morning. If a little more serious, they telephone. Only in emergencies do they ask me to come to the house at night. In the past they wanted me to come anyway, in case there might be critical developments; but now they know I can get there in no time if needed, and they do not worry. >From John C. Long Source: Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 116, The Automobile: Its Province and Its Problems (Nov., 1924), pp. 18-21 Add a comment to this post WordPress WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Publish text, photos, music, and videos by email using our Post by Email feature. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Wed Jan 19 00:50:44 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:50:44 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Sustainable transport and the modernisation of urban transport in Delhi and Stockholm Message-ID: <019701cbb727$79a4c480$6cee4d80$@britton@ecoplan.org> >From India Streets today: This article addresses issues of the development of transport systems taking its examples from Delhi and Stockholm. The introduction of the first bus rapid transport corridor in Delhi and the congestion tax in Stockholm is presented and discussed in terms of modernisation and sustainable transport. The authors explore the perceptions of politicians and examines some [...] Read more of this post at http://indiastreets.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/sustainable-transport-and-the-modernisation-of-urban-transport-in-delhi-and-stockholm/ From mkodransky at itdp.org Thu Jan 20 00:43:06 2011 From: mkodransky at itdp.org (Michael Kodransky) Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 10:43:06 -0500 Subject: [sustran] PRESS RELEASE - European Parking U-Turn Reaps Rewards: Ideas for the Rest of the World Message-ID: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19TH 2011 Media enquiries: Michael Kodransky 646 380 2346 mkodranksy@itdp.org Jessica Morris 646 673 4393 jmorris@itdp.org or Stephanie Lotshaw 310 567 3484 slotshaw@itdp.org EUROPEAN PARKING U-TURN REAPS REWARDS: IDEAS FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD European cities lead the way in influencing travel behavior through parking reforms January 19, 2011, NYC: European cities are reaping the rewards of innovative parking policies, including revitalized town centers; big reductions in car use; drops in air pollution and rising quality of urban life, according to Europe?s Parking U-Turn: From Accommodation to Regulation, published today (January 19th) by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. Click herefor a copy of the report. The report examines European parking over the last half century, through the prism of ten European cities. It found: ? Parking is increasingly linked to public transport. Amsterdam, Paris, Zurich and Strasbourg limit how much parking is allowed in new developments based on how far it is to walk to a bus, tram or metro stop. Zurich has made significant investments in new tram and bus lines while making parking more expensive and less convenient. As a result, between 2000 and 2005, the share of public transit use went up by 7%, while the share of cars in traffic declined by 6%. ? European cities are ahead of the rest of the world in charging rational prices for on-street parking. In Paris, the on-street parking supply has been reduced by more than 9% since 2003, and of the remaining stock, 95% is paid parking. The result, along with other transport infrastructure improvements, has been a 13% decrease in driving. ? Parking reforms are becoming more popular than congestion charging. While London, Stockholm, and a few other European cities have managed to implement congestion charging, more are turning to parking. Parking caps have been set in Zurich and Hamburg?s business districts to freeze the existing supply, where access to public transport is easiest. ? Revenue gathered from parking tariffs is being invested to support other mobility needs. In Barcelona, 100% of revenue goes to operate Bicing?the city?s public bike system. Several boroughs in London use parking revenue to subsidize transit passes for seniors and the disabled, who ride public transit for free. Walter Hook, Executive Director of ITDP, commented: ?This report shows that European cities lead the world in using parking as a tool to revitalize their cities.? The ten cities featured are Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Copenhagen, London, Munich, Paris, Stockholm, Strasbourg and Zurich. Ends Note to editors: Please contact Marisa Sandahl at ITDP on + 1 212 629 8001 for hard copies of the report. Europe?s Parking U-Turn: From Accommodation to Regulation was written by Michael Kodransky, Global Research Manager at ITDP, and Gabrielle Hermann, Consultant to ITDP, based on visits to all of the cities featured in this report over 2009 -2010. Michael Kodransky will be discussing the report?s findings at a Transportation Research Board panel on Sunday, January 23rd from 1.30 to 4.30pm. Details are here http://pressamp.trb.org/conferenceinteractiveprogram/EventDetails.aspx?ID=20253&Email= From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Mon Jan 24 16:31:48 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:31:48 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Beijing to broadcast live first ever car license lottery Message-ID: <00b701cbbb98$c50eb690$4f2c23b0$@britton@ecoplan.org> From: jane. [mailto:voodikon@yahoo.com] Beijing to broadcast live first ever car license lottery http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-01/23/c_13703026.htm BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Beijing is ready to kick off its first ever car license plates lottery, to be broadcast live both on TV and over the Internet on Jan. 26, said officials with the allotment office Saturday. A total of 17,600 car license plates will be allocated to qualified individual applicants through the lottery, in keeping with the principles of openness, fairness and equity, according to the office. Validation for the first batch of 210,178 individual applicants has been completed, and the office will make public the results, as well as lottery time and rules, on Tuesday. Applicants can check out the validation information at bjhjyd.gov.cn. The first group of car license plates for institution and company applicants will also be allocated through the lottery on the same day. The Beijing municipal government put in place the lottery mechanism at the end of last year in an effort to curb the capital city's fast growth of automobiles, which resulted in worsening traffic jams. The new mechanism seeks to reduce new car registrations by allowing only 240,000 in 2011, or about one-third of new cars registered in 2010. Data from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport (BMCT) shows there were only 78,000 cars in Beijing in 1978 and 200,000 in 1985. However, the number of cars soared after the country entered the 21st century amid fast economic growth and urbanization. Within 13 years, the number of cars in Beijing more than quadrupled to 4.76 million in 2010 from 1 million in 1997, according to the BMCT. From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Mon Jan 24 22:45:33 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:45:33 +0100 Subject: [sustran] bike-sharing blog Message-ID: <15a201cbbbcc$fb62f4c0$f228de40$@britton@ecoplan.org> If you want to get a feel for the development of bike sharing around the world, Paul DeMaio's blog at http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com/ is a great place to go. Here is their . . . 2010 Year-end Wrap-up This year has been another fantastic year for bike-sharing around the world. In my most unscientific calculation I have counted there to be about 238 bike-sharing services around the world, up from about 160 last year, for a 49% increase. On top of this, there are another 53 services that are in planning stages and may come online soon. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv1Bu_4HNI/AAAAAAAADXE/xOGLkeT8VxQ/s4 00/Global%2B3rd%2BGeneration%2BBike-sharing%2BServices%2B10-12.jpg Many notable things happened this year in the field that have pushed the boundaries of bike-sharing and transit. And it?s great timing too as global climate change doesn?t seem to want to let the world catch up. These improvements include: Vcub(e) (Bordeaux, France) pushed the edges of 3rd generation bike-sharing by integrating with the region?s other transit systems such that the same RFID card could be used on any transit system. Mexico City repealed its bike helmet law before the launch of Ecobici, however, Melbourne did not, which has limited the public?s uptake. Although, Melbourne Bike Share is experimenting with helmet vending machines and helmet sales at convenience stores for which we wish them good luck. India and Iran got into the bike-sharing game with Bike House and FreMo , respectively, operating modified 2nd generation services. Good for them. This proves there?s no one right answer for each challenge. Dublinbikes (Dublin, Ireland) is a little service that became so widely used with a whopping 10 trips per bike per day and 100 members per bike. ?By comparison Paris has around 8 per bike and Washington, DC around 5 subscribers per bike.? http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv7RyYUNaI/AAAAAAAADXQ/yUKAlOHArco/s4 00/dublinbikes.jpgDublinbikes Barclays Cycle Hire (London, England) launched earlier this year with great fanfare as Barclays provided ?25 million to sponsor the service, lending its name and covering the city with 6,000 blue bikes. Their safety and usage videos are to date the best I?ve seen yet. Maybe their next video will have Prince William and Kate narrating. Velib? (Paris, France) turned 3 years old this year and hit its 80,000,000 th trip. I remember the good old days when it had hit its 1,000,000th trip. Ahhh, memories. The first large-scale bike-sharing services in the U.S. with the launches of Nice Ride Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA), Denver B-cycle (Denver, Colorado, USA), and Capital Bikeshare (Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Virginia, USA). Each trying to out-do the other, the each launched a couple of months from each other with more bikes and stations. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv7mSgu7QI/AAAAAAAADXY/btgtHRgx14A/s4 00/capital%2Bbikeshare.jpg Capital Bikeshare As you can see, it?s been quite a busy year in the bike-sharing world. Here at The Bike-sharing Blog we had about 80,000 visitors this year and The Bike-sharing World Map has had over 760,000 views since its inception over three years ago. At nearly 300 listings of services which are either running or on their way, the Bike-sharing World Map has gotten a little wieldy as we?re pushing the edges of what a Google Map can do. We at MetroBike, LLC have had a good year ourselves with the work we?ve accomplished and the many projects were working on. The movement to get people riding is just beginning to roll. There?s still so much to do to change the path the world has been heading down. Bike-sharing, along with many other innovative, green ideas, will be the change the world must see to improve ourselves. The Bike-sharing Blog co-authors, Russell Meddin of Bike Share Philadelphia and I, wish you a happy and healthy 2011 with lots of bike-sharing. We look forward to the upcoming year and all the exciting things we have yet to learn, experience, and share on The Bike-sharing Blog. We?ll keep you posted, so you keep us posted too about what?s going on in your part of the world. Best wishes, Paul DeMaio http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-OPNDCJtErg/TRv774SoqVI/AAAAAAAADXg/U1hjmY9ME4k/s4 00/paul%2Bdemaio.jpgPaul DeMaio, MetroBike, LLC -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 19117 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20110124/e16f3eff/attachment-0006.jpe -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 22253 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20110124/e16f3eff/attachment-0007.jpe From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Wed Jan 26 00:01:49 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:01:49 +0100 Subject: [sustran] World Ridesharing program getting underway Message-ID: <010401cbbca0$cdf3b040$69db10c0$@britton@ecoplan.org> Ridesharing has a special relationship with public transport and carsharing, most of which facets and possibilities are yet to be identified and explored. But one thing for sure and that is that ridesharing in its many forms has a VERY BIG future ahead of it. (VERY BIG, just in case that was not clear the first time.) So here are two things that we are doing at World Streets to see how we can make a contribution. 1. A series of articles, which you can find already at http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/category/sharing/rideshare/ 2. We have just today set up a Facebook Group site to support this, which you can now find and join at http://tinyurl.com/ws-rideshare And if in a first instance ridesharing looks like an idea for the economically advanced nations, please understand that this is simply because the entire field has been narrowly defined (e.g., organized carsharing, vansharing, etc.) There is a lot more to it than that. So off we go. From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Tue Jan 25 23:03:59 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:03:59 +0100 Subject: [sustran] World Ridesharing program getting underway Message-ID: <009101cbbc98$c77f9830$567ec890$@britton@ecoplan.org> cid:image002.png@01CBBB1D.272912C0 Paris, Tuesday, 25 January, 2011 Ridesharing has a special relationship with carsharing, most of which facets and possibilities are yet to be identified and explored. But one thing for sure and that is that ridesharing has a VERY BIG future ahead of it. (VERY BIG, just in case that was not clear the first time.) So here are two things that we are doing via World Streets to see how we can make a contribution. 1. A series of articles, which you can find already at http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/category/sharing/rideshare/ 2. We have just today set up a Facebook Group site to support this, which you can now find and join at http://preview.tinyurl.com/ws-rideshare For communications purposes and sharing of materials, I would suggest that we use the New Mobility Caf? at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewMobilityCafe/ for group postings and exchanges. Off we go. | 8-10, rue Joseph Bara 75006 Paris. | +331 75503788. | eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: newmobility | Read World Streets at http://worldstreets.org | To subscribe to weekly edition: Click here India Streets ? is on-line at http://IndiaStreets.org | To subscribe to weekly edition: Click here Nuova Mobilit? in Italy - http://nuovamobilita.org | To subscribe to weekly edition: Click here New Mobility Partnerships ? http://www.newmobility.org -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/png Size: 176113 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20110125/c6af0221/attachment-0001.png From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Fri Jan 28 17:57:41 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 09:57:41 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Behaviour Change -Travel-Mode Choice Interventions to Reduce Car Use in Towns and Cities Message-ID: <011801cbbec9$73faa0a0$5befe1e0$@britton@ecoplan.org> I would like to invite you to have a look at the piece "Testimony: Science and Technology Select Committee, UK House of Lords", on the occasion of their enquiry into instruments for behaviour modification to support more sustainable transport choices -- "Behaviour Change -Travel-Mode Choice Interventions to Reduce Car Use in Towns and Cities" -- which you can find today on World Streets at http://wp.me/psKUY-1iw . I warmly invite your comments and critical remarks. Eric Britton From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sun Jan 30 02:33:16 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2011 18:33:16 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Kala Ghoda Art Festival 5th - 13th February 2011 Message-ID: <01a501cbbfda$9f71eb50$de55c1f0$@britton@ecoplan.org> If anyone here is going to spend time with a camera at the KGAF next week, may we invite you to think about World Streets strange ( 940 x 198 pixels) Social Space Format as you spot street scenes and street art that we can share with our readers. You can see how the format works at http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/editorial-team/the-social-space-format/. Just in case (and wishing that I was going to be there). Eric Britton PS. For more on the KGAF see their Facebook page at - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159908634052201 From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Jan 30 14:41:56 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 11:11:56 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Chandigarh: City for 500,000 now has 800,000 vehicles Message-ID: Chandigarh: City for 500,000 now has 800,000 vehicles http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/7383997.cms 29 Jan, 2011, 12.10PM IST,IANS CHANDIGARH: When French architect Le Corbusier designed the modern city of Chandigarh in the 1950s, it was supposed to cater to a maximum population of 500,000 residents. Six decades on, this twin capital is still the 'City Beautiful', but houses almost 1.2 million people with 800,000 registered vehicles and an estimated 100,000 driving through every day. In the 2001 Census, the population stood at 900,914. With urban planning for Chandigarh not keeping pace with the growth of vehicles in the 114 square km city, a union territory which is also the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana states, congestion, chaos and accidents have become the order of the day. Officials at the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) say that over 125 vehicles are added to the city's roads every day. And up to 40 percent of them are cars and other four-wheelers. "Our workload has increased many times in recent years. Despite more windows for registration of vehicles, the rush is never-ending," an RLA official told IANS. In 2010, 45,481 vehicles were registered in the city, the highest number registered in a single year. The figure was much less in previous years, 37,967 (2009), 33,577 (2008), 33,256 (2007), 33,777 (2006) and 29,697 (2005). "Normally one registration series (9,999 numbers) gets over in three-four months. However, the CH-01-AE series got over in just one month in December," the RLA official said. Besides the over 786,000 vehicles registered in Chandigarh so far, traffic officials of the Chandigarh police say that the city gets a floating population of nearly 100,000 vehicles from adjoining suburbs of Panchkula (Haryana) and Mohali (Punjab). In addition, scores of vehicles come from adjoining states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. "The ever-increasing number of cars and other vehicles is leading to a lot of chaos on the roads, parking lots and even in residential areas. It seems that the city's planners are just sleeping. No one is bothered about managing things now. Everything will just explode one day," Sanjiv Tewari, a retired senior officer of Panjab University , told IANS. In a majority of the city's parking lots, including the paid parking zones, finding space to park a car leaves one harassed. Getting in and out of parking areas is an obstacle too with haphazardly parked vehicles. "People many times park their vehicles wrongly. This leads to chaos and even fights. If we tell them to park properly, they argue with us and don't listen," said Swaran Singh , who mans a parking lot in Sector 35. Chandigarh residents don't have a craze for cars and other vehicles alone. They are equally crazy about car registration numbers. VIP registration numbers in Chandigarh go for hefty prices. In recent years, the number '0001' in different registration series has been auctioned at prices ranging from Rs.3 lakh to Rs.10 lakh. "People here buy VIP numbers like 0001 and others at prices at which you can buy a small or even a mid-segment and a luxury car. This is crazy," said entrepreneur Harman Singh . From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sun Jan 30 18:26:06 2011 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 10:26:06 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Chandigarh: City for 500,000 now has 800,000 vehicles In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <010401cbc05f$c3ebfcc0$4bc3f640$@britton@ecoplan.org> Thank you for the good heads-up Vinay. I took it and plugged it into India Streets with a short introductory note. My hope is that I/S represents not only an extension of the usual reader audience of these articles (including form beyond India) but also provides an easy to consult repository which helps to extend the usual "shelf life" of such pieces. If you think this is a bad idea, please let me know. That was my decision and my responsibility and not that of our excellent associate editors. With thanks, Eric Britton From sutp at sutp.org Mon Jan 31 16:31:08 2011 From: sutp at sutp.org (SUTP Team) Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:01:08 +0530 Subject: [sustran] SUTP Annual Newsletter 2010 Message-ID: <4D46653C.5050304@sutp.org> GIZ - Sustainable Urban Transport Project in 2010 Summary newsletter ************************************ A html version of the newsletter can be seen at : http://www.sutp.org/newsletters/GIZ-Annual-NL-2010.htm . A PDF version can be downloaded from http://www.sutp.org/newsletters/GIZ-Annual-NL-2010.pdf ************************************ Dear colleagues, Happy New Year! In this year-end edition of our newsletter, you will find a summary of SUTP?s key activities during the year 2010. This includes news, publications, training program conducted, events and some key user statistics for the SUTP website. We thank you for your interest in our project and hope that our website continues to be your one-stop platform for viewing all activities, knowledge material and events related to sustainable urban transport! Please keep visiting our website www.sutp.org -------------------------------------------------------------- Major News GIZ is now GIZ From January 1, 2011, The German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) became the German International Cooperation (GIZ). GIZ brings together under one roof the long-standing expertise of the Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED) GmbH (German development service), the Deutsche Gesellschaft f?r Technische Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German Technical Cooperation) and InWEnt ? Capacity Building International, Germany. The SUTP project work areas and activities remain unchanged. Read more: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2547&Itemid=1&lang=en ************ European Mobility Week in L?viv, Ukraine L?viv was the first Ukrainian city that participated in the traditional European Mobility Week in 2010, where more than 1900 European also participated. L?viv City Council jointly with GIZ, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Environment, prepared several events during the European Mobility Week. Partners included the State Traffic Inspectorate of Lviv, bicycle dealers ?VeloBajk? and ?Komanchero? as well as NGOs ?Rukh? and ?Koleso Vitriv?. The slogan for 2010 year was "Travel smarter - live better." Read more: http://www.sutp.org/suteca/mfwl/European_Mobility_Week_in_Lviv_Summary_final.pdf ************ The City of Solo is working on a Sustainable Urban Transport Strategy and Plans With the assistance of CDIA and GIZ-SUTIP, the City of Solo in Central Java, Indonesia is working on establishing a Sustainable Urban Transport Strategy and Implementation Plans. The goal of this cooperation is to create a long-term strategy for sustainable urban transport development, a mid-term action plan and the corresponding list of priority investment projects. Read more: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2450&Itemid=1&lang=en ************ GIZ?s contribution to the improved mobility situation in Johannesburg during the Soccer World Cup During the FIFA World Cup in 2010, the thousands of visitors to the four million metropolis of Johannesburg did not need to worry about getting to the two stadiums in the quickest, safest and most comfortable way. Commissioned by the German Federal Government, the Kreditanstalt f?r Wiederaufbau (KfW) Bankengruppe,financed the planning of a new public transport system in Johannesburg and the German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) played an active role in advising the City of Johannesburg on the planning and the construction of its Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). Read more: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2080 ************ Some key GIZ-SUTP Publications in 2010 (free download on www.sutp.org) Module 1f "Financing Sustainable Urban Transport" Authored by Ko Sakamoto, this new GIZ Sourcebook module provides detailed information on available options for financing urban transport. It presents different financing instruments and ways in which they can be best used, and how to optimally combine them. This module is dedicated to policy makers, financial sector specialists and urban planners/practitioners working on key challenges related to financing urban transport systems. The module provides options to close the gap between the ever growing demand for efficient, equitable and environmentally friendly urban transport systems on one hand, and the dwindling financial resources available to state and local authorities on the other. Read more: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2293&Itemid=1&lang=en ************ Module 1g "Urban Freight in Developing Cities" This module describes the importance of freight transportation in the context of urban development and provides detailed information on available options to meet current and future challenges for urban goods transport in rapidly growing cities of the developing world. The module has been written by Bernhard O. Herzog, expert in the field of freight operation and fleet-management with more than 30 years experience in the field of transport planning and logistics. Read more: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2473&Itemid=1&lang=en ************ Module 2c ?Parking Management: A Contribution towards Liveable Cities? Poor parking management or unregulated parking results in traffic congestion, disruption of the usability and aesthetics of urban spaces, corruption, hindrance of pedestrian access and movement, safety concerns, inequitable usage of road space, etc. Authored by Tom Rye, this module discusses the various definitional, operational, planning, institutional and social challenges around parking practices in cities, and how these could be overcome. The module also discusses topics like types of marking, parking demand and common myths associated with vehicle parking. Read more: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2471&Itemid=1&lang=en ************ Translations Module 5f: Adapting Urban Transport to Climate Change Available in Chinese (http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2282&Itemid=1&lang=en) and Spanish (http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2038) Training Document on Transportation Demand Management - Available in Vietnamese, Ukrainian and Bahasa Indonesia Download: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=97&Itemid=54&Itemid=196 Cycling-inclusive Policy Development: A Handbook - Some Chapters available in Ukrainian and in Spanish - Download: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=97&Itemid=54&Itemid=196) BRT Planning Guide - Available in Spanish (http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1910&Itemid=1%E2%8C%A9=en) Transport and Climate Change - Available in Ukrainian (http://www.sutp.org/suteca/mfwl/5e_TCC_UA13.pdf) Intelligent Transport Systems - Available in Ukrainian (http://www.sutp.org/suteca/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=15&Itemid=59&lang=ua) *********** Technical Documents released in 2010 TD. No. 3 Public Bicycle Schemes: Applying the concept in developing cities (examples from India) The objective of this technical document is to familiarize city authorities, transport planners, businesses, civil society representatives and policy makers in developing cities with the concept and various components of a public bicycle program, and to provide initial guidance and advice on designing and implementing such a program in Indian cities. *********** TD. No. 4 Transport Alliances - Promoting Cooperation and Integration to offer a more attractive and efficient Public Transport This report summarises the development of the German public transport alliance system, the so called Verkehrsverbund that is often regarded as the first and most successful form of integrated transport in the world. It offers information on aspects ranging from institutional issues to best practices in introducing an integrated fare system. This document also looks at transport alliances in the neighbouring country of Switzerland. *********** TD. No. 5 Accessing Climate Finance for Sustainable Transport: A Practical Overview GIZ together with the Bridging the Gap Initiative has developed a practical guide for developing country's governments on how to access climate funds for sustainable land transport interventions. The guidance focuses on climate change mitigation and introduces existing and proposed sources of climate finance in the context of the land transport sector. Download and read more about the above technical documents : http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=124&Itemid=54&lang=&Itemid=198 ************ Reading Lists In order to assist researchers on their search for relevant documents (case studies, project reports, papers, books, etc.), SUTP from time to time compiles a reading list on a number of interesting topics relevant to sustainable urban mobility. Reading lists for the following topics were published in 2010: - Informal Public Transport : http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2163 - Electric Mobility : http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2207&Itemid=1%E2%8C%A9=en - Urban Transport and Health : http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2295&Itemid=1%E2%8C%A9=en - Public Bicycle Schemes : http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2447&Itemid=1&lang=en - Non-motorized transport : http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2430&Itemid=1&lang=en ************ Mega events-pacemaker of sustainable urban transport concepts Climate-friendly mobility cannot be separated and limited exclusively to the period of a special event ? be it a sports event, a concert or a religious celebration. Rather, concepts and measures should kick-start a move towards long-term climate-friendly conditions and behaviour in cities. This document is an interesting compilation of instances where mega events related to sports, etc. have triggered major reforms in urban mobility, which people and cities have benefited from for years to come. This document has been prepared by GIZ as part of the ?Climate-friendly mobility in Ukrainian cities? project, and discusses key issues and recommendations and also provides a reading list on urban mobility improvements during mega events. Read more: http://www.sutp.org/suteca/Mobility%20Mega%20Events_Sept%202010.pdf ************ Training and Capacity building activities conducted by GIZ-SUTP in 2010 2010 proved to be yet another fulfilling year for GIZ-SUTP as it successfully carried out a host of training programs in various parts of the world. Given below is a summary of the programs carried out in 2010. - One day Workshop on ?Bus Rapid Transit? organized by GIZ, Directorate of Urban Land Transport (Bangalore), and Institute of Urban Transport (India), 26th February 2010, Bangalore, India - Two day training course on ?Sustainable Urban Transport? held by GIZ, Land Transport Authority (LTA) Academy, Singapore, and the Malaysian Institute of Planners, 2-3 August, 2010, Kuching, Malaysia - Two day training course on ?Travel Demand Management? held by GIZ, Clean Air Institute and CTS Mexico, supported by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, 7-8 October, 2010, Mexico City, Mexico - E-learning course on ?Sustainable Urban Mobility in Developing Countries? with UNITAR, October 2010- March 2011 - BAQ 2010 Pre-event: One day learning course on ?Financing Sustainable Urban Transport ? Bridging the Gap from Planning to Implementation?, organized by GIZ, LTA Academy and CDIA Asia, 8 November, 2010, Singapore - BAQ 2010 Post event: One day training course on ?Transportation Demand Management?, organized by GIZ and LTA Academy, 12 November, 2010, Singapore - Urban Mobility India 2010 Pre-Event: One day training course on 'Transportation Demand Management and Financing Urban Transport' with Urban Mass Transit Company (UMTC), Institute of Urban Transport (IUT), India, CEPT University and LTA Academy, Singapore ************** User Characteristics for the SUTP website in 2010 In 2010, the SUTP website had around 2500 user registrations. The users came from various continents and groups. Given below are some key trends on user statistics for the SUTP website: Majority of the SUTP users came from the NGO sector, followed by universities, and the governmental bodies comprised 17% of the total SUTP members. This indicates a vast interest amongst grass-root level and think tank agencies to gain knowledge on sustainable urban transport. Large amount of the users of the SUTP website came from Asia (including Australasia) followed by Europe. This might be an indicator of the fact that the resources available on the website are found to be suitable by the Asian audiences. By and large most of the subject areas related to sustainable urban transport received similar attention. These interests continue to serve as a basis for the GIZ-SUTP team as guidance for development of further material. ****************************************** ? Sustainable Urban Transport Project, 2011 A html version of the newsletter can be seen at : http://www.sutp.org/newsletters/GIZ-Annual-NL-2010.htm . A PDF version can be downloaded from http://www.sutp.org/newsletters/GIZ-Annual-NL-2010.pdf -- SUTP Team sutp[at]sutp.org