[sustran] a very short list of very bad practices

[eric britton]

Dear colleagues,

 

For a new book just getting underway here, and which is attempting to make a
significant contribution as a useful guide for better informed policy and
investment in the field of sustainable transport, sustainable cities and
sustainable lives, I am attempting to develop by way of introduction a small
page showing some of the more typical examples of egregious thoughtlessness
in our sector by way of setting the stage for better alternative approaches.

 

I think it would be effective to have a selection of examples from different
parts of the world, all of them short and to the point, and all of them
firmly reality-based.  It would be great if you could offer a few howlingly
good examples from your own experience for our readers.  

 

Here the first handful that come to mind from here, which may or may not
make the final cut:

 

.         Mexico: The decision, come hell or high water, of the mayor of
Mexico City to create a public bicycle system for his city, or rather to
impose a public bicycle system on his city, ready or not.

 

.         France: The decades-long practice of closing of local train
stations in many smaller communities across France, (a practice of course in
many other parts of the world as well), with all of the social, economic,
and mobility implications that somehow never  entered into the calculus of
the decision-makers.

 

.         Bangladesh The decision of the authorities in Dhaka, in cahoots
with the Council of international consultants, to progressively extend a ban
on the use of rickshaws, despite the fact that these wheeled vehicles are
offering every day and at low cost massively important mobility services to
people who need another willing to pay for them.  And further that the
rickshaws offer a large number of economically and socially useful jobs many
of which would disappear if they were replaced by more institutionalized
forms of public transport.

 

.         United States: And finally to cap it all with something of all too
horrible familiarity, the latest "Carmageddon" episode in Los Angeles as a
result of the decision of the authorities there to spend an additional $1
billion to increase the capacity of an already huge urban highway network,
further locking in the car and making alternative solutions all the less
possible.  (Proving once again that forecast and build transportation
planning is not dead, despite all of the abundant proofs to the contrary.)  

 

.         China:  Continuing to plan and build additional infrastructure to
serve private cars despite the fact that virtually everything that they have
done thus far has led to increasingly poorer service for the great majority
of all citizens.

 

What is to my mind most interesting about many of these bad practices, is
that if you scratch a bit you will find that they have a number of things in
common. And that already is very useful. And this is what we are hoping to
point up.

 

The results of this work will be periodically posted and shared in a form
that will make it available to all. As always

 

Thanks for your examples. And in fact maybe even more useful if you might
post them to the group, since bad practices are, in my book at least, every
bit as important as all those best practices inventories. And quite possibly
even more so. 

 

Eric Britton