[sustran] Re: [NewMobilityCafe] a very short list of very bad practices

[Morten Lange]

Hi,
Interesting. 
**** "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. "
I am not familiar with the special circumstances in Mexico, and I'd say this point needs an explanation, at least not shorter than the other items on the list .  + Demote to a lower placement ?)   Do you have specifics on low usage, poor followup etc ?  I know of a very positive consequence of the bicycle sharing initiative : The authorities reversed their decision to make helmets obligatory for bicycle users.  
  Perhaps better to focus on  e.g. 1. car-centric developments as there are more than enough of them ?  
2. The decisions to force helmets and hi-visibility vests on cyclists  (even though they might be national laws / bylaws )  without taking the time to evaluate the negative very effects in NZ, AU and elsewhere. 
--

Regards / Kvedja

Morten Lange, Reykjavík

--- On Sun, 17/7/11, eric britton <eric.britton at ecoplan.org> wrote:

From: eric britton <eric.britton at ecoplan.org>
Subject: [NewMobilityCafe] a very short list of very bad practices
To: sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org, NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com, WorldTransport at yahoogroups.com, Cities-for-Mobility at yahoogroups.com, UTSG at JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Date: Sunday, 17 July, 2011, 17:43















 
 



  


    
      
      
      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 

    
     

    
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