[sustran] Re: Is Asia moving in the direction of restricting the use of private cars?

[jfdoulet at yahoo.com]

Dear Cornie,

I totally agree with you. Howerver, when looking at the rationale behind congestion charge options in emerging Asia, we see that what you call the third option/phase is being legitimized by the option/phase 2: local governments are thinking about restricting the use of cars when they consider that the public transport offer is good enough.

In Vietnam, both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have set up a plan to curb car use in the future: Hanoi, through higher parking fees and Ho Chi Minh City, through congestion charge. When you look into the agenda supporting those measures, you notice that both cities identify 2015 as a turning point, estimating that their public transport system will be good enough so that restricting car use will be legitimate. You can find more or less the same roadmap in other big Asian metropolis, like Jakarta.

Indeed, it will make a real change if cities from emerging Asia could succeed in implementing transportation schemes that combine intelligently the three options/phases you are mentioning. The only city I know so far who did it is Shanghai. I am more skeptical about other cities. The pace of motorization is very fast all over emerging Asia and the political will to set up a comprehensive and strong urban transportation strategy doesn't seem to be very high.

All the best,

Jean-Francois Doulet, PhD
Associate Professor, Paris Institute of Urban Planning
Vice-director, Sino-French Center for Urban, Regional and Planning Studies
+33615253328
-----Original Message-----
From: Cornie Huizenga <cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org>
Sender: sustran-discuss-bounces+jfdoulet=yahoo.com at list.jca.apc.org
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2012 09:34:40 
To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport<sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
Subject: [sustran] Is Asia moving in the direction of restricting the use of
	private cars?

Dear All,

I came across the following news article on Viet Nam:

Vietnamese  *Deputy PM advocates restricted use of private vehicles*
15 Mar, 2012
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chairman of the National Traffic
Safety Committee, on Thursday instructed the Ministries of Finance and
Transport to submit a proposal that will restrict use of privately owned
vehicles by increasing toll fee, in a move to restore more traffic order
and safety in Ho Chi Minh City.
On Thursday afternoon, Deputy PM Phuc, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang
and representatives from other relevant departments and ministries met with
City leaders to find ways to improve traffic safety and curb congestion.
http://www.lookatvietnam.com/2012/03/deputy-pm-advocates-restricted-use-of-private-vehicles.html

For me this fits in quite well with a recent insight that I had on the
manner in which thinking on sustainable transport is developing in the
Asian region.  I see three main phases in the way that governments are
approaching transport planning: (1) built your way out of construction -
under this approach national and city governments resort to massive
construction programs - e.g. the 6 ring roads in Beijing, (2) when the
first approach does not solve congestion problems governments invest in
massive expansion of public transport, (metro, BRT, etc) and put in place
temporary restrictions on use of cars based on plate numbers, and (3) once
the first two methods are not working consider limiting the growth of
vehicles (e.g Shanghai and Beijing) or the use of vehicles through
congestion charges, urban road tolling etc.   My impression/expectation is
that we will see more of the third approach in Asia in the coming years.
It is interesting so far that it is governments who are in the lead on this
and that this is not the result from extensive lobbying from international
NGOs or development organizations who still are focused largely on phase 2
- the creation of alternative public and NMT transport infrastructure and
services.

What do you think?

Cornie


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