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

[Pascal van den Noort]

In Amsterdam I see the trend that -next to increased cycling- more and more scooters and big motor bikes replace the cars. 


Pascal J.W. van den Noort
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On 3 apr. 2012, at 04:07, Carlosfelipe Pardo wrote:

> This is a most interesting topic. There is frequently the notion that 
> push (getting people out of their cars) must follow pull (getting them 
> into public transport etc). The problem is always finding out what is an 
> adequate level of pull measures. The example of Bogotá is most telling: 
> in the decade of 1990 everyone said nothing could be done because we had 
> very bad public transport. Then TransMilenio came in and improved the 
> situation incredibly (say from 1 to 10 in quality). Now, 12 years after 
> TransMilenio, there is still no significant TDM measure implemented 
> because people still believe that we must have better public 
> transport.... and we will go on and on.
> 
> I am sure this cycle will keep on going in every city that poses the 
> question until someone (mayor or whoever) says that it is definitely a 
> chicken-and-egg problem and we will not find our way into sustainable 
> transport unless something is done now regarding TDM measures - as many 
> as possible. Hiding behind the pull-before-push argument will not really 
> get us anywhere.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Carlos.
> 
> On 02/04/2012 03:12 a.m., Cornie Huizenga wrote:
>> Dear Jean-Francois,
>> 
>> Of course transport policy will be a combination of objectives.  However
>> what I was trying to describe is a new development that it is the
>> policy/decision makers, sometimes as the national level but often at the
>> local level, who come to the insight that step 1 and 2 is not able to
>> ensure that cities are functioning smoothly and that more radical measures
>> are required.
>> 
>> I have some problems with the way that you are describing the situation in
>> Ho Chi Minh City: "*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 (emphasis added)". *This still
>> implies somehow that additional public transport is an alternative to
>> private mobility.  Examples of Beijing and Mexico city, where there has
>> been substantial expansion in public transport in recent years, had very
>> large growth figures in private transport (Beijing 700,000 cars in 2010,
>> before they put in place a quota of 240,000 per year in 2011, and about
>> 500,000 in Mexico city in 2010) show that it is a fallacy that you can
>> build enough pubic transport capacity quickly enough to provide a
>> convincing alternative to private motorization.
>> 
>> The example of Shanghai (and Singapore for that matter) shows that you it
>> pays off to start early with phase 3 and put this in place simultaneously
>> with phase 2.  Once the genie is out of the bottle and the cars are on the
>> road it will be very hard to get them under control.
>> 
>> I agree that the change that I talk about is still in its infancy but it is
>> fascinating to see the growing number of news items coming up, also in the
>> Indian press about decision makers saying things on controlling private
>> motorization which a number of years were impossible.  Last week we had an
>> event in New York at the UN on sustainable transport with NGOs, MDB, EU,
>> USA and Indonesia. Guess who was the most vocal in calling for radical
>> solutions: "we should not build more highways and we should control the
>> number of cars", yes, it was the Assistant Minister for Environment from
>> Indonesia.
>> 
>> Change is in the air and we should cultivate it.
>> 
>> Cornie
>> 
>> On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 3:27 PM,<jfdoulet at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>> 
>>> 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
>>> --------------------------------------------------------
>>> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit
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>>> 
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>>> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
>>> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
>>> (the 'Global South').
>>> 
>> 
>> 
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