From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Jun 5 19:21:35 2016 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2016 15:51:35 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Delhi government appointed panel on "Decongestion of Traffic in Delhi" says avoid signal free corridors and have 5 new BRT routes Message-ID: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/No-more-flyovers-congestion-tax-to-beat-Delhi-traffic-Government-panel/articleshow/52599852.cms No more flyovers, congestion tax to beat Delhi traffic: Government panelDipak Kumar Dash | TNN | Jun 5, 2016, 11.07 AM IST [image: File picture of a congested Delhi road]File picture of a congested Delhi road NEW DELHI: A high-powered government appointed panel on "Decongestion of Traffic in Delhi" has recommended disincentivizing use of private vehicles through deterrent parking pricing and congestion tax. It has also recommended no more huge investment in building flyovers and signal-free corridors. *The panel has recommended Rs 20,000 crore interventions through BRTS, buses, walking and cycling infrastructure.* Headed by urban development secretary Rajiv Gauba, the committee has noted that 21 per cent of the city's space is already under roads with limited scope for road network expansion. About 60 per cent of passenger trips are below four kilometre distances and 80 per cent below six kilometre lengths, which are ideal for non-motorized transport. It has recommended development of necessary infrastructure for promoting walking and cycling in the national capital. It also opined that automobile centric planning with focus on road widening, construction of more and more flyovers, foot-over-bridges and under passes have only promoted increased use of private vehicles, which are meeting only less than 20 per cent of transport needs and should not be encouraged unless warranted by natural barriers like rivers. The committee also expressed serious concern over mushrooming of gated communities in the city, which are compelling local traffic to come onto main roads by preventing short cuts for movement of people. The panel has called for various interventions over the next five years to enable 80 per cent share for public transport and non-motorized trips in total transportation in the city where in the total passenger trips are estimated to increase to 280 lakhs per day in 2021 from a mere 45 lakh trips in 1981 and 144 lakhs in 2008. Expressing concern over 18 different Central and Delhi government departments and agencies handling different aspects of transportation in the city region, the panel recommended a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority for better coordination, quick decision-making and execution. Some of the key recommendations include making fully-paid rented or owned where the fee will be decided based on area of the city, duration and size of the vehicles. Parking on footpaths should be made cognizable offence under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act and penal charges for parking violations to be 10 times the normal rates. For pedestrian safety, it has recommended earmarking more crossings for pedestrians and cyclists, at least at every 250 metres and avoiding signal-free corridors as they invite more private vehicles on roads. Considering the fact that two-wheelers have become a substitute for public transport, the panel has recommended that bus fares should be priced less than per km cost of running a two wheeler and immediate procurement of 2,000 buses and another 4,000 in the next phase. The panel has recommended construction of five BRTS corridors - Karwal Nagar-Moti Gate (12.90 kms), Gazipur NH-24 -National Stadium (12 kms), Dishal Garden Metro Station-Tikri Border (40 kms), Badarpur Border - International Airport via Mahipalpur (26.10 kms) and Harsh Vihar-Janakpuri District Centre-Janakpuri D Block (33 kms). From yanivbin at gmail.com Mon Jun 6 12:39:40 2016 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2016 09:09:40 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Hyderabadis will not rest till government scraps the SRDP (Strategic Road Development Plan) Message-ID: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/City-residents-vow-to-fight-to-the-finish/articleshow/52426494.cms City residents vow to fight to the finishTNN | May 25, 2016, 06.35 AM IST Hyderabad: Hyderabadis will clearly not rest until the state government scraps the SRDP (Strategic Road Development Plan).At least so it seems from the barrage of emails that readers wrote in and the impressive number of supporters who turned up for the silent candlelight march organised by TOI on Sunday evening. Readers, while lauding TOI for its initiative to save the green cover in a city that `ranks very low in terms of the number of trees per inhabitant', vowed to relentlessly oppose the axing of hundreds of trees around the KBR Park and stressed the need to organise more solidarity marches and movements to oppose the state government's `foolishly dangerous' decision. While Vijay Bhasker, founder of a non-profit organization said : " T h e initiative taken by TOI to save one of Hyderabad's iconic parks is highly appreciable," Abhishek Asthana, who was part of the candlelight march on Sunday, urged TOI to "organise more such campaigns". Voicing his exasperation, S Sudarshan Rao said: "Most of the green cover has already vanished from Hyderabad's horizon. There is no end to urban needs and any additional roads and flyovers will not suffice. The need of the hour is proper long-term planning." Outlining the consequences of disturbing the ecosystem of a park that "serves as a lung space for residents of Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and adjoining areas", Deepankar Dutta painted pictures of a very different KBR Park from his memories. "Any form of construction or any alterations to the present ecosystem, which has been built over the years, will have cascading effect on the environment.The KBR Park area, 35 to 40 years ago, was an open forest visited by aristocratic people. The Chiran palace was hardly visible & it was lost amidst the trees which surrounded it. Now, however, the park is already under threat due to rampant construction all around it." Ruing the state government's `callous attitude' towards urban planning, he added, "Widening existing roads or building flyovers are not the only solutions to ease traffic congestion. A more holistic approach is required instead of simply chopping trees mercilessly. In fact, before Hi-Tec City was developed alternate roads should have been built for better connectivity to the main city." Aditi Pati, a student of engineering at Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology , listed other instances of green murder."Over the past few months, Hyderabad has already witnessed enough loss of green cover. Anyone crossing Gandipet and Ocean Park can see that nearly 2 km of lush greenery has been cut down stealthily in the name of road widening.Felling trees around KBR Park in order to create yet another flyover will not only kill one of the biggest air purifying units in the city but also cramp the already choked Hyderabad, courtesy the metro rail project," she stated. "Disturbing the walkway around the KBR Park would seriously affect the park habitat and deprive the public of a muchneeded green space. We in Hyderabad cannot afford to lose any green cover that we have, we need to add to it and sustain it in a planned manner. Civic progress is not deter mined by the number of expressways or automobile pandering planning. Maybe it is time we took a serious look at planning guidelines and redefine what it is that makes a city progressive smart and sustainable," stated Renu Singhal, an urban designer who wrote to TOI. Akash Brown, a resident of Tarnaka expressed his solidarity with the Save KBR movement. "If we don't save the trees and improve the quality of air in the city now, it can perhaps never be done.There are examples of cities, across the world that have reduced themselves to heaps of dirt from examples of excellent civilization due to the practice of deforestation. Let's not follow them," warned Brown. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/SRDP-to-ruin-environment-cant-end-traffic-snarls/2016/06/05/article3467061.ece SRDP to ruin environment, can't end traffic snarls' By Express News Service 05th June 2016 04:57 AM HYDERABAD: A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the High Court against the state government?s ?in principle? approval for construction of multi-layer flyovers at 20 junctions in Greater Hyderabad. Seeking declaration as illegal and arbitrary the order of the government for according ?permission for tree felling? for establishing new industry under ?ease of doing business?, the petitioner submitted that Hyderabad had already experienced axing of more than 20,000 fully-grown trees during ongoing metro rail construction. Petitioner K Purshotham Reddy, an environmentalist, said the state government?s Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP), mooted to solve traffic issues, will destroy valuable natural resources such as KBR National Park and Durgam Cheruvu apart from various other public and private facilities. Rather than solving traffic congestion, the project would add to the traffic and pollution menace, he said. Traffic congestion in New Delhi is a live example that despite wide and large roads, larger network of metro still cannot reduce traffic congestion. As for Hyderabad, the government, in a span of 15 years, undertook many road-widening programmes and constructed many flyovers but could not ease the traffic congestion, he pointed out. Most developed cities have responded to their traffic problems by drastically reducing the road space for private vehicles, imposing heavy parking charges, restricting vehicles? entry into core market areas and even demolishing the flyovers that have been built. The SRDP is not only arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional but also devoid of logical reasoning. It is of paramount importance that the entire SRDP be stalled and the government focus on implementing public transportation and bicycling strategies and then a logical assessment be made to understand the real need of roads and flyovers in the city, he added. The petitioner urged the court to forthwith grant stay of further proceedings of the impugned GO Rt No.208 dated May 30, 2015 and GO Ms No.19 dated May 13, 2016 issued by the municipal administration and urban development department pending disposal of the above PIL. From yanivbin at gmail.com Mon Jun 13 02:20:46 2016 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2016 22:50:46 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Karnataka Government seeks to nationalise bus routes in entire State issues draft notification Message-ID: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/government-seeks-to-nationalise-bus-routes-in-entire-state/article8719690.ece [image: Inline image 1] *Government seeks to nationalise bus routes in entire State* ANIL KUMAR SASTRY Valid private bus permits to continue; no new permits to private operators, says draft notification Taking a big step in protecting the interests of State road transport corporations (RTCs), the Karnataka government has decided to nationalise all bus routes in the State for the exclusive operation of RTCs, while allowing only ?existing, valid and in operation? private bus permits to continue. A draft notification issued on Friday by the Transport Department implies that the KSRTC, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Northwest KRTC and Northeast KRTC can offer services on new routes to the exclusion of private operators. It seeks to cancel all the 21 route nationalisation ?schemes? of the KSRTC and bring in only one ?Karnataka scheme?. A scheme means identification of routes or a district for the exclusive operation of the KSRTC as provided by the Motor Vehicles Act. Aggrieved persons can file objections to the draft notification within 30 days from its publication. Two reasons appear to have compelled the government to come out with the new scheme. The T.M. Vijay Bhaskar Committee, appointed by the government following the Supreme Court direction in December last, has held that 3,225 permits that overlap / intersect with nationalised routes issued to private operators were illegal. He had recommended cancellation of those permits. The aggrieved operators have now moved the High Court against this recommendation. Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy told The Hindu that the proposed Road Transport and Safety Bill 2015, of the Union government, if enacted, would compel the RTCs to compete with private operators. Since the RTCs in south India were robust, the governments intended to protect them. When routes in the entire State were nationalised, there would be no scope for entry of other operators, he said. KSRTC Staff and Workers Federation general secretary H.V. Ananthasubba Rao has welcomed the move. KSRTC Managing Director Rajender Kumar Kataria said the RTCs were geared to meet any additional demand as they had spare buses.g -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 234006 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20160612/28a9848d/image-0001.png From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue Jun 21 14:55:25 2016 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2016 11:25:25 +0530 Subject: [sustran] New service tax makes air-conditioned buses uncool in Bengaluru Message-ID: How did the idea of 1000 new AC buses get into their head? Which lobby is now at work here? Centre's new service tax makes air-conditioned buses uncool in Bengaluru By Arka Bhattacharya , ET Bureau | 20 Jun, 2016 [image: At a time when the BMTC is plans to have 1,000 AC buses by 2018, a fall in demand, thanks to the increased fares, could be disastrous for the corporation.]At a time when the BMTC is plans to have 1,000 AC buses by 2018, a fall in demand, thanks to the increased fares, could be disastrous for the corporation. Transport Corporatio... Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) are fighting tooth and nail against the service tax levied on AC carriage buses. The service tax has pushed up the already expensive AC bus fares by 6%. The Union Budget brought all state-owned transport corporations under this service tax bracket.Under the new regime, a service tax of 15% is applicable on 40% of all revenues collected from AC bus services. The corporations transferred the burden to commuters. Non-AC buses are, however, exempt. Bengaluru commuters affected by this move are mainly fliers travelling to and from the airport and the IT sector employees. "I have written to the secretary, ministry of finance, asking them to reconsider the proposal. Today it is AC buses, tomorrow it could be extended to non-AC services," said KSRTC MD Rajendar Kumar Kataria. Kataria, who is also vice-president of the Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU), said all state transport undertakings that run AC buses opposed the move. The ASRTU consists of more than 60 STUs, which run almost 4,000 AC buses amongst them. BMTC's MD Ekroop Caur too has kept up the pressure. "I have written to the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) regarding this but we are yet to hear back from them," she said. Elangovan K, a frequent Volvo commuter on the BellandurMarathahalli route, says driving a small car is more economical. "This move is just going to put more cars back on the road and add to the congestion. The buses returning from Whitefield are mostly empty. In such cases, the BMTC should introduce dynamic pricing if it senses lower occupancy on a particular route," he added. Close to 11% of BMTC's fleet comprises AC buses, mainly Volvos.Numbering close to 700, these vehicles are also rented out by companies wishing to provide pickup and drop services to their employees. AC buses operate almost 640-650 sched ules a day and 4% of the fleet is kept as reserve to be used as spares for vehicles on private routes. At a time when the BMTC is plans to have 1,000 AC buses by 2018, a fall in demand, thanks to the increased fares, could be disastrous for the corporation. He also confirmed that the decision to limit the service tax to only 40% of AC bus revenues was part of the Centre's plan to implement service tax in STUs in phases. Prices would shoot up once service tax was completely implemented.Service tax collected on BMTC's AC services is likely to touch Rs 2 crore this financial year. From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue Jun 21 18:44:48 2016 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2016 15:14:48 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Driving on footpaths: How to keep footpaths safe from motorists Message-ID: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/driving-on-footpaths-how-to-keep-footpaths-safe-from-motorists/articleshow/52847343.cms?prtpage=1 Driving on footpaths: How to keep footpaths safe from motorists By ET Bureau | 21 Jun, 2016, 11.51AM [image: The very fault lies in the way roads and footpaths are designed, tackling footpath riding needs a combination of engineering and enforcement, says official.]The very fault lies in the way roads and footpaths are designed, tackling footpath riding needs a combination of engineering and enforcement, says official. BENGALURU: Motorists scooting up on footpaths and endangering pedestrians is a common sight in Bengaluru. This year, the traffic police have booked 6,977 cases of footpath riding, which indicates a weak enforcement compared with other violation figures. 'Raise Footpath Level, Educate Motorists' The very fault lies in the way roads and footpaths are designed in Bengaluru, Pawan points out. "They encourage two wheelers to get in and out. Tackling footpath riding needs a combination of engineering and enforcement," says, Pawan Mulukutla, manager, Urban Transport at WRI India. *Solutions* Traffic police can't be expected to do both enforcement and education. Corporates must come up with road safety policies and campaigns to educate employees on footpath riding. Streets have to be designed to ensure motorists can't get onto foot paths. A simple way is to raise the grade level. The traffic police should conduct a special drive to drive home the message that footpaths are for pedestrians. *Official line* Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R Hitendra said the city's vehicle population is increasing by the day and spaces for pedestrians are shrinking. "The only provision we have is to fine vehicle owners who ride on footpaths. Also, we aren't authorised to install bollards on footpaths." 'Increase Footpath Width, Install Bollards' According to MN Sreehari, traffic advisor to government, footpaths are important for pedestrians. "But with Bengaluru's narrow roads, 42% of those killed in road accidents are pedestrians.There's no value for human life and authorities should address this," he says. Sreehari, traffic advisor to government *Solutions* The width of the footpaths needs to be adjusted to match capacity and the number of pedestrians. A simple solution is to install concrete bollards to prevent foot path riding. Each bollard could cost about Rs 800. The city has about 3,000 traffic policemen for 60 lakh vehicles on 15,000 km of roads. The police can use surveillance cameras to book footpath riders. *TenderSURE roads also provide for vehicle parking adjoining foot paths. This inconveniences both pedestrians as well as traffic.* Prohibiting roadside parking would allow smooth vehicular movement and reduce the need for motorists to ride on foot paths. From paulbarter at reinventingtransport.org Wed Jun 22 10:40:10 2016 From: paulbarter at reinventingtransport.org (Paul Barter) Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2016 09:40:10 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Seductive but destructive goals: congestion-free and affordable driving Message-ID: There is a new post (finally) at Reinventing Transport and I think it will interest sustran-discussers. The title is "Seductive but destructive goals: congestion-free and affordable driving" Urban transport decision-makers face huge pressures to keep driving uncongested and to keep it cheap. But take a look at cities that have worked long and hard to get free-flowing traffic and affordable driving. I doubt you will like what you see. This point was a central theme of my chapter "Achieving Sustainable Mobility" which appears in The State of Asian and Pacific Cities 2015. Read the rest at: http://www.reinventingtransport.org/2016/06/seductive-but-destructive-goals.html Paul Paul Barter www.reinventingparking.org www.reinventingtransport.org http://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/faculty/barter-paul/