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<DIV><FONT size=4>Why are you appalled? You should celebrate that the
people have money to spend!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>What are you doing in Bangalore?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Cheers. setty.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Dr. V. Setty Pendakur<BR>Professor Emeritus, University of British
Columbia<BR>Honorary Professor, China National Academy of Sciences<BR>Chair,
TRB-ABE90 & Director, ITDP </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>President<BR>Pacific Policy and Planning Associates<BR>702--1099 Marinaside
Crescent<BR>Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 2Z3<BR>Phone: 604-263-3576;
Fax:604-263-6493</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=SCHIPPER@wri.org href="mailto:SCHIPPER@wri.org">Lee Schipper</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org
href="mailto:sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org">sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org</A>
; <A title=sujit@vsnl.com href="mailto:sujit@vsnl.com">sujit@vsnl.com</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, March 15, 2006 12:46
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [sustran] Re: Automobility or
Accessibility</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>I just arrivedin Bangalore and I was appalled at how the number
of private vehicles has grown since I first started<BR>coming here in
2001....<BR><BR>>>> <A
href="mailto:sujit@vsnl.com">sujit@vsnl.com</A> 3/15/2006 12:40:03 AM
>>><BR>15 March 2006<BR><BR><BR>Today Bangalore city's bus sytem is
the most efficient, reliable and<BR>profitable in the whole country but with
the number of auto vehicles growing<BR>at cancerour rate in the city and auto
centric infrastructure carried out by<BR>the administration (road widening,
more roads, and flyovers) in the last few<BR>years it is unlikely that the
pubic transport buses will be able to maintain<BR>their high performance
levels for many more years.<BR><BR>This is because infrastructure policies do
not (yet) recognize that unless<BR>the city gives priority to public
transport, all the expensive investments<BR>in roads and flyovers will come to
nought. Going by the needs of the<BR>MAJORITY the city needs better pedestrain
facilities, cycle tracks and<BR>public transport infrastructure which means
BUS LANES and NOT flyovers. It<BR>also means TDM measures so that people are
encouraged to shift to public<BR>transport and made to pay more realistic
costs if they want to persist using<BR>personal vehicles.<BR><BR>As far as I'm
aware, this is not on the city's agenda at the moment. Just<BR>buying a few
Volvo buses is not going to do much for improving the condition<BR>of public
transport. And now that the city has committed itself to the<BR>hugely
expensive Metro it is difficult to imagine where the money will come<BR>from
for above measures (bus lanes, pedestrian facilities and cycle
tracks).<BR><BR>On 3/15/06, Vittal Kumar A. <<A
href="mailto:vittalkumar_a@yahoo.com">vittalkumar_a@yahoo.com</A>>
wrote:<BR>><BR>> Hi,<BR>><BR>> I agree with Todd,<BR>> Here is
an example for initiative to attact such segment of commuters.<BR>>
Bangalore increasingly adding personalized cars for office commuting
with<BR>> reduced road space. Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation
(BMTC) the<BR>> state owned transport corporation introducing innovative
approaches<BR>> for different commuter segments with varied costs/services.
Refer to the<BR>> link<BR>><BR>> <A
href="http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/18/stories/2006021822070300.htm">http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/18/stories/2006021822070300.htm</A>
<BR>> <A
href="http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/05/stories/2006030520370300.htm">http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/05/stories/2006030520370300.htm</A>
<BR>><BR>> regards,<BR>> Vittal<BR>><BR>> *Todd Alexander
Litman <<A href="mailto:litman@vtpi.org">litman@vtpi.org</A>>*
wrote:<BR>><BR>><BR>> I think that this reflects fundamental
differences in how transportation<BR>> is defined. In many situations
people assume that 'transportation' means<BR>> motor vehicle travel, and so
the best way to improve transportation is to<BR>> improve roads and parking
facilities. But that approach incurs huge costs<BR>> and reduces other
forms of mobility and accessibility, if it displaces<BR>> public transit
and nonmotorized travel, or leads to sprawl. The problem that<BR>> we face
is that transport planners often only consider direct, short-term<BR>>
impacts (improved motor vehicle travel) and overlook secondary impacts<BR>>
(reduced accessibility over the long term), and public officials tend to
be<BR>> among the group that benefits most from automobile travel. These
issues are<BR>> discussed in my paper "Measuring Transportation: Traffic,
Mobility and<BR>> Accessibility" ( <A
href="http://www.vtpi.org/measure.pdf">http://www.vtpi.org/measure.pdf</A>
).<BR>><BR>> I think that the best way to counter this is to show that
expanding urban<BR>> roads and parking facilities is very costly, and other
solutions are better<BR>> overall. I think it is important to show that
public transit can be an elite<BR>> service, that can attract wealthy
commuters out of their cars, if a city<BR>> provides a variety of services,
from cheap and basic to premium and luxury)<BR>> and gives public transit
and nonmotorized travel priority in traffic, land<BR>> use, and pricing.
This is the only way that urban transportation systems can<BR>> really work
efficiently, and fortunately some of the world's greatest cities<BR>>
(London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Stockholm, Rome) are now implementing
these<BR>> measures, which provides examples that we can cite. However, I
realize it is<BR>> difficult to persuade people that the future consists of
less rather than<BR>> more automobile traffic.<BR>><BR>><BR>> Best
wishes,<BR>> -Todd Litman<BR>><BR>><BR>> At 01:05 AM 3/14/2006,
you wrote:<BR>><BR>> Dear Alok, Anant, Arul and others,<BR>><BR>>
I feel that the statement Alok posed "It is highly unlikely that car<BR>>
users in Chennai can be made to shift immediately to public transport"<BR>>
to some extent is valid but as I said in my earlier mail if there is<BR>>
political will and consensus there will always be a success. In<BR>>
Singapore, there is multi storey parking but as mentioned it serves as
a<BR>> Park-and-Ride for their BRT and MRT facility and a multi-storey
parking<BR>> would be apt for a small country like Singapore. But still
having car<BR>> restrictive policies and measures make Singapore a pioneer
in Asia.<BR>> Restricting car might not hurt the rich but the change comes
in the<BR>> neo-owners of the cars or the prospective owners. Then there is
the<BR>> modal shift going to other means which also include para transit.
If a<BR>> city can develop good bus and train interactions like some places
in<BR>> Chennai there can be a very less development of para transit. A
BRT<BR>> would be an apt so lution for Chennai and interactions with BRT
would be<BR>> very helpful like there can be a BRT, Bus,
Train.<BR>><BR>> So investing on parking provision will not be a good
idea. As from my<BR>> understanding of Todd Litmans publications, as long
as a city provides a<BR>> safe way and room for cars there will always be
an increase in their<BR>> number and in the future this might lead to an
utter traffic chaos. I<BR>> see it everyday here in Bangkok. Bangkok first
in the early days had a<BR>> good and waterway network, followed by a good
bus and tram network and<BR>> was the second city in Asia after Japan
(sometime in the 1887)...but<BR>> today it is utter chaos and many of us
here will agree to that....If<BR>> chennai does not hope to become a
Bangkok of India it would be wise to<BR>> opt for a Transit and
Non-motorised options and not for the flyovers and<BR>> more
cars.<BR>><BR>> Sunny<BR>><BR>> Dear Alan, Regina, Carlos and
Lloyd,<BR>><BR>> As Lloyd and Carlos suggested shifting to cycle
rickshaws wo uld be a<BR>> wise option but it has to be noted that cycle
rickshaws can provide<BR>> service for short trips which can also be done
by a walk and a bicycle<BR>> trip. Encouraging more NMT and introducing the
idea of shared space in<BR>> come junctions of Mumbai would be a very nice
option, car drivers should<BR>> notice that they are not the only users of
the road but also the road<BR>> serves for several other modes.
Implementing BRT would be a better<BR>> option as it takes the space from
the car users and gives it to the<BR>> disadvantaged. BRT has a proven
record of reducing crime rates and Lloyd<BR>> and Carlos are the best
persons who can talk more on this. Cities like<BR>> Bogotá and Curitiba
have experienced this and encouraging pedestrian<BR>> areas also is a
strategy for reducing car dependency. Even in Mumbai<BR>> increasing
parking space will not be an option. At first it can be<BR>> implemented
area-wise and then extended. Glasgow is a good example for<BR>> this, a
city that changed from a notorious state to a pleasant.<BR>><BR>>
Changing the look of rickshaws will be a very good idea. This has been<BR>>
implemented in many places of Europe and in Japan there has been a<BR>>
hybrid rickshaw which can run both on a battery and pedal power. On
the<BR>> other hand they can even generate income among the lower class of
the<BR>> society<BR>><BR>><BR>> Sincerely,<BR>> Todd Alexander
Litman<BR>> Victoria Transport Policy Institute (<A
href="http://www.vtpi.org">www.vtpi.org</A>)<BR>> <A
href="mailto:litman@vtpi.org">litman@vtpi.org</A> <BR>> Phone & Fax
250-360-1560<BR>> 1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA<BR>>
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>>
================================================================<BR>>
SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,<BR>>
equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing
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the main focus is<BR>> on urban transport policy in
Asia.<BR>><BR>><BR>> ------------------------------<BR>> Relax.
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SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,<BR>>
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href="mailto:sujitjp@gmail.com">sujitjp@gmail.com</A> <BR><BR>"Yamuna",<BR>ICS
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