<html> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> “Like I keep saying, massive numbers of motorcycles and mopeds is a symptom of neglect of public transport. If the rich can drive, are the masses really going to do without mobility if they can afford it? How could you persuade them otherwise? Eric Bruun”   Och Laddie, there’s the beastie.   Dear Eric Bruun and all of us who are following this thread.   Not to be disrespectful Eric, and I know you are well aware of this, but please give me a moment more on this to see if I can make a positive contribution here to what after all is an extremely important matter – in the knowledge that if we here are not able to develop a common vocabulary and broadly shared vision of the solution set, then the old mobility guys are going to continue to rule the day.   Our choice of words is ever dangerous, since it can in a single sweep narrow the field of thought and choice,  and in the process leave out of sight what just may be our best solutions.  Thus when we see that time-blessed word “mass” (just after its good and often partner “rich”) and then that other one “public transport” we suddenly are swept into a mental architecture, a far too narrow room,  which in my view simply does not help us in the world in which we live.   Here it is dear friends, suddenly a first clumsy step into the 21st century -- and with the fury of economic and technological development the patterns of travel have exploded in time and space we find ourselves living in a world which is very different from the old days. And the old vocabulary. The same old vocabulary that looked so good and so prescient back when Uncle Karl was sitting there in the warmth of the Reading Room of the British Library scratching out the vocabulary that dominated thinking and policy in many places for the century ahead.  But hey! it’s 2006 and when we look out on the streets we simply do not see all that many long lines of workers, lunch pails in hand and docilely waiting to get to the factory or mine gates by opening time. Some yes, but there’s a lot more to it than that.   Let’s sep back and remind ourselves what is actually going on out there on our streets. (And yes of course I know all you know this, but it just may serve as a quick reminder, because clearly there are an awful lot of very handsome people making policy decisions in the sector who apparently do not fully understand the problematique.)   So I went over to out little Global South video library this morning (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/group/globalsouth">http://www.youtube.com/group/globalsouth</a>) and picked out a handful of one minute clips showing street action in cities in India, China, Bangladesh and Vietnam – in an attempt to see if I might get the general idea across in a few vivid minutes. I then popped in a little introduction and labeled the whole thing with the following immortal prose:   "Mass Transport" in the Global South. You tell me. Where are these people going? And when do they want to go there? Will traditional public transport do the job for all of them? Certainly no, and in many cases not only on the grounds of the origin, destination and timing of travel, but also on cost grounds.  Should this be taken to mean that there is no room for fixed route scheduled services in our cities in 2006?  Of course there is, but the demand patterns have changed and so must the supply.  Probably the biggest conundrum for planners and policy makers, above all in the cities of the Global South.   You can catch it at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jcy2rBxesY&feature=PlayList&p=0ABE0A9AB3E4C5FA&index=0&playnext=1">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jcy2rBxesY&feature=PlayList&p=0ABE0A9AB3E4C5FA&index=0&playnext=1</a>   And by the way if you look at the last clip showing Ho Chi Minh street in Saigon, you will in addition to hundreds of motorized two and three wheelers a bus.  Slow down the image and count the number of people you see on the bus. I guess that’s what we mean by “mass”.  ;-)   Eric Britton     </div> </body> </html>