28 November 2006<br><br><br><br>Dear Lloyd,<br><br>I apologise for not expressing myself too well. <br><br>When
I said "As an Indian I can see why China has taken the decision to ban
electric bikes" I only wanted to explain the mindset of our elite and
planners who are influenced more by them than by rational and logical
analysis of how best to plan urban transportation. <br><br>We are fighting this attitude through advocacy in support of
NMT, Public Transport, Cycling and Walking. In fact we make extensive
use of your excellent publication for GTZ on Non Motorized Traffic when
trying to convince policy makers to change their outdated ways of
thinking.
<br><br>I'm glad to see Sunny's comment, though made in a lighter vein, but he is absolutely right. <br>We
need to make cycling not just acceptable but also give it a high social
status for being a non-polluting, energy efficient and sustainable mode
of transport. Electric bikes are certainly far better in this respect
than cars or even motorcycles/scooters.
<br><br>--<br><span class="sg">Sujit</span><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 11/28/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Lloyd Wright</b> <<a href="mailto:lfwright@usa.net">lfwright@usa.net</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Yes, but why ban electric bicycles and not motorcycles as well (or cars for<br>that matter)?<br><br>------ Original Message ------<br>Received: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 05:27:23 AM EST<br>From: "Sujit Patwardhan" <<a href="mailto:sujit@vsnl.com">
sujit@vsnl.com</a>><br>To: "Global 'South' Sustainable Transport" <<a href="mailto:sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org">sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org</a>><br>Subject: [sustran] Re: Guangzhou bans electric bicycles
<br><br>28 November 2006<br><br>As an Indian I can see why China has taken the decision to ban electric<br>bikes. For Asian countries, particularly those with booming economies, cars<br>have become an extension of a person's identity and a visual symbol of his
<br>upward mobile position in society. For years we have been living in<br>conditions of the controlled economy. A Bajaj (Italian Vespa design) scooter<br>had a waiting period of 7 to 8 years.<br><br><br>--------------------------------------------------------
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>------------------------------------------------------<br>Sujit Patwardhan<br><a href="mailto:sujit@vsnl.com">sujit@vsnl.com</a><br><a href="mailto:sujitjp@gmail.com">
sujitjp@gmail.com</a><br><br>"Yamuna", <br>ICS Colony, <br>Ganeshkhind Road,<br>Pune 411 007<br>India<br>Tel: 25537955<br>-----------------------------------------------------<br>Hon. Secretary:<br>Parisar<br><a href="http://www.parisar.org">
www.parisar.org</a><br>------------------------------------------------------<br>Founder Member: <br>PTTF <br>(Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum)<br><a href="http://www.pttf.net">www.pttf.net</a><br>------------------------------------------------------