<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16414" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The challenges in Ulaanbaatar are complex. As in many problem cities, it is has taken quite some time and many fluffed decisions to get to this point, so it won't be easy to resolve it either. </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>There are a few key factors : </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>a) Ulaanbaatar has grown rapidly over the past few decades, and now has more than one third of the entire population of Mongolia (c. 1 million out of less than 3 million people). This has been mostly migration from the countryside, but also from mining towns and other small population centres. There are no other counter-balancing urban centres of note.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>b) There is a legacy stock of Soviet-era apartments, but the bulk of the growth has been in "ger settlements". A "Ger" ('yurt' in other countries) is a felt-covered solid tent structures normally used in the countryside, and a very effective way to survive the harsh winters. No-one had foreseen settlements of thousands and thousands of these like a giant trailer park with individual fenced areas, small muddy lanes, animal husbandry and various other characteristics. I believe that about 45% of Ulaanbaatar's population is in gers. Mostly, their heating and cooking is done by coal, which contributes greatly to the air quality problems, not to mention sanitation and other issues.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>c) Ulaanbaatar has a roads structure suited to the Soviet era of buses and trucks, a set of relative narrow arteries and key routes, and channelled traffic. Once private cars with dispersed movement patterns hit it, it rapidly congested. It was evident in 1995-6 how it was going to turn out, but our recommendations to establish bus priority before it was too late (along with many other measures) were ignored. I haven't been there in some time, but I believe it is now heavily congested.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>d) The bus and trolleybus network - which in 1995-6 was fairly good but with aged rolling stock - has been seriously eroded. As I understand it, the minibuses have taken a very large share of the public transport market, extracting seriously from the large bus network, and contributing to the congestion. They are probably the only practical means of serving the ger settlements. The buses received from Korea and Japan in 1995-6 are now at the end of their viable life, and it's not certain what happens next. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>e) The topography of Ulaanbaatar is also a factor, being on a river plan between high ground to north and south. In the absence of wind, you can get a nasty build-up of emissions, and in sunny weather this can also lead to photochemical smog and low-level ozone. I don't know if the big coal-fired power plant on the west side of the city is still in service, but ten years ago it was a nasty addition to the problem except in summer when it shut down for maintenance.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I believe that some of the international agencies are getting active there on transportation and air quality issues, hopefully they will make some contribution, but I think the problems go deep into the migration of population into Ulaanbaatar, the lack of alternative employment centres, and the now-embedded ger settlement population who probably do not have the lifeskills to live outside their current environment.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I hope this is of some assistance to anyone looking at Ulaanbaatar's challenges. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>With best wishes, </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Brendan Finn. </FONT></DIV> <DIV>_____________________________________________________________________________________<BR>From Brendan Finn, ETTS Ltd.   e-mail : <A href="mailto:etts@indigo.ie">etts@indigo.ie</A>   tel : +353.87.2530286</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=edelman@greenidea.info href="mailto:edelman@greenidea.info">Green Idea Factory</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">Global 'South' Sustainable Transport</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, February 20, 2007 10:35 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [sustran] Skies turn grey in Ulan Bator</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV>There are lots of reasons besides increased automobile use for Ulan <BR>Bator's descent into EGH (economic growth hell), but at bottom of <BR>article they list measures they are studying to solve the problem... but <BR>taking the auto- out of automobile does not seem to be one of them <BR>(okay, maybe it is simply not mentioned here...)<BR><BR>Anyone have more info?<BR><BR> <<A href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6376203.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6376203.stm</A>><BR><BR>-- <BR>--------------------------------------------<BR><BR>Todd Edelman<BR>Director<BR>Green Idea Factory<BR><BR>Korunní 72<BR>CZ-10100 Praha 10<BR>Czech Republic<BR><BR>++420 605 915 970<BR>++420 222 517 832<BR>Skype: toddedelman<BR><BR><A href="mailto:edelman@greenidea.eu">edelman@greenidea.eu</A><BR><A href="http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain">http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain</A><BR><BR>Green Idea Factory,<BR>a member of World Carfree Network<BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------- <BR>IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via YAHOOGROUPS. <BR><BR>Please go to <A href="http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss">http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss</A> to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement.<BR><BR>================================================================<BR>SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). <BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>