<HEAD> <STYLE>body{font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:9pt;background-color: #ffffff;color: black;}</STYLE> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3059" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>Todd</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>While I basically agree with your viewpoint,  I don't think Richmond only saw negative examples. He mentioned some positive examples. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Now, I want to take be a little bit provocative and take a negative angle, questioning just how progressive South Africa really is.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>First, let me say that I think the Vea Raya BRT is big step forward from the status quo.  It also would have been a "no-brainer" a few</DIV> <DIV>years ago when there was very little capital funding available. But let's look at what else has been going on in South Africa during the</DIV> <DIV>last few years. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1) Guatrain is a line being built to compete for the commuter market between Pretoria, Sandton, Johannesburg and the airport. It aims at people rich enough to own cars (mostly white people). It has excessively high performance and thus construction expenses for a short distance regional market within a supposedly poor country pleading poverty. This is the same government that since 1994 has been saying it doesn't have much money to improve transit for the majority, yet it found money to accept the financial risk of Guatrain should the revenues collected fail to cover the private investors' projections. <BR></DIV> <DIV>2) Highway widening has aided and abetted business relocation to car-only suburbs. Guateng province has a network of freeways</DIV> <DIV>that look like something out of the U.S., not Africa. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3) The commuter trains in all of the major cities are dilapidated. There haven't been any financial guarantees given to any private investors to rehabiliate these. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>4) The taxi recapitization program has been dragging on for years.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The fact that no alternatives analysis was done in Johannesburg that included an intracity rail possibility and the fact that Durban</DIV> <DIV>was categorically denied any funding for rail suggests that the real agenda of the South African government is to minimize its</DIV> <DIV>investment in projects aimed at the poor majority, thereby leaving more for highways for the better off and for commercial interests. I can't buy the argument that the BRT option is "automatically" better just because there will be employment for taxi drivers on the feeder routes. That could occur with a rail mode on the trunk lines as well. Before the final decision was made, the higher investment cost of rail should have been weighed against its higher speed, higher reserve capacity, narrower right-of-way and potential land use intensifcation. (If anyone wants to argue with me whether rail really outperforms BRT, I want to direct you to argue with the South African government, not me. It clearly believes this is true or it wouldn't have backed Gautrain.) </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Don't misunderstand me. If a proper alternatives analysis had been done the Vea Raya BRT might still have proven to be the best choice, all things considered. But I am suspicious of any funding system that jumps to conclusions. Instead, governments should exercise due diligence in trying to balance available transportation improvement funding against the needs and desires of all of its population. It missed that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when the World Cup might have temporarily lifted the government's austerity policy towards the public works for the poor.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Eric Bruun</DIV> <DIV> <BR><BR></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid">-----Original Message----- <BR>From: Todd Alexander Litman <LITMAN@VTPI.ORG><BR>Sent: Apr 18, 2007 7:11 PM <BR>To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport <SUSTRAN-DISCUSS@LIST.JCA.APC.ORG>, Global 'South' Sustainable Transport <SUSTRAN-DISCUSS@LIST.JCA.APC.ORG><BR>Subject: [sustran] Facing the Harsh Reality of Dysfunctional Organizations <BR><BR><ZZZHTML><ZZZBODY><FONT size=3><BR>Victoria, British Columbia is considered one of the world's most livable cities, but it also has problems with public urination (<A href="http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=b3d6a1b2-0f66-4529-8ba7-f9b5ae55f299" target=_blank eudora="autourl"> http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=b3d6a1b2-0f66-4529-8ba7-f9b5ae55f299</A> ), ugly and disorderly development, homeless people crowding sidewalks, and the perception that government is inefficient due to multiple, conflicting levels of government and inefficient institutions. I've worked in developing countries and know how difficult it often seems, but such conditions also offer the greatest potential for cost-effective improvement. For example, several very poor and corrupt cities have implemented BRT systems which include both physical improvements and reforms that reduce conflicts (including violence) and corruption within the bus industry - the key is to find an ownership and payment structure that rewards operators based on service quality rather than simple volume. I was recently delighted to hear that South Africa is implementing such a system (<A href="http://itdp.org/STe/ste23/johannesburg.html" target=_blank eudora="autourl"> http://itdp.org/STe/ste23/johannesburg.html </A>) which should significantly reduce transport problems and improve mobility for economically disadvantaged people, and we hope will inspire similar systems in other African countries. <BR><BR>If you only see problems and negative examples you are overlooking the many, many opportunities and successes. My advice is to approach these problems with a positive attitude and apply "change management" techniques (see http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm114.htm ). An excellent resource is "Sustainable Transportation: A Sourcebook for Policy-Makers in Developing Countries," by the Sustainable Urban Transport Project (<A href="http://www.sutp.org" target=_blank eudora="autourl">www.sutp.org</A>), which includes modules on institutional reforms and enforcement practices, in addition to my own module on Mobility Management (available in English, Spanish and Chinese). The, admittedly substantial challenges we face make the successes even more satisfying!<BR><BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR>-Todd Litman<BR><BR><BR>At 03:33 PM 4/17/2007, Jonathan E. D. Richmond wrote:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">On my flight from Chennai to London today I found myself seated next to <BR>the vice-president for US operations of one of India's most significant <BR>companies. A perceptive and sophisticated individual, he provided me <BR>insight into many realities of Indian business, government, and social <BR>life. We talked about management and mismanagement -- where things work in <BR>India, where they fail. He did not mince his words in describing failings, <BR>and smiled when I told him about the response on this list to my <BR>truthtelling.<BR><BR>My views about the tragedy of cities of despair such as Chennai are <BR>unchanged: the place is mostly a dump, as I said, people urinate in the <BR>street making large areas stink, development is ugly and disorderly, and<BR>the system of corruption that prevents changetaking place is alive and <BR>well. The poor sleep out on the streets, their children looking frail <BR>sprawled out on the pavements at night. What future can these children <BR>have without the promise of an adequate education or a government with the <BR>decency to care about them?<BR><BR>So I continue to believe that before a city can plan for itself, it must <BR>be able to keep its public toilets clean and other basic public services <BR>running, and it must try to remove at least some of the corruption which <BR>gets in the way of productive change. Leading Indians are quite convinced <BR>of this need, and Westerners connected with development must move from <BR>futile academic thinking to facing the harsh reality of dysfunctional <BR>organizations filled with dishonest people which are in need of basic <BR>reforms. So, be unhappy about being told the truth if you like -- but <BR>understand that hiding distasteful realities helps perpetuate them.<BR><BR>                                      --Jonathan<BR><BR><BR>-----<BR>Jonathan Richmond<BR><BR>1 (617) 395-4360<BR><BR>e-mail: richmond@alum.mit.edu<BR><A href="http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/" target=_blank eudora="autourl">http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/</A><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" target=_blank eudora="autourl">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'). </BLOCKQUOTE><X-SIGSEP> <P></X-SIGSEP><BR>Sincerely,<BR>Todd Alexander Litman<BR>Victoria Transport Policy Institute (<A href="http://www.vtpi.org" target=_blank eudora="autourl">www.vtpi.org</A>)<BR>litman@vtpi.org<BR>Phone & Fax 250-360-1560<BR>1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA<BR>Efficiency - Equity - Clarity<BR> <BR></FONT></ZZZBODY></ZZZHTML></P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY>