<div>Message from USA/Germany/Indonesia...</div><div><br></div><div>Just my 2 cents, since I also believe there are still a lot of things that America could benefit from international experiences (and certainly vice versa) in terms of sustainable transport development. I would recommend doing comparative studies between the US and the Western European countries since the two geographic areas are comparable in terms of income level, but have huge differences in terms of transportations service levels especially in land transport modes: rail, public transport and non-motorized transport. Though some of the western European concepts made it to be quite popular in the US (like traffic calming which is originally from Holland/Germany, I think), there are sill many other transport concepts that could be used to improve the transport sector in the US. <br>
</div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Public Transport</span></div><div>One thing that strikes me most just from my casual observation is that how slow improvements are made in the public transport sector in the US. In San Francisco I still see the same Muni buses and Bart trains that I probably saw 16 years a go when I went there as a backpacker. The Caltrain train system that connects San Francisco and San Jose still uses the old-style diesel-electric technology which makes them very slow to accelerate and decelerate (actually quite ironic for the high-tech area of Silicon-Valley that it's servicing). And the the T-Line here in Boston breaks down too often and its subway stations still look dark and dusty like storage rooms though they're constantly under renovation. If one compares this situation to cities in Western Europe like Berlin or Hamburg, where you can see visible improvements in public transport every five years or so (such as modernized subway stations, new trains/buses, real-time arrival/departure information system etc...), the difference is quite dramatic considering their similarly high income levels. So there must be something behind it in terms of public transport sector management that can be learned from the more successful examples.</div>
<div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Bike Transport</span></div><div>The other thing that I miss while living in the US is good bike facility. One would notice that the bike facilities here are far from adequate, esp. for little children and elderly cyclists, even in places like Palo Alto or Standford campus that have the highest bike use in the country. From my car-less living in Berlin for 15 years as a cyclist, I consider myself as an experienced utilitarian cyclist. But I wouldn't dare riding my bike on many streets in SF or here in Boston where the effective clearance for cyclists on bike lanes are often reduced to one foot wide due to the moving traffic, debris along the curb, parked cars or simply poor design. I read those news articles when cyclists died from getting doored by a parked car or having to merge with the fast moving traffic and got hit by a reckless driver. Personally, my partner and I almost got killed by speeding cars when riding our bikes to the Pumpkin Festival in Halfmoon Bay through a street that was displayed as a "bike route" on a map; We were so traumatized that we had to hire a pick up truck and transport our bikes on the truck to avoid that killer street on our way back home. Anyways, extensive studies, development policies, design manuals on bike transport have been made and applied successfully in Western Europe, and they could be studied for its application in the US context. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Other areas that came to my mind that the US could pursue towards more sustainable transport:</div><div><br></div><div>- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Transportations Impact Control</span> (e.g. in California quite loose and general, esp as required by CEQA vs. more stringent and comprehensive in Germany which includes not only traffic impacts, but sometimes also air pollution impacts and often noise impacts to make sure that developments are inline with the federal "immision protection law"),</div>
<div>- <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Land use planning</span> process towards land use pattern that is more NMT and public transport friendly (e.g. more mixed land use and mix-use buildings),</div>
<div>- More <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">integrated transportation planning</span> practice, incl. providing more "integrated transportation planning" majors at Universities (Many practicing transportation planners in the US that I encountered seemed to have traffic engineering or civil engineering background as opposed to a more multi-disciplinary background that includes sociology, psychology, economics etc. within the realms of transport).</div>
<div><br></div><div>I find transferring experience from one place to another as very interesting. Obviously, due to different economic systems, land-use patterns, people's preferences etc. some things would be harder, but some are easier to try out or implement. Also language can be a barrier, which is probably the reason why there seems to be less transfer from the non-English speaking European countries to the US as the other way round. But you're lucky in the US because Americans are generally quite open to new ideas, which is an asset. I am currently working for an aid agency assisting several cities in Indonesia implementing improvements learned from other cities within and outside the country.</div>
<div><br></div><div>So good luck in this exciting time of change! Hopefully the on-coming stimulus plan would include a substantial amount of sustainable transport projects that would really bring a real change in the transport field.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Dino</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br clear="all">Dr.-Ing. Dino Teddyputra<br>Traffic and Transportation Planning Engineer<br>Brookline, MA 02245<br>USA<br><br>Fax: +1(530) 618 5041<br>
Phone: +1 (617) 365 7846<br>Germany: +49-174-840 2131<br>Indonesia: +62-859-3535 2227<br></div>