<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">  <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> Dear Sustran Friends,<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> In my enthusiasm for keeping focus on the original Sustran region for the reasons we have discussed, I decided to post a little poll to World Streets at www.worldstreets.org , the result of which I can now report to you.  <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Visitors were invited to indicate their preference for either (a) Asia/Pacific (the original Sustran focus), (b) Asia only, or (c) Asia +Africa + Latin America + Middle East. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> I was inwardly confident that (a) was going to win the day.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Wrong! Fatally wrong. We had 26 of our number who expressed their preferences, 20 (76%) voted for (c), 5 for my favorite pony, and a grand total of one to make us into an Asia only forum.  Blow me down.   One thing about democracy is that it surprises. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> So the ayes have it, but let me have a last shot at sharing my views with you on this. If there were one part of the world in which I would like to focus my own networking efforts it would be Africa. But I have yet to figure to how to do this usefully. The attached map of recent visitors coming in today reveals a familiar pattern for the New Mobility Agenda website. The EU area and North America are networking just fine, and while you can’t see it here, Latin America (entirely driven by Spanish and Portuguese) is increasingly well networking as the result of some hard work by a few people over the last several year. But poor Africa is out of touch, and not only in this map. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Here is what I think is going to happen next. The actual bulk of the  discussions will continue to focus on the original Sustran region de facto.  What we need however is to increase the level of discourse and exchange which incidentally in the last weeks has picked up nicely. But we do need to extend the group, and somehow need to figure out how to make that Sustran/China handshake work. We will hear episodically from Latin America, Europe and North America, but the main course will continue to be Asia/Pacific.  Here by the way is the chart showing the number of postings per month over the last decade., from 3 to 150, a fair range and a message in itself.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <img width=374 height=236 id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image002.png@01C9F04A.3EEFD140"><o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> To close out this note announcing my crushing defeat at your collective hands, a word on the social quality of our Sustran family. Like all of you I have been around a fair number of these groups, of wildly varying quality and sociability. But Sustran is certainly the most genteel, the most gentle of them all.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> May we continue to get together with our ideas, news  and suggestions in this wonderful spirit.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Eric<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Eric Britton | <a href="http://www.worldstreets.org/">World Streets </a>| <a href="http://www.newmobility.org/">The New Mobility Agenda </a> | Paris  | +331 4326 1323 | Skype ericbritton  <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <img border=0 width=550 height=278 id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image003.jpg@01C9F0D5.6B181350"><o:p></o:p> </div> </body> </html>