From raad at unixg.ubc.ca Mon Jul 13 09:14:48 1998 From: raad at unixg.ubc.ca (Tamim Raad) Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 17:14:48 -0700 Subject: [sustran] Re: Bikes in India Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980712171448.00714d24@pop.unixg.ubc.ca> >Delivery-date: Tue, 12 May 1998 15:21:53 -0700 >Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 13:27:07 -0700 (PDT) >From: Lee Henderson >To: transit betenvi >Subject: Re: Bikes in India >Reply-To: BEST@sustainability.com >Organization: BEST (http://www.sustainability.com/best) >X-Sender: BEST@sustainability.com >X-Reply-To: BEST@sustainability.com >Error-To: scott@communicopia.bc.ca >X-ListMember: raad@unixg.ubc.ca [BEST@sustainability.com] > > >I saw this on the International Bicycle Fund Website >http://www.ibike.org/index.htm >============================================================ > >Bicycle Promotion Among Women In Rural India >Mobility & Quality of Life >>From Literacy To Empowerment To Bicycles In Rural India > >For years, fetching water for Mariamman of Siranjeni village was one of >many dreary chores. When the village well dried up in summer, she had to >trudge 2 km to a neighboring village to secure water. Now fetching water >is far easier; all she has to do is take her bicycle. Like Mariamman, >thousand of women in Pudukottai district in Tamil Nadu are using their >bicycles, not just to fetch water but for a myriad utility trips. But it >hasn't always been this way. > >It was novel literacy drive, launched in 1991, that has lead to 50,000 >women in the 3,000 villages of Pudukottai (370km from Madras, India) to >learn to ride bicycles. Originally, the scheme had four elements; >literacy, arithmetic, awareness and application. Seeing an additional >need, collector Sheela Rani Chungat added a fifth element -- mobility. >These days Pudukottai women sing "we have learnt to cycle, brother/ and >with it, we have turned the wheel of our lives, brother". As the song >bears out, the results of Chungat's initiative have far exceeded >expectations. > >In the harvest season, women now carry bundles of ripe stalk on a cycle, >not on their heads. When the men work in the fields, their lunches are >delivered to them by their wives on wheels. And sometimes, newly mobile >mothers save their children long, tiring walks to and from the village. > >The cycle-training program started as a no-cost affair. Villagers lent one >or two cycles. Initially classes were held after dark, helping the >students to get over their initial shyness and reluctance. "There were >few people around to make fun of us when we fell down," recalls >Mariamman. > >When some women began showing off their success on their husbands' and >brothers' cycles, the bug caught on. Next, the program coordinators >arranged for bank loans to buy bikes. Still, some women have been unable >to derive the fullest mileage from their recently acquired skills. Most do >not have the money to buy their own cycles and their fathers, brothers and >husbands, get first preference on family bikes. There are also >family-imposed restrictions -- chores, sewing classes and primary health >care are all right, but movies, cruising and fun outings are an absolute >no-no. > >[Base on an article by Nirupama Subramanian, in "India Today".] > >For details on this and other programs promoting bicycle transport write: >Laxmi Narain Modi, Exec. Director., Nation Building Forum, 305 Bakshi >House, 40-41 Nehru Place, New Dehli 110019, INDIA. > ------------------ Tamim Raad Point Grey RPO, Box 39150 Vancouver, British Columbia V6R 4P1 CANADA Tel: 1 (604) 739-2146 Email: raad@unixg.ubc.ca From halubis at trans.si.itb.ac.id Thu Jul 2 12:18:33 1998 From: halubis at trans.si.itb.ac.id (Harun Al Rasyid Sorah Lubis) Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 10:18:33 +0700 Subject: [sustran] Becak-the threecycle- is back in Jakarta Message-ID: <000401bda568$1dd63000$1102cda7@harun.si.itb.ac.id> Two days ago the governor takes his words off again, not to allow the becak to operate in the area where they are banned according to the local government regulation, as many becak drivers from the surrounding county rush in to Jakarta, a day after the announcement. The governor was also supported by (local) people representative, saying that if we allow becak to operate now, it will be difficult for us to ban them in the future. Self (oral) announced permission corrected by the same announcement. Where is the law, anyway ?? Areas not covered by public tranport and where becak also not exist are normally served by the so called ojeg (motor-cycle). Untill now, the government see the ojeg as a non-formal means of transport, hence no regulation whatsoever apply to them. Ojeg market are now spread in many residential area, in any big cities in Indonesia. Such development are partly trigerred by uncontrollable real-estate bisnis booming in the last decade. With the prolong monetary crisis and the economic depression take place, it is not sure how public utilities, particularly transport, can be managed sufficiently. In fact, now around 8 millions are predicted can not even buy a staples e.g. rice. and the government starting today to provide more subsidies for those people by reducing half the market price of the rice. (Current market price for rice now Rp2000 equivalent to 20 cents, US$=Rp10000, where infact it is around Rp15000 now). Sustainable transport is something those people think next , after they get food !!!!! -----Original Message----- From: Bambang Susantono To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Date: Saturday, June 27, 1998 3:16 AM Subject: [sustran] Becak-the threecycle- is back in Jakarta >Dear all, > >Two days ago the Governor of Jakarta announced that the becak >(three-wheelers, human pedaled) is now allowed to be operated in >Metropolitan Jakarta. This measure is taken to respond to the huge >unemployment problems in Jakarta which already triggered several mass >upheavals and bloody riots in the last few weeks. > >Today, Jakarta's neighborhood has already been [again] served by becaks. >Jakarta banned the becak in the late 1970s. Some 50,000 becaks were >dumped to the Jakarta Bay during the early 80s. Despite its superiority >in providing services as feeders of transits, becak was seen by the >government to be incompatible with modern urban life and the main >obstacle to the smooth flow of urban traffic. > >The low income, especially the women, praised this policy. Is the >current economic crisis a "blessing in disguise" for transportation >planners in Jakarta? Might be! but till today the vanpooling increases >and traffic jams ease from several corridors. > > >Bambang Susantono >CAL, Berkeley From ghawkes at sover.net Thu Jul 2 22:58:35 1998 From: ghawkes at sover.net (Gerry Hawkes) Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 08:58:35 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Bicycle & Pedestrian Surface Message-ID: <00ae01bda5c1$825c4c40$945fc6d1@Pghawkes> Several of you have asked for more information on the EcoTrack surface for bicycle and pedestrian paths. The 2' x 4 ' structural plastic panels are now in production. Photos and text can be found by going to http://www.biketrack.com/ecotrack.htm then choosing the links at the bottom of the page. In urban settings, these panels should find application as temporary sidewalks or as pathways through green spaces where it is wished to avoid damage to tree roots and soil. This is all part of an effort to encourage people to walk or bicycle for short trips by improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. As we all know, short automobile trips are inefficient and polluting. Gerry Hawkes Eco Systems, Inc. & Bike Track, Inc. Woodstock, VT 05091 www.biketrack.com ghawkes@sover.net Tel. 802-457-3275 or Fax: 802-457-3704 From tkpb at barter.pc.my Fri Jul 3 16:10:53 1998 From: tkpb at barter.pc.my (Paul Barter) Date: Fri, 3 Jul 1998 15:10:53 +0800 (MYT) Subject: [sustran] Re: ERP in Hong Kong Message-ID: This appeared on the utsg list, posted by "m.j. steele" in response to a question by Taiichi INOUE . The following article is from the South China Morning Post Internet Edition Wednesday July 1 1998 Kai Tak to host road pricing trials BRENDAN DELFINO The Kai Tak site will be used to test the first electronic road pricing system within days of the airport's closure, a transport official said. Extensive testing will be carried out on Kai Tak's taxiways, which run parallel to the 3.5-kilometre runway. Tsang King-man, chief engineer of the Transport Department's Electronic Road Pricing Unit, said yesterday that testing of vehicles and equipment could start by mid-August. "We want to move in as soon as possible and depending on the length of the relocation, we hope to start surveying a few days after the move," Mr Tsang said. "We will then move on to some preliminary installation of equipment and facilities, such as erecting gantries and painting out the test tracks, then start testing." Two rough test tracks have been designed but may be altered by engineers contracted to carry out the tests, after the site at the end of the runway is surveyed. The circuits will be used to test the two technologies being considered for the programme - the satellite Global Positioning System and microwave reception from gantries. Testing is expected to continue until mid-January. Any comments On Thu, 2 Jul 1998, Taiichi INOUE wrote: > Dear, > > I heard the scheme of ERP ( Electronic Road Pricing ) would be planned in > Hong Kong. > I'd like to know this project. Especially my interest is focused on the > technological matter. Would someone tell me about this? > > Think globally, Act locally. > > Consultant > Taiichi Inoue > Transport & Logistics System Strategy. > Nomura Research Institute,Ltd. > 2-2-1,Ootemachi,Chiyoda-ku, > Tokyo 100,JAPAN > tel +81-3-5203-0806 fax +81-3-5203-0810 > Website http://www.nri.co.jp/ > From badami at unixg.ubc.ca Mon Jul 6 02:28:37 1998 From: badami at unixg.ubc.ca (Madhav Badami) Date: Sun, 05 Jul 1998 10:28:37 -0700 Subject: [sustran] Car-sharing Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19980705172837.0067fe9c@pop.interchg.ubc.ca> Recently, Eric Britton of Ecoplan International raised the issue of car-sharing. Re: this, the following, from "Harper's Index" in the latest issue of Harper's magazine (July 1998), might be of interest: Maximum business deduction allowed US employers per employee parking space they provide: $ 175 Maximum deduction allowed employers for van-pool or mass-transit expenses, per employee: $ 65. Go figure ! I wonder if anyone can refer me to similar data for other OECD countries. Madhav Badami Madhav Badami UBC Centre for Human Settlements 2206 East Mall Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3 Canada Ph: (604) 822-6081/(604)224-1042 Fax: (604) 822-6164 e-mail: From litman at islandnet.com Mon Jul 6 13:25:10 1998 From: litman at islandnet.com (Todd Litman) Date: Sun, 05 Jul 1998 21:25:10 -0700 Subject: [sustran] Car-sharing In-Reply-To: <1.5.4.32.19980705172837.0067fe9c@pop.interchg.ubc.ca> Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980705212510.008ce6a0@mail.IslandNet.com> Madhav Badami wrote: >Re: this, the following, from "Harper's Index" in the latest issue of >Harper's magazine (July 1998), might be of interest: > > >Maximum business deduction allowed US employers per employee parking space >they provide: $ 175 >Maximum deduction allowed employers for van-pool or mass-transit expenses, >per employee: $ 65. > >Go figure ! > >I wonder if anyone can refer me to similar data for other OECD countries. As you may already know, employee parking is ostensibly fully taxable here in Canada, but Revenue Canada rules offers exemptions that apply to most employees (a parking space would need to be leased as a separate transaction from building rents, and assigned to a particular employee to be taxed). There is no income tax exemption for employee transit benefits here. This situation "leverages" employers to offer free parking spaces, but virtually none offer transit passes. As a result, most urban employees recieve a benefit worth about $1,750 per year in combined parking subsidies and tax exemptions, but employees who ride transit recieve nothing. I believe this is the most transit unfriendly tax policy of any OECD country. A large number of environmental, transportation, social equity and urban government organizations have been lobbying the federal government to change this policy, but so far we have not been sucesseful. For more information, see our study "Employer Provided Transit Passes: A Tax Exempt Benefit; Benefit/Cost Analysis, for The Transit Advocacy Project of Transport 2000 Canada (Ontario), January 1997. Let me know if you want a copy. Sincerely, Todd Litman, Director Victoria Transport Policy Institute "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity" 1250 Rudlin Street Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560 E-mail: litman@islandnet.com Website: www.islandnet.com/~litman At 10:28 AM 7/5/98 -0700, you wrote: > >Recently, Eric Britton of Ecoplan International raised the issue of car-sharing. > >Re: this, the following, from "Harper's Index" in the latest issue of >Harper's magazine (July 1998), might be of interest: > > >Maximum business deduction allowed US employers per employee parking space >they provide: $ 175 >Maximum deduction allowed employers for van-pool or mass-transit expenses, >per employee: $ 65. > >Go figure ! > >I wonder if anyone can refer me to similar data for other OECD countries. > >Madhav Badami > > > >Madhav Badami >UBC Centre for Human Settlements >2206 East Mall >Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3 >Canada >Ph: (604) 822-6081/(604)224-1042 >Fax: (604) 822-6164 >e-mail: > > > From tkpb at barter.pc.my Wed Jul 8 14:43:06 1998 From: tkpb at barter.pc.my (Paul Barter) Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 13:43:06 +0800 (MYT) Subject: [sustran] Transporting Development - a seminar Message-ID: This bounced because Priyanthi actually subscribes through another address. From: "Priyanthi Fernando" Organization: IFRTD To: sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 09:26:36 +0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Transporting Development - a seminar Hello everyone Here is something that you maybe interested in.. TRANSPORTING DEVELOPMENT: Alleviating poverty by access to basic needs and services International Forum for Rural Transport and Development - UK National Forum Group Seminar Thursday 5th November, 1998 Institution of Civil Engineers Great George St, Westminster, London Keynote speaker: Peter Roberts Deputy Chief Engineering Advisor, DFID Chairman: David Nalo Senior Economist, Ministry of Planning, Kenya This one day seminar will examine the role transport plays in the provision of basic needs and services. Speakers will discuss the transport and accessibility issues concerning: water supplies, food production, health provision, solid waste management and employment generation. The cost of the seminar will be 25 sterling pounds per person which will include refreshments, buffet lunch and a copy of the seminar proceedings. Please send IFRTD the following information with a cheque/benk draft/international money order for 25 sterling pounds payable to Intermediate Technology Consultants, if you wish to reserve a place. To: IFRTD Secretariat, 2nd Floor, 150 Southampton Row, London, WC1B 5AL I wish to attend the IFRTD UK Forum group seminar Transporting Development Name.................. Organisation............................ Address.............................. .................................. .................................. Vegetarian: please say yes if you require a vegetarian lunch Priyanthi Fernando 5 A Northbrook Road Wood Green, London N22 4YQ UK From sustran at po.jaring.my Sat Jul 11 13:08:47 1998 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Resource Centre) Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 12:08:47 +0800 Subject: [sustran] (Fwd) Roads are Polluted But Indoors are Worse Message-ID: <01BDACC6.F6FCB2E0@j3.brf6.jaring.my> This was forwarded by Ramon Fernan and may be of interest to sustran-discuss participants. ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- From: "Damon Lynch" To: "Ramon Fernan III" Subject: Roads are Polluted But Indoors are Worse (http://www.oneworld.org/ips2/june98/ Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 10:53:03 +0800 Importance: Normal ---------------------------------------------------- IPS news reports appear daily in English, German, Finnish, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. To subscribe, please contact us at: Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, North America. ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Roads are Polluted But Indoors are Worse By Dev Raj NEW DELHI, Jun 25 (IPS) - Vehicular emissions in the Indian capital are affecting people who stay indoors even more than those on the roads, says a new scientific study. ''Housewives are particularly affected because they are also exposed to pollutants from household activities such as cooking and cleaning,'' says Nandita Shukla, researcher at India's prestigious Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), who led the study. Delhi has long gained a reputation for being the world's fourth most-polluted city with civic authorities helpless in containing a wild growth in vehicle population, enforce pollution norms or build a mass rapid transport system (MRTS). Various studies have shown the ill-effects of high concentrations of vehicular emissions on the health of say traffic policemen who are badly exposed but are yet to be issued basic protective equipment such as masks. But the new study by the CSIR carried out in collaboration with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) indicates that housewives are as much candidates for gas masks as are traffic policemen. What the study proved significantly was that vehicular pollutants easily penetrate homes and then remain trapped inside mingling and reacting with other household emissions to produce a variety of dangerous gaseous chemicals. ''Every home is like a large chemical reactor in which chemicals continually enter and exit with the pressure difference between indoors and outdoors playing a major role,'' says Mahendra Pandey, scientist at the CPCB. Indoor pollutants generated in the nearly 2,000 homes surveyed by Shukla and Pandey include radon, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, chlorinated compounds dust and particulates. To these are added the products of internal combustion engines, particularly respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) from diesel engines which because they are less than 10 microns in size readily penetrate homes and are absorbed by the lungs. Pandey cited a Polish study which showed the great dangers posed to human health by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) which enter the body as RSPM and cause damage to DNA and stunt newborn babies. Pandey and Shukla found higher concentrations indoors than outside of carbon monoxide which is particularly bad news for pregnant women in India because 70 percent of them are already anaemic, according to UNICEF estimates. Carbon monoxide hampers oxygen delivery to tissues through the blood and adversely affects foetal development by interfering with the metabolic functions of placental cells. High concentrations in closed environments can be fatal. The study found East Delhi the worst affected area because of additional pollutants wafting in from a power plant and from an industrial belt nearby. ''We found more than fifty five percent of people in the area suffering from respiratory disorders half of whom could be classified as severe,'' said Pandey. Adult females as a group were the worst sufferers and most of them were under treatment for allergic rhinitis or asthma caused mainly by SPM with cases increasing at the rate of 20 percent per annum. The daily average exposure of SPM alone on housewives in all areas of East Delhi was found to be six times the safe standard prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of 120 micrograms per cubic metre every day. Interestingly the levels of SPM indoors were found to be worse during the night because of the natural phenomenon of atmospheric inversion which afflicts Delhi, Pandey said. At sunset the phenomenon gets activated trapping surface air and leaving little room for the dispersion of SPM until sunrise when surface heating destroys the inversion layer and literally gives people 'breathing space.' Office buildings may have been safer than homes mainly because of air conditioning but many of them generate significant amounts of pollutants from electronic devices such as ozone and radon, the consequences of which are yet to be studied. ''Although studies are yet to be conducted on the environment inside office buildings people are seriously talking about the sick building syndrome which may be affecting a large number of people in unknown ways,'' Pandey said. The study concluded that the diversity and variability in concentrations of various pollutants make continuous monitoring important in both homes and offices as well as outdoors. ''There is a great need for public awareness and cooperation which are curiously missing in spite of the established ill-effects of atmospheric pollution on millions of people in Delhi,'' Pandey said. (End/IPS/rdr/an/98) From tkpb at barter.pc.my Sat Jul 11 19:04:18 1998 From: tkpb at barter.pc.my (Paul Barter) Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 18:04:18 +0800 (MYT) Subject: [sustran] Seeking contacts for data on Taipei, HCM City, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi Message-ID: Dear sustran-discussers In addition to my role as coordinator of SUSTRAN, I am also a researcher with the Institute for Science and Technology Policy at Murdoch University in Western Australia. We are currently working on a new project to compile a database on transport and land use in 100 world cities. This major project is being carried out for the International Association of Public Transport (UITP). An electronic database will be constructed as part of this project and released through UITP in CD format in 1999. I am responsible for collecting data on nine cities in Asia, some of which I have studied before and some of which are largely new to me. I am urgently in need of contacts and information sources on the cities that I have not studied before -- Taipei, Ho Chi Minh City, Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Chennai (formerly Madras) and Delhi. My colleague, Felix Laube, is also collecting data on a number of cities that our research team has not tackled before. These other cities are: Harare, Cape Town, Tel Aviv, Teheran, Riyadh, Osaka, Sapporo, Krakow, and Rome. Any suggestions of contacts or data sources in these cities would also be extremely helpful. I am also collecting information on Seoul, Singapore, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur but since I have worked on these cities before I already have a good idea of where to start. Nevertheless any suggestions or tips about data on these cities would also be most welcome. The database that we are compiling will contain the following kinds of information (for 1995 or 1996 if possible): 1. Town Planning, Demographic and Economic Data 2. Data on the Number of Vehicles and their Use, the Road Network, Traffic Management and Parking (Traffic Data) 3. Data on Public Transportation 4. Data on Mobility and Modal Split 5. Data on the Costs and Performance of Transportation Systems (investment, costs/prices, energy usage, accidents, air pollution emissions) Paul Barter SUSTRAN Resource Centre and Research Officer UITP Towns/Regions Database Project c/o A0602 Palm Court, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Phone: +603 274 2590 (or fax on request) E-mail: tkpb@barter.pc.my From lipmanv at ndot.pwv.gov.za Mon Jul 13 16:06:20 1998 From: lipmanv at ndot.pwv.gov.za (Vivienne Lipman) Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 10:06:20 +0300 Subject: [sustran] Seeking contacts for data on Taipei, HCM City, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi -Reply Message-ID: I can help your colleague, Felix Laube, with contacts for data for Cape Town. I know most of the data you're looking for does exist for Cape Town - I'll just have to find out who the best contacts are. I also can give him one or two people who might be able to help him with getting in contact with people in Harare. He can contact me directly on this e-mail: LipmanV@ndot.pwv.gov.za or Tel: +27 12 3093231 or fax: +27 12 3285102. Regards Vivienne Lipman Director: Research and Development Dept of Transport South Africa From mobility at igc.apc.org Tue Jul 14 02:17:51 1998 From: mobility at igc.apc.org (Walter Hook) Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 10:17:51 -0700 Subject: [sustran] motorcycles and congestion Message-ID: <35AA413F.50B3@igc.apc.org> Does anyone have any statistics about motorbikes and passenger car equivalents, or passengers per hour per meter of road width? I'm trying to get some idea of the role motorbikes play in congestion. thanks Walter Hook ITDP From ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu Tue Jul 14 01:56:15 1998 From: ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu (Eric Bruun) Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 12:56:15 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [sustran] motorcycles and congestion In-Reply-To: <35AA413F.50B3@igc.apc.org> Message-ID: Walter, I think this subject came up recently on this same user group. Check your saved files, if you keep them. But I am also passing this along to someone who might have some data. But one caution about using PCUs and vehicles per unit lane width for bicycles and motorcycles. They can move in a variety of patterns, from complete chaos to moving in a wing formation, similar to fighter aircraft. Also, capacity can be increased by non-legal habits such as driving on sidewalks, between waiting cars and straight into intersections without waiting, and a host of other tricks. Eric Bruun On Mon, 13 Jul 1998, Walter Hook wrote: > Does anyone have any statistics about motorbikes and passenger car > equivalents, or passengers per hour per meter of road width? I'm trying > to get some idea of the role motorbikes play in congestion. > > thanks > Walter Hook > ITDP > > From tkpb at barter.pc.my Tue Jul 14 12:35:49 1998 From: tkpb at barter.pc.my (Paul Barter) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 11:35:49 +0800 (MYT) Subject: [sustran] European Forum on Transport, Environment and Health Message-ID: This came through on the A SEED Europe Transport Mailinglist. I hope it is of wider interest beyond Europe. WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA FEDERAL MINISTRY FOR ENVIRONMENT, European Centre for YOUTH AND FAMILY AFFAIRS Environment and Health To all Member States of the European Region Dear Sir, Madam, Invitation to the European Forum on Transport, Environment and Health. 28 - 31 July 1998, Vienna, Austria HOFBURG, Grosser Redoutensaal, Entrance Josefsplatz, A - 1010 Vienna The World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (WHO/EURO) and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Environment, Youth and Family Affairs have the honour to invite you to participate in the "European Forum on Transport, Environment and Health". The forum will be held from 28 to 31 July 1998 in Vienna under the auspices of the Austrian Presidency of the EU and as part of the preparation for the WHO 3rd Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health and its Transport, Environment and Health session, for which Austria has volunteered as a Lead Country. The "European Forum on Transport, Environment and Health" will comprise two parts: 1. International Conference on the Environment Related Health Impacts of Transport The conference will bring together eminent international authorities on the environment related health impact of transport: scientists and doctors, policy makers and other stake-holders on transport environment and health, as well as delegations from WHO/EURO Member States, intergovernmental organizations and international agencies, NGOs, industry and others. Recent scientific evidence and their policy implications will be presented. The conference should provide a strong input to the integration of health aspects within the Transport and Environment Policies in Europe and in particular to the 3rd Ministerial Conference of WHO on Environment and Health. 2. Preparatory Meeting for the "Transport, Environment and Health" Session at the 3rd Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health to be held in London in June 1999. This is the first preparatory meeting of Member States from the WHO European Region for the special session on transport- related issues, strategies and actions that will be debated at the Conference. In particular a "Charter on Transport, Environment and Health" is being proposed for adoption at that Conference. The proposed Charter includes principles, targets and a plan of action for achieving health and environmental gain through transport policies. It draws on assessments of the links between transport environment and health being carried out by international expert groups, as well as on policy and economic analyses and on national case studies. A first draft will be discussed at the preparatory meeting in Vienna, which will be attended by representatives of the WHO European Region Ministries of Environment, Health and Transport and representatives of intergovernmental organizations and invited NGOs. Information regarding participation and organisation We have pleasure in inviting you to participate in the European Forum on Transport, Environment and Health in Vienna. A preliminary agenda of the events is enclosed. Please nominate the participants for the European Forum and take note, that at the Preparatory Meeting (30-31 July 1998) attendance is restricted to two or three ministerial delegates of each WHO Member State and one representative of each Intergovernmental Organization and NGO. We look forward to receiving the nominations of your delegation for the European Forum on Transport, Environment and Health, giving the names, functional titles and addresses of the proposed participants by 29 June 1998 at the latest. The working language will be English and simultaneous interpretation into French and Russian will be provided. Travel for delegates will be arranged and paid for by the participating Member States, however, due to budget restrictions only limited funds are available to support the attendance of some needy countries, if necessary. We are grateful if you would kindly share this invitation with other relevant parties in your country, to ensure the active involvement of all interested bodies. Mr Carlos Dora, Programme Manager, Environmental Epidemiology of the European Centre for Environment and Health, Rome Division, and Ms Jutta Molterer, Division for Transport, Mobility, Regional Planning and Noise in the Austrian Ministry for Environment, Youth and Family Affairs, are the relevant contact officers for these activities, and it would be appreciated if you would address your reply directly to them (addresses as attached). We look forward to welcoming you in Vienna. Yours sincerely, Dr Jo E. Asvall, MD Dr Ernst Streeruwitz Regional Director Director General of Department I World Health Organization Federal Ministry for Environment Regional Office for Europe Youth and Family Affairs Enclosures: * Addresses of the Contact Officers * Preliminary Agenda * Hotel Reservation Form * Copy of the map of Vienna indicating the conference location Contact Officers: World Health Organization Republic of Austria European Centre for Environment and Health Federal Ministry for Environment, Rome Division Youth and family Affairs Dr Carlos Dora Ms Jutta Molterer Programme Manager, Division I/5 Environmental Epidemiology Stubenbastei 5 Via Francesco Crispi, 10 I - 00187 Rome Italy A-1010 Vienna Austria Tel. +39 6 4877541 Tel. +43 1 515221231 Fax +39 6 4877599 Fax +43 1 515227208 E-mail: cdo@who.it E-mail: jutta.molterer@bmu.gv.at ====================== European Forum on "Transport, Environment and Health" 28. - 31. July 1998 HOFBURG, Grosser Redoutensaal, Entrance Josefsplatz A - 1010 Vienna - Preliminary Agenda - Tuesday, July 28 - International Conference on Environment related Health Impacts of Transport 13:00 - Registration 14:00 14:00 - Opening session: 16:30 Opening Key Notes by the Austrian Minister for Environment Youth and Family Affairs the European Commission the Austrian Medical Association the World Health Organisation (ten minutes each) Presentation of the key scientific issues on transport, environment and health by invited international experts * Air pollution and carcinogens (2 speakers, each 15 minutes) 10 minutes discussion * Noise ( 2 speakers, each 15 minutes) 10 minutes discussion * Physical activity (walking and cycling) (1 speaker, 15 minutes) 5 minutes discussion 16:30 - Break 16:50 16:50 - International perspective of key problems, 18:00 strategies and activities for bringing transport in line with health and environment requirements, priority areas for actions Invited speakers: International Agencies / Intergovernmental Bodies: OECD, ECMT, UNEP, EEA, ECE ( 5 bodies with 8 minutes statements) NGO's: Medical Associations, Transport and Environment representatives, Industry (5 NGOs with 5 minutes statements) Wednesday, July 29 - International Conference on Environment related Health Impacts of Transport 8:30 - Registration 9:30 9:30 - Presentation of the key scientific issues on 11:00 transport, environment and health by invited international experts (30 minutes each, including 10 minutes discussion) - contd. * Accidents * Vulnerable groups * Well-being 11:00 - Break 11:20 11:20 - Presentation of intermediate results of case 13:00 studies in the field of transport, environment and health 13:00 - Break 15:00 15:00 - Presentation of the methodological tools and issues 16:30 for the assessment of transport, environment and health links/impacts by invited international experts (30 minutes each, including 10 minutes discussion) * Exposure * Integrated environmental health impact assessment * Economic valuation 16:30 - Break 16:50 16:50 - Presentation of the health implications of 18:00 different transport policies by invited international experts * Policies and strategies (30 minutes including discussion) * Conclusions and recommendations for action (40 minutes including discussion) Thursday, July 30 - Preparatory Meeting for the Transport, Environment and Health (TEH) segment at the 3rd Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in London 1999 ( for nominated delegates of WHO Member States (2-3 per country), International Governmental Organisations and invited NGOs 8:30 - Registration 9:30 9:30 - Opening session: Co-chair Austria and WHO 11:00 * Background of the WHO London Conference and its focus on Transport, Environment and Health * Preparation process and key documents of the TEH session * Scope and purpose of the Preparatory Meeting * Discussion and approval of agenda 11:00 - Break 11:30 11:30 - Report and Discussion on the outcome of the 13:00 first days of the European Forum on Transport, Environment and Health (hot spots, priorities, conclusions and recommendations for action 13:00 - Break 15:00 15:00 - Presentation of a first draft proposal for the 16:00 Conference outcome document (Charter) on Transport, Environment and Health 16:30 - Break 17:00 17:00 - Discussion (contd.) 18:00 Friday, July 31 - Preparatory Meeting (continued) 9:30 - Discussion (Contd.) 11:00 11:00 - Break 11:30 11:30 - Summary of key conclusions 13:00 Agreement for working plan and next steps, dates and venue of Preperatory Meeting From pascal at gn.apc.org Wed Jul 15 00:03:52 1998 From: pascal at gn.apc.org (Pascal Desmond) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 16:03:52 +0100 (BST) Subject: [sustran] motorcycles and congestion In-Reply-To: <35AA413F.50B3@igc.apc.org> Message-ID: >Does anyone have any statistics about motorbikes and passenger car >equivalents, or passengers per hour per meter of road width? I'm trying >to get some idea of the role motorbikes play in congestion. > >thanks >Walter Hook >ITDP Hello Walter And to everybody else who participates in sustran (If memory serves me correct, I haven't sent a msg to sustran before). I'm a transport activist in Lancaster, England (with Transport 2000 North Lancs.), and I work on the journal World Transport Policy & Practice, edited by John Whitelegg. I hope you all like my signature - this is my activist's hat. I have a different one which I use in relation to the journal. Anyway, mo'bikes. A couple of years ago I had the dubious pleasure of being torn into by the local motorcycle lobby who pointed out how little congestion they cause. I responded with one of those occasional flashes of pure genius that afflict us all only too infrequently. I asked them if they were familiar with the 2-second rule ('only a fool breaks the two second rule' takes approx 2 seconds to say - you watch the vehicle in front pass e.g. a streetlamp and then speak aloud 'only a fool breaks the two second rule'. If you reach the streetlamp before you finish speaking, then you're too close to the vehicle.). Naturally, the motorcyclists keep back more than 2 seconds from the vehicle in front 'That's why we're still alive' Doing 30 mph means that they will cover 30 yards in 2 seconds. It's actually 29.33 yards. Plug them into a spreadsheet (there's one tab between each column of data) - it is basically 1760 / 3600 * 2. The metric numbers aren't quite so amenable. vehicle speeds and the 2 second rule. speed in mph distance in yards travelled in 1 hour distance in yards travelled in 2 seconds speed in kmh distance in metres travelled in 1 hour distance in metres travelled in 2 secs 10 17600 9.78 10 10000 5.56 20 35200 19.56 20 20000 11.11 30 52800 29.33 30 30000 16.67 40 70400 39.11 40 40000 22.22 50 88000 48.89 50 50000 27.78 60 105600 58.67 60 60000 33.33 70 123200 68.44 70 70000 38.89 80 140800 78.22 80 80000 44.44 To all intents and purposes, you can say that speed in miles per hour is the same as the number of yards covered in 2 seconds. Sticking to the 30 mph example, they agreed that in reality they would stay back 40 yards to allow for the unpredictability of car driver behaviour. I pointed out to them that if that is true then, even though they have a very small footprint when stationary, they take up more roadspace than a car when in motion. Funnily enough, they've never raised the argument that motorcycles create less congestion with me since. Kind regards, Pascal. "Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead, (1901-78) Thanks to the legal eagles at the RAC, here is a very nice piece of the law (sadly, unreferenced): "There is a fine of up to ?2,500 and as many as 9 penalty points available for any motorist who drives through a puddle and splashes pedestrians". It is advisable that anyone who gets splashed should have at least two independent witnesses, and have one of the nice, shiny CCTV cameras pointing at you ? and don't forget that "Police are required not to show 'favour or affection' towards some and 'malice or ill-will' towards others" (Police Act 1964, section 18 and Second Schedule). From ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu Wed Jul 15 03:33:10 1998 From: ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu (Eric Bruun) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 14:33:10 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [sustran] Re: more on motorcycles and congestion In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Mr. Pascal Desmond raises a valid point that motorcycles often use more "shadow" space in front of them. Whenever possible, they try to keep tailgaters farther away than auto drivers as well. But I think Pascal is assuming a northern European or North American traffic operation. I assumed that Walter Hook was refering to Asian or Italian operations. Even though safety and emissions statistics are wretched, they do use less space by far than a private car under these circumstances-- This is even more so when normalized for vehicle occupancy, as many motorcycles and mopeds will be carrying 2 or 3 people, whereas the car will often be carrying 1 person plus chauffer (who doesn't count any more than a bus driver). Both space consumed while driving and while stored are important. If one wants to unify the analysis to sum up the consumption of both, I would like to suggest the time-area method. It is summarized in Transportation Research Record 1499. From A.J.Plumbe at Bradford.ac.uk Wed Jul 15 08:46:56 1998 From: A.J.Plumbe at Bradford.ac.uk (Antony Julian Plumbe) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 19:46:56 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [sustran] Seeking contacts for data on Taipei, HCM City, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Dr Barter, The obvious source for material on Jakarta is "Jakarta Dalam Angka" (Jakarta in Figures) published by the City Government of Jakarta. There is a recent World Bank publication of Pollution in Jakarta (Technical paper Series if I recall correctly) which probably has relevant data. The Biro Pusat Statistik in Jakarta can probably help with all the sorts of data you seek. Tony Plumbe Lecturer a.j.plumbe@bradford.ac.uk Telephone: Domestic: 01274-235264 International: +44-1274-235264 Fax: Domestic: 01274-235280 International: +44-1274-235280 Mailing Address: Development & Project Planning Centre, Bradford University, Richmond Road, Bradford, U.K., BD7 1DP. From litman at islandnet.com Wed Jul 15 05:30:45 1998 From: litman at islandnet.com (Todd Litman) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 13:30:45 -0700 Subject: [sustran] motorcycles and congestion In-Reply-To: References: <35AA413F.50B3@igc.apc.org> Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980714133045.00906100@mail.IslandNet.com> Questions about motorcycle impacts come up fairly regularly. According to one study (published in Impacts of Heavy Freight Vehicles, OECD (Paris), December 1982) motorcycles on urban freeways are estimated to impose 0.5 passenger car units (PCU) of congestion when traffic per lane is less than 600 vehicles per hour (VPH), but increases to 1 PCU at 1,800 VPH. I generally believe that motorcycles, when correctly driven based on developed country standards of traffic behavior, take the same amount of space as an automobile, except for the infrequent times that two motorcycles ride side-by-side, or when traveling at very slow speeds. Road space requirements have little to do with vehicle size; it is primarily defined by the need for reaction space. The faster a vehicle goes, the more vulnerable the vehicle is, the more road space it requires. (That is why roadway capacity decreases at traffic speeds over about 60 km/hr.) In congested urban areas in developing countries, motorcycles often squeeze closer together and take advantage of traffic gaps, so they probably cause less congestion. I don't know of any research that quantifies this. Please let us know if you find any. Motorcycles are more fuel efficient than automobiles (averaging about 50 mpg according to the U.S. report, "National Transportation Statistics," by the Bureau of Transportation Statitics, but I suspect that this has decreased as large, prestigious motorcycles have taken over the market), although their per-passenger fuel efficiency is somewhat less, because they normally have only one passenger, rather than 1.5 for the overall vehicle fleet. Motorcycles tend to be driven far less (2,600 miles per year, vs. 11,239 for automobiles), because most are used as fair-wealther luxury vehicles. Thus, somebody who relies on a motorcycle instead of an automobile probably saves fuel, but in practice, most motorcycles are owned in addition to an automobile, and most of their use is discrtionary. Motorcycles are cheaper to purchase than an automobile, but because they have high insurance costs and are driven less on averge than an automobile and average fewer passenger, their average cost per passenger-kilometre is high. Motorcycles do not have good air pollution controls (a catalytic system could literally burn the pants off the rider), and their noise pollution is particularly high, although this is partly a matter of style (a classic case of animals using noise to establish territory during their aggressive stage). Relatively quiet motorcycles are available, they just are not as popular. Motorcycles can reduce parking requirements. They can typically be parked in 1/2 the space as an automoible, although some motorcyclists prefer to use a full parking space. Motorcycles have very high crash costs, partly because riders are quite vulnerable, and partly because people who choose to ride a motorcycle tend to be risk-takers. My owe conclusion is that the only legitmate social benefits of motorcycles are that they are somewhat more fuel efficient, and they are more affordable to purchase and thus provide mobility to some lower income people, but both of these benefits are slight. From tkpb at barter.pc.my Wed Jul 15 10:00:08 1998 From: tkpb at barter.pc.my (Paul Barter) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 09:00:08 +0800 (MYT) Subject: [sustran] Road users' tax Message-ID: Dear sustran-discussers A question from Ramon Fernan of Cycling Advocates (CYCAD) in the Philiippines. I will try to list a reading or two... but many heads are better than one. >From: cycad@po.pacific.net.ph >To: tkpb@barter.pc.my, mobility@igc.apc.org >Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 20:45:11 +0000 >Subject: Road users' tax > >According to a news article in today's papers, the Phil. government >is considering a road user's tax as one way to increase revenues and >decrease the government's projected budget deficit. Can you refer me >to readings on the effective of this tax and how it should be >effectively charged? Thanks. >Ramon > From sustran at po.jaring.my Wed Jul 15 16:06:45 1998 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Resource Centre) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 15:06:45 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Forum on the Sustainable Transport Option for Penang Message-ID: <01BDB010.D61975C0@j32.jrc7.jaring.my> One-day Forum on the Sustainable Transport Option for Penang Date: Sunday, 23 August 1998 Venue: Caring Society Complex, Jalan Utama, Penang Sustainable Transport Environment Penang (STEP) is a network of organisations and individuals which is concerned about the worsening transport situation in Penang. Car and motorcycle ownership in Penang is increasing at an average of 9.5% and 7.2% while traffic fatalities have exceeded 35 per 100,000, about five times the acceptable ratio. Increasing travel times, traffic congestion, dangerous road conditions especially for pedestrians and cyclists, fossil fuel consumption, air pollution and environmental degradation all point to unsustainable transport policies. STEP was formed out of the Transport Study Group of the "Sustainable Penang Initiative" roundtable discussions on Ecological Sustainability (8-9 October 1997). STEP's mission is to promote urban development and transport policies that ensure and provide efficient, affordable and equitable access and mobility to all Penang residents. It opposes the trend of increasing motor vehicle dependency, while advocating walking, cycling and use of public transport. It also promotes the rights of pedestrians, bus commuters, cyclists and people with disabilities to equitable use of public roads and rights of way and to public safety. STEP is organising a one-day forum supported by the "Sustainable Penang Initiative" organised by the Socio-Economic & Environmental Institute of Penang. The invited speakers are: International speaker from I-CE (Interface for Cycling Expertise), The Netherlands - cycling, with examples from Europe. A. Rahman Paul Barter, Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia Pacific (SUSTRAN) - Transport policies in Malaysia in the context of sustainable transport. Rafique Rashid - Entertain and talk about cycling Anthony Thanasayan - Access and mobility for people with disabilities Ganesh Rasagam - The transport scenario in Penang. Target groups: Public Transport Committee (state govenrment) Municipal Council of Penang Island bus companies SILA - disabled access network cycling association transport workers' union trishaw riders' association taxi drivers' association school groups ferry users walkers and joggers (e.g. Botanic Gardens and Gurney Drive) For more information on STEP contact: Ganesh Rasagam or Khoo Salma Nasution . From joel at xs4all.nl Wed Jul 15 16:48:56 1998 From: joel at xs4all.nl (J.H. Crawford) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 08:48:56 +0100 Subject: [sustran] motorcycles and congestion In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19980714133045.00906100@mail.IslandNet.com> References: <35AA413F.50B3@igc.apc.org> Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980715084856.007ae330@pop.xs4all.nl> Todd Litman said: >My owe conclusion is that the only legitmate social benefits of motorcycles >are that they are somewhat more fuel efficient, and they are more >affordable to purchase and thus provide mobility to some lower income >people, but both of these benefits are slight. I would take partial exception to this. In the developing nations, small (+/- 70 cc) motorcycles are commonly the first transport upgrade bought by families after they have a bicycle or two. These motorcycles move in great swarms in the Asian capitals and have got to be much more space efficient than cars. They almost always ride at least two abreast and don't pay much attention to lane markings. They are, of course, noisy, and most of the machines of this class are 2-stroke, so the pollution they create is terrible. The picture is different in the developed nations and accords with Todd Litman's description as far as I am aware. ### J.H. Crawford Crawford Systems joel@xs4all.nl http://www.carfree.com/ From litman at islandnet.com Thu Jul 16 01:16:04 1998 From: litman at islandnet.com (Todd Litman) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 09:16:04 -0700 Subject: [sustran] Road users' tax In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980715091604.008fdc60@mail.IslandNet.com> At 09:00 AM 7/15/98 +0800, Ramon wrote: >> >>According to a news article in today's papers, the Phil. government >>is considering a road user's tax as one way to increase revenues and >>decrease the government's projected budget deficit. Can you refer me >>to readings on the effective of this tax and how it should be >>effectively charged? Thanks. >>Ramon >> I strongly suggest that this fee be related to vehicle use, either by tolling to charge for driving on a particular road, by a vehicle-kilometer charge (based on odometer readings), or by increasing fuel taxes. The optimal charge per vehicle type can be determined by a roadway "cost allocation" study. The 1997 Federal Highway Cost Allocaction Study (www.ota.fhwa.dot.gov/hcas/final) is a good example. Road tolling has become quite sophisticated, using electronic toll collection. This may be one of the best applications of intellegent transportation system technology. For information you may want to request a copy of "Traffic Technology Interational" (traffic@ukintpress.com), which has ads for many producers of this equipment. A kilometer charge has many benefits over fuel taxes, because it can be taylored to each type of vehicle, based on weight, number of axles, use, etc., and because it causes a far greater reduction in vehicle use (over the long term people respond to fuel taxes primarily by purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles, there is little reduction in vehicle use compared with the same charge applied as a kilometer charge.) A kilometer charge can be implemented by simply prorating existing vehicle registration fees by mileage. It requires an annual "odometer audit," which means that a public official or certified business checks the the vehicle odometer for tampering and records its reading. A fixed vehicle charge is unfair, since it lower-mileage vehicles pay more than their fair share of costs, effectively subsidizing the road costs of higher mileage vehicles, it is regressive, since wealthier people tend to drive more per vehicle, and because it does not pepresent a marginal cost, so a fixed vehicle charge does not encourage more efficient travel. Sincerely, Todd Litman, Director Victoria Transport Policy Institute "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity" 1250 Rudlin Street Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560 E-mail: litman@islandnet.com Website: www.islandnet.com/~litman From litman at islandnet.com Thu Jul 16 01:37:41 1998 From: litman at islandnet.com (Todd Litman) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 09:37:41 -0700 Subject: [sustran] motorcycles and congestion In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19980715084856.007ae330@pop.xs4all.nl> References: <3.0.5.32.19980714133045.00906100@mail.IslandNet.com> <35AA413F.50B3@igc.apc.org> Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980715093741.008dfe90@mail.IslandNet.com> At 08:48 AM 7/15/98 +0100, J.H. Crawford wrote: >Todd Litman said: > >>My own conclusion is that the only legitmate social benefits of motorcycles >>are that they are somewhat more fuel efficient, and they are more >>affordable to purchase and thus provide mobility to some lower income >>people, but both of these benefits are slight. > >I would take partial exception to this. In the developing nations, >small (+/- 70 cc) motorcycles are commonly the first transport upgrade >bought by families after they have a bicycle or two. These motorcycles move >in great swarms in the Asian capitals and have got to be much more space >efficient than cars. They almost always ride at least two abreast and >don't pay much attention to lane markings. They are, of course, noisy, >and most of the machines of this class are 2-stroke, so the pollution they >create is terrible. The picture is different in the developed nations and >accords with Todd Litman's description as far as I am aware. I agree that motorcycles impose less congestion at lower traffic speeds. Motorcycling allows lower income households to afford motorized transport. It is certainly a benefit to those households, but the social benefits are mixed. Pollution is certainly a problem. An even greater problem, in my opinion, is the accident costs, which are extreme in many developing countries. I suspect that to some degree high levels of motorcycling in developing countries represent a "social trap" (a situation in which individuals' benefits are in conflict with society's benefits), since once streets become crowded with motorcycles, conditions for pedestians, bicycles and public transit often suffer. It may be possible that total benefits would be greater from transport policies that encourage more public transit, bicycling and efficient land use solutions to transportation problems in developing countries. By the way, some of you may be interested in estimates of the congestion impacts of bicycles. The table below is based on the standard U.S. reference for traffic engineers, "Policy on Geometric Design for Streets and Highways," AASHTO (Washington DC), 1990. Passenger-Car Equivalents for Bicycles by Lane Width < 11 ft. Lane 11-14 ft. > 14 ft. ------------- --------- -------- Riding With Traffic 1.0 0.2 0.0 Riding Against Traffic 1.2 0.5 0.0 Below is the discussion of bicycle traffic impacts from my report "Whose Roads? Defining Bicyclists and Other Non-Drivers' Rights to Use Public Roadways", available from our Institute. This reflects developed country condtions; there may be some differences in the more chaotic traffic conditons in developing countries, but I suspect that most arguements would apply almost everywhere. ===================================================================== Congestion Impacts Bicycles are sometimes considered a problem if they increase traffic delays and accident risk. For analysis of bicycle traffic impacts, road conditions are divided into four classes: 1. Uncongested roads or separated paths. Bicycling on an uncongested road or path contributes little or nothing to congestion. 2. Congested roads with space for bicyclists. Bicycling on the road shoulder (common on highways); curb lane (common on newer urban streets); or a bike lane contributes little to congestion except at intersections and driveways where other vehicles' turning and lane shifting maneuvers may be delayed. 3. Narrow, congested roads with low speed traffic. On narrow, congested roads, bicyclists who keep up with traffic probably contribute less congestion than an average car, due to their small size and maneuverability. 4. Narrow, congested roads with moderate to high speed traffic. Bicycling on a narrow, congested road when the rider is unable to keep up with traffic can contribute to traffic congestion, depending on how difficult it is for faster vehicles to pass. Bicycling does not contribute excess congestion (more than other vehicles) under the first three conditions. Under those conditions, a bicycle trip that displaces an automobile trip reduces congestion overall. Under condition #4 bicyclists can increase traffic delays and conflicts. How much this actually occurs depends on the availability of alternative routes and specific traffic conditions, but overall this represents a small portion of bicycle transport mileage because cyclists usually avoid riding in such conditions. Indeed, bicycling is forbidden on urban freeways where congestion costs are highest. Of course, other vehicles delay traffic. Trucks, delivery vehicles, farm equipment, and automobiles operated by elderly drivers probably cause more traffic delay than bicycles. If delay justifies excluding bicycles, these vehicle classes should be prohibited too. Existing traffic law if observed by bicyclists and drivers minimizes conflicts and accident risk. Slower vehicles are required to ride to the right side of the roadway to facilitate passing by faster vehicles and to get off the roadway when delaying five or more vehicles to let them pass. Excessive conflict between bicyclists and motor vehicles therefore suggests that either traffic laws are not being enforced or that facility improvements may be justified to provide more road space or alternative routes for bicyclists. In summary, there is no evidence that bicycling increases overall traffic congestion, delay or accident risk (considering both increased and reduced congestion caused by bicycling), or that conflicts which develop between bicycles and motor vehicles can not be effectively resolved using existing laws and planning strategies. ===================================================================== Sincerely, Todd Litman, Director Victoria Transport Policy Institute "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity" 1250 Rudlin Street Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560 E-mail: litman@islandnet.com Website: www.islandnet.com/~litman From ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu Thu Jul 16 04:04:57 1998 From: ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu (Eric Bruun) Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 15:04:57 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [sustran] yet more on motorcycles and congestion In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19980715093741.008dfe90@mail.IslandNet.com> Message-ID: If motorcycle and moped use in developing countries constitutes a "social trap", what about car use? Far fewer people benefit and it uses precious foreign exchange to buy fuel and luxury autos for an elite in all too many cases. Also, who has encouraged this "social trap" besides the obvious elite that don't have to worry about public investment for public transportation, threats to their priviledged use of roads, etc.? The World Bank, IMF, etc., have also contributed to this, by favoring roads over rail and busways, and until recently dismissing public transit infrastructure as a waste of money, recommending instead that it be left to the private operators running in mixed traffic. We need only go to Bangkok or Lagos to see the results of this policy when carried to its logical conclusion..... It is no coincidence that mopeds and motorcyles appear en masse in places like Bangkok or Taipei where economic growth happens quickly, but public investment in public transportation is delayed for years, if not decades. Eric Bruun From HARIAS at doe.gov.ph Thu Jul 16 17:16:07 1998 From: HARIAS at doe.gov.ph (HARIAS) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 16:16:07 0800 Subject: [sustran] Re: Anti-Smoke Belching Message-ID: We at the Department of Energy, Philippines are currently looking at strategies to address the issue on smoke belching. If there are any information you can share with us on this subject, please send to me. Thanks, Helen Arias From joel at xs4all.nl Thu Jul 16 17:11:54 1998 From: joel at xs4all.nl (J.H. Crawford) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 09:11:54 +0100 Subject: [sustran] yet more on motorcycles and congestion In-Reply-To: References: <3.0.5.32.19980715093741.008dfe90@mail.IslandNet.com> Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980716091154.007bfca0@pop.xs4all.nl> >If motorcycle and moped use in developing countries constitutes >a "social trap", what about car use? Far fewer people benefit >and it uses precious foreign exchange to buy fuel and luxury >autos for an elite in all too many cases. In virtually all cases, yes. It is worth noting, though, that in places like Indonesia, road systems do provide pretty good transport in the more rural areas, where pickup trucks and minivans offer fairly regular and quite cheap public trasnport service. This is especially effective on routes where there isn't enough traffic to warrant running buses. >Also, who has encouraged this "social trap" besides the obvious >elite that don't have to worry about public investment for >public transportation, threats to their priviledged use of >roads, etc.? The World Bank, IMF, etc., have also >contributed to this, by favoring roads over rail and busways, >and until recently dismissing public transit infrastructure as >a waste of money, recommending instead that it be left to the >private operators running in mixed traffic. We need only go >to Bangkok or Lagos to see the results of this policy when >carried to its logical conclusion..... The IMF has been incredibly stupid on this point. >It is no coincidence that mopeds and motorcyles appear en masse >in places like Bangkok or Taipei where economic growth happens >quickly, but public investment in public transportation is delayed for >years, if not decades. They've recently cancelled a big project in Bangkok due to the financial crisis. Pity--I don't know anywhere on the globe that needed it worse. ### J.H. Crawford Crawford Systems joel@xs4all.nl http://www.carfree.com/ From joel at xs4all.nl Thu Jul 16 17:08:45 1998 From: joel at xs4all.nl (J.H. Crawford) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 09:08:45 +0100 Subject: [sustran] motorcycles and congestion In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19980715093741.008dfe90@mail.IslandNet.com> References: <3.0.1.32.19980715084856.007ae330@pop.xs4all.nl> <3.0.5.32.19980714133045.00906100@mail.IslandNet.com> <35AA413F.50B3@igc.apc.org> Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980716090845.007bd490@pop.xs4all.nl> Todd Litman wrote: >At 08:48 AM 7/15/98 +0100, J.H. Crawford wrote: >>Todd Litman said: >> >>>My own conclusion is that the only legitmate social benefits of motorcycles >>>are that they are somewhat more fuel efficient, and they are more >>>affordable to purchase and thus provide mobility to some lower income >>>people, but both of these benefits are slight. >> >>I would take partial exception to this. In the developing nations, >>small (+/- 70 cc) motorcycles are commonly the first transport upgrade >>bought by families after they have a bicycle or two. These motorcycles move >>in great swarms in the Asian capitals and have got to be much more space >>efficient than cars. They almost always ride at least two abreast and >>don't pay much attention to lane markings. They are, of course, noisy, >>and most of the machines of this class are 2-stroke, so the pollution they >>create is terrible. The picture is different in the developed nations and >>accords with Todd Litman's description as far as I am aware. > >I agree that motorcycles impose less congestion at lower traffic speeds. >Motorcycling allows lower income households to afford motorized transport. >It is certainly a benefit to those households, but the social benefits are >mixed. Pollution is certainly a problem. I wish I could get my hands on some statistics. You see all kinds of numbers floating around about how bad 2-stroke engines are, but I don't have a really hard source of data. >An even greater problem, in my >opinion, is the accident costs, which are extreme in many developing >countries. I'm sure it is. >I suspect that to some degree high levels of motorcycling in >developing countries represent a "social trap" (a situation in which >individuals' benefits are in conflict with society's benefits), since once >streets become crowded with motorcycles, conditions for pedestians, >bicycles and public transit often suffer. It may be possible that total >benefits would be greater from transport policies that encourage more >public transit, bicycling and efficient land use solutions to >transportation problems in developing countries. I would certainly think so, yes. Unfortunately, many governments in southeast Asia are busy banning human-powered solutions in favor of the "modern" car. >Passenger-Car Equivalents for Bicycles by Lane Width > > < 11 ft. Lane 11-14 ft. > 14 ft. > ------------- --------- -------- > Riding With Traffic 1.0 0.2 0.0 > Riding Against Traffic 1.2 0.5 0.0 In Amsterdam, bikes ride both ways on almost all streets, and most streets here are one way for cars. I suspect that the figures quoted above are only valid for high speeds--note that in narrow lanes (and most streets here are much narrower than 11 feet), a bike going against traffic is supposed to count as more than one car. This does not accord with my observations here--the bikes don't seem to slow down traffic much or cause a capacity reduction. >4. Narrow, congested roads with moderate to high speed traffic. >Bicycling on a narrow, congested road when the rider is unable to keep up >with traffic can contribute to traffic congestion, depending on how >difficult it is for faster vehicles to pass. Yes, it seems so. >In summary, there is no evidence that bicycling increases overall traffic >congestion, delay or accident risk (considering both increased and reduced >congestion caused by bicycling), or that conflicts which develop between >bicycles and motor vehicles can not be effectively resolved using existing >laws and planning strategies. I remember years ago seeing a film clip from Amsterdam, probably shot during the early 50s. I don't know where it was, but it may have been the Weteringcircuit, a traffic circle near here. It must have been at rush hour, and there were simply hundreds upon hundreds of bikes flowing smoothly around this circle. There are still a great many bike commuters here, but not in numbers anything like what I saw on that little flim clip. Love to know more about it if anybody happens to know the source. ### J.H. Crawford Crawford Systems joel@xs4all.nl http://www.carfree.com/ From halubis at trans.si.itb.ac.id Thu Jul 16 19:13:43 1998 From: halubis at trans.si.itb.ac.id (Harun Al Rasyid Sorah Lubis) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 17:13:43 +0700 Subject: [sustran] motorcycles and congestion Message-ID: <003501bdb0a2$6985aa40$1102cda7@harun.si.itb.ac.id> I want to answer the basic question that Walter raised in the beginning. There is a PhD thesis of Heru Sutomo, Leeds, Institute for Transport Studies, 1992 concerning this. He gathered data from several cities in Indonesia.Bandung, Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Semarang Then create a micro-simulation model (car-following), by treating the lane width in meter by meter, even cm by cm, if you like, to allow small size vehicle manuevering where space available between vehicles, all vehi cles are approaching a signalised junction. Other decision variables he considered is the proportion of m/c and other variety of non-motor vehicles, such as trishaw, bike, also including the motor vehicles, private car to heavy and trailer. Using regression technique in determining the pcu value, average estimate in all conditions simulated, he came up with: 0.27 (0.02) for m/c, read pcu (standard error) 0.19 (0.08) for bike 0.89 (0.06) for trishaw 1.53 (0.11) for medium veh. 2.33 (0.14) heavy veh, 2.98(0.29) trailers. Certainly, there are many other reseachers already look at this particular issue since Holroyd (1963), Webster (1966) most in UK and Djohar(1984) in Bandung. They came up with pcu for m/c in the range of 0.2 - 0.53 I can tell you what Indonesia did concerning policy on m/c, where 70% at least registered from the total motor vehicle statistics nationally, mostly Japanese made. Compulsory helmet was put in place since 1984. Unlike in Taipei, here we havenot got exclussive lane for m/c, also not yet for bike. In inter-uban road, it is suggested for m/c to switch the front light on. Reasons for owning m/c basically, this is the only choice the below middle income people could afford before owning car, rather to experience more 'costly' public transport, especially in the big cities, where public transport is totally hopeless. More m/c riders will switch to private car, once their income makes that possible, though it is very unreasonable for them to have it in terms of income class. People at that marginality, thought it is a 'must' to have a private car of whatever age than to experience transport 'cost' more, where in average 35%-40% income is allocated to transport, according to a specific survey in Yogyakarta, could be more in Jakarta, maybe... During the prolonged Asia economic flu, I would reckon rate of increase in m/c ownership will rise, certainly down for private car, no evidence yet available for m/c. I can tell you, no single road users sofar complaint with such proportion of m/c we have here, in road capacity terms. If there is, I could guess it is due to the noisy, if in case the youth m/c riders designed that on purpose, but this very few. They do complaint sometimes if the m/c moves above the normal speed limit, again this is very few. Finally, m/c are used for 'non-conventional' public transport, 'ojeg' we call it, in the area where conventional ones do not exist. Harun al-Rasyid S. Lubis Traffic Laboratory Department of Civil Engineering INSTITUT TEKNOLOGI BANDUNG ----- From pascal at gn.apc.org Thu Jul 16 19:16:01 1998 From: pascal at gn.apc.org (Pascal Desmond) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 11:16:01 +0100 (BST) Subject: [sustran] Re: more on motorcycles and congestion In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Eric Bruun is correct. My experience of motorcyclists are the variety who sit astride a great big throbbing engine, alone. Sadly, those with small engines are usually scorned or laughed at. I am not familiar with seeing more than 2 people on a motorcycle or moped, although in my youth I had 3 passengers on my pushbike on bumpy roads in west Kerry, Ireland. One each on the carrier, saddle and handlebars, with myself standing up in the pedals. It wasn't particularly comfortable, especially for the chap on the handlebars when we were going downhill. >Mr. Pascal Desmond raises a valid point that motorcycles often >use more "shadow" space in front of them. Whenever possible, >they try to keep tailgaters farther away than auto drivers as well. >But I think Pascal is assuming a northern European or North >American traffic operation. I assumed that Walter Hook was refering >to Asian or Italian operations. Even though safety and emissions >statistics are wretched, they do use less space by far than >a private car under these circumstances-- This is even more so >when normalized for vehicle occupancy, as many motorcycles and >mopeds will be carrying 2 or 3 people, whereas the car will often >be carrying 1 person plus chauffer (who doesn't count any more >than a bus driver). > >Both space consumed while driving and while stored are important. >If one wants to unify the analysis to sum up the consumption of >both, I would like to suggest the time-area method. It is >summarized in Transportation Research Record 1499. Kind regards, Pascal. "Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead, (1901-78) Thanks to the legal eagles at the RAC, here is a very nice piece of the law (sadly, unreferenced): "There is a fine of up to ?2,500 and as many as 9 penalty points available for any motorist who drives through a puddle and splashes pedestrians". It is advisable that anyone who gets splashed should have at least two independent witnesses, and have one of the nice, shiny CCTV cameras pointing at you ? and don't forget that "Police are required not to show 'favour or affection' towards some and 'malice or ill-will' towards others" (Police Act 1964, section 18 and Second Schedule). From ifrtd at gn.apc.org Thu Jul 16 22:13:35 1998 From: ifrtd at gn.apc.org (Niklas Sieber) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 13:13:35 +0000 Subject: [sustran] Urban Mobility Professional Message-ID: <199807161215.NAA29810@mail.gn.apc.org> Dear Sustran Subscribers I just received this message and I thought you might be interested. Regards, Niklas (IFRTD) Message follows: __________________________________ Dear Urban Mobility Professional, I would like to present you with our new magazine: The Urban Mobility Professional (UMP). The UMP is a FREE monthly electronic magazine presenting the latest news items in the Urban Mobility branch (articles, press releases, experts, Internet links etc.). Each issue tackles a specific problem/development. As the topics of the first two issues, I have chosen the "Y2K problem" and the "EURO". The next issue will discuss "Traffic Management". If you are interested in receiving this magazine by e-mail please follow the below steps or go to http://www.mobility-net.com/ump. 1. E-magazine including images: This service is only available if you have one of the following mail-programs: Netscape 4 / Outlook Express '97/ Eudora 4 etc.). Please send a message to mailmanager@mobility-net.com with the following message in the body: join ump 2. E-magazine in text format: Please send a message to mailmanager@mobility-net.com with the following message in the body: join ump-t ! send both messages using plain text (no HTML codes) To view the first UMP issues please go to http://www.mobility-net.com/ump. I trust the above will be of interest and I look forward to welcome you as a new subscriber to the UMP. Best regards, Cindy Kerckhoffs Editor / Information Manager Urban Mobility Network P.O. Box 917 6200 AX Maastricht Tel. ++31 43 3213022 Fax. ++31 43 3211062 http://www.mobility-net.com C.Kerckhoffs@mobility-net.com _____________ Niklas Sieber International Forum for Rural Transport and Development 150 Southampton Row London WC1 B5AL, UK Tel.: +44 171/ 278 3682, Fax: +44 171/ 278 6880 e-mail: ifrtd@gn.apc.org Webpage: http://www.gn.apc.org/ifrtd From ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu Thu Jul 16 23:51:47 1998 From: ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu (Eric Bruun) Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 10:51:47 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [sustran] numbers of people on motorcycles In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Thu, 16 Jul 1998, Pascal Desmond wrote: > > I am not familiar with seeing more than 2 people on a motorcycle or moped, > although in my youth I had 3 passengers on my pushbike on bumpy roads in > west Kerry, Ireland. One each on the carrier, saddle and handlebars, with > myself standing up in the pedals. It wasn't particularly comfortable, > especially for the chap on the handlebars when we were going downhill. > In Pakistan, it is extremely common to see a whole family of 4 people on a moped. Usually the third and fourth passenger are children, so it is not impossible. But the women ride sidesaddle for "modesty" which is inherently imbalanced and unsafe. This no doubt contributes to the horrific accidents that occur. There are other places as well where the entire family fits on one moped. Eric From kwood at central.co.nz Fri Jul 17 09:12:58 1998 From: kwood at central.co.nz (Kerry Wood) Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 12:12:58 +1200 Subject: [sustran] motorcycles and congestion Message-ID: Hi everybody Problems of bicycle capacity: The answer seems to be very messy, particularly if the available width is less than about 2 m. The CROW manual ( Netherlands, 1993) gives capacities of 3300 cycles/h for a streaming lane 1.0 m wide and 4700 /h for 1.8 m wide. Minimum widths are given as 1.5 m for cycling 2 abreast, 2.5 m for cycling 3 abreast etc. The capacity/width curve is in fact a 'fuzzy' step function: two cyclists cannot ride side by side in 1.0 m width, can just ride side by side in 1.5 m (probably with some delay) and can ride without delay in 1.8 m. But by then cyclists can ride 3 wide with some delay... The curve can be conservatively plotted as tangential to the steps Capacity = [(Width - 0.8 m) x 3300] +1000 cycles/hr This is clearly conservative in some cases: Homburger et al (1996) give capacity as up to 2600 cycles/hr.m width, and describe 1300-1960 cycles/ hr.m as level of service 'C'. However, they also give the speed as 15-17 km/h (and down to 10-13 km/h at capacity), so perhaps some conservatism is appropriate. Making some assumptions about traffic capacity, and assuming 1.44 persons per motor vehicle (average implied in a New Zealand household travel survey) Available width (m) -------- Capacity (persons/hr) Capacity Total Traffic Cycles Traffic Cycles Total increase with cycle facility 3.0 3.0 - 2400 - 2400 - 3.0* - 8200 8200 3.4 x 3.5 3.5 - 2400 - 2400 - 3.5* - 9900 9900 4.1 x 4.0 4.0 - 2500 - 2500 - 4.0* - 11500 11500 4.6 x 4.5 4.5 - 2600 - 2600 3.0 1.5 2400 3300 5300 2.0 x 5.0 5.0 - 2600 - 2600 3.5 1.5 2400 3300 5700 2.2 x 3.0 1.5** 2400 3300 5700 2.2 x 3.0 2.0 2400 5000 7000 2.7 x 5.5 5.5 - 2600 - 2600 3.5 1.5** 2400 3300 5700 2.2 x 3.0 2.0** 2400 5000 7000 2.7 x 3.0 2.5 2400 6600 8600 3.3 x 7.0 2 x 3.5 - 4800 - 4800 3.0 + 2.5 1.5 4600 3300 7900 1.6 x 8.0 2 x 4.0 - 5000 - 5000 8.0 2 x 3.0 2.0 4800 5000 9800 2.0 x 8.0 2 x 3.25 1.5 4800 3300 8100 1.6 x 8.0 2 x 3.0 1.5** 4800 3300 8100 1.6 x * Not recommended without physical separation (too easy to use as a car lane) ** Additional width used to separate cycle and motor traffic If the table falls to pieces in transmission, the full headings are Total available width (m) Traffic available width (m) Cycles avaialble width (m) Traffic capacity (persons/hr, assuming 1.44 per car) Cycle capacity (persosns/hr using the equation above and assuming 1 person per bike) Capacity increase (cycle capacity / car capacity) References are: CROW (1993) Sign up for the bike, design manual for a cycle-friendly infrastructure. Netherlands: Centre for Research and Contract Standardisation in Civil Engineering Homburger, WS, et al (1996) Fundamentals of Traffic Engineering. Berkeley, California: Institute of Transportation Studies. Picking up on Todd Litman's comment: >Bicycles are sometimes considered a problem if they increase traffic delays >and accident risk. For analysis of bicycle traffic impacts, road conditions >are divided into four classes: >.... Bikes are often faster than cars in congested conditions, which makes it hard to argue that they are significantly delaying the cars. New but vaguely related subject: Roelof Wittink points out that in the Netherlands bikes are safer than cars for high-risk road users, and I have found the same for 15-20 year olds in New Zealand: About twice as safe for overall crash costs, but I have not broken it down by safety-to-self and safety-to-others. Regards Kerry Wood Transport Consultant Phone/fax + 64 4 801 5549 e-mail kwood@central.co.nz 1 McFarlane St Wellington 6001 New Zealand From tkpb at barter.pc.my Fri Jul 17 12:23:17 1998 From: tkpb at barter.pc.my (Paul Barter) Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 11:23:17 +0800 (MYT) Subject: [sustran] International Workshop, TPMDC-98 Message-ID: This was sent to the utsg list from Dr K V Krishna Rao . PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE IN THE DATES AND THE REGISTRATION FEE OF THE WORKSHOP 3rd INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP TRANSPORTATION PLANNING METHODOLOGIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: Emerging Trends TPMDC - 98 9 - 11, December, 1998 Organised by Transportation Systems Engineering Civil Engineering Department Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Powai, Mumbai 400 076, India BACKGROUND A series of three International Workshops were announced in the WCTRS Newsletter about four years back. The first of the series was successfully conducted in December 1994 on Impact Evaluation and Analysis of Transportation Projects in Developing Countries, IEATP-94. The second Workshop of the Series, Transportation Planning and Implementation Methodologies for Developing Countries, TPMDC-96, was conducted during December 1996. The third of the series will be held in December 1998 on Transportation Planning Methodologies for Developing Countries, TPMDC-98 with special emphasis on emerging trends. The Transportation Systems Engineering Group at IIT Bombay is actively involved in the national and local level transport planning activities in India. Likewise, many of the developing countries have lot of expertise in transportation planning and significant innovations have been made in the past to the traditional methods. To share and exchange the experience among the transportation professionals of the developing and developed nations, this workshop will be an ideal forum. Workshop will deal with modern techniques and methodologies of transportation planning evolved and used innovatively for developing countries which can be of use to even developed world. WORKSHOP THEME The basic transport planning theory and practice have come of age. The data shortage and peculiarity of travel process in developing countries still haunt the transport planners. The emerging trends of innovative usage of tools and techniques developed in other disciplines have made significant difference in planning methodologies. Researchers and practising planners both in developed and developing countries have applied these tools to a large number of problems in transportation planning. It is high time to take stock and consolidate the gamut of ideas pursued in transportation planning. Although complexities of the problems still baffle the planners, they are much more confident in their approach to the problems. The workshop intends to deliberate and discuss on these emerging trends of transport planning with examples taken largely from developing countries. The selected participants and experts will present their experiences of planning examples in the form of case studies to bring out the innovations. TENTATIVE WORKSHOP PROGRAMME In the three days of the workshop the presentations and the discussions will highlight the emerging tools/techniques of data collection, forecasting, analysis, modelling and implementation in the following areas. Land use Planning Methodologies Transportation Planning Methodologies Public Transport Planning Inter-modal coordination Travel Demand Management Transport Policy & Implementation In addition, there will be a technical visit. EXPERT LECTURES Following organisations are likely to sponsor expert lectures for the Workshop. The British Council, World Bank, UNESCAP, RUCA Belgium, CODATU PARTICIPATION About 30 participants will be admitted for the Workshop comprising 15 from developing countries and 15 from India. Professionals from academic, research and consultancy organisations, transport economics/environment faculty and practising planners dealing with transport planning are expected to attend the Workshop. The admitted group will include professionals from different countries dealing with projects on different transportation planning problems. Intending participants should send their CV and a two-page summary of the presentation to be made in the Workshop, which will provide a judicious basis for selection of participants. The registration fee for the Workshop is US $ 100 for foreign participants and Rs.2000 for Indian participants. This includes boarding and lodging for three days of workshop and the technical visit. However, travel expenses will be borne by the participants or their sponsoring organisations. All intending participants should send the CV (maximum 4 pages), summary of the presentation and format F1 latest by September 30, 1998. Foreign nationals should also send Format F2 for necessary clearances from Govt. of India. Preferably use E-mail for communications. The selected participants will be informed by October 31, 1998. They will be required to pay the registration fee by a Demand Draft in favour of "International Workshop TPMDC-98", payable at Bombay by November 15, 1998. ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Please return the CONSENT FORM and the BRIEF PARTICULARS to the following address. Prof. S. L. Dhingra / Prof. P. K. Sikdar/ Dr K. V. Krishna Rao Co-ordinators, TPMDC-98 Transportation Systems Engineering Group Civil Engineering Department Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Powai, Mumbai - 400 076, India Tel.: +91 22 5782545 Extn. 7300/7314/7305/7348 (Off.) 8329/8314/8305 (Res.) Fax: +91 22 5767302 / 5783480 Email: tpmdc98@gemini.civil.iitb.ernet.in CONSENT FOR PARTICIPATION FORMAT F1 1. Name ______________________________ 2. Organisation ________________________ 3. Full address _________________________ ______________________________________ 4. Phone with Country and Area Code ______________________________________ 5. Fax with Country and Area Code ______________________________________ 6. Email: ______________________________________ I am interested and shall be attending the International Workshop during December 9-11, 1998. Date___________ Signature_______________ BRIEF PARTICULARS FORMAT F2 1. Full Name (Expanding the initials) 2. Nationality 3. Date and place of birth 4. Parentage 5. Present address 6. Permanent address 7. Passport No., date & place of issue, and validity 8. Occupation 9. Whether previously visited India? If so, date & place of previous visit 10. Whether accompanied by spouse? From tkpb at barter.pc.my Fri Jul 17 12:23:14 1998 From: tkpb at barter.pc.my (Paul Barter) Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 11:23:14 +0800 (MYT) Subject: [sustran] Parking Policy Message-ID: The question below appeared on the utsg list. Israel is planning to limit parking in urban areas that are well-served by public transport. I am reposting to sustran-discuss because this is an important sustainable transport measure, much preferable to the common practice of decreeing a MINIMUM parking requirement for buildings, regardless of location. Another interesting question for Asian cities, given our discussion of motorcycles, is how motorcycle parking might be restrained in transit-oriented areas. I don't think iitpr subscribes to sustran-discuss so any replies would need to go directly to them. Paul. >Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 16:07:15 +0300 >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Subject: Parking Policy >From: iitpr >To: utsg@mailbase.ac.uk ........ > >We are working now on formulating new parking codes for the urban areas >in Israel, including parking policy. We want to learn from experience in >other countries. > >In general, maximum parking space allowed will be a decreasing function >of the distance from a "Transit Corridor" and stations. We have several >questions regarding this concept: > >1. What will be the best definition of a "Public Transport Corridor" >(including Bus lines). > >2. What is "reasonable walking distance" from a station. >3. How does the walking distance to a station influences transit usage >(distance decay curve) ? > >Any data and/or references will be most appreciated. > >Thank you > >Dr. Gadi Kfir >The Israel Institute of Transportation Planning and Research >POB 9180, Tel Aviv 61090 Israel >Iitpr@netvision.net.il > A. Rahman Paul BARTER, SUSTRAN Resource Centre A0602 Palm Court, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Phone: +603 274 2590 (or fax on request) E-mail: or (personal) The SUSTRAN Resource Centre hosts the Secretariat of SUSTRAN (the Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific). From litman at islandnet.com Sat Jul 18 00:19:26 1998 From: litman at islandnet.com (Todd Litman) Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 08:19:26 -0700 Subject: [sustran] Sustainability and Automobile Dependency Issues Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980717081926.00901bb0@mail.IslandNet.com> Dear Colleagues, At the Transportation Research Board summer session, held earlier this week in Seattle, the following three sessions were planned for the 1999 TRB Annual Meeting, to be held next January in Washington DC: * Sustainabile Transportation * Automobile Dependency: Social Impacts * Automobile Dependency: Economic Impacts If you are involved in research related to these issues I urge you to submit a paper for presentation. The deadline for submissions is August 1, so you'll need to act quickly. For information contact the Transportation Research Board at 202-334-3205 or www.nas.edu/trb. Please let me know if you would like a copy of a paper we presented at the summer meeting, "Exploring the Paradigm Shift Needed to Resolve Conflicts Between Transportation and Sustainability Goals". It resulted in considerable discussion among those who saw the presentation. Many transportation professionals appear rather resistant to changing their paradigm. Sincerely, Todd Litman, Director Victoria Transport Policy Institute "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity" 1250 Rudlin Street Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560 E-mail: litman@islandnet.com Website: www.islandnet.com/~litman From pwcl at wr.com.au Sat Jul 18 13:18:32 1998 From: pwcl at wr.com.au (Christine Laurence & Peter Wright) Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 14:18:32 +1000 Subject: [sustran] ESD Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980718141832.0068ea10@wr.com.au> I'm presently writing an online version of a submission I made to Sustainable Transport Consultants about the Carl Scully's Bike Plan 2010 project. I'm adding links to useful URL's through the document that help amplify the points I'm trying to make, and I need one for "Ecologically Sustainable Development". In Computer Science (my area) there tend to be "seminal" papers/books that everyone references. Do you know of any equivalent on line references fpr ESD? Doing a search via Altavista yields 3000+ hits, most which are useless, so I was wondering if you could recommend one? Something authoritative and informative would be good. P.S. At the moment the link I have points to NCC home page. cheers, -- John Bignucolo Email: oscar@cs.usyd.edu.au Basser Department of Computer Science Phone: +61-2-9351-3807 Madsen Building, F09 Fax: +61-2-9351-3838 University of Sydney, N.S.W. 2006, AUSTRALIA From litman at islandnet.com Sat Jul 18 21:26:08 1998 From: litman at islandnet.com (Todd Litman) Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 05:26:08 -0700 Subject: [sustran] ESD In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19980718141832.0068ea10@wr.com.au> Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980718052608.008ff720@mail.IslandNet.com> At 02:18 PM 7/18/98 +1000, John Bignucolo wrote: > >In Computer Science (my area) there tend to be "seminal" papers/books >that everyone references. Do you know of any equivalent on line >references fpr ESD? Doing a search via Altavista yields 3000+ hits, >most which are useless, so I was wondering if you could recommend one? >Something authoritative and informative would be good. I suggest: Herman Daly and John Cobb, "For the Common Good", Beacon Press (Boston) 1989. "Ecological Economics; The Science and Management of Sustainability" Edited by Robert Costanza. 1991. New York: Columbia University Press. Timothy Beatley, "The Many Meanings of Sustainability" JOURNAL OF PLANNING LITERATURE, Vol. 9, No. 4, May 1995, pp. 339-341. Mohan Munasinghe, "Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development", Environment Paper #3, World Bank (Washington DC), 1993. You might want to visit the website of the International Society for Ecological Economics at http://kabir.cbl.cees.edu/ISEE/ISEEhome.html. For sustainable transport you might want to reference: "Towards Sustainable Transportation," proceedings of OECD conference held March 1996 in Vancouver, BC. "Sustainable Transport; Priorities for Policy Reform," World Bank (Washington DC), 1996. "Toward a Sustainable Future," Special Report 251, Transportation Research Board (Washington DC), 1997. "Sustainable Transportation," Monograph No. 2, Environment Canada and Transport Canada, 1997. Sincerely, Todd Litman, Director Victoria Transport Policy Institute "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity" 1250 Rudlin Street Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560 E-mail: litman@islandnet.com Website: www.islandnet.com/~litman From ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu Mon Jul 20 23:05:34 1998 From: ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu (Eric Bruun) Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 10:05:34 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [sustran] Comments on Litman's ESD selections In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19980718052608.008ff720@mail.IslandNet.com> Message-ID: The reference from Transportation Research Board that Litman cited is not much of a resource in my opinion. It talks only about technology. In a 250 page body, there aren't even 2 pages about urban public transportation and nothing about the impact from global trade patterns on the freight side. Officially sponsored reports in the US, in my opinion, avoid internal politically controversial issues. Eric Bruun From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Tue Jul 21 00:58:06 1998 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 17:58:06 +0200 Subject: [sustran] Comments on Litman's ESD selections In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <000d01bdb3f7$9aef25e0$614ce8c3@g400> Eric Bruun has made the point: >> The reference from Transportation Research Board that Litman cited is not much of a resource in my opinion. It talks only about technology. In a 250 page body, there aren't even 2 pages about urban public transportation and nothing about the impact from global trade patterns on the freight side. Officially sponsored reports in the US, in my opinion, avoid internal politically controversial issues. << This is an extremely important observation, and -- bet on it! -- I regret it greatly but there it is. A sad state of affairs! The TRB stuff is almost always good when it comes to the back, the leaves and the small stuff that crawls about thereon, but virtually nonexistent when it comes to telling us anything useful about the forest. By and large, these good souls play it safe, and if you don't believe it, I invite you to sample their collected work. Strong questioning and conceptual thinking are simply not their choice of arms. And so, they run anywhere from 10 to 20 years behind the leading edge. What I have to believe, Eric, is that Todd and maybe a few others are trying to run the TRB gang around. Sure they have for the last half decade regularly had a few people there who mouth the mantra of sustainability et al. But in their heart of hearts, vrooom vrooom.... Somebody, please, kindly prove to me that I am horribly wrong! And if you do, I will eat that virtual crow. Eric Britton EcoPlan International - Technology, Economy, Society Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, F-75006 Paris, France Tel. +33 (0)1 4326.1323 or +33 (0)1 4441.6340 Fax +33 (0)1 4441.6341 or +33 (0)1 4326.1323 ICQ # 7147909 URL: http://www.ecoplan.org From FMONTGOM at its.leeds.ac.uk Tue Jul 21 02:07:49 1998 From: FMONTGOM at its.leeds.ac.uk (Frank MONTGOMERY) Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 17:07:49 GMT Subject: [sustran] Motorcycles & congestion Message-ID: > Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 17:13:43 +0700 > From: "Harun Al Rasyid Sorah Lubis" > Subject: Re: [sustran] motorcycles and congestion > > I want to answer the basic question that Walter raised > in the beginning. > > There is a PhD thesis of Heru Sutomo, Leeds, Institute for > Transport Studies, 1992 concerning this. Also more recent PhD theses as below: Hossain, M. (1996) A Microscopic Simulation Model of Small Urban Mixed Traffic Network. PhD thesis, University of Southampton, UK. Powell, M, (1997) Modelling the Behaviour of Motorcycles at Traffic Signals. PhD Thesis, ITS, University of Leeds, UK. The former was based on data from Bangladesh, and the latter on data from Indonesia, Malaysia & Thailand. A paper on the latter was presented at the WCTR conference last week, and an article will shortly appear in Traffic Engineering & Control. Frank Montgomery Institute for Transport Studies University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT UK Tel +44 113 233 5339 Fax +44 113 233 5334 email fmontgom@its.leeds.ac.uk From litman at islandnet.com Tue Jul 21 02:43:43 1998 From: litman at islandnet.com (Todd Litman) Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 10:43:43 -0700 Subject: [sustran] ESD Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980720104343.009123f0@mail.IslandNet.com> At 02:18 PM 7/18/98 +1000, John Bignucolo wrote: > >In Computer Science (my area) there tend to be "seminal" papers/books >that everyone references. Do you know of any equivalent on line >references fpr ESD? Doing a search via Altavista yields 3000+ hits, >most which are useless, so I was wondering if you could recommend one? >Something authoritative and informative would be good. In my previous posting I forgot to mention the most often cited report on sustainability: "Our Common Future", (The Brundtland Report) - Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Oxford University Press, 1987 ISBN 0-19-282080-x. Sincerely, Todd Litman, Director Victoria Transport Policy Institute "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity" 1250 Rudlin Street Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560 E-mail: litman@islandnet.com Website: www.islandnet.com/~litman From sustran at po.jaring.my Tue Jul 21 11:25:56 1998 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Resource Centre) Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 10:25:56 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Dhaka conference on cycle rickshaws Message-ID: <199807210225.KAA02499@relay14.jaring.my> We heard the following news item on BBC World Service News this morning. Paul Barter and Sreela Kolandai SUSTRAN Resource Centre --------------------------------------------------- BBC World News. Tues 21 July, 1998 Does Dhaka need rickshaws? The Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, has more cycle rickshaws than any other city in the world, and now a conference has started there to look at the future of these brightly painted, human-powered vehicles. Frances Harrison reports from Dhaka: Every day rickshaws in Dhaka make seven million 7m passenger trips, covering 11 million miles - nearly double the output of the London underground. More than half the vehicles on the roads of the city are rickshaws, providing employment for at least a million people. But planning officials have always held the humble rickshaw in disdain. They see it as a symbol of under-development. As a result there's never been proper research into improving the design of the vehicle, whose gears are set too high and whose suspension is poor. Too often the approach has been to suggest banning rickshaws altogether. But it's not at all clear that would solve the city's traffic jams and it would leave a lot of impoverished people without employment. Instead, this conference, jointly funded by the United Nations and Dhaka City Corporation, is looking at ways of segregating fast and slow-moving vehicles, using separate lanes and special underpasses for rickshaws. And it is reviewing a training project for rickshaw pullers which taught them to recognise road signs and also offered them basic accident insurance. In one of the worst polluted and fastest growing cities in the world, a small minority feels the environmentally friendly rickshaw should still have a future. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_136000/13607 4.stm From tkpb at barter.pc.my Tue Jul 21 11:00:15 1998 From: tkpb at barter.pc.my (Paul Barter) Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 10:00:15 +0800 (MYT) Subject: [sustran] Karachi Mass Transit project: "no solution to commuters' problems" Message-ID: Dear sustran-discussers, This is from "Facts & Figures", Vol. 6, No. 6, June 1998. Facts and Figures is compiled by Muhammad Younus, Urban Resource Centre, 3/48 Mualimabad Housing Society off Khalid bin Walid Road Karachi-74800, Pakistan. Tel: 92 21- 4559275. E-mail . There is plenty to discuss and debate in this and issues that are common to other low-income cities around the world. I hope the list can feed some comments back to the Urban Resource Centre. By the way, they have also been actively fighting a major expressway in the Karachi, the Lyari Expressway. ----------------------- "The KMTP: no solution to commuters' problems; a URC report." The mass-transit system currently being proposed for the city will not solve any of the problems of Karachi's commuters or reduce traffic congestion in any way as is being claimed , for the following reasons: 1. Karachi's transport network covers over 750 kilometres of circulation arteries. What is being developed as Corridor-1 constitutes only 13 km as Phase-1 and a bus service that feeds into it. This "drop in the ocean" is going to cost the exchequer a phenomenal US $665 million. As in Manila, Cairo, Mexico and Calcutta, the other proposed mass-transit corridors will not be developed in the foreseeable future owing to a scarcity of funds. As a result, conditions for over 95 per cent of Karachi's commuters (except for those that can use Corridor-1) will become progressively worse than what they are at present. 2. Due to an absence of other corridors, Corridor-1 will become extremely congested leading to massive environmental degradation (as in the case of Manila), particularly in the inner city, where the elevated transitway passes through very narrow roads. Not only will this will cause further traffic congestion, but it will irredeemably damage whatever is left of the historically unique urban fabric. 3. Mass transit systems do not solve traffic problems, especially if they are as miserably small as the proposed Corridor-1, Phase-1; if they did , then Manila, Cairo and Mexico would not be ranked amongst the most traffic-congested cities in the world. Traffic problems are solved by traffic engineering projects and by traffic management. It is imperative that we understand this hard fact and refrain from making tall claims. 4. What is being quoted as the cost per trip for Corridor-1 is between Rs12 and Rs19. Unless the system is heavily subsidised by the government (as in Manila and Calcutta) or it has a much higher coverage (which is not possible due to financial constraints), the cost per trip will work out to be much higher. The Kuala Lumpur cost per trip is US $1.4 or Rs 63. According to reports, the Karachi light rail contractors have been allowed to raise fares by 13 per cent annually. At this cost, how will this facility remain affordable for the common Karachiite? Without using the light rail, commuters would not be able to get to Corridor-1, as the light rail contractor has a monopoly over 1/2 km on either side of the corridor. With these travelling costs and the monopoly over transport, the entire exercise is bound to lead to communal strife and tension. If the government is really sincere in its efforts to provide the people of Karachi with an effective mass transit system, then that system should necessarily have a much larger range to justify the exorbitant cost of US $665 million and should utilise the two major assets that Karachi possesses and which few other cities do: one, the circular railway and mainline to Pipri and two, very wide roads. The US $665 million could be spent much more effectively as follows: (Rates given below have been worked out from rules of thumb given in World Bank technical papers, and are on the high side.) 1.US $250 million : Upgrading of 70.7 km of circular railway and mainline linking major Karachi work areas (except Saddar) to residential areas. 2. US $215 million: Building an additional 17 km of railway at grade from the circular railway into dense low-income suburbs (3.5 km into Orangi, 3.2 km into Baldia , 5 km into New Karachi , 525 km to complete the Landhi-Drigh Colony loop). The extensions could be done over a ten-year period through small projects, eventually linking up almost all of Karachi's major work and residential areas with each other. 3. US $200 million: Developing 40 km of separated tramway at grade separated transitways on major arteries within the circle of the circular railway (Corridor-1 and 2 could be developed as such). Thus, at the same, a ten times larger system could be installed instead. The per trip and per capita operation and maintenance costs would lower considerably through greater usage of the system. In an elevated light rail system, the cost of the elevated structure alone is about two-thirds of the total cost of the project. This accounts for the reason why all over the world, transport engineers are actively discouraging it. Then why are we being so foolhardy? If this miserable 13 km corridor is constructed at a cost of US $665 million, it will be a major lost opportunity for providing this great but unfortunate city with an effective and efficient mass transit system. (URC report) From t4-inoue at nri.co.jp Tue Jul 21 15:51:23 1998 From: t4-inoue at nri.co.jp (Taiichi INOUE) Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 15:51:23 +0900 Subject: [sustran] Airport services and user needs Message-ID: <199807210651.PAA27717@nrims1.nri.co.jp> Dear, Recently I've begun a research project on the international airport services. So I'd like to know such information as follows. Would you someone let me know? *International airport services which are systemically mentioned *Survey on the user needs for these services Think globally, Act locally. Consultant Taiichi Inoue Transport & Logistics System Strategy. Nomura Research Institute,Ltd. 2-2-1,Ootemachi,Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100,JAPAN tel +81-3-5203-0806 fax +81-3-5203-0810 Website http://www.nri.co.jp/ From mobility at igc.apc.org Wed Jul 22 02:46:49 1998 From: mobility at igc.apc.org (Walter Hook) Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 10:46:49 -0700 Subject: [sustran] Visit ITDP's new website Message-ID: <35B4D409.151C@igc.apc.org> ITDP On-Line Please visit the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy's (ITDP) new website: www.ITDP.org ITDP, founded in 1985, promotes environmentally sustainable and socially equitable transportation policies and projects worldwide, particularly in developing countries and countries in transition. ITDP pursues its mission in three ways: reforming the international development institutions; providing technical assistance to sustainable transport campaigns; implementing demonstration projects. In the new site you will find updates of ITDP's latest activities, membership information, program and project descriptions, and a list of ITDP publications-- many of which are available for downloading. From sustran at po.jaring.my Wed Jul 22 10:57:36 1998 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Resource Centre) Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 09:57:36 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Spring/Summer NMT News Available Message-ID: <199807220446.MAA25294@relay14.jaring.my> Forwarding this message which bounced. > From: "Guruswamy, Dharm" > To: "'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org'" > Subject: Spring/Summer NMT Available > Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 10:15:31 -0400 > MIME-Version: 1.0 > X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.1960.3) > Content-Type: text/plain > > The Spring/Summer issue of _NMT News_ the newsletter of TRB Committee > A5031 (Committee on Non Motorized Transportation and Related Issues in > Developing Countries) is now available. If you would like an electronic > copy sent to you please reply to me and specify your preferred format > (Word, RTF, or ASCII). > > Also, remember that the deadline for paper submissions for the TRB > annual meeting is AUGUST 1, 1998. More information is contained in the > newsletter and at the TRB web site: > > www.nas.edu/trb > > > --- > Dharm Guruswamy, Associate, Transportation Strategies & Policies, > Hagler Bailly, 1530 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209, phone (703) > 312-0381, > Fax (703) 351-0342, e-mail: dguruswa@HaglerBailly.com > , web:www.HaglerBailly.com > > From jhk at ihe.nl Wed Jul 22 21:29:33 1998 From: jhk at ihe.nl (jan herman koster) Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 14:29:33 +0200 Subject: [sustran] Spring/Summer NMT News Available References: <199807220446.MAA25294@relay14.jaring.my> Message-ID: <35B5DB2D.327CDE9B@ihe.nl> Please send me a copy of the NMT newsletter in Word. Thanks, Jan H. Koster SUSTRAN Resource Centre wrote: > > Forwarding this message which bounced. > > > From: "Guruswamy, Dharm" > > To: "'sustran-discuss@jca.ax.apc.org'" > > Subject: Spring/Summer NMT Available > > Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 10:15:31 -0400 > > MIME-Version: 1.0 > > X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.1960.3) > > Content-Type: text/plain > > > > The Spring/Summer issue of _NMT News_ the newsletter of TRB Committee > > A5031 (Committee on Non Motorized Transportation and Related Issues in > > Developing Countries) is now available. If you would like an electronic > > copy sent to you please reply to me and specify your preferred format > > (Word, RTF, or ASCII). > > > > Also, remember that the deadline for paper submissions for the TRB > > annual meeting is AUGUST 1, 1998. More information is contained in the > > newsletter and at the TRB web site: > > > > www.nas.edu/trb > > > > > > --- > > Dharm Guruswamy, Associate, Transportation Strategies & Policies, > > Hagler Bailly, 1530 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209, phone (703) > > 312-0381, > > Fax (703) 351-0342, e-mail: dguruswa@HaglerBailly.com > > , web:www.HaglerBailly.com > > > > -- jan herman koster E-mail: jhk@ihe.nl _________________________ ____ ____ ___________ ______ | I.H.E. - Delft | |_ _||_ _||_ ________| | | Infrastructure | P.O.Box 3015, 2601 DA | || ||____||__||__ | | Hydraulics | DELFT, The Netherlands | _||_ _||_ _||__||____ | | Environment | http://www.ihe.nl | |____||____||___________| |______| `-------------------------' D E L F T From sustran at po.jaring.my Thu Jul 23 16:35:44 1998 From: sustran at po.jaring.my (SUSTRAN Resource Centre) Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 15:35:44 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Pedicab ("Becak") Appeal from Jakarta Message-ID: <199807230733.PAA21871@relay13.jaring.my> Dear sustran-discussers Below is an appeal from activists in Jakarta for letters of support for the readmission of becak into Jakarta after almost 10 years of being banned. As most of you probably know, becak (pronounced "beh-chak") are Indonesia's version of the pedicab or three-wheel non-motorised taxi. There has already been some mention of the issue on this list but here is a summary of recent events. In late June, activists from the Yayasan Lembaga Konsumen Indonesia (YLKI) (Indonesian Consumers Organization) and the Lembaga Pengembangan Inisiatif Strategis untuk Transformasi (LPIST) (Institute for the Propagation of Strategic Initiatives for Transformation) met with the Governor of Jakarta, Mr Sutiyoso, and negotiated with him on how to find low-cost solutions to transportation problems in the context of the economic crisis. The activists had just returned home from a gathering in Manila of SUSTRAN participants ("SUSTRAN General Assembly") and were apparently full of enthusiasm after our meeting. GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES BECAK BAN LIFTED .... THEN BACKS DOWN The discussions were very fruitful and as a result, the Governor immediately announced that becak would be allowed back into Jakarta, although only in special areas and only for the duration of the economic crisis. The primary stated aim was to help provide employment and to solve the problems of the poor. Within days more than 1000 becak and their operators had arrived from other parts of Java and had begun to operate in Jakarta. Unfortunately, the governor had forgotten that it would first be necessary to revoke the Regional Act/Regulation on the Prohibition of Becak Operation in the Jakarta Area (Perda no. 11/1988). Several members of Jakarta's city council and lawyers therefore protested that the Governer was not respecting the law and on 1 July he felt compelled to cancel his promise to readmit becak into the city. However, this led to further uproar because the readmission of the becak was very popular with many NGOs, students, many among the general public and, of course, becak drivers themselves. Furthermore, by then the number of becak in the city had already exceeded 2000. On 8 July several NGOs (including LPIST, YLKI, UPC - urban poor consortium-, and YBP) protested at the city council along with members of the public (especially housewives) and becak drivers. They called on the councillors to revoke the ban on becak and to prepare another law that will instead promote them. OPINION POLL The councillors asked the activists to provide more proof that the community at large supports pedicabs in the city. Therefore the activists conducted an opinion poll on 16 - 17 July 1998. They got 1000 respondents from a wide cross-section of society, consisting of 502 males and 498 females, ranging in age from 15 to more than 65 years old, from all over the city, and from a very wide range of educational achievments and occupations. The survey found that 860 of the 1000 respondents supported the readmission of becak into Jakarta. The most popular reasons for their support were: * Cheap/low cost (437 people or 51% of those who agree) * Solve crisis problem (412 or 48%) * Good for carrrying loads, high capacity for goods (337 people or 39%) * Anti-pollution (292 people or 34%) * Safe (30%) * Not noisy (27%) Of the 140 respondents who opposed the readmission of the becak into the city, the most popular reasons were: * Create congestion (75 people or 54% of those who oppose) * Difficult to arrange (63 or 45%) * Interestingly only 26 people said that the driving of becaks is demeaning or not a humane thing. On 23 July 1998, the activists are conducting another demonstration in support of the becak and their drivers. This time NGOs who are working on environmental issues, including WALHI (Indonesian NGO on Environmental Issue), will lead the demonstration APPEAL FOR LETTERS OF SUPPORT LPIST , YLKI and their colleagues are calling for letters of support for their call for the Jakarta Government to allow pedicabs ("becak") to operate in the city. Please send your letters of support to: Mr Sutiyoso The Governor of Jakarta Jl. Merdeka Selatan 8 - 9 Jakarta Pusat Phone: 62 - 21 - 3446051 Fax: 62 - 21 - 3446634 The Regional Parliament of Jakarta Jl. Kebon Sirih 31 Jakarta Pusat Phone: 62 - 21 - 3822851; 3822151 Fax: 62 - 21 - 3508701 This account of events was compiled from several emails from LPIST activists in Jakarta. Best wishes, SUSTRAN Resource Centre A0602 Palm Court, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel. +60 3 274 2590, E-mail: The SUSTRAN Resource Centre hosts the Secretariat of SUSTRAN (the Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific). From ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu Thu Jul 23 23:36:16 1998 From: ebruun at rci.rutgers.edu (Eric Bruun) Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 10:36:16 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [sustran] Oil depletion 2 (fwd) Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 17:10:10 -0700 From: Charlie Richardson To: ebruun@rci.rutgers.edu Subject: Re: Oil depletion 2 > > Charlie Richardson wrote: > > > Whenever military conflict looms in the Persian Gulf, there are always > > those who speak darkly of the influence on events of the industrialised > > world, and particularly the USA, and its unquenchable thirst for oil. > > They are not mistaken in doing so. But what are the present dynamics > > driving the world's major economies as they jockey for influence in the > > region? Why is it so particularly crisis ridden NOW? > > > > All of the economies of the industrialised world have now become > > completely dependent upon oil. Cheap oil permits the development of the > > 'global economy', since that cannot exist without cheap transport, and > > cheap transport is dependent on cheap oil. The world's military machine > > cannot operate without oil, and it uses a great deal of it. Ever since > > the commander of the French military in Paris sent his soldiers to the > > front line in taxis (giving each of them the fare!) in the First World > > War, warfare has been mechanised. You just can't project global power > > without oil, so even the threat of an oil embargo is enough to CAUSE a > > war. > > > > As W.J. George of the 'Petroleum Economist', London, said recently in > > his review of Dr. Colin Campbell's 'The Coming Oil Crisis', "The whole > > character of society in the 20th Century, and of its history, economics > > and politics is more a product of oil than of any other factor". > > > > Since the first oil well was drilled in Titus, Pennsylvania in 1859 by > > the bogus 'Colonel' Drake, oil has provided the energy which has driven > > economic growth worldwide. Just as 'King' Coal had driven Britain's > > industrial revolution, so oil became America's ticket to prosperity and > > global power. > > > > It isn't going to go on this way. Most of us have been living in a > > fools paradise regarding how we view our future access to oil. We, > > including many people in the industry and people with an academic > > interest, have been looking at the pattern of production in quite the > > wrong way. > > > > The usual way to try to assess how we stand in regard to our future > > access to oil is by use of the 'Reserves/Production Ratio'. This is > > simply taking the estimate of remaining economically producible oil and > > dividing that figure by the world's annual consumption, building in a > > likely percentage of growth. On the surface, that seems reasonable > > enough, and most people's calculations end up giving us about 42 years > > before we 'run out'. > > > > > But is this method any more useful to us than, say, knowing that the > > > amount of producible oil left would fill a cubic container approximately > > > 6.5 Km on each side? Or that if spread evenly over the Earth's surface, > > > land and sea, it would be about half as thick as the gap in a spark > > > plug? The truth is that all three ways of looking at it are as useless > > > as each other. > > > > > > To seek to find out when we will 'run out' implies that we also think > > > that up until a certain date we will not have a problem, and then wake > > > up and find that there is no more oil left, just as though someone had > > > turned off a tap. How likely is this? Is the oil sitting in some vast > > > underground cavern from which we can simply pump oil at a constant rate > > > until it is all gone? > > > > > > There are literally thousands of oil fields around the world. They > > > contain vastly differing quantities of oil, trapped in the pores of the > > > undergound rock. They began being exploited at times decades apart. > > > They contain oils of differing viscosities under differing pressures. > > > The porosity of the rock which contains it differs from field to field. > > > They are certainly not all going to 'run out' at the same time. What > > > this means is that instead of the world's oil suddenly 'running out', > > > production will go into a long slow decline. That sounds easier for the > > > world to handle. It aint necessarily so. > > > > > > The crucial question is not 'when will we run out', but 'when will oil > > > supply fail to meet demand'. The answer is 'frighteningly soon'. In > > > the closing months of 1995 a report called 'The World's Oil Supply 1930 > > > - 2050', co-authored by Dr. Colin Campbell and Jean Lahererre, was > > > released by Petroconsultants of Geneva. It is important to understand > > > the status of this report and of Petroconsultants. > > > > > > Petroconsultants is in a very special position. Since the 1950s they > > > have been fed data on oil exploration and production by just about all > > > of the major oil companies and a network of about 2000 oil industry > > > consultants around the world. They use this data to produce reports on > > > various matters pertinent to the oil industry which they sell back to > > > the industry. No other company, or government for that matter, has such > > > a comprehensive database. 'The World's Oil Supply 1930 2050' amounts to > > > an audit of the world's oil supply, and projects production from each > > > field, region and country into the future years. It is a very major > > > piece of work, and the costs of maintaining the database and the > > > detailed analyses of it are reflected in the price of the three volume > > > report. It costs US$32,000.00 per copy. It is, in effect, investment > > > advice for banks, other large financial institutions and governments > > > trying to ascertain our future oil prospects. Only a few dozen copies > > > of the report have been sold around the world. > > > > > > The upshot of the report is that the world is close to peak production > > > of oil. While it is very difficult to say exactly when production will > > > fail to meet demand because of the varying factors influencing demand > > > (economic circumstances, the weather in North America for instance), it > > > will not be more than about five years away for the world as a whole. > > > The Gulf region has the best potential for continued supply, with Iraq > > > following Saudi Arabia in having the best flow of oil during each of the > > > years of the next couple of decades. > > > > > > Remember the 1970s? In 1973, in reaction to the west's perceived bias > > > towards Israel, the Arab members of OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum > > > Exporting Countries) supported price hikes and embargoes on oil. Again, > > > in 1979, the price of oil shot up as a result of turbulence in Iran as > > > the Shah fled Khomeini and his supporters. These events demonstrated to > > > the OPEC member countries that when the percentage of world oil supply > > > coming from their fields reached a certain point, the world had no > > > choice but to buy from them, no matter what the price. It demonstrated > > > to the industrialised world how dependent on oil their economies had > > > become, and the inflationary effects of the price rises was disastrous. > > > The 'oil shocks' and the inflation they caused led to widespread > > > unemployment around the world, and the flow of capital was grossly > > > distorted from what had been the norm. > > > > > > These oil shortages were overcome through the development of fields > > > discovered in the previous decade in the North Sea and Alaska and > > > elsewhere. There were also some new discoveries. Strenuous diplomatic > > > efforts also played their part, helped along by agreement to sell more > > > hi-tech western weaponry to the Gulf States. As well, the > > > industrialised world went on a frenzy of oil conservation measures, even > > > extending to the fitting of sails on oil tankers to reduce their fuel > > > consumption. Western governments forced car manufacturers to produced > > > more fuel efficient vehicles. > > > > > > As demand for oil fell because of these measures and more oil became > > > available from outside the OPEC countries, oil prices tumbled and those > > > countries began to squabble among themselves and exceed their quota of > > > sales in order to make up in bulk sales what they lost in price per > > > barrel. This led to the oil glut of the 80s, which in turn undermined > > > the Soviet economy and hastened its downfall, because oil sales were the > > > Soviet Union's main source of hard currency. > > > > > The glut continued into the '90s, and would have been one of the > > influences which drove Iraq into war with Kuwait. Kuwait had earned the > > wrath of Iraq in two ways, first by selling more than its OPEC quota of > > oil, thus depressing the world price per barrel and hurting Iraq, and > > secondly by vigorously pumping oil out of a field which straddled the > > Iraq/Kuwait border. The bulk of that oil field lies under Iraq, and > > from the Iraqi perspective Kuwait was 'stealing' it. As a country in > > desperate financial straits following the long war with Iran, these > > actions of Kuwait had a serious impact on Iraq. > > > > Iraq moved its troops threateningly to the border. Signals from the USA > > intimated that the USA considered the action an 'inter-Arab' affair that > > was not the concern of the United States. This alleged attitude changed > > dramatically when Iraq entered Kuwait, and the USA professed to be > > concerned that Iraq might push on into Saudi Arabia. Operation 'Desert > > Shield' was launched by the USA and an unprecedented coalition of > > western and Arab forces to protect Saudi Arabia. > > > > The purpose of the coalition quickly changed from 'Desert Shield' to > > 'Desert Storm', with the purpose of 'liberating' Kuwait from Iraq. The > > results of the operation are well known. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait both > > expended a great deal of money during the war, much of it being payments > > to the United States for the expenses it had ncurred in its military > > operation. More was spent on purchasing even more armaments from the > > USA and other western countries. After the Gulf War, oil prices quickly > > came down again and the income of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait was not good, > > and they were struggling a bit to make the payments to the USA and > > others. > > > > One of the effects of the embargo on Iraqi oil was to take a percentage > > of oil out of the market, preventing further falls in price which would > > damage Saudi Arbaia and Kuwait and make it even more difficult to make > > their payments to the USA. The price rose considerably during 1996 as a > > result of Iraqi oil being off the market, and the Saudi and Kuwaiti > > coffers started to fill again, facilitating their payments to the USA. > > > > The price rise was bad timing for the Clinton Administration, however. > > He was facing re-election, and high (by American standards) fuel prices > > are not a good thing to go into an election with. The winter of 1996 > > was a bit of a cold snap, and since Americans use a great deal of oil > > for heating, there was heavy demand. Added to the shortages, it was not > > looking good for Mr. Clinton's re-election, with high prices at the fuel > > pumps, airlines warning of fare rises and the possibility of media > > stories about granny dying at home in the cold. > > > > Mr. Clinton wanted to send a message to the market not to exploit the > > situation and keep prices at what the Americans would think of as a > > 'reasonable' level. To this end, he released onto the market a small > > part of the 'strategic oil reserve'. This is kept by the USA and most > > other countries in case of war or other disruption, and the use of it > > for this purpose was a pretty serious step. The implication of the move > > was that Clinton could do it again and hurt the oil companies if they > > did not play ball. > > > > The cold winter ended, the Iraqis were allowed to sell a limited > > quantity of oil and the price came back down. The last two American > > winters have been quite mild. Since then, the economic crash in Asia > > has reduced demand, exacerbating the price drop. A complete lifting of > > sanctions on Iraqi oil now would be very negative for the incomes of > > Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and, interestingly enough, for the incomes of > > some very influential Americans with investments in overseas and > > domestic oil companies. > > > > > It is difficult now, part of the way through 1998, while we are awash > > > with cheap oil, to imagine that we shall soon find ourselves back in a > > > situation similar to that of the 70s but PERMANENT. But the percentage > > > of oil coming from the Gulf countries is again rising to the levels of > > > those earlier crises. The penny will drop soon and, realising the > > > opportunity, OPEC is likely to rise again as a dominant force in > > > politics and economics. The results are difficult to predict, and we > > > cannot comfort ourselves with the idea that we can just go out and find > > > some more non-OPEC oil. > > > > > > All the world has, just about, now been extensively searched for major > > > new oil fields using technologies undreamed of even only a few decades > > > ago. 75% of all oil has been found in giant fields > > > (greater than 500 million barrels - a barrel equals about 160 litres), > > > and we virtually stopped finding giants since the 80s. We are consuming > > > oil at about 23 billion barrels per year and rising, and discovering it > > > at about seven billion barrels per year and falling. This is not > > > looking good. > > > > > > The constraint on oil production is caused by geology. We cannot fix > > > this situation with diplomacy or weapons sales any more than we could > > > use weapons sales or diplomacy to stop continental drift. It is more > > > than time for the world to understand the predicament it is about to > > > find itself in, and to understand that it is going to need to either > > > find other ways to support economic growth or else to find some > > > principle other than growth upon which to base its economies. > > > > > > The knee-jerk reaction to OPEC, the Gulf states alone or even a single > > > oil rich country exploiting its position at a time of permanently > > > dwindling supply will be a military response, justified by some event or > > > other. That military response would be caused, as much as anything > > > else, by the extreme vulnerability of the military itself to oil > > > shortages. Wars are not remotely fuel efficient. But we must bear in > > > mind that this will give only short term gains, and also bear in mind > > > that in the three months of the Gulf war the allied forces used more oil > > > than Kuwait, which was the prize, produces in a year. It wouldn't hurt > > > either to remember that the production of each body bag a dead soldier > > > is sent home in uses about three cups of oil in its production. > > > > > > The potential for conflict between nations with a thirst for oil is also > > > high. Already we have seen the USA and UK at loggerheads with France > > > and Russia over the embargoes against supplying Iraq or the purchase of > > > Iraqi oil. It is said, and confirmed in a recent report to the US > > > president on funding for research and development for energy, that 25% > > > of the vast US military budget (largest in the world, and six times > > > greater than its nearest rival) is directly related to maintaining > > > America's ability to 'protect' the Gulf. > > > > > The USA has accused France of being more interested in getting something > > for the $15 billion it has invested in oil concessions in Iraq than > > searching for peace, but it is not just the $15 billion. It's the oil > > and price it will be worth when the crunch comes that matters, as well > > as its strategic importance. > > > > After Saudi Arabia, Iraq is the country with the best longer term > > prospects for supplying oil, especially over the next crucial couple of > > decades as the world tries to adjust to living with less and less oil > > each year. The supply of oil is likely to reduce each year by about 3%, > > which does not sound too bad until you work out that means it will halve > > each 25 years - and this against a background of rising demand. > > > > > The world's deposits of oil, which the Shah of Iran described as a > > > 'noble substance' too precious to waste indiscriminately, are soon to > > > fail us through our own short sightedness. A person in their fifties > > > today will, by the time they die, have lived through virtually the > > > entire period of the benefits that cheap oil has given us, and that > > > person's retirement, and the working lives of younger people, are > > > unlikely to be what they thought it would be at all. > > > > > > In the 1960s, the world's population was around 3.5 billion. The > > > world's agriculture was not up to feeding them, so many were starving. > > > Now, we have about 6 billion people, and other than famine occurring as > > > a result of warfare, they are mostly better fed than during the '60s. > > > The lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world are owed to > > > oil, because oil is one of the main inputs into the 'green revolution', > > > which boosted agricultural production since the 1960s. It is present in > > > the pesticides and fertilisers which are spread on the land, vital to > > > the mechanisation of agriculture and the distribution of foodstuffs. Do > > > we want to drive our cars or feed ourselves? > > > > > > The situation is not entirely hopeless, but depends upon developing an > > > understanding of the situation and finding ways of reaching consensus > > > about what to do about it. We may find that equity becomes more > > > important than wealth to both the 'haves' and the 'have nots' of > > > individuals and countries. Without wishing to sound hopelessly naive, > > > there is in this whole scenario the potential for a better world as we > > > realise that we are reaching the first and probably most major > > > limitation to economic growth. On the other hand, we can just follow > > > tradition and tear ourselves to pieces competing over the messy, smelly, > > > slimy stuff that is - oil. > > > > > > Charlie Richardson, sydtrans@enternet.com.au > > > Sydney, Australia. > > > From Stephen.Browne at ss.pacific.co.jp Tue Jul 28 19:27:59 1998 From: Stephen.Browne at ss.pacific.co.jp (Stephen Browne) Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 10:27:59 +0000 Subject: [sustran] Hypermarkets opening petrol stations References: <1e02c19d.35b88d10@aol.com> <35BCC086.2A97@ss.pacific.co.jp> Message-ID: <35BDA7AD.5920@ss.pacific.co.jp> > Translated to the best of my Spanish ability > >From the El- Mundo paper in Spain > > Hypermarkets aim to open cheap petrol stations ( Hypermarkets are massive out-of-town supermarkets, generally located along motorways and expressways ) > > Most of the major hypermarket chains will continue installing petrol > stations beside their place of buisness in order to continue attracting > customers. These petrol stations are at the moment the cheapest places where motorists can fill their tanks. The liberalization of ( petrol ) prices has until now had little effect on the pockets of drivers, even though with searching it is possible to find differences in price. The greatest differences in prices exists between those roads with little traffic and those that are located beside large commercial centers. In big citites it is difficult to find stations with any difference in price. > >