Our fast evolving sustainability agenda

[Paula Negron Poblete]

I'm writing as an answer to Eric Britton's mail of this saturday, about the
construction on a subway in Bogota. I agree with the fact that the operation of
a subway service is very useful in a metropolis, particularely because of its
consequences on the movement of people and on the land use of the city, that
point has already been studied in several cases. The problem I see to that
project is the same problem we had seen in mostly of the metropolis in Latin
America: the authorities want to construct a subway, but they don't have the
monetary ressources to do it (approx. 60 millions USD per kilometer, depending
if the infrastructure is elevated, underground or at the street level), so they
have to ask for a loan (usually to the World Bank) which comes with interests
and conditions, and we know the story: unable to pay, the country asks for a
restructuration of the debt. A second problem arrises with the operation
expenditures, because population in developing countries has low revenues  large
subsidies are necessary, revenues can't cover the operation expenses. We can
take the example of the Mexico city; the subway was constructed in the
seventies, and today moves near four million people each day on a network of 200
kilometers. Well, even in this case, in 1996, the public authorities had to ask
for a loan of 11.5 million pesos (more than a million USD) to pay the expenses
of maintenance (see www.shcp.gob.mx/docs/info496/ddf.html).
The question we can ask ourselves is this: is really the construction of a
subway the only solution to the transportation problems in a third world
metropolis? or can we find more suitable interventions in the area?


eric.britton at ecoplan.org a écrit :

> Sustainable transportation and its proponents are no longer the weakest kids
> on the block.  Things are changing. For example....
>
> Exhibit A:
> Today's note here, "Pedicab drivers sue Governor Sutiyoso for operating
> ban", can be looked at with several other current pieces on the topic of
> transport in cities, and including in but not limited to Third World cities,
> which I would like to set before you for your consideration and eventually
> your comments.  There are three pieces, of which the above is, let us call
> it, Exhibit A.
>
> Exhibit B:
> El Tiempo, the main newspaper of Bogotá (which I remind you is to shortly,
> next Thursday, to be the home of the world's first mega Third World Car Free
> Day - see http://www.ecoplan.org/carfreeday/) of this morning carries an
> article based on an interview with our friend and colleague Ralph
> Gakenheimer of MIT (whom the label a 'gurú del transporte', and rightly so)
> under the title 'Metro evitará polarización' which makes the case for a
> metro for Bogotá. You can pick up the article at
> http://www.eltiempo.com/hoy/bog_n005tn0.html, and if that doesn't work (that
> link being date sensitive), try
> http://www.eltiempo.com/sabado/bog_n005tn0.html. (Remembering of course that
> you can 'machine translate' it for rough content and context)
>
> Exhibit C:
> The English language text of an interview conducted by the same newspaper
> yesterday here in Paris, which looks at Bogotá's transport system from a
> somewhat different perspective.
>
> Conclusion:
> My point is this. I believe that these are three pieces of the same puzzle,
> that they fit in with each other quite nicely, and that one of the main
> tasks of the transportation profession and others making decisions in this
> area is to understand that there is indeed a "big picture" which ties up all
> these apparently unconnected bits and pieces quite nicely.  And that is our
> evolving concept of sustainable transportation.
>
> Put in other words, what I am trying to say is that it appears that we are
> moving toward this greater goal piece by piece, and that all we have to do
> now is to maintain the momentum and keep moving ahead with our extension and
> refinement of the agenda.  A couple of more years of hard work, successful
> demonstrations, and effective communications between us, and we will have
> our wedge into the problem.
>
> Anyone out there wish to comment on, amplify or otherwise improve on this?
>
> Eric Britton
>
> ecopl at n ___  technology, economy, society  ___
> Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France
>
> Interview of Eric Britton, EcoPlan, by María Camila Morales
> Correspondent de El Tiempo,
>
> Paris, 18 February 2000
>
> CAR FREE DAYS - A GOOD WAY TO FISH FOR GOOD TRANSPORTATION
>
> Question - Will the Bogotá's Car Free Day of the 24th solve all the
> transport problems of the capital?
>
> Response - Who thinks that?  No, of course it won't.
>
> María Camila Morales - Well, if it doesn't solve the problems, why bother to
> have it in the first place?
>
> Eric Britton - For a lot of reasons, but let me start with this one. What it
> accomplishes is getting all or most of the vehicles off the street that are
> not doing their full job. And when we say "full job" what we really mean is
> that because street space is scarce in big cities like Bogotá (or for that
> matter London or Berlin or Paris) there just is not enough room available to
> accommodate lots of private cars with just  one or two people in them.
>
> In the end it's a simple matter of geometry.  The geometry of the car, is
> not the same as the geometry of a city. So you have to chose, which do you
> want?  A city for cars?  Or a city for people?  Have you ever been to a city
> for cars.  I have and let me tell you it's awful. If you have a choice,
> believe me, what you want is a city for people.
>
> MCM- Okay, so lets assume that what you say is true, still what do we
> accomplish by getting the cars out for a single day? If I believe what you
> say, why not get them all out all of the time?
>
> EB- Well, that's a great question.  What do they say: "if wishes we wings
> then we all could just fly". So, no matter how desirable it might be to have
> cities without any cars (and that too is something that is worth a careful
> debate) we have to take into account that we live in a democracy and that a
> lot of people have and depend on their cars (I for example have a car,
> though I never use it during the day in the city). So you have to admit that
> anyone who tries to get them all off the road forever, even if he thinks he
> has a magic wand, is going to run into a huge wall of resistance.  Can you
> imagine what would happen if anyone tried to do that?
>
> No, there is of course no way that we can take all the cars off the road in
> one sweep.  But if we do get together, we might be able to do it for a
> single day.  Especially if we have some good reasons and good public support
> for doing it. And that of course is the basic premise behind Bogotá's Car
> Free Day next Thursday.
>
> MCM- I'm still having trouble with this one. So we get the cars off the
> street on the 24th, but what difference does it make?
>
> EB- The difference is that for once, if only for one day, we can begin to
> see what out city might look like if we had a transportation system that
> made better use of our street space and in the process offered more, better
> and faster service for more people.  What some of us call the beginning of a
> sustainable transport system.
>
> MCM- Are you saying, Professor Britton, that everyone in Bogotá should be
> getting around by "Buses, Busetas, Colectivos, Taxis y Flotas"?
>
> EB- Well that's certainly an important part of the long run solution but
> there's more to it than that. Let's not forget Bogotá has created almost 300
> km of cycle paths (and by he way, what a wonderful accomplishment that is!),
> and that with less traffic and less danger on at least some streets we can
> expect that there will be many more people cycling, walking, running and
> even inline skating to work. Don't you think it's going to be great seeing
> how all these people are going to be able to go about the business of their
> daily lives in this way?  (And by the way, please call me Eric.)
>
> MCM- Thank you Eric, but what about pollution? And noise?  And safety?  Do
> you really think that moving people into the colectivos and taxis for one
> day is going to make Bogotá a safer and clear city?  I have read that they
> are about the most dangerous, polluting, dirty and inefficient parts of our
> whole system.  I have even heard that there have been recommendations by
> North American experts that we should get rid of all of them and go over to
> a big state owned system with only new big buses.  And of course the metro?
>
> EB- Isn't this ironic? Here you are suggesting, as I read in one place, that
> one of the main problems of Bogotá is that there are: "MUCHOS buses, MUY
> lentos y MUY viejos". If I had to score that one, I would give it one and a
> half out of three.
>
> MCM- One and a half out of three?  I don't understand.
>
> EB- Well, as anyone can see they are for the most part "muy viejos". That's
> one.  And they are often "muy lentos", but not always as you know if you
> ride in them.  When they are slow, it's because they have been slowed down
> by the congestion.  And much of that congestion is due to cars with only one
> or tow people in them.  Which indeed is why we are trying this Car Free Day.
>
> MCM- And the "muchos" part?
>
> EB- Well, there is where the critics have it quite wrong. In fact, it is my
> view, which by the way is shared by many of my most internationally esteemed
> colleagues, that one of the great accomplishments of a city like Bogotá is
> precisely that it has so many different sizes and kinds of vehicles, going
> to so many different places, in so many different ways. That they are owned
> and operated by independent people, without the need for huge clumps of
> public funding just to keep them going. And don't forget, they create lots
> jobs.
>
> In fact, what you have here is the beginning of one of the world's most
> suitable and sustainable urban transportation systems.  What a pity it would
> be to throw it away because someone with a weak PhD suggests that you should
> try to look like Paris. In fact, as someone who lives and works in Paris, I
> cannot wait for the day that we have them here.
>
> MCM- So to conclude, Eric, how will our Car Free Day help us with this.
>
> EB- Well, on the 24th you all are gong to be able to see all those "Buses,
> Busetas, Colectivos, Taxis y Flotas" working as the vital core of your
> motorized transport system. And at the end of the day you will see that
> there were not too many of them.  And yes, you will see too they need to be
> newer and better maintained. That the drivers need to be better trained and
> a bit more disciplined (and that they also have to be organized so that they
> earn more money and have a better life for themselves as well).
>
> What's great about the Car Free Day is that by removing part of the problem,
> you are going to be able to see much more clearly what it is you have to do
> next to have a much better and more just transportation system, a better
> city and a better life for all who live here.
>
> Thank you for asking me such tough but interesting questions.
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