[sustran] Mixed vehicle sizes [was: Commercial motorcycles shut-down in Lagos]

[Alan Howes]

[Note careful thread re-titling!]
 
I have not followed this thread throughout, but would commend Rory for an excellent summing up of the situation as I see it, especially here in Mumbai.
 
But it's not as easy as reducing the number of cars, to make it easier / safer for 2-wheelers.  What about buses and trucks, let alone taxis and auto-rickshaws?  Are you going to give each of these their own lane? (I can just see the Mumbai police enforcing this!)
 
I'm not sure what the answer is - Rory has some of them, but the obvious thing that is missing is better driving (and pedestrian!) discipline through highway / footway design, management, education and enforcement.  I can only speak for India, where, for example, although there are signals at many intersections, there are no stop lines and at complex junctions no-one seems to know which traffic streams correspond to which signals.  So it becomes a free-for-all.  And the ptw riders are most vulnerable.
 
Regards, Alan (leaving Mumbai tonight after 4 weeks of good company but awful roads)
 
-- 
Alan Howes
Associate Transport Planner
Colin Buchanan
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________________________________

From: sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk at list.jca.apc.org on behalf of Rory McMullan
Sent: Thu 07/09/2006 17:35
To: Sustran-discuss at jca.apc.org
Subject: [sustran] Re: Commercial motorcycles shut-down in Lagos


Eric,
To reply to your comments on two wheelers. 
 
You stated that:
"This leaves us at the end of the day, however, with what is among the most
'inconvenient truths' of transport planning and policies in cities across the
Global South today - those damn motorized two-wheelers. Certainly an enormous
problem, but a far more subtle and astute response is called for. "
 
I don't see powered two-wheelers as a problem but in fact beleive they can be seen as a major part of the answer to achieving sustainable transport for the developing world. It is the automobile which takes up too much space in what for the most part in the developing world are very high density mixed use urban areas, perfect examples of smart growth.
 
Scooters are very space effcient, and provide flexible personal mobility over a radius of 30 miles at a very low cost. 
 
However currently motorcycles do cause problems on several levels, having spent a considerable amount of time in Taichung where there is a large number of scooters, my observations are based on experiences there and may not apply in all cases:
 
1. Saftey: it is the mixing with other traffic cars, buses and trucks that causes most of the serious accidents. Pedestrians do not have a high risk of serious injury from the low powered slow moving scooters than make up the bulk of the two-wheeled traffic. I have been hit by a scooter doing 30kmph while walking, it hurt, but the guy on the scooter was more seriously injured than me.
2. Parking: often parked on sidewalks they take space away from pedestrians.
3. Pollution: noise and air pollution can be worse from two-wheelers than four.
 
The soultions should be fairly simple:
In cities that already have a large number of scooters, policies should be put in place to discourage car transport, some roads should be made two wheel only, and two wheel only lanes introduced on major arterials. 
 
Parking restrictions should be enforced and cars and scooters parking illegally towed away.
 
Pollution controls should be enforced with offending machines confiscated and destroyed. 
 
Engine size should be limited to 100cc.
 
Electric powered scooters should receive higher government subsidies and petrol scooters phased out.
 
Regards,
Rory

 

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