From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Wed Dec 2 03:37:59 2009 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2009 19:37:59 +0100 Subject: [sustran] The Not Sustainable Transport Library (A final resting place for those really bad ideas) Message-ID: <02a601ca72b5$6c0d79f0$44286dd0$@britton@ecoplan.org> The Not Sustainable Transport Library (A final resting place for those really bad ideas) We have just today created a new forum under the New Mobility Agenda. It is called The Not Sustainable Transport Library, and the idea is to create a nice warm place in which we can stack articles and related on what we think are very poor transportation/environment proposals - often technology rich, and rarely cheep - that present themselves as great ideas for our cities and the planet. It describes itself in these words: The Not Sustainable Transport Library: Here we shall attempt to provide, by way of what we hope will be telling examples, information on and leads to transport related projects, proposals and technologies that are very often presented (hyped) by those who stand to gain from their implementations as advancing the sustainability agenda -- but which in our view are at best very low in the priories for public sector support and certainly not candidates for finance with hard-earned taxpayer money. There can be no doubt in all that you see here that there is a very definite set of values and priorities behind these selections. They are moreover consistent. The basics behind these selections you will finally amply spelled out in the pages of World Streets (http://www.WorldStreets.org) and of the New Mobility Agenda (http://www.newmobility.org). Beyond that a brief trip to our four page/four minute summary (http://tinyurl.com/ws-sum ) should help fill out the basic background on all this. You most probably really don't want to take your time with most of what will show up here since they are selected exactly because they are so far beside the point. But if you wish to have a look ,the address is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheNotSustainableTransportLibrary/ . And should you wish to comment, you can always post your message to: TheNotSustainableTransportLibrary@yahoogroups.com Otherwise, to subscribe: TheNotSustainableTransportLibrary-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. And to unsubscribe: TheNotSustainableTransportLibrary-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Over at World Streets we have a left menu item entitled "Latest World Streets News Leads", and in addition to the ten serious source, you will find the bad idea graveyard there, with a quick line on the latest to enter those fiery gates. Eric Britton From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Fri Dec 4 19:20:14 2009 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 11:20:14 +0100 Subject: [sustran] COP15: Getting transport into the climate agenda Message-ID: <01ae01ca74cb$6b441ed0$41cc5c70$@britton@ecoplan.org> COP15: Getting transport into the climate agenda The Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport - SLoCaT - was established to provide opportunities for coordination and cooperation among organizations working on sustainable, low carbon transport. The goal of the Partnership is to get transport into the heart of the COP15 agenda. World Streets and the New Mobility Agenda are proud to support this most timely initiative. Transport in developing countries is the one of the largest, and fastest growing, source of GHG emissions. At the same time transport is largely missing in climate change mitigation policies and actions worldwide. This is linked to an overall lack of sustainability expressed by poor urban planning, increased motorization, increased air pollution and noise, growing congestion and decreasing road safety. --> Full text of this article appears in today's World Streets at http://WorldStreets.org/ --> Discussions via New Mobility Agenda forum at www.newmobility.org (Post to NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com) Read World Streets Today at http://www.worldstreets.org/ New Mobility Partnerships - http://www.newmobility.org 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France, Europe +331 4326 1323 eric.britton(at)newmobility.org Skype: newmobility From cornie.huizenga at cai-asia.org Fri Dec 4 14:19:04 2009 From: cornie.huizenga at cai-asia.org (Cornie Huizenga) Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:19:04 +0800 Subject: [sustran] COP 15: ADB event on Transport and Climate Change - 13 December - 2.00 - 4.30 pm Message-ID: <7e2a2770912032119l70fb7894r5ca9608277b02538@mail.gmail.com> Dear All, For those of you who will be in Copenhagen for COP 15, you are cordially invited to the ADB event on Transport and Climate Change on 13 December, 2.00 - 4.30 pm, Scandic Hotel Vester Sogade 6 DK-1601. Countries in Asia and the Pacific are facing increasing risks to critical transport infrastructure due to rapid motorization, increased trade, urbanization and extreme weather events. At the same time, traditional transport investments continue to contribute to rising greenhouse gas emissions. Transport is the fastest growing sector of emissions worldwide, and developing countries will account for more than 80 percent of this increase through 2030. ADB's Sustainable Transport Initiative is promoting the AVOID-SHIFT-IMPROVE approach to transport in the region. The event will focus on the following priorities for climate and transport: (i) measuring emissions; (ii) co-benefits of reducing emissions; and (iii) financing change in the transport sector. Speakers include Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Please register your attendance with Lauren Sorkin of ADB (lsorkin@adb.org). Drinks will be served after the event! Cornie -- Cornie Huizenga Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees CAI-Asia Center www://cleanairnet.org/caiasia cornie.huizenga@cai-asia.org From phaizan at gmail.com Sat Dec 5 23:01:08 2009 From: phaizan at gmail.com (Faizan Jawed) Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 19:31:08 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Invitation: Bicycle week [Dec 7-13], New Delhi Message-ID: Dear Friends & Colleagues, Please join concerned citizens during the inaugural function of bicycle week (described below). Please look at the attached documents for detailed program of the activities during the week. I urge you to spread this invitation far and wide. With kind regards, On behalf of the organizers, Faizan Jawed. * BATTLE CLIMATE USE BICYCLE SUPPORT BRT* *INVITATION* *BICYCLE WEEK* * 7th -13th December 2009 Inaugural Lecture 7th December 2009* On occasion of the 15th UN Climate Change conference to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, we are organizing a bicycle week from 7th- 13th December 2009. We cordially invite you to participate in the Inaugural Lecture of the ?Bicycle Week?. Prof. Hermann Knoflacher, Head of the Institute for Transportation Planning & Technology, Vienna, Austria will deliver his lecture titled ?Politics of Climate Change, space for Cycling and BRT?. Prof. Knoflacher is a world renowned academic and has made significant contributions that have strengthened the worldwide movement for sustainable transportation and equitable cities. Knoflacher is well known for his criticism of excessive automobile usage and its effects on humans and the environment. On occasion of the inaugural function and through the bicycle week thereafter, we will raise collective voices to save the world?s ecology; battle climate chance and demand separate Bicycle lanes in Urban Infrastructure. We will also demand that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridor should be built and extended in other parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi as per the original plan and design. * * * Program Schedule* *Time* 1700 to 2000 Hrs *Date* 7th December 2009 *Venue* Gandhi Peace Foundation 221-223 D D Updhaya Marg New Delhi-110002 * Welcome address* Rajendra Ravi *Facilitation* Faizan Jawed * Introduction* Geetam Tiwari *Guest Lecture* Hermann Knoflacher *Comment* Dinesh Mohan Chief guest Bhakta Charan Das, MP *Chair* Ali Anwar, MP *Vote of Thanks* Anita Kapoor *Organized by* National Cyclists Union * In association with* National Alliance of People?s Movements Urban Women Labour Union Jan Sangarsh Vahini Federation of Raj Nagar Residents Welfare Association National Domestic Workers Union Social Action and Training *Supported by* Institute of Democracy and Sustainability Innovative Transport Solutions Pvt. Ltd., IIT Delhi * Technical support* TRIPP, IIT, New Delhi. Contact Phone 09868200316, 09891629912, 09810787686, 01120506929, 09211382478 E-mail: rajendra_ravi@idsindia.net,nationalcyclist@gmail.com Rajendra Ravi INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY AND SUSTAINABILITY 1-A, Goela lane, Underhill road, Civil lines New Delhi 110 054, India Phone: 91 11 23933307 Email: rajendra_ravi@idsindia.net, -- Faizan Jawed, Architect -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Invitation_7_December_2009.doc Type: application/msword Size: 32768 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20091205/fde9d889/Invitation_7_December_2009.doc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Invitation_13th_November_2009.doc Type: application/msword Size: 34304 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20091205/fde9d889/Invitation_13th_November_2009.doc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: INVITATION_Bicycle_week_7-13_December_2009.doc Type: application/msword Size: 38912 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20091205/fde9d889/INVITATION_Bicycle_week_7-13_December_2009.doc From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Dec 6 00:30:55 2009 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 21:00:55 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Invitation-Bicycle Week In-Reply-To: <20091205055420.34897.qmail@pro-236-180.rediffmailpro.com> References: <20091205055420.34897.qmail@pro-236-180.rediffmailpro.com> Message-ID: <86b8a7050912050730g3f3f2e63ic1cad03d4f3bb59f@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Rajendra Ravi Date: Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 11:24 AM Subject: Invitation-Bicycle Week SAVE CLIMATE USE BICYCLE SUPPORT BRT INVITATION BICYCLE WEEK 7th -13th December 2009 Inaugural Lecture 7th December 2009 On occasion of the 15th UN Climate Change conference to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, we are organizing a bicycle week from 7th- 13th December 2009. We cordially invite you to participate in the Inaugural Lecture of the ?Bicycle Week?. Prof. Hermann Knoflacher, Head of the Institute for Transportation Planning & Technology, Vienna, Austria will deliver his lecture titled ?Politics of Climate Change, space for Cycling and BRT?. Prof. Knoflacher is a world renowned academic and has made significant contributions that have strengthened the worldwide movement for sustainable transportation and equitable cities. Knoflacher is well known for his criticism of excessive automobile usage and its effects on humans and the environment. On occasion of the inaugural function and through the bicycle week thereafter, we will raise collective voices to save the world?s ecology; battle climate chance and demand separate Bicycle lanes in Urban Infrastructure. We will also demand that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridor should be built and extended in other parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi as per the original plan and design. Program Schedule Time 1700 to 2000 Hrs Date 7th December 2009 Venue Gandhi Peace Foundation 221-223 D D Updhaya Marg New Delhi-110002 Welcome Rajendra Ravi Facilitator Faizan Jawed Introduction Geetam Tiwari Gust Lecture Hermann Knoflacher Comment Dinesh Mohan Chief guest Bhakta Charan Das, MP Chair Ali Anwar, MP Vote of Thanks Anita Kapoor Organized by National Cyclists Union In association National Alliance of People?s Movements Urban Women Labour Union Jan Sangarsh Vahini Federation of Raj Nagar Residents Welfare Association National Domestic Workers Union Social Action and Training Supported by Institute of Democracy and Sustainability Innovative Transport Solutions Pvt. Ltd., IIT Delhi Technical support TRIPP, IIT, New Delhi. Contact Phone 09868200316, 09891629912, 09810787686, 01120506929, 09211382478 E-mail: rajendra_ravi@idsindia.net,nationalcyclist@gmail.com Rajendra Ravi INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY AND SUSTAINABILITY 1-A, Goela lane, Underhill road, Civil lines New Delhi 110 054, India Phone: 91 11 23933307 Email: rajendra_ravi@idsindia.net, -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Invitation_7_December_2009.doc Type: application/msword Size: 32768 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20091205/9ccd8371/Invitation_7_December_2009.doc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Invitation_13th_November_2009.doc Type: application/msword Size: 34304 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20091205/9ccd8371/Invitation_13th_November_2009.doc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: INVITATION_Bicycle_week_7-13_December_2009.doc Type: application/msword Size: 38912 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20091205/9ccd8371/INVITATION_Bicycle_week_7-13_December_2009.doc From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Dec 6 04:40:59 2009 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 01:10:59 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Proper training on cards for transport staff by MoUD Message-ID: <86b8a7050912051140v7dbf947bjbfb23f1e989c6f1e@mail.gmail.com> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Proper-training-on-cards-for-transport-staff/articleshow/5210448.cms Proper training on cards for transport staffTNN 10 November 2009, 05:16am IST | NAGPUR: Union Urban Development Ministry has decided to train personnel associated with urban transport projects to ensure improved mobility in cities on a sustainable basis. The ministry has formulated 'Scheme for capacity building in urban transport' for 11th and 12th five year plan periods. It has decided to focus on cities coming under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Union Urban Development Secretary Dr M Ramachandran in a letter to the chief secretary of Maharashtra has sought the cooperation of state in implementing the scheme. The letter stated that India, like all developing countries, had witnessed rapid growth in number of personal vehicles in the last few years leading to severe congestion and air pollution. So far attempts to mitigate these problems had been limited to expansion of metro rail, bus services, road widening or construction of flyovers. However, these measures have had a limited impact and several measures needed to be taken in a coordinated manner. Ramachandran stated that the measures included improved integration of land use and transport planning, integration of public transport systems, demand restraint, etc. He lamented that the capability to undertake such a coordinated approach and complete understanding of such issues was lacking at both state and city levels. The scheme proposes setting up institutes that would conduct post graduate and doctoral courses in urban transport planning. It would design the curriculum and then conduct training programmes. Regional centres for conducting training programmes will be identified and strengthened. This will be done by inviting expression of interest from existing institutes. The institutes will be selected on basis of infrastructure, faculty, geographical spread and potential for tying up with professional institutes nearby. Only three to four centres will be set up in the country. Under the scheme a professional journal on urban transport will be taken out and the concerned authorities will have to subscribe to this journal and other international journals on urban transport. Annual conferences will be held to disseminate views of experts. The ministry also plans to develop legal and administrative frameworks, manuals, codes and standards and national database for urban transport. The Institute of Urban Transport will be upgraded. National level consultancy organizations will be promoted to provide professionals to assist state and local governments. The ministry also plans to set up research institutes for new types of urban transport systems like guided rail based transit system. At city level unified metropolitan transport authority and unified transport cells will be set up. From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Dec 6 04:45:49 2009 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 01:15:49 +0530 Subject: [sustran] UK Bus and Coach Operators Announce Plan to Take One Billion Car Journeys Off the Road Message-ID: <86b8a7050912051145h3e0a8397id61325e4746ccff8@mail.gmail.com> http://blog.taragana.com/pr/bus-and-coach-operators-announce-plan-to-take-one-billion-car-journeys-off-the-road-5998/ *Bus and Coach Operators Announce Plan to Take One Billion Car Journeys Off the Road* Prne September 14th, 2009 LONDON - News Conference Venue: One Birdcage Walk, 1 Birdcage Walk, Westminster, London SW1H 9JJ Date: Tuesday 15 September Time: 10.00am. Coffee and refreshments from 09:30 Britain?s biggest bus and coach operators have joined forces to respond to the challenge of climate change by developing an action plan aimed at taking one billion car journeys off UK roads. The Greener Journeys campaign is recommending a raft of policy initiatives to encourage modal shift that would deliver 50% more savings in transport CO2 emissions than currently planned under existing Government policies. Details of the plan will be announced by senior representatives from the UK?s major public transport groups, including Sir Moir Lockhead (CEO, First Group) and Brian Souter (CEO, Stagecoach Group), as well as transport expert Professor David Begg. Greener Journeys will launch the One Billion Challenge, demonstrating that switching from car to bus or coach for just one journey in 25 would mean one billion fewer car journeys on our roads over the next three years. In an unprecedented joint call for action, bus and coach operators will stress that technological advances alone are not enough to achieve the carbon reductions required to tackle climate change and modal shift must be a key priority. Greener Journeys, whose objectives are being backed by influential figures such as Sir Rod Eddington and Jonathon Porritt, will be lobbying Government and other stakeholders to support the plan. A full news release will be issued at the press launch (15 September 2009) Notes to editors 1. Greener Journeys is an initiative of the UK Bus & Coach industry aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from transport by delivering unprecedented modal shift from the car. It is funded by the big 5 bus owning groups Arriva, First Group, Go-Ahead, National Express and Stagecoach. 2. Greener Journeys aims to take one billion car journeys off the road in just three years. This would amount to a reduction of 2 million tonnes of CO2 and would deliver an additional 50% reduction in CO2 from domestic transport to the reductions planned over the same period by current Government policies (Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future, Department for Transport, July 2009). 3. Greener Journeys has been developed with the support of the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK and Forum for the Future, and is endorsed by The Prince?s May Day Network, Business in the Community. Source: Greener Journeys Contact: For further information contact Claire Haigh, +44-207-257-2520 From edelman at greenidea.eu Sun Dec 6 05:24:52 2009 From: edelman at greenidea.eu (Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory) Date: Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:24:52 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Re: UK Bus and Coach Operators Announce Plan to Take One Billion Car Journeys Off the Road In-Reply-To: <86b8a7050912051145h3e0a8397id61325e4746ccff8@mail.gmail.com> References: <86b8a7050912051145h3e0a8397id61325e4746ccff8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4B1AC194.1030903@greenidea.eu> Woah, there... how do the railways figure into this? (I see that it is over two months old...) There are redundant coach-rail routes and/but the participating operators also operates rail services, right? - T Vinay Baindur wrote: > http://blog.taragana.com/pr/bus-and-coach-operators-announce-plan-to-take-one-billion-car-journeys-off-the-road-5998/ > > > > *Bus and Coach Operators Announce Plan to Take One Billion Car Journeys Off > the Road* > > Prne > September 14th, 2009 > > LONDON - > > News Conference Venue: One Birdcage Walk, 1 Birdcage Walk, Westminster, > London SW1H 9JJ Date: Tuesday 15 September Time: 10.00am. Coffee and > refreshments from 09:30 > > Britain?s biggest bus and coach operators have joined forces to respond to > the challenge of climate change by developing an action plan aimed at taking > one billion car journeys off UK roads. > > The Greener Journeys campaign is recommending a raft of policy initiatives > to encourage modal shift that would deliver 50% more savings in transport > CO2 emissions than currently planned under existing Government policies. > > Details of the plan will be announced by senior representatives from the > UK?s major public transport groups, including Sir Moir Lockhead (CEO, First > Group) and Brian Souter (CEO, Stagecoach Group), as well as transport expert > Professor David Begg. > > Greener Journeys will launch the One Billion Challenge, demonstrating that > switching from car to bus or coach for just one journey in 25 would mean one > billion fewer car journeys on our roads over the next three years. > > In an unprecedented joint call for action, bus and coach operators will > stress that technological advances alone are not enough to achieve the > carbon reductions required to tackle climate change and modal shift must be > a key priority. > > Greener Journeys, whose objectives are being backed by influential figures > such as Sir Rod Eddington and Jonathon Porritt, will be lobbying Government > and other stakeholders to support the plan. > > A full news release will be issued at the press launch (15 September 2009) > > Notes to editors > > 1. Greener Journeys is an initiative of the UK Bus & Coach industry aimed at > reducing CO2 emissions from transport by delivering unprecedented modal > shift from the car. It is funded by the big 5 bus owning groups Arriva, > First Group, Go-Ahead, National Express and Stagecoach. > > 2. Greener Journeys aims to take one billion car journeys off the road in > just three years. This would amount to a reduction of 2 million tonnes of > CO2 and would deliver an additional 50% reduction in CO2 from domestic > transport to the reductions planned over the same period by current > Government policies (Low Carbon Transport: A Greener Future, Department for > Transport, July 2009). > > 3. Greener Journeys has been developed with the support of the Confederation > of Passenger Transport UK and Forum for the Future, and is endorsed by The > Prince?s May Day Network, Business in the Community. > > Source: Greener Journeys > > Contact: For further information contact Claire Haigh, +44-207-257-2520 > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > -------------------------------------------------------- > If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. > > ================================================================ > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). > > -- -------------------------------------------- Todd Edelman Green Idea Factory Urbanstr. 45 D-10967 Berlin Germany Skype: toddedelman Mobile: ++49 0162 814 4081 edelman@greenidea.eu www.greenidea.eu www.flickr.com/photos/edelman CAR* is over. If you want it. "Fort mit der Privatautostadt und was Neues hingebaut!" - B. Brecht (with slight modification) * "Car" is a sub-category of automobile, i.e. one used inappropriately, opportunistically or without creativity From yanivbin at gmail.com Sun Dec 6 16:48:20 2009 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 13:18:20 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Delhiites urged to use public transport during 2010 Games Message-ID: <86b8a7050912052348t39bb28b9i6b69cc2f67bb9bb3@mail.gmail.com> *Delhiites urged to use public transport during 2010 Games* 2009/10/19Tags: commonwealth games, heavy rush, metro routes, traffic diversions, y s dadwal in india New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) Given the high security and traffic diversions would effect traffic during next year?s Commonwealth Games (CWG), Delhi Police Monday said it would appeal to the people to use Metro and public transport during Games. Traders and offices would be asked to shutter their workplaces on the Games? closing day. ?When there will be an exclusive lane for Games vehicles, naturally the traffic ongestion would increase. We would urge people to use public means of transport that time,? Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal told reporters here. The police Monday made an off-camera presentation explaining the security and traffic plan for the Games. ?By the time the Games start, two more Metro routes will also start. We would encourage the people to use the Metro,? he said, adding that a publicity campaign on this would be carried out before the Games. The police commissioner said that such an event is a pride for the nation but no plan can work without public support. The police have already written to traders? associations and corporate offices to either reschedule their weekly holidays or close their enterprises on the closing day of the CWG. ?CWG closing ceremony would take place on Oct 14, which is Thursday. We expect a heavy rush on that day. We have suggested to many offices, including PSUs, to take their weekly off on Thursday instead of Saturday for that week,? Dadwal said. The police have also asked trader associations to close their shops on that day and do business on another day. From edelman at greenidea.eu Mon Dec 7 12:50:47 2009 From: edelman at greenidea.eu (Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory) Date: Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:50:47 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Pay up or die: Guatemala City bus drivers targeted Message-ID: <4B1C7B97.4010603@greenidea.eu> Guatemala City's murderous routes * OUTLOOK * By Dave Lee BBC World Service * For Guatemala City's bus drivers , going to work could mean risking their lives. * Human rights group Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (Mutual Support Group) says that so far this year more than 175 of their colleagues have been murdered, many on busy streets, surrounded by traffic. The killings have been blamed on street gangs involved in extortion and intimidation. Recently, fear in the community has turned to anger - on 27 November, a riot led to two men and a woman being beaten and burned in public after they were accused of murdering a driver. "If you don't pay on time they just kill someone," one driver, who wished to remain anonymous, told the BBC World Service's Sarah Grainger. "They start killing drivers one by one." " * It was while I was dropping off my daughter that friends came and told me that he'd been murdered * " Ingrid Escobar Widow of bus driver The 24-year-old was left paralysed from the waist down after a gang member shot him in the spine. He now relies on his wife and mother to care for him, and makes his money by selling children's toys in one of the city's most dangerous sectors, Zona 18. "It was about 7 o clock at night," he remembers. "It was in the main street. Two men signalled for me to stop for them, so I pulled over. "And as I was opening the door for them, a kid with a gun appeared and started shooting. "Thankfully I was only hit once, but the bullet went into my spine." He was told he could drive again in a modified bus, but he says it's far too dangerous and expensive. He hopes one day to buy a modified taxi so he can drive and make money once again. * Paying up * The Guatemalan army and police now offer protection for the drivers and passengers, but this security is not always available, and does not cover all the routes. Others say there should be a pre-pay system put in place for transport to avoid large amounts of cash on board, but this would require a massive infrastructure change. So drivers now feel the only way to keep safe is to give in to the gangs' demands. Groups of drivers will collectively agree to pay the extortionists off. If they pay on time, the drivers say they are then left alone. But on other routes, if even just one or two drivers resist the intimidation, the gangs will begin the killing. Aside from money, others fear a motive for the attacks is to create a distraction, forcing police to devote resources into dealing with the murders, allowing drug-traffickers to continue their work. * 'God will look after us' * Ingrid Escobar lost her husband in 2007. She's 33 and has two children. "It was the 3 August. He left early, at half past four in the morning, for his first shift. "I took my children to school, and it was while I was dropping off my daughter that friends came and told me that he'd been murdered." Ingrid now faces a daily struggle to feed herself and her children. "He said he could earn more doing that than as a bricklayer or something else, and we needed the money to run the house and take care of the children. "We talked about the possibility of him changing jobs. He said 'No, God will look after us'." * Pension * Some of the widows of murdered drivers have joined together to form the Association of Drivers' Widows. The association's work has paid off. The Guatemalan government has now started offering a monthly pension to those affected by the killings, set at $36 (?21) per month, per child. Last month, 18 widows received their first instalment, and a further 19 families will get money in December. The government hopes that eventually all families left behind by killed bus workers will get this additional income. For people like Ingrid, the help will come as a much needed boost to their lives. "Sometimes there's money for food, sometimes there isn't," she says. "I haven't found a job, but I'm studying so I can get a job and maybe borrow some money to make sure my children stay in school." For the women with husbands still driving Guatemala City's buses, Ingrid pleads with them to try and find other work for their loved ones. "They need to understand. They should tell their husbands it's better to get out - they can't keep doing that job. I say that as someone who's lost their husband. "My husband's murder remains unpunished. They've never caught the person who pulled the trigger." Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8386584.stm Published: 2009/12/06 13:47:47 GMT ? BBC MMIX Print Sponsor -- -------------------------------------------- Todd Edelman Green Idea Factory Urbanstr. 45 D-10967 Berlin Germany Skype: toddedelman Mobile: ++49 0162 814 4081 edelman@greenidea.eu www.greenidea.eu www.flickr.com/photos/edelman CAR* is over. If you want it. "Fort mit der Privatautostadt und was Neues hingebaut!" - B. Brecht (with slight modification) * "Car" is a sub-category of automobile, i.e. one used inappropriately, opportunistically or without creativity From simon.bishop at dimts.in Mon Dec 7 14:54:13 2009 From: simon.bishop at dimts.in (Simon Bishop) Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 11:24:13 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: Sustran-discuss Digest, Vol 76, Issue 4 In-Reply-To: <20091207030059.22DC32BCD7@mx-list.jca.ne.jp> References: <20091207030059.22DC32BCD7@mx-list.jca.ne.jp> Message-ID: <247EE4DD2AD33940B402771AC8C2CDFE325BFD0A39@dimts-exch.dimts.org> On the issue of the Delhi Police asking people to use 'the Metro and public transport' during the Games, can someone ask how people can get to bus stops and Metro stations from their homes and workplaces? The rapid increase in flyover construction in Delhi (50 in place, 35 more planned) has added to the inaccessibility of the city by rendering huge sections of road un-crossable by pedestrians. Delhi already has amongst the highest amount of land under roads in the world (21%). The newspapers here, run by car drivers, are getting very excited about signal free movement, clamoring for higher speed limits on urban motorways, foot over bridges (FOBs) and wanting to rid the city of cycle and auto-rickshaws that slow down traffic, discourage car use, and act as a road safety device. To add to this, Delhi has about 700 part-time working signals. I ride a cycle to work in the morning and evening and have done my own survey of a traffic light that is not working 7 days out of 10. A city of approximately the geographical size of Delhi, London, has 6,000 working signals. Can the Delhi police provide, or commit to provide, safe, accessible crossings for pedestrians and cyclists along routes that they wish to use BEFORE they seriously ask people to take public transport? If the traffic police are worried about a backlash from the motorists' lobby, highlight that the best way to confront congestion (for the benefit of motorists too) is to discourage unnecessary travel, get more people walking, cycling or using public transport. Delhi's efforts to build its way out of congestion are making car trips more necessary by the day. -----Original Message----- From: sustran-discuss-bounces+simon.bishop=dimts.in@list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+simon.bishop=dimts.in@list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of sustran-discuss-request@list.jca.apc.org Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 8:31 AM To: sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org Subject: Sustran-discuss Digest, Vol 76, Issue 4 Send Sustran-discuss mailing list submissions to sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to sustran-discuss-request@list.jca.apc.org You can reach the person managing the list at sustran-discuss-owner@list.jca.apc.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Sustran-discuss digest..." ######################################################################## Sustran-discuss Mailing List Digest IMPORTANT NOTE: When replying please do not include the whole digest in your reply - just include the relevant part of the specific message that you are responding to. Many thanks. About this mailing list see: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss ######################################################################## Today's Topics: 1. Delhiites urged to use public transport during 2010 Games (Vinay Baindur) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 13:18:20 +0530 From: Vinay Baindur Subject: [sustran] Delhiites urged to use public transport during 2010 Games To: Hasire Usiru Message-ID: <86b8a7050912052348t39bb28b9i6b69cc2f67bb9bb3@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 *Delhiites urged to use public transport during 2010 Games* 2009/10/19Tags: commonwealth games, heavy rush, metro routes, traffic diversions, y s dadwal in india New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS) Given the high security and traffic diversions would effect traffic during next year?s Commonwealth Games (CWG), Delhi Police Monday said it would appeal to the people to use Metro and public transport during Games. Traders and offices would be asked to shutter their workplaces on the Games? closing day. ?When there will be an exclusive lane for Games vehicles, naturally the traffic ongestion would increase. We would urge people to use public means of transport that time,? Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal told reporters here. The police Monday made an off-camera presentation explaining the security and traffic plan for the Games. ?By the time the Games start, two more Metro routes will also start. We would encourage the people to use the Metro,? he said, adding that a publicity campaign on this would be carried out before the Games. The police commissioner said that such an event is a pride for the nation but no plan can work without public support. The police have already written to traders? associations and corporate offices to either reschedule their weekly holidays or close their enterprises on the closing day of the CWG. ?CWG closing ceremony would take place on Oct 14, which is Thursday. We expect a heavy rush on that day. We have suggested to many offices, including PSUs, to take their weekly off on Thursday instead of Saturday for that week,? Dadwal said. The police have also asked trader associations to close their shops on that day and do business on another day. ------------------------------ ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). End of Sustran-discuss Digest, Vol 76, Issue 4 ********************************************** From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue Dec 8 00:07:45 2009 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 20:37:45 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Mega hoax JNNURM and Mumbai Message-ID: <86b8a7050912070707w5b8e56c9redad40ee3e6ebb0f@mail.gmail.com> http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/editorial_mega-hoax_1320899 Opinion Advanced Search Home > Opinion > Editorial *Mega hoax* Monday, December 7, 2009 0:28 IST Email Print Share India is at that very seminal crossroads between becoming urban and remaining rural. Our economy is growing and changing, but when the chips are down it is agricultural growth which gets us out of the woods. However, the number of urban poor is growing. The darker side shows that we are suffering the ills of every kind of economy -- industrial, services, agricultural, global and protected. Yet, in all that, it is certain that the way forward is through urbanisation. This is a natural progression in human history and old wives' tales about bucolic paradises are just that -- stories. Dr Ambedkar, whose 52 death anniversary was observed on December 6, believed that a village was "but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow-mindedness and communalism". While the great man was undoubtedly correct, sadly the same can be said to be true today of Indian cities as well. Not only are we seeing resistance to social progress and change, we are also seeing narrow identity politics raising its head everywhere, even in our most progressive cities. However, the biggest hoax which is being played on India today is in the unbridled, unstructured and unplanned growth of its cities. Last week, Mumbai was rated as the best mega city in the country. The award was given under the aegis of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, which hands out money to cities to improve their infrastructure. Mumbai presumably wins because it has taken the most money from the government. But the infrastructure growth in Mumbai is currently chaotic, uncoordinated and extremely slow. Quality of life is abysmally low and we cannot compete on any international parameters. Mega city this may be in size, but not in the way it looks currently or how it forces people to live. Most Indian cities mirror this chaos, with some exceptions like parts of Hyderabad and the National Capital Region. Interestingly four locations in Maharashtra -- Greater Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nagpur -- won awards. The rest were shared by Ahmedabad, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Chandigarh and New Delhi. Clearly, we need to rethink our urbanisation strategies and understand that what we require is coordinated and planned growth. We have to rescue ourselves from the nexus between politicians and developers and the impossible restrictions of bureaucratic bullheadedness. Otherwise, we might hand ourselves any number of awards, but they will all be empty and bogus. From kanthikannan at gmail.com Wed Dec 9 20:28:07 2009 From: kanthikannan at gmail.com (Kanthi Kannan) Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2009 16:58:07 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES Message-ID: <4b1f89cf.0e0bca0a.4f34.3e88@mx.google.com> Dear all Greetings!! A great move There is a draft from the Municipal Administration Dept regarding footpaths. ( Yes, you all read it right :-)) for our comments. Those interested may go through and send your feedback to us so that we can collate and send it back to the department. Thanks Kanthi Kannan THOSE WHO WALK CANNOT DECIDE AND THOSE WHO DECIDE DO NOT WALK _____ From: sista vishwanath rao [mailto:visista@rediffmail.com] Sent: 09 December 2009 12:34 To: kanthikannan@gmail.com Cc: right2walk@gmail.com Subject: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES DEAR SIR/MADAM, PLEASE FIND ENCLOSED A 1ST CUT DRAFT ON FOOTPATH RULES, AND REQUEST YOU TO KINDLY GO THROUGH TEH SAME CRITICALLY AND GIVE YOUR INPUTS SO AS TO ENABLE TO FINALISE THE DRAFT. -VISHWANATH,OSD -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: FOOTPATHS_RULES_14.8.doc Type: application/msword Size: 79872 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20091209/3fb25efd/FOOTPATHS_RULES_14.8.doc From ashok.sreenivas at gmail.com Thu Dec 10 12:50:16 2009 From: ashok.sreenivas at gmail.com (Ashok Sreenivas) Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:20:16 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES In-Reply-To: <4b1f89cf.0e0bca0a.4f34.3e88@mx.google.com> References: <4b1f89cf.0e0bca0a.4f34.3e88@mx.google.com> Message-ID: <4B206FF8.3040606@gmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20091210/d76c37eb/attachment.html From kanthikannan at gmail.com Thu Dec 10 13:26:46 2009 From: kanthikannan at gmail.com (Kanthi Kannan) Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:56:46 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES In-Reply-To: <4B206FF8.3040606@gmail.com> Message-ID: <4b20788d.0e0bca0a.0459.19a5@mx.google.com> Dear Ashok Greetings!! Thanks for the comments. I totally agree with your comments. Let's see other comments too and try to put it across as a comprehensive document. Thanks once again Regards Kanthi _____ From: Ashok Sreenivas [mailto:ashok.sreenivas@gmail.com] Sent: 10 December 2009 09:20 To: Kanthi Kannan Cc: sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org Subject: Re: [sustran] Re: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES Hi Kanthi Here are some quick comments based on a superficial reading: 1. 4(b): "Situations that may merit deviation from standards include insufficient ROW" - sounds dangerous as it will be invoked far too often! 2. What is Section 12 doing here since its objective is smooth vehicular flow rather than pedestrian facilities!? 3. Section 14: Talks of money but money for "urban transportation" which means it will typically be used to build more roads. It needs to be more specific about usage of the money for pedestrian facilities. 4. There seems to be nothing about pedestrian crossings, pedestrian signals, zebras, raised crossings, speed limits etc. Ashok On 9/12/2009 4:58 PM, Kanthi Kannan wrote: Dear all Greetings!! A great move There is a draft from the Municipal Administration Dept regarding footpaths. ( Yes, you all read it right :-)) for our comments. Those interested may go through and send your feedback to us so that we can collate and send it back to the department. Thanks Kanthi Kannan THOSE WHO WALK CANNOT DECIDE AND THOSE WHO DECIDE DO NOT WALK _____ From: sista vishwanath rao [mailto:visista@rediffmail.com] Sent: 09 December 2009 12:34 To: kanthikannan@gmail.com Cc: right2walk@gmail.com Subject: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES DEAR SIR/MADAM, PLEASE FIND ENCLOSED A 1ST CUT DRAFT ON FOOTPATH RULES, AND REQUEST YOU TO KINDLY GO THROUGH TEH SAME CRITICALLY AND GIVE YOUR INPUTS SO AS TO ENABLE TO FINALISE THE DRAFT. -VISHWANATH,OSD > _____ -------------------------------------------------------- To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss -------------------------------------------------------- If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). From embarq at wri.org Fri Dec 11 04:05:34 2009 From: embarq at wri.org (EMBARQ - The WRI Center for Sustainable Transport) Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:05:34 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Register for Transforming Transportation 2010 Message-ID: We're pleased to announce that registration for the annual Transforming Transportation event in Washington, D.C. on January 14-15 is now open. For details, please visit our Web site: www.transformingtransportation2010.org Join us for two days of lectures, panel discussions and Q&A sessions about sustainable transport in the context of communications and public involvement, health and safety, and climate change. There is no cost to attend. NEED A PLACE TO STAY? Out-of-town guests will need to make their own hotel and travel arrangements, but for your convenience, we've secured a special rate for a limited number of rooms at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center. Mention that you're a participant of the "Transforming Transportation Conference," and you'll get a discounted nightly rate. Additional details on our Web site. WHO'S ORGANIZING THIS? This event is made possible through a partnership between EMBARQ ? The WRI Center for Sustainable Transport, World Resources Institute, The World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank and the Partnership for Sustainable Low Carbon Transport. QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Send an email to embarq@wri.org with "TT2010" in the subject line. Thank you! TT2010 Organizers From binac at rediffmail.com Sat Dec 12 14:46:40 2009 From: binac at rediffmail.com (Bina C. Balakrishnan) Date: 12 Dec 2009 05:46:40 -0000 Subject: [sustran] =?utf-8?Q?Re=3A_DRAFT_FOOTPATH_RULES?= Message-ID: <1260357937.S.113753.54437.f4mail-235-242.rediffmail.com.old.1260596797.35028@webmail.rediffmail.com> Hi Kanti, I have gone thru the draft rules in detail, and attached it with my comments alongside. Best Bina On Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:55:37 +0530 wrote >Dear all Greetings!! A great move There is a draft from the Municipal Administration Dept regarding footpaths. ( Yes, you all read it right :-)) for our comments. Those interested may go through and send your feedback to us so that we can collate and send it back to the department. Thanks Kanthi Kannan THOSE WHO WALK CANNOT DECIDE AND THOSE WHO DECIDE DO NOT WALK _____ From: sista vishwanath rao [mailto:visista@rediffmail.com] Sent: 09 December 2009 12:34 To: kanthikannan@gmail.com Cc: right2walk@gmail.com Subject: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES DEAR SIR/MADAM, PLEASE FIND ENCLOSED A 1ST CUT DRAFT ON FOOTPATH RULES, AND REQUEST YOU TO KINDLY GO THROUGH TEH SAME CRITICALLY AND GIVE YOUR INPUTS SO AS TO ENABLE TO FINALISE THE DRAFT. -VISHWANATH,OSD -------------------------------------------------------- To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss -------------------------------------------------------- If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). Bina C. Balakrishnan Consultant- Transportation Planning & Engineering Mumbai, India e-mail: binac@rediffmail.com : binacb@gmail.com Mobile : +91 98339 00108 Home : +91 22 23630572 Skype : binacb web site:www.binabalakrishnan.com From binac at rediffmail.com Sat Dec 12 14:48:26 2009 From: binac at rediffmail.com (Bina C. Balakrishnan) Date: 12 Dec 2009 05:48:26 -0000 Subject: [sustran] =?utf-8?Q?Re=3A_DRAFT_FOOTPATH_RULES?= Message-ID: <1260357937.S.113753.54437.f4mail-235-242.rediffmail.com.old.replied.1260596906.47292@webmail.rediffmail.com> Hi Kanti, I have gone thru the draft rules in detail, and attached it with my comments alongside. Best Bina On Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:55:37 +0530 wrote >Dear all Greetings!! A great move There is a draft from the Municipal Administration Dept regarding footpaths. ( Yes, you all read it right :-)) for our comments. Those interested may go through and send your feedback to us so that we can collate and send it back to the department. Thanks Kanthi Kannan THOSE WHO WALK CANNOT DECIDE AND THOSE WHO DECIDE DO NOT WALK _____ From: sista vishwanath rao [mailto:visista@rediffmail.com] Sent: 09 December 2009 12:34 To: kanthikannan@gmail.com Cc: right2walk@gmail.com Subject: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES DEAR SIR/MADAM, PLEASE FIND ENCLOSED A 1ST CUT DRAFT ON FOOTPATH RULES, AND REQUEST YOU TO KINDLY GO THROUGH TEH SAME CRITICALLY AND GIVE YOUR INPUTS SO AS TO ENABLE TO FINALISE THE DRAFT. -VISHWANATH,OSD -------------------------------------------------------- To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss -------------------------------------------------------- If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). Bina C. Balakrishnan Consultant- Transportation Planning & Engineering Mumbai, India e-mail: binac@rediffmail.com : binacb@gmail.com Mobile : +91 98339 00108 Home : +91 22 23630572 Skype : binacb web site:www.binabalakrishnan.com -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: FOOTPATHS_RULES_14.8_1___Autosaved_.doc Type: application/msword Size: 76288 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20091212/0fd65c97/FOOTPATHS_RULES_14.8_1___Autosaved_.doc From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sat Dec 12 18:57:41 2009 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:57:41 +0100 Subject: [sustran] DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES - Good ideas should circulate In-Reply-To: <1260357937.S.113753.54437.f4mail-235-242.rediffmail.com.old.replied.1260596906.47292@webmail.rediffmail.com> References: <1260357937.S.113753.54437.f4mail-235-242.rediffmail.com.old.replied.1260596906.47292@webmail.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: <00ae01ca7b11$8e096000$aa1c2000$@britton@ecoplan.org> Dear Friends, You are moving toward something that is very good indeed, and that in my view has universal application, if not in terms of all the fine details surely in terms of the key principles and the approach. With this in mind we would like to see if we might give further circulation in the pages of World Streets. Might we discuss? With kind regards, Eric Britton New Mobility Partnerships ? ?? Read World Streets Today at http://www.worldstreets.org/ New Mobility Partnerships ? http://www.newmobility.org 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France, Europe +331 4326 1323 eric.britton(at)newmobility.org Skype: newmobility From kanthikannan at gmail.com Sun Dec 13 17:34:34 2009 From: kanthikannan at gmail.com (Kanthi Kannan) Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:04:34 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES In-Reply-To: <1260357937.S.113753.54437.f4mail-235-242.rediffmail.com.old.1260596797.35028@webmail.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: <4b24a723.5644f10a.0f77.1653@mx.google.com> Dear Bina Greetings!! Thanks. Shall now collate the feedback and submit. This draft will then be revised based on such feedback and the dept will come out with another proposal that will be placed in the public domain. Hopefully we should all be able to see if our points have been taken note of and carry the discussion further. Warm Regards Kanthi _____ From: Bina C. Balakrishnan [mailto:binac@rediffmail.com] Sent: 12 December 2009 11:17 To: kanthikannan@gmail.com Cc: sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org Subject: Re: [sustran] Re: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES Hi Kanti, I have gone thru the draft rules in detail, and attached it with my comments alongside. Best Bina On Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:55:37 +0530 wrote >Dear all Greetings!! A great move There is a draft from the Municipal Administration Dept regarding footpaths. ( Yes, you all read it right :-)) for our comments. Those interested may go through and send your feedback to us so that we can collate and send it back to the department. Thanks Kanthi Kannan THOSE WHO WALK CANNOT DECIDE AND THOSE WHO DECIDE DO NOT WALK _____ From: sista vishwanath rao [mailto:visista@rediffmail.com] Sent: 09 December 2009 12:34 To: kanthikannan@gmail.com Cc: right2walk@gmail.com Subject: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES DEAR SIR/MADAM, PLEASE FIND ENCLOSED A 1ST CUT DRAFT ON FOOTPATH RULES, AND REQUEST YOU TO KINDLY GO THROUGH TEH SAME CRITICALLY AND GIVE YOUR INPUTS SO AS TO ENABLE TO FINALISE THE DRAFT. -VISHWANATH,OSD atureline.htm@Middle?> -------------------------------------------------------- To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss -------------------------------------------------------- If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). Bina C. Balakrishnan Consultant- Transportation Planning & Engineering Mumbai, India e-mail: binac@rediffmail.com : binacb@gmail.com Mobile : +91 98339 00108 Home : +91 22 23630572 Skype : binacb web site:www.binabalakrishnan.com From sutp at sutp.org Mon Dec 14 13:54:29 2009 From: sutp at sutp.org (SUTP Team) Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:24:29 +0530 Subject: [sustran] GTZ Sourcebook Module 5F: Adapting Urban Transport to Climate Change Launched at Copenhagen Message-ID: <4B25C505.1030805@sutp.org> Many transport decision-makers in developing countries are already confronted with extreme weather events, such as flooding, subsidence and storms, all of which are expected to increase with climate change. In the worst case, transportation systems may not be able to recover between such events, resulting in exponential damages. Hence, building a climate-resilient urban transport system is vital to: - Safeguard transport infrastructure and its embedded value; - Ensure reliable mobility and economic vitality/development; and - Guarantee the health and safety of urban residents. This module of the GTZ Sourcebook for Decision-Makers in Developing Cities is intended to raise awareness and describes the expected impacts of climate change on urban passenger transport as well as possible adaptation measures. It has been launched during a Side Event of GTZ and IDB at the climate conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen on Friday 11, 2009 (see: www.transport2012.org). More information and download available from http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1801&Itemid=1&lang=uk From cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org Mon Dec 14 16:43:20 2009 From: cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org (Cornie Huizenga) Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:43:20 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Applicability of Post 2012 Climate Instruments for the Transport Sector (draft report) Message-ID: <47a72ec50912132343g6342f297w79ae9f34af8453e6@mail.gmail.com> The post 2012 Climate Instruments in the transport sector (CITS) project implemented by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is a first step to help ensure that the transport sector can benefit from the revised/new climate change mitigation instruments under a post-2012 Climate Change Agreement. The CITS project is a contribution to the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport. A draft report has been published for comments. Key messages of the draft report are: - NAMAs may provide better opportunities for the transport sector than current mechanisms - Existing modeling studies and marginal abatement cost curves often do not capture the full costs and benefits of transport interventions, notable those related to ?avoid? and ?shift?. - Support for NAMAs in the transport sector may need to focus on ?barrier removal cost? rather than incremental cost which is done conventionally. Capacity building and policy support may be important components. - Including co-benefits for local air quality, reduced congestion and energy security in the appraisal of climate related transport interventions often reduces the GHG abatement cost significantly, however quantification remains challenging. - NAMA financing and other international sources of funding may be targeted at similar (elements of) interventions in the transport sector, and therefore their relation needs further exploration. - MRV of transport measures is likely to be challenging, and there is a need for better activity level data and development of methodologies. A certain degree of uncertainty however may need to be accepted, as baselines are hard to establish. Please send your comments and feedback to Cornie Huizenga ( chuizenga@slocatpartnership.org) and Stefan Bakker (bakker@ecn.nl) http://www.sutp.org/slocat/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/CITS-Interim-Report-draft-11-December.pdf -- Cornie Huizenga Joint Convener Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport Mobile: +86 13901949332 cornie.huizenga@slocatpartnership.org From litman at vtpi.org Thu Dec 17 15:17:05 2009 From: litman at vtpi.org (Todd Alexander Litman) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:17:05 -0800 Subject: [sustran] Press Release: Good News for Copenhagen - Win-Win Transportation Emission Reduction Strategies Message-ID: <20091217063910.6D3122E2EC@mx-list.jca.ne.jp> Here is good news for everyone seeking smart ways to reduce climate change. "Win-Win" transportation emission reduction strategies provide substantial energy conservation and emission reductions while also achieving economic and social objectives. Why Transportation? When it comes to reducing emissions, transportation is special because it has so many impacts on people and the economy. Win-win strategies reduce climate change emission in ways that provide substantial co-benefits, including congestion reductions, infrastructure cost savings, consumer savings, traffic safety, improved mobility for non-drivers, and improved public fitness and health. Implemented to the degree justified by their economic benefits, these strategies can reduce emissions by 30-50% compared with what would otherwise occur. These are no-regret strategies that are justified regardless of any uncertainty about climate change risks. A Paradigm Shift Efficient transportation requires more comprehensive and integrated planning, which considers indirect and external impacts, and so identifies the policies that provide the greatest total benefits to society. Considering all benefits and costs, Win-Win strategies are often the best way to reduce transportation emissions. Consumer Benefits (Live Long and Prosper) Win-Win transportation solutions benefit consumers directly by improving transportation options (better walking and cycling conditions, better public transport services, and innovations such as carsharing, telework and delivery services), by providing new opportunities to save money, and by creating more accessible, multi-modal communities. This provides significant public health benefits including accident reductions, improved public fitness, and improved access to health services. Supporting Economic Development By increasing transportation system efficiency, Win-Win strategies increase economic productivity and support economic development. They do this by reducing inefficiencies such as traffic congestion, road and parking infrastructure costs, accident and pollution damages, and the cost burden of importing petroleum to fuel vehicles. Recent research shows that economic productivity (per capita GDP) increases in a region with higher public transit ridership, land use densities and fuel prices, and declines with increased motor vehicle travel. This is basic economics: a more efficient transportation system increases productivity. Fortunately, it also reduces pollution emissions. Thats good news from here to Copenhagen. For more information: "Win-Win Transportation Emission Reduction Strategies" ( www.vtpi.org/wwclimate.pdf ) "Smart Transportation Emission Reduction Strategies" (www.vtpi.org/ster.pdf ) "Are Vehicle Travel Reduction Targets Justified? Evaluating Mobility Management Policy Objectives Such As Targets To Reduce VMT And Increase Use Of Alternative Modes" (www.vtpi.org/vmt_red.pdf ) "Moving Cooler: Transportation Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions" (www.movingcooler.info) "Evaluating Transportation Economic Development Impacts" (www.vtpi.org/econ_dev.pdf ) "The Transportation Prescription: Bold New Ideas for Healthy, Equitable Transportation Reform in America" (www.convergencepartnership.org/transportationhealthandequity). "Drive Less, Pay Less: Environmental and Transportation Groups Unveil Performance Standard for Pay-As-You-Drive Auto Insurance" ( http://www.ceres.org/Page.aspx?pid=1157 ) Sincerely, Todd Alexander Litman Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org) litman@vtpi.org Phone & Fax 250-360-1560 1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA "Efficiency - Equity - Clarity" From yanivbin at gmail.com Fri Dec 18 05:07:11 2009 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:37:11 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Detailed town planning scheme & land for road development Message-ID: <86b8a7050912171207k7224499cm42f4ecbde35281cf@mail.gmail.com> *Date:16/12/2009* *URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/12/16/stories/2009121658670300.htm* ------------------------------ Back Kerala - Kochi * Incentives for surrendering land for road development * Staff Reporter * Work on two roads will be completed in one month: Mayor * ? Photo: H. Vibhu * VITAL LINK: Commissioning of the overbridge on the Thamannam-Pullepady road will considerably reduce traffic congestion on arterial roads in the city. * KOCHI: A Detailed Town Planning (DTP) scheme for acquiring land and implementing development activities on the Thamannam-Pullepady and Goshree-Mamangalam roads will be implemented. The scheme will be for developing 200 metres from the central median on both flanks of the road. A survey for the project will begin on Wednesday and it will be completed within one month, said Mayor Mercy Williams here on Tuesday. The Confederation of Indian Industries, Builders? Association of India and Confederation of Real Estate Developers? Association of India will carry out the survey and prepare the scheme, the Mayor told mediapersons. The Thammanam road project will be implemented using financial support from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The civic body expects the cooperation of agencies such as the Greater Cochin Development Authority and Goshree Island Development Authority for the project, she said. Once the DTP is cleared, the civic body will be able to provide incentives to persons who part with land for development. Incentives such as allowing increased Floor Area Ratio?the vertical development that can be carried out on a plot?and relaxations in the building rules are under consideration. This would prompt people to surrender land for the road project. The civic body would also clear the building plans and issue other statutory permits for these landowners in a time-bound manner, she said. The corporation also proposes to provide development rights for those who surrender land and this would ensure that the landowners who contribute land for the project would get proportional economic benefits, said N. Anilkumar, chairman of the Development Standing Committee. A rehabilitation package for the possible evictees would also form part of the scheme. The landowners will be given the transfer of development rights as part of the scheme. Under the scheme, they could use the benefits and relaxations in the building rules for any other property owned by them in lieu of the land surrendered for the road project, he said. The civic authorities hope to complete the project during the term of the present council. There would be safeguards in the scheme against the possibility of land being frozen indefinitely for the project as happened in some road development schemes earlier, he said. The government has, in principle, approved the scheme and various development agencies would be cooperating with the project, he said. The DTP scheme for the Goshree-Mamangalam road would be taken up after the completion of the Thammanam-Pullepady scheme, said E.M. Sunilkumar, chairman of the Town Planning Standing committee. N.A. Mani, T.K. Shamsudheen and K.V. Manoj, chairpersons of the standing committees, were also present at the press conference. From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Tue Dec 22 20:13:25 2009 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:13:25 +0100 Subject: [sustran] The Future started in Copenhagen on Friday, 18 Dec 2009 - The Role of World Streets in 2010 Message-ID: <00eb01ca82f7$d3d89540$7b89bfc0$@britton@ecoplan.org> The Future started in Copenhagen on Friday, 18 Dec 2009 - The Role of World Streets in 2010 COP15 has given us ample reason to reflect not only on the climate/ governance and the climate/transport links - the latter which we have taken as a pillar of transport policy for some years now - but also on our own contribution here at World Streets to the process that now must be engaged, and for which every capable pair of hands is needed. World Streets Year-end 2009 Special Edition: In this Special Edition of World Streets, you will find first and for the moment most important, an announcement informing you about our switching for the interim from daily publication, while at the same time working on a major outreach for funding and other support so that we shall be able to continue in 2010. In addition, you will find here some first entries concerning our intentions in selected key issue areas for the year ahead. Contents of Special Edition: I. World Streets in transition II. Mission for 2010 1. China 2. Africa 3. Share transport 4. The Year of the Woman in Transportation 5. Language editions 6. Sustainable transport linking 7. Collaborative workshops and events 8. Major themes for 2010 --> Full text of this article appears in today's World Streets at http://WorldStreets.org/ --> Discussions on New Mobility Forum at www.newmobility.org (Post to NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com) Read World Streets Today at http://www.worldstreets.org/ New Mobility Partnerships - http://www.newmobility.org 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France, Europe +331 4326 1323 eric.britton(at)newmobility.org Skype: newmobility From sutp at sutp.org Tue Dec 22 23:30:20 2009 From: sutp at sutp.org (SUTP Team) Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:00:20 +0530 Subject: [sustran] GTZ SUTP Newsletter OCT-DEC 2009 Message-ID: <4B30D7FC.4010409@sutp.org> **** SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT PROJECT (SUTP) **** **** Newsletter 05/09 - Oct - Dec 2009 **** Important: A PDF version of this text based newsletter can be downloaded from http://www.sutp.org/documents/NL-OCT-DEC-09.pdf *** New Publications *** GTZ documents launched by the Indian Urban Development Minister New Delhi, 03 Dec 2009: The Hon?ble Minister of Urban Development, Mr. S. Jaipal Reddy, has launched 4 GTZ publications on the 3rd December 2009 at a dinner event of the ?Conference & Expo on Urban Mobility India 2009? held in New Delhi from the 3- 5 December 2009. The documents released by the minister were: 1. Air Quality Management 2. Transportation Demand Management 3. Intelligent Transport Systems 4. Cycling-inclusive Policy Development: A Handbook Also present at the launch were the Hon'ble Minister of State, Mr. Saugata Roy, the Secretary of Urban Development Dr. Ramachandran, Senior Technical Advisor from GTZ - Dr. Regina Dube, and Mr. Manfred Breithaupt, Senior Transport Advisor of GTZ. Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1799&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- Module 5f: Adapting Urban Transport to Climate Change Many transport decision-makers in developing countries are already confronted with extreme weather events, such as flooding, subsidence and storms, all of which are expected to increase with climate change. In the worst case, transportation systems may not be able to recover between such events, resulting in exponential damages. Hence, building a climate-resilient urban transport system is vital to: - Safeguard transport infrastructure and its embedded value; - Ensure reliable mobility and economic vitality/development; and - Guarantee the health and safety of urban residents. This module of the GTZ Sourcebook for Decision-Makers in Developing Cities is intended to raise awareness and describes the expected impacts of climate change on urban passenger transport as well as possible adaptation measures. It was formally launched on December 11 on a side event at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP15). Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1801&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- Module 5a: Air Quality Management updated Urban air pollution is a serious problem causing numerous unnoticed and unaccounted fatalities. The transport sector is one of the major contributors to the appalling air quality. Local authorities often struggle to implement an effective Air Quality Management strategy to tackle this problem. The recently revised module 5a: Air Quality Management serves to assist policy-makers and their advisors in developing countries. The module helps to determine the best measures to abate air pollution with limited information and provides practical advice to developing countries on developing legally enforceable air quality standards and simplified clean air implementation plans. Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1798&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- Update of "NON-URBAN TRANSPORT PHOTO DVD 2009" The Non-Urban Transport photo DVD developed by GTZ has been updated. The update contains nearly 1000 new photos spanning over various aspects of non-urban transport issues/practices. The photos are contributed by experts working in transport projects around the world and also by photographers with passion on urban transport issues. This DVD is an extension to the previous Non-Urban Photo Surveys from August 2003 and available on request at transport@gtz.de. SUTP visitors and users are also encouraged to contribute to further editions of this photo DVD by sending their photographs to sutp@sutp.org. Contributors will be duly acknowledged. ---- *** SUMA News Update *** About SUMA: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=104&Itemid=132&lang=uk or http://www.cleanairnet.org/suma ---- GTZ-SUTP, CAI-Asia Training course on Bus Rapid Transit in Pimpri Chinchwad in November, 2009 Pimpri Chinchwad, 12 Nov 2009: GTZ and CAI-Asia jointly organized a 2-day training course on Mass transit and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and related measures at the Auto Cluster Auditorium in Pimpri Chinchwad on the 11-12 November, 2009 as part of the SUMA program. The training covered various aspects of Mass Transit modes, and focussed on Bus Rapid Transit Planning steps such as demand analysis, corridor selection, business structure, stakeholder involvement, integration, and other key aspects of a BRT system. Resource persons for the course were Ms. Shreya Gadepalli (ITDP), Mr. Santhosh Kodukula (GTZ), Mr. Abhijit Lokre (CEPT), and Mr. Maulik Shah (CEPT). There were 37 participants for the course who were mainly policy-makers, urban planners, transport planners, designers, engineers and also various other stakeholders who are working in the area of Mass transit/BRT planning. Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1777&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- Mass Transit and BRT planning two-day training course under SUMA New Delhi, 28 Oct 2009: GTZ, Embarq-WRI, ITDP and CAI-Asia jointly organized a 2-day training course on Mass transit and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and related measures in New Delhi on 27-28 October, 2009 as part of the SUMA program. The training covered various aspects of Mass Transit modes, and focussed on Bus Rapid Transit Planning steps such as demand analysis, corridor selection, business structure, stakeholder involvement, integration, and other key aspects of a BRT system. Resource persons for the course were Mr. Madhav Pai, Ms. Shreya Gadepalli (ITDP), Mr. Santhosh Kodukula (GTZ), Mr. Abhijit Lokre (CEPT), Mr. Maulik Shah (CEPT), Ms. Vaishali Gijre (DIMTS), Ms. Kanika Kalra (UMTC/IUT), Ms. Sonia Arora (UMTC/IUT). More than 35 participants attended the event. Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1777&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- *** Recent Events *** Bridging the Gap has a new website The GTZ, TRL, UITP and Veolia Transport joint initiative "Bridging the Gap" now has a new home at http://www.transport2012.org. The website hosts updates from the activities of the initiative and also a special daily blog on the COP15 activities. Further, the site contains a repository of information on the various transport and climate change documents which are available for download. Bridging the Gap: Pathways for transport in the post 2012 process: http://www.transport2012.org ---- GTZ at Conference and Expo on Urban Mobility India 2009 New Delhi, 05 Dec 2009: GTZ has participated and contributed at the ?Conference and Expo on Urban Mobility India 2009?. The event was held at the India Habitat Centre from the 3-5 December 2009 and was sponsored by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD). Dr. Hansj?rg Von Berlepsch, CEO traffiQ, Frankfurt, represented GTZ and held presentations on Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) and ?Case study on Outsourced Bus Operations (International Experience)?. Also present at the conference were Mr. Manfred Breithaupt, GTZ Senior Transport Advisor, and Mr. Santhosh Kodukula, GTZ Urban Transport Specialist. Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1800&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- MoUD, UMTC, LTA, CEPT and GTZ conducted a one day specialised course on Transportation Demand Management New Delhi, 02 Dec 2009: GTZ jointly with the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Institute of Urban Transport (IUT), Urban Mass Transit Company (UMTC), Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT), LTA Academy, Singapore, organised a 1-day training course/workshop on ?Transportation Demand Management (TDM)? on December 2, 2009 as a pre-event to the IUT/MoUD conference. Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1795&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- Urban Transport in Sub-Saharan Africa Nairobi, 11 Nov 2009: Planners and Decision-makers from Sub-Saharan African cities met on November 10 and 11 on invitation of UN-HABITAT and UITP to discuss challenges and approaches in urban mobility. GTZ co-sponsored the event and contributed with two presentations: Colleen McCaul (Project Manager of GTZ consulting team to Johannesburg Rea Vaya BRT Project) gave an overview on latest updates of this project in particular on the start of operations in September. Armin Wagner (GTZ Transport Policy Advisor) presented on international experiences in applying Transportation Demand Management (TDM). Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1796&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- Enrique Penalosa visits Palembang/Sumatra Palembang, 09 Nov 2009: Upon invitation by the Mayor of Palembang, Mr. Enrique Penalosa came to visit the city on Monday, 9 Nov 2009. Just after inspecting the new mobile air quality control unit (the first of its kind in Indonesia) that the City had obtained on the same day, Mayor Eddy Santana Putra received the former mayor of Bogota at his office in the old colonial building in downtown Palembang. The two had discussions and exchanged ideas on how to improve urban transport, which is now Palembang's top priority. That morning, Mr. Penalosa also spoke at the seminar on sustainable urban development that the City conducted. The seminar was attended by more than 100 people from various groups representing the local and central government, the police, military personnel, universities etc. Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1794&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- GTZ at CIVITAS Forum Conference in Poland Krakow, 19 Oct 2009: Mr. Stefan Belka, Transport Policy Advisor, participated at the CIVITAS (CIty-VITAlity-Sustainability) Forum 2009. The Conference presents an annual platform of the correspondent Initiative initiated by the European Commission and was hosted by the City of Krakow in Poland from 19 ? 21 October. About 380 representatives from CIVITAS member cities, politicians and technical experts discussed ideas and experiences about the future of urban mobility and the implementation of integrated sustainable urban transport strategies in selected European cities. The meeting included plenary and smaller technical and round table sessions where latest approaches and developments have been presented and discussed to realize these ambitious goals. For further information see http://www.civitas.eu/cms_forum09.phtml?lan=en and download of presentations: http://www.civitas-initiative.org/downloadcenter.phtml?top=81&s_topic=597&rows=5. ---- SUTP at Asian Pacific Forum (APF) Berlin Berlin 08 Oct 2009: From 8-10 October 2009 Manfred Breithaupt participated at the APF in Berlin. See www.asiapacificforum.net. On October 9th GTZ co-sponsored the Dialogue Forum on ?Public Urban Transport in Vietnam?, mainly with participants from Hanoi and Danang City. M. Breithaupt presented on ?Challenges regarding the integration of Urban Planning and Transport Planning in Developing Cities?. The visitors from Vietnam also met city and transport officials in Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna and other locations. A new project on Public Transport improvement in Danang, involving KfW and GTZ, is under preparation. Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1776&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- Planning and Implementation of Non Motorized Transport Facilities Workshop in Delhi 3-4 November 2009 New Delhi, 03 Nov 2009: GTZ-SUTP in partnership with the WRI-EMBARQ organised a two day workshop on ?Planning and Implementation of Non Motorized Transport Facilities?. The workshop was held at the India International Centre, New Delhi on the 3-4 of November 2009. This workshop provided a unique opportunity for participants to understand the approach to planning for Non Motorized Transport (NMT) facilities viz. walking and cycling, and gain exposure to the various issues involved in the planning and implementation of NMT Facilities. As a part of the workshop the participants also took part in a site visit in Delhi to analyse the conditions of walking and cycling. Link: http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1780&Itemid=1&lang=uk ---- *** Upcoming Events *** 07.01.2010 New York, USA: Sustainable City Finance http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=409&lang=uk 10.01.2010 Washington DC, US: TRB 89th Annual Meeting http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=383&lang=uk 14.01.2010 WashingtonDC, USA: Transforming Transportation 2010 http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=407&lang=uk 18.01.2010 Adelaide, AU: 2nd Annual Australian Cycling Conference http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=408&lang=uk 03.02.2010 Brussels, BE: INTERMODES http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=410&lang=uk 08.02.2010 London, UK: The Future of Cities http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=411&lang=uk 08.02.2010 Quebec, CA: International Winter Road Congress http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=384&lang=uk 22.02.2010 London, UK: Integration Cities London 2010 http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=412&lang=uk 24.02.2010 Karlsruhe, DE: IT Solutions for Public Transport http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=375&lang=uk 02.03.2010 Lyon, FR: SOLUTRANS http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=385&lang=uk 03.05.2010 New York, USA: Committeee on Sustainable Development http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=406&lang=uk 25.05.2010 Lisbon, PT: 16th IRF World Road Meeting http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=361&lang=uk 26.05.2010 Leipzig, DE: International Transport Forum 2010 http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=404&lang=uk 28.05.2010 Bonn, DE: Resilient Cities 2010 http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=405&lang=uk 02.06.2010 Hong Kong, CN: TRANSED 2010 http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=380&lang=uk 07.06.2010 Brussels, BE: Transport Research Arena 2010 http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=56&func=details&did=391&lang=uk Important: A PDF version of this text based newsletter can be downloaded from http://www.sutp.org/documents/NL-OCT-DEC-09.pdf Note: All the documents mentioned here are available for download from the SUTP website. For registration please visit http://www.sutp.org/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=registers&lang=uk From sudhir at cai-asia.org Wed Dec 23 20:07:29 2009 From: sudhir at cai-asia.org (Sudhir) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:07:29 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6, 300 per month: JICA study Message-ID: This Christmas season is bringing some "thought provoking" articles from people. Over past few days we are seeing some very good articles. But, what do you think of this ? http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=87400 this is classic - *The study demolishes the myth that the rickshaw pullers are one of the lowest earning working groups in the city, regularly portrayed as "oppressed" and "deprived" people in the country's popular media.* -- Sudhir Gota Transport Specialist CAI-Asia Center Unit 3510, 35th Floor, Robinsons-Equitable Tower, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City Metro Manila, Philippines 1605 Tel: +63-2-395-2843 Fax: +63-2-395-2846 http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia Skype : sudhirgota -- Sudhir Gota Transport Specialist CAI-Asia Center Unit 3510, 35th Floor, Robinsons-Equitable Tower, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City Metro Manila, Philippines 1605 Tel: +63-2-395-2843 Fax: +63-2-395-2846 http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia Skype : sudhirgota From whook at itdp.org Thu Dec 24 00:19:41 2009 From: whook at itdp.org (Walter Hook) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:19:41 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6, 300 per month: JICA study In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <38e55ad30912230719w19f8e11g6bc31f836c5983aa@mail.gmail.com> it seems like a good business. let the free market prevail! we did some surveys of rickshaw drivers incomes in Agra back in the day. It showed that the drivers in very nice locations near the tourist hotels and Taj gates etc. earned very nice incomes, (several times the minimum salary) and the ones in more remote locations earned about $2 a day. On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 6:07 AM, Sudhir wrote: > This Christmas season is bringing some "thought provoking" articles from > people. Over past few days we are seeing some very good articles. > > But, what do you think of this ? > > http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=87400 > > this is classic - *The study demolishes the myth that the rickshaw pullers > are one of the lowest earning working groups in the city, regularly > portrayed as "oppressed" and "deprived" people in the country's popular > media.* > > -- > Sudhir Gota > Transport Specialist > CAI-Asia Center > Unit 3510, 35th Floor, Robinsons-Equitable Tower, > ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City > Metro Manila, Philippines 1605 > Tel: +63-2-395-2843 > Fax: +63-2-395-2846 > http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia > Skype : sudhirgota > > > > -- > Sudhir Gota > Transport Specialist > CAI-Asia Center > Unit 3510, 35th Floor, Robinsons-Equitable Tower, > ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City > Metro Manila, Philippines 1605 > Tel: +63-2-395-2843 > Fax: +63-2-395-2846 > http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia > Skype : sudhirgota > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > -------------------------------------------------------- > If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to > http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real > sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. > > ================================================================ > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, > equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries > (the 'Global South'). > From c_bradshaw at rogers.com Thu Dec 24 01:00:02 2009 From: c_bradshaw at rogers.com (Chris Bradshaw) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:00:02 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: DRAFT FOOTPATH RULES References: <1260357937.S.113753.54437.f4mail-235-242.rediffmail.com.old.replied.1260596906.47292@webmail.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: <00ca01ca83e8$feaccfb0$0202a8c0@acer56fb35423d> I have scanned the proposed regulations. They are ambitious, since a lot of funds will be expended to conform to them. There should be lower speed limits on motor vehicles in sections with no formal segregation, until they are constructed. I like the principle of "shy distance" which I have not heard of before. It is a good idea, where structures come right up to the non-curb side of the footpath. I also like the active role of ward councils in enforcement against infringements. Over here in Canada, the process is much slower and less local, and the shop owners who put stuff on sidewalks take full advantage of it. I also like the requirement for a setback of at least three feet between the footpath and the curb. It removes the need to dip the footpath where there is a driveway entrance, a silly convention that favours motorists making private access movements over pedestrians using a public facility. It also allows for a space for car doors to swing, to avoid conflicts for pedestrians I didn't see any requirement for "bulb-outs", where the sidewalk extends into the parking lane at corners, preventing illegal parking in these sections, while providing space for seating, vendors, standing for those waiting for transit, and it makes the crossing of the street shorter. It also removes the parking lane for peak-hour use for moving traffic, another improper prioritization of modes (the "green transportation hierarchy" should be part of this, making walking the highest, priority, followed by human-powered modes, transit, and finally private cars). At one point pedestrians were referred to as a "segment of modes", which implies that people who walk are a different group of people, like a class. But all those who use other modes walk as part of their travel, and that is at the beginning and end of trips, which could be anywhere. Keep in mind that walking is vastly under measured by engineers, mainly because trips are so short and often don't involve any crossing of roads at formal intersections. Chris Bradshaw Ottawa, Canada, "Honour thy pedestrian and thy cyclist; they foulest not thy nest." From aashu.gupta20 at gmail.com Sun Dec 27 13:08:16 2009 From: aashu.gupta20 at gmail.com (Aashish Gupta) Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:38:16 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Re: Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6, 300 per month: JICA study In-Reply-To: <38e55ad30912230719w19f8e11g6bc31f836c5983aa@mail.gmail.com> References: <38e55ad30912230719w19f8e11g6bc31f836c5983aa@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: I wrote this to Sudhir earlier, thought I must share my response to the others. While I am able to appreciate the finding that Rikshaw Pullers earn 6,300 Tk from us, it must be mentioned that Income earned might not be a good criteria of whether the lives of Rickshaw pullers are 'deprived' or not. Consider for instance that most will lack any form of insurance - health, life, assets etc. - which means that one accident or illness and their savings are wiped out, plus the fact that they cant work for the time they are ill; most live in squalor which increases health risks and is a form of degraded living. There is much inclusion from social services (one form of deprivation) as well as a high level of livelihood risks - some emanating from the occupation itself. Just to clarify, while we are supportive of Rickshaws in cities, we must recognise that even when they earn a good income, there are many avoidable risks and hazards which they face. In this context, Sudhir recommended the following link - http://cai-asia.blogspot.com/2009/07/transport-refugees-victims-of-unjust.html From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sun Dec 27 19:56:57 2009 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:56:57 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6, 300 per month: JICA study In-Reply-To: References: <38e55ad30912230719w19f8e11g6bc31f836c5983aa@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <008801ca86e3$5239d360$f6ad7a20$@britton@ecoplan.org> PS. Rather than read this personal comment, I suggest that instead you have (another) look at Sudir and Bert's excellent "Transport Refugees ? Victims Of Unjust Transport Policies" piece available at http://cai-asia.blogspot.com/2009/07/transport-refugees-victims-of-unjust.html We liked it so much at World Streets that within two days it became a featured piece for our international readership. But once you have that in the bank, perhaps these few words will find their place. ". . . many avoidable risks and hazards they face . . ." Aaishish. Excellent. From a public policy perspective that is exactly the point. Sorry (a bit) to double up a bit on my earlier mailing on this, but the point from the vantage of policy is for us to understand that in our sector our main job is (a) to work with what we have and as part of this process (b) to group our intelligence and democratic spirit to figure out together how to identify and then smooth down out those very real rough points. And there are many which we could easily catalogue here. But this is far far better than, driven by a sense of outrage fueled by high (armchair) morality, simply sweeping them off the street into . . . what? The problem is that sustainable transport, sustainable development and social justice are hard work, and for the most part require the caring hands of deep enquiry and innovation, not the hard hammer of sweeping legist station, proscription and compulsion. In many parts of the world this gap is filled not by government departments but by local associations, public interest groups, NGOs and others who have the kind of patience and aptitude for this sort of thing. These are the people who can get out there, talk and listen to all those at the core of the issues, do the patient ground work, create the rich base, and then sell their ideas to the media and the political establishment. That'll keep us all right busy. Eric Britton. ? ?? Read World Streets Today at http://www.worldstreets.org/ New Mobility Partnerships ? http://www.newmobility.org 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France, Europe +331 4326 1323 eric.britton(at)newmobility.org Skype: newmobility From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Mon Dec 28 02:16:17 2009 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:16:17 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Transport Refugees - Victims Of Unjust Transport Policies Message-ID: <011801ca8718$5024e300$f06ea900$@britton@ecoplan.org> Transport Refugees - Victims of Unjust Transport Policies The term "refugee" if used in the context of transportation would normally be understood to mean "the movement of refugees". But what we fail to comprehend is that for various reasons it is our own transport systems, and the values and decisions that shape them, that are making many of us "refugees" in our own cities? It does not have to be this way. [Back on July 22nd of this year we published some extracts of this important thinkpiece, which has recently become a subject of vigorous discussion in our Sustran Global South Forum, specifically in the context this time of the continuing push by certain authorities to ban rickshaw pullers in Dhaka from plying their trade. This tendency of many authorities to try to concentrate on buying and building expensive imported technologies, instead of innovating, improving and working with what they have ,is something of a phenomenon we are seeing in many parts of the world, North and South. Spend a bit of time here with Sudhir and Bert. It will not be time wasted, pointing us to valuable lessons good not only for Dhaka, but Detroit and Dar es Salaam, Dortmund, Djakarta and beyond. (And if your time today does not allow you to read the full article here, may we urge you to check out their World Streets 22 July summary here -.) - Sudhir Gota and Bert Fabian, Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities --> Full text of this article appears in today's World Streets at http://WorldStreets.org/ --> Discussions on New Mobility Forum at www.newmobility.org (Post to NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com) Read World Streets Today at http://www.worldstreets.org/ New Mobility Partnerships - http://www.newmobility.org 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France, Europe +331 4326 1323 eric.britton(at)newmobility.org Skype: newmobility From Sonal.Ahuja at capita.co.uk Mon Dec 28 07:07:29 2009 From: Sonal.Ahuja at capita.co.uk (Ahuja, Sonal (Capita Symonds)) Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:07:29 -0000 Subject: [sustran] Re: Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6, 300 per month: JICA study Message-ID: My question to the group will be, is that money enough for a man with two kids to be able to bring a good healthy family, educate and get yourself out of powerty? Probably not. This earning is about ?63 a month. The income must be measured with its purchase power. And normalised to see the real income. It would be very wrong to admit that that rickshaw pullers have a good standard of living let alone anywhere a standard comparable to minimum wage earners in Europe leave alone rickshaw pullers in London. I agree with Aashish, in our resarch on richshaw pullers in Old Delhi conducted in I999 we found that 98% of rickshaw pullers take this profession not out of choice and more than 73% pay a rent for it. So what is meaning ful let as an income is debatable. I know the reserch is old but I don't things have changed a lot in India and in Banglsdesh. With warm regards Sonal Sonal Ahuja Associate Director, Development Transport and Infrastructure CAPITA SYMONDS 86 Fetter Lane London EC4A 1EN United Kingdom Kind Regards Sonal +447788666523 ----- Original Message ----- From: sustran-discuss-bounces+sonal.ahuja=capita.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport Sent: Sun Dec 27 04:08:16 2009 Subject: [sustran] Re: Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6,300 per month: JICA study I wrote this to Sudhir earlier, thought I must share my response to the others. While I am able to appreciate the finding that Rikshaw Pullers earn 6,300 Tk from us, it must be mentioned that Income earned might not be a good criteria of whether the lives of Rickshaw pullers are 'deprived' or not. Consider for instance that most will lack any form of insurance - health, life, assets etc. - which means that one accident or illness and their savings are wiped out, plus the fact that they cant work for the time they are ill; most live in squalor which increases health risks and is a form of degraded living. There is much inclusion from social services (one form of deprivation) as well as a high level of livelihood risks - some emanating from the occupation itself. Just to clarify, while we are supportive of Rickshaws in cities, we must recognise that even when they earn a good income, there are many avoidable risks and hazards which they face. In this context, Sudhir recommended the following link - http://cai-asia.blogspot.com/2009/07/transport-refugees-victims-of-unjust.html -------------------------------------------------------- To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss -------------------------------------------------------- If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. ================================================================ SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). This email has been scanned for all viruses by the MessageLabs SkyScan service. This email and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee, are strictly confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient any reading, dissemination, copying or any other use or reliance is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately by email and then permanently delete the email. Copyright reserved. All communications, incoming and outgoing, may be recorded and are monitored for legitimate business purposes. The security and reliability of email transmission cannot be guaranteed. It is the recipient?s responsibility to scan this e-mail and any attachment for the presence of viruses. The Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries ("Capita") exclude all liability for any loss or damage whatsoever arising or resulting from the receipt, use or transmission of this email. Any views or opinions expressed in this email are those of the author only. From richmond at alum.mit.edu Tue Dec 29 12:16:55 2009 From: richmond at alum.mit.edu (Jonathan Richmond) Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:16:55 +0700 (SE Asia Standard Time) Subject: [sustran] Re: Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6, 300 per month: JICA study In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: First, I think it would be important to clarify exactly what take-home pay is, after all costs. But secondly, no, this income is insufficient for anything like what Westerners would call a normal living standard. The income is sufficient to live in a substandard building where there will be no bathroom, perhaps six to ten people in a single house with kids all thrown into one bed and a communal toilet shared by perhaps 50 or more people. There will generally be no ceiling fan let alone no airconditioning, and plenty of flies and mosquitos. The water supply will likely be contaminated. Generally there will be enough money for food, but little else in a very basic subsistance lifestyle. Depending on the number of people to be supported by the income, some children may go to school for some time but will likely drop out and instead work to support the family. Children are regularly abused in work environments with hard labour and little pay. Even if they stay in school, admission for public universities is so intense that children from poor backgrounds have little or no chance at success. There is a major industry in low-quality private universities for the children of the rich who do not score sufficiently well to go to public university, but there is no chance that a poor family can pay for such a luxury. What is a luxury for a family of this income level? As I have discovered from visiting such houses, it is a bottle of Sprite or Coke to be shared amongst perhaps a dozen people. Unlike in the West, this is not a casual item to be consumed at will -- a measure of real income is that soft drinks are not generally sold around rickshaw stands but instead vendors will sell rickshaw pullers tiny cups of tea with the merit that the water has at least been boiled. A medical problem will generate an intense crisis. Public hospitals are overcrowded and offer poor levels of care. Supplies of medicine are generally absent and drugs have to be paid for in cash or patients are left to die. The patient's extended family will generally pitch in to help if someone goes to hospital: it is not unusual for 50 or more reltives near and distant to contribute in such circumstances, but the costs can be overwhelming, and even if they can be paid they can reduce whole groups of people to financial ruin. The rickshaw puller's wife may work as a maid to earn some extra money. Maids work long hours and rarely see their own children. They are paid little and often work in degrading and abusive situations. So by no stretch of the imagination can the rickshaw puller's situation be regarded as adequate or "normal." He is living a medieval subsistence life, a tough one, and one with little opportunity for escape, either for his children -- who will remain locked in poverty -- or for his wife and himself --Jonathan! On Sun, 27 Dec 2009, Ahuja, Sonal (Capita Symonds) wrote: > My question to the group will be, is that money enough for a man with two kids to be able to bring a good healthy family, educate and get yourself out of powerty? Probably not. This earning is about ?63 a month. > > The income must be measured with its purchase power. And normalised to see the real income. It would be very wrong to admit that that rickshaw pullers have a good standard of living let alone anywhere a standard comparable to minimum wage earners in Europe leave alone rickshaw pullers in London. > > I agree with Aashish, in our resarch on richshaw pullers in Old Delhi conducted in I999 we found that 98% of rickshaw pullers take this profession not out of choice and more than 73% pay a rent for it. So what is meaning ful let as an income is debatable. > > I know the reserch is old but I don't things have changed a lot in India and in Banglsdesh. > > With warm regards > > Sonal > > Sonal Ahuja > > Associate Director, > > Development Transport and Infrastructure > > CAPITA SYMONDS > 86 Fetter Lane > London EC4A 1EN > > United Kingdom > > > > > > Kind Regards Sonal +447788666523 > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: sustran-discuss-bounces+sonal.ahuja=capita.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org > To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport > Sent: Sun Dec 27 04:08:16 2009 > Subject: [sustran] Re: Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6,300 per month: JICA study > > I wrote this to Sudhir earlier, thought I must share my response to the > others. > > While I am able to appreciate the finding that Rikshaw Pullers earn 6,300 Tk > from us, it must be mentioned that Income earned might not be a good > criteria of whether the lives of Rickshaw pullers are 'deprived' or not. > > Consider for instance that most will lack any form of insurance - health, > life, assets etc. - which means that one accident or illness and their > savings are wiped out, plus the fact that they cant work for the time they > are ill; most live in squalor which increases health risks and is a form of > degraded living. There is much inclusion from social services (one form of > deprivation) as well as a high level of livelihood risks - some emanating > from the occupation itself. > > Just to clarify, while we are supportive of Rickshaws in cities, we must > recognise that even when they earn a good income, there are many avoidable > risks and hazards which they face. > > In this context, Sudhir recommended the following link - > http://cai-asia.blogspot.com/2009/07/transport-refugees-victims-of-unjust.html > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > -------------------------------------------------------- > If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. > > ================================================================ > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). > > This email has been scanned for all viruses by the MessageLabs SkyScan service. > > This email and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee, are strictly confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient any reading, dissemination, copying or any other use or reliance is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately by email and then permanently delete the email. Copyright reserved. > > All communications, incoming and outgoing, may be recorded and are monitored for legitimate business purposes. > > The security and reliability of email transmission cannot be guaranteed. It is the recipient?s responsibility to scan this e-mail and any attachment for the presence of viruses. > > The Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries ("Capita") exclude all liability for any loss or damage whatsoever arising or resulting from the receipt, use or transmission of this email. > > Any views or opinions expressed in this email are those of the author only. > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > -------------------------------------------------------- > If you get sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. > > ================================================================ > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). ----- Jonathan Richmond Transport Advisor Dhaka Transport Coordination Board Ministry of Communications Government of Bangladesh Nagar Bhaban, 13-14th Floor Dhaka-1000 Bangladesh Phone: +880 (0)1714 179013 Fax: +880 (0)2 956-8892 e-mail: richmond@alum.mit.edu http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/ From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Wed Dec 30 00:53:03 2009 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (Eric Britton) Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:53:03 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Africa? Message-ID: <023e01ca889f$05c2cab0$11486010$@britton@ecoplan.org> Is there any interest on this list to follow, contribute to a discussion about setting up some kind of shared information service and links for people and groups concerned with sustainable transport and social justice -- and in particular from the vantage of women and gender - in Africa. We face some challenging problems including the need to work with slower speed access, and possibly other media. Since Sustran is de facto manly home to the Asia/Pacific community (though almost none of the latter), I hesitate to charge in with these African concerns. Thanks for letting me know. Eric Britton From Sonal.Ahuja at capita.co.uk Tue Dec 29 20:25:50 2009 From: Sonal.Ahuja at capita.co.uk (Ahuja, Sonal (Capita Symonds)) Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:25:50 -0000 Subject: [sustran] CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS TRANSTEC 2010 Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, Apologies for cross posting or duplicate postings and wishing you a Merry Christmas, a happy New Year and Happy Holidays. Please note that the deadline for submitting abstracts has now been extended till 1st February 2010. Please feel free to promote this important event amongst your colleagues. Please find below the details of this important conference in New Delhi. I attach the call for papers and the conference details below. I would be grateful if you could publicise the conference in your academic and professional circles. Some of the hot topics for Delhi are public transport, traffic safety, traffic engineering, congestion charging, demand management and ITS. I would be honoured with your presence in Delhi CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS TRANSTEC 2010. New Delhi April 4-7, 2010 http://www.ewebevolution.com/transtec/ The 3rd TRANSTEC congress in New Delhi is an international event coinciding with the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi to discuss and explore new directions in the field of sustainable transport, green transport solutions and the rise of developing countries as a major player in transport industry and a global economic power. In 2010 in conjunction with the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi the city will host the third TRANSTEC conference. This follows along the steps of the successful TRANSTEC Athens 2004, and Prague 2010 conferences and promises to be an even more exciting event. More Details can be found at: http://www.ewebevolution.com/transtec/ WHERE : The Imperial Hotel (one of the finest art deco hotels in the world) Address: Janpath, New Delhi, 110001, India WHEN: 4 - 7 April 2010 THEMES for the CONFERENCE: Theory, methodology or analysis, and demonstrations in: sustainable transport solutions, advanced systems for transport operations, and transportation modelling and simulation and visulaisation, traffic engineering, multi-modal transport systems, aviation, ports, railways and freight, tourism and transport, global health and transport, Intelligent Transport Systems, BRTS, PRT, LRT and Mass transit systems, transport economics and finance, and transport in developing countries. CONFERENCE LANGUAGE: English ACCOMMODATION: Discounted single or double rooms can be booked in the conference hotel (http://www.theimperialindia.com/ ) Please contact Ms Meneka at Imperial Hotel quoting TRANSTEC 2010 for discounted room prices or contact the conference secretariat below: CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT: Mr Indra, D-26, Flatted Factory Complex Jhandawalan, Delhi - 110055 India Tel: +91 (0) 11 65805511 +91 (0) 11 65805511 +44(0)7771848557 Telefax: +91 (0) 11 23552502 Mobile: +91 9811980556 +91 9811980556 E-mail: transtec2010@gmail.com CONTENT AND SCOPE The organizers envision presentations and exhibits of research and technology in four main areas: sustainable transport solutions, advanced systems for transport operations, and transportation modeling and simulation, Intelligent Transport Systems. Emphasis is on the science, engineering, and technology of transportation and automotive systems. In a similar fashion as in Athens 2004 and Prague 2007, real world solutions to real world problems with real world examples are emphasized. In this premier industry and academia international event, to match a unique period of change in India, we aim at practical information and hands-on experiences that solve transportation challenges. TRANSTEC is designed for building relationships among developers and providers of products and services. We attract audience that includes private entrepreneurs, government officials, and academics to exchange ideas and build cross-national collaborations. CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS Papers addressing theory, methodology or analysis, and demonstrations on the above mentioned topics will be considered. Abstracts for presentation can be submitted at any time until 1st February 2010. Presentations will be selected based on topic relevance and early submission. After the initial selection of abstracts, a full paper is expected by 15th February, 2010, if authors wish to publish their papers in conference proceedings or peer reviewed journals. All papers received will be published in the conference proceedings to be distributed at the conference. A small number of papers will be peer-reviewed by a technical steering committee to be published in a selection of refereed journals. To give the highest number of participants the possibility of presenting a paper, the organizers reserve the right to select one out of multiple submissions from the same person. TRANSTEC includes two types of delivery of papers: session presentations and poster presentations. Session presentations are in sessions of 4-5 papers with each paper taking 15 minutes for the presentation and a few minutes for questions. Poster presentations are interactive sessions during which each author has about 5 minutes to highlight the poster and then 1.5 hours to discuss details with a smaller audience around the poster. Proposals for poster presentations undergo the same selection procedure and criteria as session presentations. Please indicate if your abstract is for a poster or a session presentation. Abstract guidelines * 1000 words maximum. * May include one figure or table. * Format should be in PDF or MSWord. * Include the names, affiliation and country of the authors, title, abstract, and the type of presentation you wish to make (poster or session presentation). * Identify one author as the contact person. * Submit by email to transtec2010@gmail.com with "TRANSTEC DELHI ABSTRACT" in the subject line. * Include a list of keywords with your abstract submission such as: ITS, traffic technology, software, hardware, modeling, simulation, soft computing, developing countries, ports etc. Important Dates : Extended Abstract Submission: 1st February, 2010 Notification of Abstract Acceptance: 5th February 2010, Full Paper Submission for publication and early bird registration: 15th February , 2010 Conference Chair Prof. Kostas Goulias (University of California Santa Barbra, USA) Prof. Michael G. H. Bell (Imperial College London) Sonal Ahuja (Capita Symonds Ltd UK) Technical Advisory Committee Prof. Ben Heydecker (University College London) Prof. Sanjay Gupta (School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi) Prof. Martin Fellendorf (University of Graz, Austria) Prof. Chandra Bhat, University of Texas Austin Prof. Kouros Mohammadian, University of Illinois Chicago Prof. Ram Pendyala, Arizona State University Tempe Prof. Hesham Rakha, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Blackburg VA Prof. Lily Elefteriadou, University of Florida, Gainsville FL Mr. A. K. Jain (Former Commissioner Planning DDA (retired), member UTTIPEC) web: http://www.ewebevolution.com/transtec/ Hope to see you in New Delhi. With warm regards Sonal Sonal Ahuja Associate Director, Development Transport and Infrastructure CAPITA SYMONDS 86 Fetter Lane London EC4A 1EN United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 20 7870 9300 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7870 9399 Mob: +44 (0) 77 88 666 523 Mail: sonal.ahuja@capita.co.uk www.capitasymonds.co.uk www.capita.co.uk Think of the environment. Print only if necessary. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS2.pdf Type: application/octet-stream Size: 168147 bytes Desc: CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS2.pdf Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20091229/14dcaba7/CONFERENCEANNOUNCEMENTANDCALLFORPAPERS2.bin From bruun at seas.upenn.edu Wed Dec 30 10:29:07 2009 From: bruun at seas.upenn.edu (bruun at seas.upenn.edu) Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:29:07 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6, 300 per month: JICA study In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20091229202907.19214j9ct4m2vcw0@webmail.seas.upenn.edu> Jonathan Thanks for taking the time to paint a graphic picture of what life is like for the riskshaw pullers. Eric Bruun Quoting Jonathan Richmond : > > > First, I think it would be important to clarify exactly what take-home pay > is, after all costs. > > But secondly, no, this income is insufficient for anything like what > Westerners would call a normal living standard. The income is sufficient > to live in a substandard building where there will be no bathroom, perhaps > six to ten people in a single house with kids all thrown into one bed and > a communal toilet shared by perhaps 50 or more people. > > There will generally be no ceiling fan let alone no airconditioning, and > plenty of flies and mosquitos. The water supply will likely be > contaminated. > > Generally there will be enough money for food, but little else in a very > basic subsistance lifestyle. Depending on the number of people to be > supported by the income, some children may go to school for some time but > will likely drop out and instead work to support the family. Children are > regularly abused in work environments with hard labour and little pay. > Even if they stay in school, admission for public universities is so > intense that children from poor backgrounds have little or no chance at > success. There is a major industry in low-quality private universities for > the children of the rich who do not score sufficiently well to go to > public university, but there is no chance that a poor family can pay for > such a luxury. > > What is a luxury for a family of this income level? As I have discovered > from visiting such houses, it is a bottle of Sprite or Coke to be shared > amongst perhaps a dozen people. Unlike in the West, this is not a casual > item to be consumed at will -- a measure of real income is that soft > drinks are not generally sold around rickshaw stands but instead vendors > will sell rickshaw pullers tiny cups of tea with the merit that the water > has at least been boiled. > > A medical problem will generate an intense crisis. Public hospitals are > overcrowded and offer poor levels of care. Supplies of medicine are > generally absent and drugs have to be paid for in cash or patients are > left to die. The patient's extended family will generally pitch in to help > if someone goes to hospital: it is not unusual for 50 or more reltives > near and distant to contribute in such circumstances, but the costs can be > overwhelming, and even if they can be paid they can reduce whole groups of > people to financial ruin. > > The rickshaw puller's wife may work as a maid to earn some extra money. > Maids work long hours and rarely see their own children. They are paid > little and often work in degrading and abusive situations. > > So by no stretch of the imagination can the rickshaw puller's situation be > regarded as adequate or "normal." He is living a medieval subsistence > life, a tough one, and one with little opportunity for escape, either for > his children -- who will remain locked in poverty -- or for his wife and > himself --Jonathan! > > > > > On Sun, 27 Dec 2009, Ahuja, Sonal (Capita Symonds) wrote: > >> My question to the group will be, is that money enough for a man >> with two kids to be able to bring a good healthy family, educate >> and get yourself out of powerty? Probably not. This earning is >> about ?63 a month. >> >> The income must be measured with its purchase power. And normalised >> to see the real income. It would be very wrong to admit that that >> rickshaw pullers have a good standard of living let alone anywhere >> a standard comparable to minimum wage earners in Europe leave alone >> rickshaw pullers in London. >> >> I agree with Aashish, in our resarch on richshaw pullers in Old >> Delhi conducted in I999 we found that 98% of rickshaw pullers take >> this profession not out of choice and more than 73% pay a rent for >> it. So what is meaning ful let as an income is debatable. >> >> I know the reserch is old but I don't things have changed a lot in >> India and in Banglsdesh. >> >> With warm regards >> >> Sonal >> >> Sonal Ahuja >> >> Associate Director, Development Transport and Infrastructure >> >> CAPITA SYMONDS >> 86 Fetter Lane >> London EC4A 1EN United Kingdom >> >> >> >> >> >> Kind Regards Sonal +447788666523 >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: >> sustran-discuss-bounces+sonal.ahuja=capita.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org >> >> To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport >> Sent: Sun Dec 27 04:08:16 2009 >> Subject: [sustran] Re: Rickshaw puller in Dhaka earns Tk 6,300 per >> month: JICA study >> >> I wrote this to Sudhir earlier, thought I must share my response to the >> others. >> >> While I am able to appreciate the finding that Rikshaw Pullers earn 6,300 Tk >> from us, it must be mentioned that Income earned might not be a good >> criteria of whether the lives of Rickshaw pullers are 'deprived' or not. >> >> Consider for instance that most will lack any form of insurance - health, >> life, assets etc. - which means that one accident or illness and their >> savings are wiped out, plus the fact that they cant work for the time they >> are ill; most live in squalor which increases health risks and is a form of >> degraded living. There is much inclusion from social services (one form of >> deprivation) as well as a high level of livelihood risks - some emanating >> from the occupation itself. >> >> Just to clarify, while we are supportive of Rickshaws in cities, we must >> recognise that even when they earn a good income, there are many avoidable >> risks and hazards which they face. >> >> In this context, Sudhir recommended the following link - >> http://cai-asia.blogspot.com/2009/07/transport-refugees-victims-of-unjust.html >> -------------------------------------------------------- To search >> the archives of sustran-discuss visit >> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss >> >> -------------------------------------------------------- If you get >> sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to >> http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the >> real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. >> >> ================================================================ >> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, >> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing >> countries (the 'Global South'). This email has been scanned for all >> viruses by the MessageLabs SkyScan service. >> >> This email and any attachment are intended solely for the >> addressee, are strictly confidential and may be legally privileged. >> If you are not the intended recipient any reading, dissemination, >> copying or any other use or reliance is prohibited. If you have >> received this email in error please notify the sender immediately >> by email and then permanently delete the email. Copyright reserved. >> >> All communications, incoming and outgoing, may be recorded and are >> monitored for legitimate business purposes. The security and >> reliability of email transmission cannot be guaranteed. It is the >> recipient?s responsibility to scan this e-mail and any attachment >> for the presence of viruses. The Capita Group plc and its >> subsidiaries ("Capita") exclude all liability for any loss or >> damage whatsoever arising or resulting from the receipt, use or >> transmission of this email. Any views or opinions expressed in this >> email are those of the author only. >> -------------------------------------------------------- To search >> the archives of sustran-discuss visit >> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss >> >> -------------------------------------------------------- If you get >> sustran-discuss via YAHOOGROUPS, please go to >> http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the >> real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. >> >> ================================================================ >> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, >> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing >> countries (the 'Global South'). > > ----- > Jonathan Richmond > Transport Advisor > Dhaka Transport Coordination Board > Ministry of Communications > Government of Bangladesh > Nagar Bhaban, 13-14th Floor > Dhaka-1000 > Bangladesh > > Phone: +880 (0)1714 179013 > Fax: +880 (0)2 956-8892 > > e-mail: richmond@alum.mit.edu > http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/