[sustran] Re: China straddling bus - a car-freindly bus?

Lewis Thorwaldson dobozban at gmail.com
Sat Aug 14 02:48:27 JST 2010


Indeed, and I cannot disagree. Thinking a little more about this
contraption, it is obvious that it does not really fit in with a proper
urban street environment, and I cannot really think of a single location
here in NYC where this would be the best solution. I cannot imagine being
"run over" by one of these things while riding my bicycle down the street. I
do believe though that technology should play an important role in our
transportation system, but too much is being spent on getting a couple more
cars through.

Lewis


On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 1:32 PM, Sujit Patwardhan <
patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
>
> I'm not trying to prove you wrong but I feel buses will not be stuck in
> congestion if they have a dedicated lane for "buses only". Once they have a
> lane for their smooth flow, it should not be a concern for the majority if
> the minority users of cars wish to get stuck in congestion of their own
> making. If the ROW is inadequate for bus lanes AND cars, the preference
> should naturally be for buses not cars.
>
> And at the top level I feel that the central focus should be a better city
> for all human beings than smart traffic technologies that "WOW" the
> audiences, which is why in some sense I have serious reservations about
> expensive and massive infrastructure projects (usually elevated
> roads/flyovers, multistory parking lots but also expensive and massive
> public transport systems rather than the simpler more humane options
> including cycling, walking and para-transit.)
>
> Perhaps we are looking at the Straddling Bus from different perspectives,
>
> Regards,
> --
> Sujit
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 9:37 PM, Lewis Thorwaldson <dobozban at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Dear Sujit and others,
>>
>> I agree with the basic premise that we need to focus on the true point of
>> our work, moving people and improving accessibility, rather than spending
>> all our time and money on congestion reducing schemes. However, I am not
>> sure I agree that this bus system is of the latter. While it does indeed
>> move buses out of the way of cars, and that seems to be how it is sold,
>> the
>> actual grit of the concept is that it prevents the bus from being affected
>> by the cars without having to use additional ROW, which may not exist.
>> Since
>> people are willing to put up with a lot of congestion, it is not going to
>> disappear soon, and buses will be stuck in it if we cannot find space to
>> give them a lane of their own. This technology gives them that. How is
>> this
>> any different from building a subway, light rail or a dedicated bus lane?
>> We
>> should definitely be focusing on policy to reduce auto use, such as
>> pricing,
>> reduced parking, and all those things we already know about, but part of
>> reducing auto use is improving public transit options, and this is exactly
>> what this does.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Lewis Thorwaldson
>> National Transit Institute
>> 120 Albany Street
>> Tower Two, Suite 250
>> New Brunswick, NJ 08901-2163
>> P: (732) 932-1700 x239
>> F: (732) 932-1707
>>
>> From: Sujit Patwardhan <patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com>
>> To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport <
>> sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>;
>> PTTF General <pttfgen at googlegroups.com>
>> Cc: William Ross <wr1408 at gmail.com>
>> Sent: Sat, 7 August, 2010 10:24:58 AM
>> Subject: [sustran] Re: China straddling bus - a car-freindly bus?
>>
>> 7 August 2010
>>
>>
>>
>> This is just another idea to try and solve congestion without attacking
>> the
>> root problem which is the ever growing number of personal auto vehicles.
>> The
>> rate at which this segment can grow will make any "compatible solution"
>> (solution that does not have strong TDM) ineffective in less than 3-5
>> years.
>> Money would be spent but we would be as far away from the solution as we
>> currently are under our present car dominated vision.
>>
>> Solutions exist even today - in form of cities with low personal auto
>> vehicle ownership (though they need far better public transport and NMT
>> facilities) and cities that have kept car domination under control like
>> Amsterdam, Copenhagen and many more. But strangely man is dazzled by
>> technological extravaganza, no matter how precariously we live today, in
>> the
>> age of climate change, post oil peak and growing inequity around the
>> globe.
>>
>> If only we could grow up.
>>
>> --
>> Sujit Patwardhan
>> Parisar,
>> Pune
>> India
>>
>> www.parisar.org
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> *“..each million we invest into urban motorways is an investment
> to destroy the city“*
>
> Mayor Hans Joachim Vogel
> Munich 1970
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Sujit Patwardhan
> patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com
> sujitjp at gmail.com
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Yamuna, ICS Colony, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune 411 007, India
> Tel: +91 20 25537955
> Cell: +91 98220 26627
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