[sustran] Is park-and-ride a bad idea for Asian cities?

Eric Britton eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Fri May 14 20:31:01 JST 2010


Subject: Good questions, the importance of 

 

Friends,

 

This is a great discussion and one of the things I enjoy most about it are
the considerable differences of opinion.  That is, I believe, as it should
be in this case.

 

I have always felt that asking good questions on complex and important
topics is in almost in all cases a more creative contribution than coming up
with what are proposed as "good answers".  In fact one of the outstanding
characteristics of the old mobility thinking and practice that we must now
really leave behind us once and for all, was that invariably policymakers
and others proposed their "great answers", before asking all of the
necessary fundamental questions.  I think we have seen that happen
sufficiently often and at such high cost, that we must be extremely wary of
repeating that mind-lite pattern in the future.

 

Just make sure I am quite clear on this. it is my experience that a good
question opens up the debate, while an "answer", good or less good, has a
tendency to close, or at least to try to close, the debate.  If only the
issues and choices that we must deal with here were more simple, we might be
satisfied with our best early answers.  But in almost all cases the world or
history is written a few years would not.

 

So here is my proposal: I would like to invite one or more of you to write
up an article on this -- it does not have to be long -- in which you state
the question, the array of answers (which in the first instance could
possibly be organized as pro and con), and then see if you can come up with
some kind of synthesis and final policy recommendations for this kind of
approach in Asian cities.

 

To my mind the pattern and most penetrating and mature response is already
pretty clear.  But I am sure others of you will not share my views, and that
is of course exactly as it should be.

 

I think this could be an excellent contribution by Sustran (and by
Worldstreets).  Any volunteers?

 

Best/Eric

 

PS.  And oh yes, my humble answer to Paul's good question.  For starters, if
one new parking slot is created or allowed to continue, FULL COST PRICING
for parking must be the name of the game.  And that possibly in addition
enhanced by some kind of rigorous tax on a rolling scale , which guarantees
that the cost of parking will steadily increase.  In any event, strategic
parking policy is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal for
creating the mobility systems that the great majority of people need and
deserve.  Let us use it wisely. And often

 

Eric Britton | WorldStreets.org | NewMobility.org  | Paris  | +331 7550 3788
| Skype: newmobility  

 

 



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