From karl at itdp-china.org Wed Aug 1 17:18:46 2012 From: karl at itdp-china.org (Karl Fjellstrom) Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2012 16:18:46 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Re: Motorcycle-proof design of cycleways? In-Reply-To: <3EEAC09D-2029-490F-926B-20DDD96F431D@gmail.com> References: <3EEAC09D-2029-490F-926B-20DDD96F431D@gmail.com> Message-ID: some examples here: http://www.transportphoto.net/dt.aspx?l=en&dtid=701 best, Karl On 31 July 2012 06:02, Roger Gorham wrote: > > Dear all, > > I'm wondering if anyone here has (or knows of any) good experiences of > cycle way design that easily permit bicycles but discourage use by > motorized 2-wheelers? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. > > Best, > > Roger Gorham > > > Sent from my iPad > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > 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 ianenvironmental at googlemail.com Thu Aug 2 05:12:19 2012 From: ianenvironmental at googlemail.com (Ian Perry) Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2012 21:12:19 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Re: Motorcycle-proof design of cycleways? In-Reply-To: References: <3EEAC09D-2029-490F-926B-20DDD96F431D@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Karl, Looking at this picture (link below), it would appear that people are choosing to step off the path and onto the grass (the grass has been worn away) rather than negotiate the anti-motorbike barrier - or perhaps they are riding past the barrier? http://www.transportphoto.net/photo.aspx?id=744855970&c=Changzhou Ian On Wed, Aug 1, 2012 at 9:18 AM, Karl Fjellstrom wrote: > some examples here: http://www.transportphoto.net/dt.aspx?l=en&dtid=701 > > best, Karl > > > On 31 July 2012 06:02, Roger Gorham wrote: > > > > > Dear all, > > > > I'm wondering if anyone here has (or knows of any) good experiences of > > cycle way design that easily permit bicycles but discourage use by > > motorized 2-wheelers? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. > > > > Best, > > > > Roger Gorham > > > > > > Sent from my iPad > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > > > ================================================================ > > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, > > equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries > > (the 'Global South'). > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > 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 krc12353 at gmail.com Thu Aug 2 05:25:04 2012 From: krc12353 at gmail.com (Karthik Rao-Cavale) Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2012 16:25:04 -0400 Subject: [sustran] Re: Motorcycle-proof design of cycleways? In-Reply-To: References: <3EEAC09D-2029-490F-926B-20DDD96F431D@gmail.com> Message-ID: We had these barriers in our college, and I used to hate them. Everyone preferred to avoid the barriers rather than squeezing through, and I can't really say that it kept the motorbikes out. As Rutul Joshi mentioned in another thread, what is more effective is when there is a critical mass of cyclists and the motorbikes are forced to go slow even if they invade the cycle lane. karthik On Wed, Aug 1, 2012 at 4:12 PM, Ian Perry wrote: > Hi Karl, > > Looking at this picture (link below), it would appear that people are > choosing to step off the path and onto the grass (the grass has been worn > away) rather than negotiate the anti-motorbike barrier - or perhaps they > are riding past the barrier? > > http://www.transportphoto.net/photo.aspx?id=744855970&c=Changzhou > > Ian > > > > On Wed, Aug 1, 2012 at 9:18 AM, Karl Fjellstrom > wrote: > > > some examples here: http://www.transportphoto.net/dt.aspx?l=en&dtid=701 > > > > best, Karl > > > > > > On 31 July 2012 06:02, Roger Gorham wrote: > > > > > > > > Dear all, > > > > > > I'm wondering if anyone here has (or knows of any) good experiences of > > > cycle way design that easily permit bicycles but discourage use by > > > motorized 2-wheelers? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. > > > > > > Best, > > > > > > Roger Gorham > > > > > > > > > Sent from my iPad > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > > > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > > > > > ================================================================ > > > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, > > > equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing > countries > > > (the 'Global South'). > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > > > ================================================================ > > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, > > equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries > > (the 'Global South'). > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > 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 edelman at greenidea.eu Thu Aug 2 05:38:33 2012 From: edelman at greenidea.eu (Todd Edelman) Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2012 22:38:33 +0200 Subject: [sustran] Re: Motorcycle-proof design of cycleways? In-Reply-To: References: <3EEAC09D-2029-490F-926B-20DDD96F431D@gmail.com> Message-ID: <501993C9.40206@greenidea.eu> Karthik, So then it is only safer when crowded? Can't we do better? - T On 08/01/2012 10:25 PM, Karthik Rao-Cavale wrote: > We had these barriers in our college, and I used to hate them. Everyone > preferred to avoid the barriers rather than squeezing through, and I can't > really say that it kept the motorbikes out. As Rutul Joshi mentioned in > another thread, what is more effective is when there is a critical mass of > cyclists and the motorbikes are forced to go slow even if they invade the > cycle lane. > > karthik > > On Wed, Aug 1, 2012 at 4:12 PM, Ian Perry > wrote: > >> Hi Karl, >> >> Looking at this picture (link below), it would appear that people are >> choosing to step off the path and onto the grass (the grass has been worn >> away) rather than negotiate the anti-motorbike barrier - or perhaps they >> are riding past the barrier? >> >> http://www.transportphoto.net/photo.aspx?id=744855970&c=Changzhou >> >> Ian >> >> >> >> On Wed, Aug 1, 2012 at 9:18 AM, Karl Fjellstrom >> wrote: >> >>> some examples here: http://www.transportphoto.net/dt.aspx?l=en&dtid=701 >>> >>> best, Karl >>> >>> >>> On 31 July 2012 06:02, Roger Gorham wrote: >>> >>>> Dear all, >>>> >>>> I'm wondering if anyone here has (or knows of any) good experiences of >>>> cycle way design that easily permit bicycles but discourage use by >>>> motorized 2-wheelers? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. >>>> >>>> Best, >>>> >>>> Roger Gorham >>>> >>>> >>>> Sent from my iPad >>>> -------------------------------------------------------- >>>> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit >>>> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss >>>> >>>> ================================================================ >>>> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, >>>> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing >> countries >>>> (the 'Global South'). >>>> >>> -------------------------------------------------------- >>> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit >>> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss >>> >>> ================================================================ >>> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, >>> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries >>> (the 'Global South'). >>> >> -------------------------------------------------------- >> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit >> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss >> >> ================================================================ >> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, >> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries >> (the 'Global South'). >> > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > 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 / SLOWFactory Mobile: ++49(0)162 814 4081 edelman@greenidea.eu www.greenidea.eu Skype: toddedelman https://www.facebook.com/Iamtoddedelman http://twitter.com/toddedelman http://de.linkedin.com/in/toddedelman Urbanstr. 45 10967 Berlin Germany From patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com Sun Aug 5 14:29:06 2012 From: patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com (Sujit Patwardhan) Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2012 10:59:06 +0530 Subject: [sustran] =?windows-1252?Q?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_Ve?= =?windows-1252?Q?nezuelan_fencer_rides_wave_of_Olympic-gold-glory_?= =?windows-1252?Q?=96_on_public_transportation_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?= =?windows-1252?Q?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?= Message-ID: 5 August 2012 This is an amazing story. Do read. -- Sujit Venezuelan fencer rides wave of Olympic-gold-glory ? on public transportation At a time when the Olympic games are criticized for turning into a billion-dollar affair, Venezuela's Ruben Limardo's choice to take the Tube, instead of a chauffeured car, received praise. By Sara Miller Llana , Staff writer / August 3, 2012 [image: Inline image 1] Venezuela's Ruben Limardo Gascon celebrates after defeating Norway's Bartosz Piasecki in the gold medal match in men's individual epee fencing competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 1, in London. Dmitry Lovetsky/AP MEXICO CITY The photo of the Venezuelan athlete who won gold in fencing Wednesday night and then boardedLondon's subway system hours later, letting strangers touch his medal, has spread around the globe. At a time when the Olympic games are criticized for turning into a billion-dollar affair where athletes are treated as celebrities, Ruben Limardo's simple decision to take public transport, instead of a chauffeured car, has received international praise. ?What a fantastic thing to do! Must have given all the passengers a real treat,? wrote one reader of Yahoo News. RELATED: 2012 London Olympics quiz: Are you ready for a gold medal? ?I hope they gave him a round of applause, he deserves it. Good stuff mate,? said another. ?Wow can't imagine Michael Phelps doing something like that, well done!? Leading up to the 2012 Olympics, the Monitor compared a much simper affair in 1948, the last time London hosted the games. ?There was no Athletes' Village, nor special road lanes for VIPs. After winning gold in the 800 meters, American runner Mal Whitfield, still in his tracksuit, took the train back to team headquarters at nearby Uxbridge air base,? wrote Ben Arnoldy here . Many fans long for more Whitfields and Limardos in today's games. One Tube passenger ? as the subway system is nicknamed ? told the BBC that as Mr. Limardo came onto the metro, passengers clapped and cheered, and that the Venezuelan taught his fans how to say ?well done? in Spanish. "I've never seen someone so happy in my life," Chris Scanlan, told the BBC. "And I touched his medal. It's probably the first time a British hand has been on a fencing medal for centuries!" Of course, Limardo is not the only humble athlete in London. The Monitor profiled several who have overcome great difficulties, without the support of sponsors or their governments, to make it as Olympians. Here is one example of a marathoner from Peru, with links to the other stories. She didn't even own her own shoes when she started out. Venezuela will be celebrating its local hero when Limardo returns home (which he'll do in three days , according to his Twitter account). Limardo is the first athlete to have won a gold medal for Venezuela in 44 years. It is a rare piece of good news from Venezuela, where a highly polarized nation heads to the polls October 7 to either stick with President Hugo Chavez or choose a new leader, amid inflation and spiraling crime. The victory of Limardo gives the nation a chance to unite, but it's likely to be short-lived. Our guest blogger dubbed his celebration on the Tube the "Photo of the Year." But in the comments section, another blogger doesn't let the celebration pass without a dig: ?A unique experience he won?t be able to repeat in Caracas Metro, unless he has either a strong security detail or wants to lose the medal on purpose.? -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [image: Inline image 2] *Parisar* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sujit Patwardhan patwardhan.sujit@gmail.com sujit@parisar.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yamuna, ICS Colony, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune 411 007, India Tel: +91 20 25537955 Cell: +91 98220 26627 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blog: http://motif.posterous.com/ Parisar: www.parisar.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 22514 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20120805/bbcd5a89/attachment-0002.jpe -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 17934 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20120805/bbcd5a89/attachment-0003.jpe From patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com Sun Aug 5 15:37:00 2012 From: patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com (Sujit Patwardhan) Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2012 12:07:00 +0530 Subject: [sustran] !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If Kant Were a New York Cyclist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Message-ID: 5 August 2012 * * * * *From the New York Times* Sunday Review *But most of the resentment of rule-breaking riders like me, I suspect, derives from a false analogy: conceiving of bicycles as akin to cars. In this view, bikes must be regulated like cars, and vilified when riders flout those regulations, as if we were cunningly getting away with something. But bikes are not cars. Cars drive three or four times as fast and weigh 200 times as much. Drive dangerously, you?re apt to injure others; ride dangerously, I?m apt to injure myself. I have skin in the game. And blood. And bones.* *Read the whole article here>>>>* http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/if-kant-were-a-new-york-cyclist.html?smid=fb-share -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. * - J. Krishnamurti ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sujit Patwardhan patwardhan.sujit@gmail.com sujit@parisar.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yamuna, ICS Colony, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune 411 007, India Tel: +91 20 25537955 Cell: +91 98220 26627 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blog: http://motif.posterous.com/ Parisar: www.parisar.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From dazzle_dwds at yahoo.com Sun Aug 5 15:52:04 2012 From: dazzle_dwds at yahoo.com (Roselle Leah K. Rivera) Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2012 23:52:04 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [sustran] southeast asia transport ... and beyond In-Reply-To: <1344149344.13245.YahooMailNeo@web125302.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> References: <1344047105.90828.YahooMailNeo@web121106.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <1344079312.75908.YahooMailNeo@web121103.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <1344149344.13245.YahooMailNeo@web125302.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1344149524.60382.YahooMailNeo@web125301.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> ? ?Sharing, from an FB collector called Binalot ? ? ? ? -- ???????????? --------------------------------------------------- "well-behaved women seldom make history." ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? -laurel thatcher ulrich Roselle Leah K Rivera Faculty Department of Women and Development Studies College of Social Work & Community Development University of the Philippines Diliman Quezon City mobile: +639178011494 Partner Producer/Host, Sikhay Kilos Radio Program Sa DZUP 1602, Kasali Ka! Matinong usapanpara sa maunlad na bayan. You can listen to us live streaming www.dzup.org or 1602 on your AM radio From ksakamoto at adb.org Mon Aug 6 18:48:09 2012 From: ksakamoto at adb.org (ksakamoto at adb.org) Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 17:48:09 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Registration open for ADB Transport Forum [5-10th November 2012, Manila Philippines] Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will hold its third Transport Forum this November 2012 focusing on the theme "Inclusive and Sustainable Transport." Featuring the world's leading transport experts, key developing member country officials and ADB transport staff, the forum will provide the opportunity to discuss and debate the most critical issues facing transport today in the Asia Pacific region. The forum program will span the breadth of current issues in inclusive and sustainable transport -- including key sessions on urban transport, road safety, green freight and transport technologies, climate change resilience, mode choice, socially inclusive transport, road asset management, and cross-border transport -- and will also highlight leading aspects of ADB's work in these areas. New initiatives for the forum include a transport fair and marketplace which will showcase products and services of private corporations and international organizations focused on sustainable transport. Over 400 senior-level representatives from across the region are expected to attend the forum. The outline program is available at: http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/Transport-Forum-2012-Program.pdf When and Where? Please mark your calendar for the entire week commencing 5 November. The forum proper will be held between 6th and 8th of November. In addition, a number of training sessions are expected to take place before and after the forum, as follows: 5 November Inclusive Transport and Social Sustainability Road Asset Management Intelligent Transportation Systems 9 November Bicycle Sharing Systems Transportation Demand Management (in conjunction with GIZ) 9-10 November Road Safety The forum will take place at ADB Headquarters, in Manila, Philippines. How to Register Registration is now open, and those interested in attending can simply fill out the following form via our website: http://www.adb.org/forms/adb-transport-forum-2012-registration Opportunities for partnerships and exhibitors Please also be invited to partner with us. We have a variety of packages, from booth exhibits to conference co-organizer. Please refer to details at: http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/Transport-Forum-2012-partnership-packages.pdf Further Information We will be updating you with details of the Forum via our website. Please visit us at: http://www.adb.org/transportforum2012 For any further enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us at: transportforum@adb.org Also, follow us on Twitter and Facebook for real-time updates! Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/adbtransport Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ADBTransportForum We look forward to seeing you in Manila in November. Best Regards, ADB Transport Forum team transportforum@adb.org From alok.priyanka at gmail.com Thu Aug 9 16:13:52 2012 From: alok.priyanka at gmail.com (Alok Jain) Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2012 15:13:52 +0800 Subject: [sustran] Rising number of vehicles eating up residential colonies - Hindustan Times Message-ID: <5CA2B76A-A9CA-4D77-9437-AEBCB620C505@gmail.com> Hindustan Times | LiveMint | LiveHindustan | More Delhi - [ Min 24.6?C / Max 33.7?C ] | Select your city site Advertisement Thu,09 Aug 2012 north india news views business ind-sl olympics motor sports entertainment tech travel books photos videos blogs epaper property deals jobs matrimonial hotels india | world | sport new delhi Rising number of vehicles eating up residential colonies Neelam Pandey and Hamari Jamatia, Hindustan Times New Delhi, August 09, 2012 Email to Author First Published: 00:40 IST(9/8/2012) Last Updated: 01:43 IST(9/8/2012) share share on facebookshare on linkedinshare on googleshare on emailmore... 0 Comments email print Most residential colonies are getting cramped by the day as service lanes on both sides are often packed with vehicles. The problem has grown bigger due to the rising culture of builder flats. The space taken up by one or two families now houses five or six such units. Moreover, an increasing number of families these days are buying cars for individual use, even as the space to park them continues to remain the same. Colonies such as Greater Kailash I, Green Park, Saket, Lajpat Nagar, New Friends Colony and Mayur Vihar among others often witness fights over parking space. Space crunch has been afflicting residential colonies for many years now. But even as the problem is compounding with each passing day, the authorities have made no attempt to come up with a parking policy for residential areas. ?Parking inside residential colonies continues to be free, which is why more and more people are buying cars. Why should it remain free? Parking is a luxury so people should be made to buy space,? said Bhure Lal, chairman of Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), a Supreme Court-appointed body to manage parking policies in NCR. The unified MCD had made an attempt to ensure those constructing new houses make arrangements for parking their vehicles inside their homes. For instance plots measuring 100 square meters or above need to create a stilt parking in the basement. However, this rule is only applicable for new constructions. ?With no parking policies governing the residential colonies of Delhi, the shortage of parking has become more acute. While residents can use public transport to go to offices and markets, private vehicles have to be parked inside the colonies at the end of the day,? said a senior official. In the absence of parking facilities such as multi-level parking or underground parking, cars are parked on the colony roads, leaving little space for pedestrians or emergency vehicles. ?A policy needs to be formulated to discourage purchase of cars when a resident's home has no parking space. We need to promote self-financing schemes for construction of multi-level parkings,? said a senior official. more from this section Rekha, Sachin get House lessons from Pranab BJP slams Govt over pricing spectrum at Rs. 14,000 cr India abstains from UN?s Syria resolution more? share share on facebookshare on linkedinshare on googleshare on emailmore... 0 Comments email print comment Note: By posting your comments here you agree to the terms and conditions of www.hindustantimes.com Ads by Google Supertech Residential Apt www.supertech-grandcircuit.co.in On Yamuna Expressway Starts@17 Lacs Only ,Limited Offer! 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Latest Stories Share From alok.priyanka at gmail.com Thu Aug 9 16:40:29 2012 From: alok.priyanka at gmail.com (Priyanka Jain) Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2012 13:10:29 +0530 Subject: [sustran] @dailyhknews, 9/8/12 4:01 AM Message-ID: <981D4EA0-C125-4029-957B-7C1152A37349@gmail.com> Public transport in a free-market economy!! HongKongNews (@dailyhknews)9/8/12 4:01 AMCabbies rev up against estate buses: Taxi and minibus drivers yesterday staged a slow drive from Tu... tinyurl.com/9bmcfdv -TheStandard Alok Jain +91 9769686819 +852 97689080 Sent from my iPhone. Ignore typos. From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Thu Aug 9 22:40:34 2012 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2012 15:40:34 +0200 Subject: [sustran] Every day is a great day to take a few cars off the road and think about it Message-ID: <03e601cd7634$90f429f0$b2dc7dd0$@britton@ecoplan.org> 3:27pm Aug 9 Every day is a great day to take a few cars off the road and think about it CFDs: Get the nose of the camel under the tent. worldstreets.wordpress.com Once a year in mid-summer we wind up we wind up the World Car Free Day Collaborative site at www.worldcarfreedays.com as we have done yearly for the last 15 years to get it ready to serve as an inforsusmation source and contact tool for cities and others who are considering events in the second half of the year. Most notably among these the numerous Car Free Day events are those that tend to cluster around the end of September, including the annual European Mobility Week and its multitude of CFDs, most but not all of which in Europe, which you can check out for yourself at http://www.mobilityweek.eu/home/. From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sat Aug 11 00:48:28 2012 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:48:28 +0200 Subject: [sustran] Pick up your paint brushes and get the job done Message-ID: <008b01cd770f$9997f560$ccc7e020$@britton@ecoplan.org> I thought this draft article on civic action of the streets of Guadalajara-- http://networkdispatches.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/from-guadalajara-pick-up-y our-paint-brushes-and-get-the-job-done/ -- might possibly interest you. You comments are, as always warmly welcome. If you wish to lend a hand to clear up my somewhat mediocre translation from the Spanish before we post it to World Streets, that would be most appreciated. Regards/Eric Britton PS. If talking to mayor's is your game you may find some interest in today's piece on "What do you think the mayor is thinking about when you walk through the door the morning to talk to her about that very transportation project in her city", which you can find at http://networkdispatches.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/what-is-the-mayor-thinking / _____________________________________________________________ Francis Eric Knight-Britton, Managing Director / Editor New Mobility Partnerships | World Streets | The Equity/Transport Project 9, rue Gabillot 69003 Lyon France | T. +339 8326 9459| M. +336 5088 0787 | E. eric.britton@ecoplan.org | S. newmobility 9440 Readcrest Drive. Los Angeles, CA 90210 | Tel. +1 213 985 3501 | eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: ericbritton P Avant d'imprimer, pensez ? l'environnement -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 29793 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20120810/d9727f5f/attachment.jpe From yanivbin at gmail.com Wed Aug 15 15:38:44 2012 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:08:44 +0530 Subject: [sustran] INFRASTRUCTURE OVERKILL : DEAD END? Message-ID: http://business.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281901 COVER STORY Dead End? Anxiety gives way to desperation as leveraged road developers put unviable projects on the block. What?s worse is that there are hardly any takers SHABANA HUSSAIN Anuj Sharma hates rolling down his car window at toll booths. The 25-year-old bartender drives from Safdurjung in South Delhi to Sahara Mall in Gurgaon every day and the toll plaza just before the Ambience Mall in Gurgaon is a constant bottleneck. Some days it takes him more than 15 minutes to pay the fee and cross the 50-meter stretch. ?I don?t want to pay for roads slushy with drain water, half-complete service lanes, narrow entry and exit points and poor signage,? Sharma complains. He?s not the only one. In the past three or four years, there have been numerous instances of protestors vandalising and burning down toll booths, and public interest litigation (PIL) petitions have been filed all over India against toll roads and fee collection. Vinayak Chatterjee, chairman, Feedback Ventures, an infrastructure services company, says the resentment against payment of toll is justified. ?The moment you pay toll, you are purchasing a bundle of services promised to you by the operator of a road. It is no different from, say, purchasing a railway ticket or an airline ticket,? says Chatterjee. The way out, according to him, is to clarify the bundle of services the road operator should provide. ?There should be administration and enforcement of the service level agreement (SLA) and if it isn?t done, class action suits could follow.? Recently, activist organisation People?s Voice approached the Supreme Court against arbitrary toll collection on national highways. ?Providing a smooth ride is the basic principle behind charging toll tax. But when it takes me longer than earlier to travel on a highway, why should I pay toll?? asks SP Gupta, chairman of People?s Voice. Initially covering only the NH8 Delhi-Gurgaon toll road, the PIL has now expanded to challenge 92 build-operate-transfer (BOT) road projects across India where toll is collected. The PIL names 130 people as concerned parties. The various issues: toll booths within municipal limits, multiple taxation, absence of facilities like restrooms, trauma centres, foot over-bridges and so on, which are supposed to be provided for under the rules. The apex court has admitted the plea, questioning why toll should be paid when roads are in such poor shape. Now there?s talk that the Centre could buy back the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway project from DSC, the present operator, and make the stretch toll free. A third of all projects awarded by the NHAI in the past five years are on the block for a complete or partial sale That will be welcome news for Sharma, but for road developers, it only serves to underline their current woes. Even a couple of years ago, the only infrastructure sector that was doing well was roads ? companies were racing to outbid each other for even small stretches of highway, traffic growth projections were in high double-digits and non-infra players were queuing up to enter the sector and get their share of the promised riches (returns of around 20%). Now, that has changed. The path ahead for India?s highway builders is full of potholes ? traffic projections have gone awry, cost and time overruns are playing havoc with budgets and rising cost of credit is eroding their margins. Established players are shying away from taking on new road projects and many new entrants are looking to offload some of their existing projects ? one estimate suggests that a third of all projects awarded by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in the past five years are on the block for either complete or partial sale. The list includes large companies such as Madhucon, IVRCL and Navayuga Engineering as well as smaller companies such as C&C, Gayatri and Lanco. (See: Trouble ahead). Currently, some 40-50 BOT projects are up for sale and, assuming an average cost of Rs 700-800 crore per project, that?s nearly Rs 30,000 crore at stake. On its part, the NHAI, too, is not cutting operators any slack. In June, it terminated two contracts for failing to achieve financial closure ? DSC and Gannon-Dunkerley hadn?t been able to sew up their finances for two projects worth Rs 2,450 crore despite a 120-day grace period after the 180-day deadline for financial closure had passed. The projects will now either see a re-bid or be awarded to the second lowest bidder. Consolidation, then, seems inevitable. Lanco Infra and C&C want to exit their roads business completely while companies such as IVRCL Assets, Ashoka Buildcon, Madhucon, Navayuga Engineering and SREI Infra want to bring in strategic investors. What, then, is the road ahead and, more importantly, how is it that these supposedly savvy operators have been left in the lurch? "Projects that NHAI is tendering don?t have high traffic potential and will need higher government grants"*Virendra Mhaiskar, Chairman, IRB*"We will only bid for lucrative projects this fiscal and focus on our existing Rs 15,000-crore road portfolio" *A Subba Rao, President and group CFO, GMR Group* ------------------------------ "A majority of the bidders were EPC contractors who bid for toll roads with aggressive traffic assumptions"*S* *Nandakumar, Senior director, global infrastructure and project finance, Fitch*"There was a general euphoria. The economy was projected to grow at 8% and we got carried away by that"*E Sudhir Reddy, Chairman IVRCL* ------------------------------ "The idea was to bid for several projects, make a portfolio and list it. But listing in this environment is not possible" *Bhavik Damodar, Head, infrastructure transaction services KPMG India*"The existing promoters have a rosy picture. The buyer has a different opinion of how the growth will happen" *Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman Feedback Ventures* ------------------------------ "Unless the developer has equity in place, it will be very difficult to lend to aggressively-bid projects" *KR Kamath, Chairman & MD Punjab National Bank* *Crashing the party* The euphoria started in mid-2009 when UPA-II came to power and Kamal Nath became surface transport minister. He tripled the road construction target from 6 km a day to 20 km a day and announced his intention of awarding over 200 projects, collectively worth Rs 2 lakh crore, by FY12. In January 2011, Nath was succeeded by CP Joshi, but the momentum continued. In FY12, the NHAI awarded projects covering nearly 6,500 km, a 22% jump over the previous year and the highest under the National Highway Development Project (See: Heading for a crash). The target for this fiscal is even more ambitious ? 9,500 km ? but it seems very unlikely that the NHAI will manage more than two-thirds of that, given the rot in the sector. There is a cooling down when it comes to new project bids and many projects had no takers at all. ** About 65% of projects after 2009 were awarded on premium basis, compared with just 25% in FY09 **Recently, the NHAI received a single bid for Talcher-Duburi-Chandikhol in Odisha and none for the Madurai-Ramanathapuram stretch in Tamil Nadu. The Goa-Kundapur project was put on bid three times for paucity of bidders. Eventually, it was won by IRB Infrastructure. ?Even when we won the project, there were only two bidders,? says Virendra Mhaiskar, chairman, IRB. ?The projects that the NHAI is tendering now don?t have high traffic potential; to make these projects viable for developers, the government will have to offer higher grants,? he points out. On its part, GMR Infra, which bagged the Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad NHAI project in September quoting an aggressive premium of Rs 630 crore, has decided not to take any incremental exposure to the road sector. ?We will only bid for lucrative projects this fiscal and focus on our existing Rs 15,000-crore road portfolio,? says A Subba Rao, president and group CFO, GMR Group. The situation is so grim that surface transport minister Joshi recently called for a meeting of concessionaires, lending institutions and consultants. The conclusion of the meeting was that companies have stayed away from bidding because of poor traffic growth prospects, law and order issues, need for quicker environment and forest clearances and lending institutions? refusal to extend support to the roads sector. *Having one too many* Trouble is, too many infrastructure companies got into the business of building roads. As the competition heated up in the past couple of years, companies started undercutting each other. ?Forget making profits, the idea got condensed to just recovering fixed costs,? says Abhinav Bhandari, an analyst at Elara. ?That?s when things quickly started going downhill.? The conventional way of awarding road projects is that the NHAI offers up to 40% of the cost to developers as grants to make the project financially viable. As more and more players vied for the same projects, developers started quoting bids with either very low grant requirements or, in some cases, very high premium (See: Getting carried away). Premium indicates the developer?s confidence that the toll revenue will be more than the project cost. But the confidence was clearly misplaced. ?Some of us were very aggressive in bidding,? concedes Gurjeet Singh Johar, chairman, C&C Constructions, which has an order book of Rs 2,630 crore in the roads and highways sector. ?Companies quoted unreasonable rates. There have been several maverick bids that did almost no good to any of the parties involved.? A report by rating agency Crisil says road developers who paid a premium to bag highway projects are finding that their bullish projections do not match actual toll collections. BOT projects awarded by the NHAI after 2009 are fetching a measly 14% return against the 22% earned by projects bagged before 2009 through relatively modest bids. ?While the government provides assistance for road projects in the form of viability gap funding [VGF], most projects after 2009 were bagged by developers by paying a premium as they were bullish on toll prospects. About 65% of projects after 2009 were awarded on premium basis compared with 25% in FY09. In some cases the premiums even exceeding project costs in some cases,? says Ajay D?Souza, director, Crisil Research. Not surprisingly, new entrants to the sector are the worst affected. ?Experienced developers know the nature of the business and the gestation projects are funded with cash flow from other operational projects,? says Bhandari. According to a report by Morgan Stanley, an analysis of all BOT projects awarded to date showed that many marginal players with no previous experience in managing long duration concessions or balance sheet strength to hold assets, especially during economic downturns, picked up market share. While no roads company has defaulted on its debt so far, the possibility cannot be ruled out Things got worse as traffic estimates failed to match expectations in many projects, barely managing 45% of the estimates in the crucial first year. The overestimation of traffic is largely because of optimistic assumptions of economic growth and partly because of hazy traffic pattern data with which developers bid. S Nandakumar, senior director, global infrastructure and project finance, Fitch, points out another reason, ?A majority of the bidders were originally EPC contractors who then started bidding for toll road projects on the BOT model. The primary motivation for these players was to win construction contracts. Given the generally competitive industry climate, bids were very aggressive and financing [essentially medium term bank debt] could be secured only if the traffic estimates were sufficiently attractive.? The problem with optimistic projections is the project?s ability to service debt gets impacted if the estimates don?t pan out. Still, given the length of the concession period, most companies are willing to inject additional equity to support under-performing projects. But there?s a flip side: this puts immense pressure on the balance sheet and while no roads company has defaulted on its debt payment so far, the possibility can?t be ruled out. In some cases, developers are making negative returns and several have not been able to meet even their interest payment. C&C Constructions? Kiratpur-Kurali road project in Punjab is a case in point. Awarded in June 2007, the project is operational but making losses. C&C had taken a Rs 260 crore loan for the development and is paying Rs 30 crore of interest every year. Currently, the company isn?t even meeting its interest payments from toll collection, which is about Rs 2.2-2.3 crore a month. C&C is now in talks with a foreign developer to sell its 50% stake in the project. The other 50% is with Hyderabad-based BSCPL Infrastructure. ?The project could make sense for a buyer who can restructure the loan at a lower rate,? says Johar. C&C has a total debt of Rs 1,200 crore, which it hopes to trim to Rs 700-800 crore by selling its five road projects. Bhavik Damodar, head of infrastructure transaction services at KPMG India, says a company?s balance sheet can absorb only so much stress, after which the only option left is to liquidate its stake in projects and put that money in other businesses. ?Many EPC contractors had also bid as BOT developers for some large projects,? he says. ?The idea was to bid for several projects, make a portfolio and list that portfolio. But in this environment, a listing is not possible.? The only other option is to sell full or partial stake in individual road projects. IVRCL is also looking to divest stakes in at least three road projects (Salem-Kumarapalayam, Kumarapalayam-Chengapalli, Chengapalli-Walayar) that could help it retire a debt of over Rs 800 crore and free equity capital of around Rs 300 crore. Chairman E Sudhir Reddy agrees that the company over-estimated traffic. ?There was a general euphoria over the infrastructure sector when we bid for these projects. The economy was projected to grow at 8% and we got carried away by that forecast,? he says wryly. Mails sent to Gayatri Projects went unanswered. If projects won in a less competitive environment are not making money, More recent ones have little hope Another of his Hyderabad brethren, Madhucon Projects is looking to dilute stake either in Madhucon Infra, a subsidiary of Madhucon Projects and holding company for infra assets such as BOT roads, power and coal mines, or in Madhucon Toll Highways, a subsidiary of Madhucon Infra. The company plans to raise about Rs 1,300 crore through this move, according to S Vaikunthanathan, director, finance. Madhucon has six BOT toll and three annuity projects in its kitty, of which four toll road projects have become operational, the three annuity projects are under construction and financial closure is on the horizon for the remaining two toll road projects. ?When a project becomes operational, the value of that asset goes up,? adds Vaikunthanathan. ?This is the right time to dilute stake so that that money can be pumped into other projects.? According to an Angel Broking report, Madhucon has an equity requirement of Rs 570 crore for its BOT road projects. GMR, too, is looking at some form of monetisation of its six operational and four under-construction projects. ?Our options are to dilute stake in road projects to private equity investors; raise money through an overseas business trust; or sell projects,? says Rao. ?The current market is pretty expensive to raise money through a business trust, so we will have to wait and evaluate our options.? Although Gayatri Projects is also in talks for stake sales in its projects, the company did not respond to *Outlook Business*? e-mail queries. Pratima Swaminathan of Morgan Stanley feels the lack of opportunities in the pure cash-contract space forced smaller construction companies such as IVRCL and NCC to bid for BOT assets. ?These players will be unable to tie up their capital for long durations and are likely to exit the projects once construction is completed,? she says in her report. *Scavenging for road kill* While consolidation in the sector seems inevitable, it will be at a snail?s pace because there are very few buyers and they are cherry-picking projects. One of the few deals that?s happened so far is IRB?s 100% acquisition of MVR Infrastructure & Tollways in Tamil Nadu for about Rs 130 crore. And even that was a one-off. Mhaiskar says IRB would rather bid for new projects than buy in the secondary market. ?We have a construction arm and by bidding, we get business for that as well,? he explains. According to Deepesh Garg, managing director of investment bank O3, deals have been far and few because of an expectation mismatch between promoter and buyer. ?Promoters have seen much better valuation but in today?s market, buyers are not willing to pay the same price,? he points out. O3 was the banker to the stake sale in March this year by Anil Ambani in Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) a subsidiary of BF Utilities, promoted by the Kalyani Group. Ambani sold 8% of his 11% stake in NICE for $65 million to Airro Mauritius, a fund affiliated to JP Morgan Chase. If a sale does not happen in the next six months, projects now fussing over valuation could be sold at a discount Feedback?s Chatterjee says the valuation mismatch happens because valuation of a project is a function of toll collection. ?The existing promoter has a rosy picture about all the variables moving well. The buyer has a different opinion of how the growth will happen. The complication arises because you have to estimate and discount a revenue stream for the next 20 years.? Indeed, many companies are struggling to strike the right deal for their roads projects. SREI Infra, for instance, holds 26-49% in about 14 road projects (it typically buys stake in projects it finances). ?The cash raised from the stake sale will be ploughed back into new projects,? says Sunil Kanoria, vice chairman, SREI. But so far, it hasn?t found a buyer. IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL) faces the same problem, but on the other side of the table. The company already has a portfolio of 23 projects spanning over 11,860 lane km spread across 16 states, worth Rs 30,000 crore. Of these, 12 projects comprising 5,453 lane km of roads are operational. Managing director K Ramchand says the company has been approached by 20-25 sellers so far, but no deal has been struck because of the difference in what ITNL is ready to offer and what the seller wants. ?The projects that have come to us have sub 14% equity internal rate of return (IRR) and that return is not good enough according to us,? he adds. Another company that?s not found any hot deals is L&T. K Venkatesh, senior vice-president of L&T BOT projects, points out that the company has its own stringent, internal benchmarks, which is why it hasn?t found a fit so far. ?We only look at projects that can improve or maintain our overall equity IRR of 18-20%,? he adds. Currently, L&T has 19 road projects in all stages of construction and the road order book is Rs 22,000 crore. Venkatesh says doing an acquisition makes sense because operational projects do not carry the same risks as a new venture due to an established traffic base. Chatterjee says that deals are happening. His firm, he says, has closed many deals. ?Private equity fund led consortiums are buying from a contractor developer,? he points out. ?But we are still to see one contractor developer buying another.? With increased competition, value creation in the roads sector has become increasingly elusive. Kotak Institutional Equities recently analysed 22 operational road projects with established revenue lines (which means the projects had been awarded three-four years ago). ?Many of these projects are unlikely to generate any significant value over the remaining lifetime of the concession,? says Kotak analyst Lokesh Garg (See: Skidding through). In plain speak, of the 22 projects, only seven will generate high revenue, six projects will generate reduced revenue and nine projects may even give a negative return. ?What we are trying to bring out in our report is that projects are failing to create value for shareholders,? says Garg. ?If a bulk of the projects won in a less competitive environment than today are not making money, then there is even less scope for projects won in the last one or maybe two years to do so.? *More craters ahead* The value mismatch between buyers and sellers has been aggravated by poor market conditions. Like equity funding, even debt is not that easy to come by as banks are increasingly reluctant to lend to the roads sector. That?s because as bidding becomes increasingly aggressive, it negatively impacts the IRR of the project. And since banks are naturally risk-averse, they shy away from lending, especially to smaller companies. Infrastructure finance company SREI Infra says it has intensified due diligence for the projects it chooses to fund. Apart from an independent traffic study, the company evaluates the group/promoter?s strength, execution skills and also conducts a deeper sensitivity analysis to test project viability. ?We lend only when we are completely satisfied on all parameters,? says Hemant Kanoria, chairman and managing director, SREI. ?We lend to the sector on a selective basis and have consciously kept our exposure to the sector under 20% of the total loan portfolio.? Road developers crib that banks are laying down increasingly stringent conditions before sanctioning loans, such as asking the company to bring in upfront its entire 25-30% equity component. ?That?s a problem,? says IRB chairman Mhaiskar. ?Earlier, companies could bring in equity on a pro rata basis over the duration of construction, which is much more manageable. There is no problem in arranging it upfront if you are raising equity from investors but it gets tricky when it is through internal accruals.? Only 97 bidders have applied to the NHAI for qualification in 2012 compared with 114 applicants the previous year Banks, though, defend their stance. They are extra cautious in lending to projects won through aggressive bidding, especially where the developer has paid a premium. ?Unless the developer has equity in place, it will be very difficult for the project to proceed. We release loans based on the developer?s ability to bring equity on time,? says KR Kamath, chairman and managing director, Punjab National Bank. That?s a thought echoed by the head of another PSU bank. ?In aggressively bid projects, sensitivity to interest rates will be higher and, therefore, flexibility will be restricted,? points out MD Mallya, chairman of Bank of Baroda. ?Such projects are usually not approved.? Matters can only get worse as most banks are close to exhausting their internal limits set for lending to the infrastructure sector, which will severely limit their lending ability in the future. For the roads sector, then, that?s another pothole to be negotiated. Elara?s Bhandari believes the situation could get increasingly desperate for road developers looking to sell. Right now, they are being fussy about getting the right valuation but if a sale does not happen in the next six months or so, these same projects could be sold at a discount. Rajeev Desai, analyst, IFCI Financial Services, says if deals do not come through, road developers will be forced to ask banks to restructure debt. ?There are only three options left. Either the developer sells it comfortably, takes a haircut or it goes to the bank for restructuring. Banks may not want to restructure debt but eventually they will be forced to, in order to complete the project,? he says. But, here again, if the Reserve Bank of India becomes stringent on restructuring of loans, the developer will have no choice but to sell its stake in projects at a loss. However, some projects do have a ?substitution clause? in the concession agreement that in the event of a default by the developer, allows the lead lender to substitute the developer with another in consultation with the NHAI. Therefore, lenders have the option of substituting sticky developers with those that they believe are financially sounder. But that?s easier said than done. Ganesh Ram, an analyst with Kim Eng Securities, agrees the situation will be difficult in the BOT road space this year. ?Toll revenues will decline because the Indian economy is slowing down and with an increase in diesel and petrol prices, there are fewer trucks and cars on the road. This will make it difficult for existing road developers to sell their stake at a high valuation.? Overall, though, analysts agree that this year, the road sector will see some deals happening, given the weak financial situation of developers. *Decongesting the road* Analysts expect that with the weak hands pulling out of the race, the road ahead will be cleared for the bigger and established players. With around 35,000 km of national and state highways slated to be awarded over the coming three to four years, there is enough growth potential for developers. Though Garg of Kotak expects competitive intensity to continue with relatively new names such as Atlanta-Essar, Abhijit, Essel and Tata Realty-Autostrade entering the fray, the consensus is that history is unlikely to be repeated. Pratima Swaminathan of Morgan Stanley points out in a report that as per the NHAI not only have the number of bidders per project declined recently but also the difference between L1 and L2 bids has narrowed ? indicating that developers are not aggressively undercutting. That interest is waning is evident given that the annual technical qualification details for 2012 shows only 97 bidders have applied to the NHAI for bidding qualification compared with 114 applicants in the previous year. Besides, unlike in the past, weaker players will find it tough to raise funds, what with the capital markets expected to remain choppy and lenders becoming wary despite interest rates softening. So it is not surprising that investor interest in these shares, too, has been on the wane. From the heydays of 2010, road companies ? big or small ? have lost an average 70%, barring IRB and ITNL, which have come off 57% and 40%. Call it a case of choosing between the devil and deep sea, analysts are keeping their faith in IRB and ITNL, though not necessarily in the same order of preference. Swaminathan of Morgan Stanley feels large players with good execution track record, past experience in managing assets, and balance sheet strength to meet equity funding needs will be the key beneficiaries of increased project supply, from both the NHAI and players exiting projects. Morgan Stanley is bullish on IRB, and ITNL. Garg of Kotak is bullish on L&T and IRB. As for the others, the writing on the wall just became more legible. From yanivbin at gmail.com Thu Aug 16 00:01:26 2012 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2012 20:31:26 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Plans to restrict movement of motorized vehicles in core of Mysore Message-ID: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-09/mysore/33118377_1_mysore-palace-tongas-sayyaji-rao-road Plans to restrict movement of motorized vehicles in core of Mysore Lawrence Milton, TNN Aug 9, 2012, 10.30PM IST Tags: - Taj Mahal | - Sudharkar Shetty | - Mysore Chamber of Commerce | - MCCI | - Deputy commissioner MYSORE: If everything goes according to plan, movement of motorized vehicles in the heritage core area - surrounding Mysore Palace and a segment of Sayyaji Rao Road -- will be restricted during weekends. This means a welcome fillip to non-motorized vehicles like bicycle, battery vehicles and tongas. Now that the bicycle promotion is in full swing after deputy commissioner P S Vastrad initiated pedal-to- work campaign, the DC is planning to restrict movement of motorized vehicles on Sayyaji Rao Road for at least two hours during weekends on an experimental basis. But the Mysore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Sayyaji Rao Road shopowners and tenants association members are opposing it. A police officer felt that the idea would work in the long run. Traffic has increased by leaps and bounds over the years in the core area of Mysore city and definitely there is urgent need to address the issue. As there is not much scope to widen the stretch, it is better to promote non-motorized vehicles and mass transportation. Vastrad told TOI that recently he held a meeting with the traders. As some of them were against the proposed idea, I have given them time to reconsider the decision. The proposed idea is feasible in the long run and we want to try it,'' he explained. The DC is expected to meet the traders again next week. Meanwhile, Mysore Sayyaji Rao Road shopowners and tenants association members have resolved to oppose the proposed move claiming there is no air or sound pollution as also no congestion in the core area. They have appealed to the DC to reconsider his decision saying that it would inconvenience them. When contacted, MCCI president Sudharkar Shetty said: The idea is not feasible as Sayyaji Rao Road is a main thoroughfare in the central business district.'' After a study revealed that the country's famous monument Taj Mahal is facing a threat from pollution, central government recommended to the states to protect monuments. Following this, the directorate of urban land transport, Karnataka, suggested promotion of non-motorized vehicles in the core area surrounding Mysore Palace and old monuments to protect the sites, reduce pollution as well as to reduce congestion. There were also plans to relocate the city bus stand adjoining the charming Mysore Palace structure to ensure structural stability of the palace and make way for a garden and to provide parking for non-motorized vehicles like tongas there. But meanwhile KSRTC authorities had got cleared a project to upgrade the bus stand under JNNURM. Hence, the proposed idea has been suspended temporarily. From yanivbin at gmail.com Thu Aug 16 00:06:22 2012 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2012 20:36:22 +0530 Subject: [sustran] 'Populist' CM turns down bus fare hike plea In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-12/kolkata/33167068_1_fare-hike-chief-minister-bus-syndicates 'Populist' CM turns down fare hike plea TNN Aug 12, 2012, 02.36AM IST Tags: - Transport minister | - Partha Chatterjee | - Mamata Banerjee | - fare hike KOLKATA: Transport operators were elated when Mamata Banerjee gave a patient hearing to their plight on Saturday. But their moment of joy turned out to be a brief one with the chief minister sticking to her populist stance and turning down any possibility of imposing a fare hike on the passengers. To add to the operators' woes, the government also resolved to issue the order on a "back-door revision of fares for state buses and trams". Transport minister Madan Mitra had announced the decision on June 2. Two months on, industries minister Partha Chatterjee, who briefed the media on the outcome of the meeting between the chief minister and the group of ministers (formed to look into the ailing transport sector), said, "The announcement was made two months ago. We are going to issue the order now." The state government had decided to hike the minimum fare of Rs 4.50 on CSTC buses to Rs 5 on the pretext of shortage of small change. For trams, the base slab of Rs 3.50 will be removed and a common fare of Rs 4 will be introduced. Mamata has been denying market pressure and cost escalations to maintain her "populist" image ever since she became the chief minister of the state. Earlier, she had opposed hike in power tariff and milk prices and suggested introduction of new products to make up for the losses. Much on these lines, the chief minister on Saturday evaded the core issue of upward revision of fare and talked about alternate ways to generate revenue for private buses. The chief minister had promised to meet the busowners when they responded to her appeal and called off the July 31 strike. She kept her word on Saturday and became the first chief minister in the state to hold a meeting with bus operators at the Writers' Buildings. "The chief minister is looking at revenue generation rather than a fare hike. To that end, the government will do what needs to be done. Public vehicles can make money through advertisements, provided they follow the rules and desist from obscene displays," the industries minister said. "The meeting has served no purpose. The government is harping on ad revenue, but how will 12,000 private operators get so many publicity contracts. For argument's sake, even if we are able to make Rs 400 a day through ads, how can we bridge the gap of another Rs 400 a day? A busowner spends Rs 800 extra per day on fuel. The cost goes up by Rs 1,200 in the districts," explained Tapan Banerjee of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates (JCBS). Dipak Sarkar of the Bengal Bus Syndicate echoed, "A fare hike is the only solution to our problems." According to Banerjee, the last fare hike took place on July 1, 2009, when a litre of diesel would cost Rs 35.03. The fuel price has been hiked eight times ever since and now stands at Rs 44.72 after the last revision on July 25. Those operating JNNURM-funded buses must cough up more since higher quality diesel costs Rs 48.77 a litre. Sadhan Das of the JCBS said, "We are happy that the chief minister gave us a patient hearing. This is the first time a CM has met us. But it's becoming impossible to run buses." From alok.priyanka at gmail.com Mon Aug 20 11:04:22 2012 From: alok.priyanka at gmail.com (Alok Jain) Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2012 07:34:22 +0530 Subject: [sustran] DU shows urgency to fix paths Message-ID: DU shows urgency to fix paths Letter To LG Says Broken Pavements Pose Risk To Disabled Shreya Roy Chowdhury TNN New Delhi: Delhi University may have to roll up its sleeves and do the heavy work itself.Noting the deplorable condition of pavements and pathways,rendering North Campus inaccessible to disabled students,university authorities have written to the lieutenant governor of Delhi for permission to undertake the necessary modification/renovation of pavements and pathways along roads in North Campus on priority basis. University authorities,concerned and exasperated in equal measure,say DU will not only get the job done but also foot the bills. On March 3,Nidhi,a finalyear law student at DU with an orthopedic disability,was hit by a motorcycle.The accident put her out of commission for three months and prompted 685 students with disabilities to make a representation to the Equal Opportunities Cell (EOC) on March 9 demanding a more disabled-friendly campus. The letter to LG Tejendra Khanna,which was written this week,mentions Chhatra Marg,Mall Road,Sudhir Bose Marg and Cavalry Lane adding that conditions are steadily deteriorating. Electric poles have been installed on the tactile path (used to help the visually impaired find their way) in front of St Stephens College, complains an official. The potholed pavements are difficult to negotiate for the disabled.During the rains the holes fill with water, says Nidhi who is now back. The deplorable conditions and obstructions pose a grave risk for our disabled students, says the letter from the registrar which also reminds that India is a signatory of the UNCRPD (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability). It is unfortunate that the government is not doing anything, says Dr Vipin Tiwari,officer on special duty,EOC.The EOC has been working toward making DU institutions accessible.Accessibility audits were conducted in DU in 2007 and institutions were encouraged to make changes.Tiwari will soon be starting a post-audit.Roads and pavements outside colleges,however,are not the universitys responsibility. Numerous letters have been written to civic agencies.We have minutes of a meeting with the LG in 2010 in which a plan was created.Nothing was implemented, says a senior university official,Instead,during the Commonwealth Games,pathways were made inaccessible.We have written to MCD,PWD and even traffic cops.Apparently its the PWDs responsibility.But nothing happened. The one-sided correspondence having failed to elicit any response PWD didnt respond to TOIs queries either university authorities have decided to take the repair work upon themselves.Officials say that money for the repair work needed to protect the students with disabilities moving in the campus from any mishap, will come from the V-Cs fund. Times View It is really a sad state of affairs when a university has to take upon itself the job of laying pavements because the civic authorities responsible for the job have failed to do it.It also shows how little we care for the disabled that repeated pleas by them that the poor state of the pavements was making it difficult for them to walk around failed to stir these agencies into action.If this the situation in a place of higher learning in Indias capital,we can well imagine how bad it would be elsewhere.The Lieutenant Governor must immediately order the MCD or the PWD or both to do the job. From yanivbin at gmail.com Fri Aug 24 13:49:02 2012 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 10:19:02 +0530 Subject: [sustran] Bus service monitors arrive in Bhubaneswar In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-21/bhubaneswar/33302126_1_bus-service-bus-rapid-transit-system-brts Bus service monitors arrive in Bhubaneswar TNN Aug 21, 2012, 12.46PM IST Tags: - transport system | - Jawaharlal Nehru | - Bhubaneswar bus service BHUBANESWAR: Nearly two years after the launch of city bus service in Bhubaneswar, the Centre has started an "impact assessment" study of the public transport system. A two-member team from an independent agency from Ahmedabad reached the state capital on Monday to collect baseline data about the city bus service, launched on October 10, 2010, under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. "The assessor would interact with various stakeholders, including passengers, bus staff and police on how the service is functioning. Feedbacks of all stakeholders would be taken into account," Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation's commissioner Sanjib Kumar Mishra told TOI. "The agency would conduct the study for the next five to six days here. It will also carry out surveys of JNNURM projects in five other cities in India," Mishra said. Sources said the Centre has granted Rs 4.85 lakh for the study. At present, as many as 105 buses ply in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Khurda and Puri in public-private-partnership mode. DTS had earlier conducted a survey on its own and received feedbacks from passengers. Some of them had demanded installation of AC in buses. Others demanded proper bus bays and route charts for their convenience, sources said. The state government is unlikely to get a pat from the visiting assessors as the former is yet to establish adequate infrastructure in place for sustenance of the bus service. The agency is also slated to make a preparatory study ahead of the proposed implementation of bus rapid transit system (BRTS) in Bhubaneswar. "Parking places, flyovers, road conditions and traffic arrangements among other would be discussed with the agency for BRTS project," BMC's city engineer T B K Shroff said. From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Fri Aug 24 20:18:54 2012 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:18:54 +0200 Subject: [sustran] Extending Sustran Message-ID: <00db01cd81ea$41216390$c3642ab0$@britton@ecoplan.org> Dear Sustraners, Here's an idea which I put before you for your comments and suggestions. It involves a Facebook Sustran Global South page which we set up at http://www.facebook.com/groups/worldstreets/ and which we propose as a possible complement to the original Sustran-Discuss site launched in the late nineties at http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss. I personally have no fixed ideas on this, but let me share with you my thoughts. Hate or love Facebook we at least are finding that it is a valuable tool and part of our overall communications strategy. The software behind the pages that we work with is being steadily improved, and we are finding it a lot more efficient than the Yahoo Groups fora that we started to set up already in the mid-nineties. I like that it permits the easy exchange of images, photographs, and videos , as well as handling html pretty well, all of which makes a nice addition. The popular original Sustran-Discuss Forum offers a fine collaborative platform for exchanging information, ideas and comments and serves us well for peer exchanges in matters involving specifically sustainable transport in the Global South for more than a dozen years now. But as we have seen in linking the main World Streets site (www.WorldStreets.org) to a parallel Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/worldstreets, there is good potential for creative interaction between the two which increases both the reach and the depth of the discussions. The W/S Facebook page, for example, currently brings in an additional 1453 (as of this morning) cogent minds to the issues. Today and without really trying we have a modest 67 members on the Sustran page, but it is at least a start. Again, my hope is that the two devices will enhance and support each other. I look forward to your reactions and suggestions on this. If you have questions, let me try to answer them here or directly to me via eric.britton@ecoplan.org. Eric Britton _____________________________________________________________ Francis Eric Knight-Britton, Managing Director / Editor New Mobility Partnerships | World Streets | The Equity/Transport Project 9, rue Gabillot 69003 Lyon France | T. +339 8326 9459| M. +336 5088 0787 | E. eric.britton@ecoplan.org | S. newmobility 9440 Readcrest Drive. Los Angeles, CA 90210 | Tel. +1 213 985 3501 | eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: ericbritton P Avant d'imprimer, pensez ? l'environnement From carlosfpardo at gmail.com Fri Aug 24 21:40:56 2012 From: carlosfpardo at gmail.com (Carlosfelipe Pardo) Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 07:40:56 -0500 Subject: [sustran] Re: Extending Sustran In-Reply-To: <50376330.63df440a.3d07.ffffdd5dSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com> References: <50376330.63df440a.3d07.ffffdd5dSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com> Message-ID: <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> Hi Eric, I think Facebook is good as a social networking site, but not as an archive of discussions. I love the fact that I can search something in the sustran archive, because many people are always giving many useful links or anecdotes or references that sometimes I've needed to support an argument. Facebook wouldn't have that capability, I think it is too ephemeral for these discussions... unless we want to have ephemeral discussions, in which case I'd suggest we do a Facebook page for that purpose. Carlos. On 24/08/2012 06:18 a.m., eric britton wrote: > Dear Sustraners, > > > > Here's an idea which I put before you for your comments and suggestions. It > involves a Facebook Sustran Global South page which we set up at > http://www.facebook.com/groups/worldstreets/ and which we propose as a > possible complement to the original Sustran-Discuss site launched in the > late nineties at http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss. I > personally have no fixed ideas on this, but let me share with you my > thoughts. > > > > Hate or love Facebook we at least are finding that it is a valuable tool and > part of our overall communications strategy. The software behind the pages > that we work with is being steadily improved, and we are finding it a lot > more efficient than the Yahoo Groups fora that we started to set up already > in the mid-nineties. I like that it permits the easy exchange of images, > photographs, and videos , as well as handling html pretty well, all of which > makes a nice addition. > > > > The popular original Sustran-Discuss Forum offers a fine collaborative > platform for exchanging information, ideas and comments and serves us well > for peer exchanges in matters involving specifically sustainable transport > in the Global South for more than a dozen years now. But as we have seen in > linking the main World Streets site (www.WorldStreets.org) to a parallel > Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/worldstreets, there is good > potential for creative interaction between the two which increases both the > reach and the depth of the discussions. The W/S Facebook page, for example, > currently brings in an additional 1453 (as of this morning) cogent minds to > the issues. > > > > Today and without really trying we have a modest 67 members on the Sustran > page, but it is at least a start. Again, my hope is that the two devices > will enhance and support each other. > > > > I look forward to your reactions and suggestions on this. If you have > questions, let me try to answer them here or directly to me via > eric.britton@ecoplan.org. > > > > Eric Britton > > > > > > > > _____________________________________________________________ > > Francis Eric Knight-Britton, Managing Director / Editor > > New Mobility Partnerships | > World Streets | > The Equity/Transport Project > > 9, rue Gabillot 69003 Lyon France | T. +339 8326 9459| M. +336 5088 > 0787 | E. eric.britton@ecoplan.org | > S. newmobility > > 9440 Readcrest Drive. Los Angeles, CA 90210 | Tel. +1 213 985 3501 | > eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: ericbritton > > > > P Avant d'imprimer, pensez ? l'environnement > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > 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 eric.britton at ecoplan.org Fri Aug 24 22:49:03 2012 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:49:03 +0200 Subject: [sustran] "I think Facebook is good as a social networking site, but . . ." In-Reply-To: <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> References: <50376330.63df440a.3d07.ffffdd5dSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com> <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> Message-ID: <000301cd81ff$3ae85280$b0b8f780$@britton@ecoplan.org> Dear Carlos and All, That is why I think we might at least consider using both, efficiently. We might think of one is a hammer, the other a screwdriver and we probably need both and more if we are to get the job done. The original Sustran site makes, as you point out, a fine shared archive. Like you I use it often and with gratitude to the people who created it. What I like about our Facebook sites is that they permit the exchange of not only of information and references, but also graphics, videos and images, as well as html etc. text, which the older sites by and large do not. But to my mind, that is no reason to turn our backs on not only the wonderful context we have all worked to build up over all these years on the original site, but also its good potential for efficient searching. On the other hand, at the speed they are advancing, I am sure that we shall fairly shortly see good search utilities so that anything you, for instance, may have added to, say, our Sustran Facebook site will be quickly indexed and found. When I do not know, but it seems pretty clear that there are some smart people over there who are working on it. ()But not to worry since in the meantime we have the great original archives at hand.) In our sites we have three basic rules which we try to ensure are respected. (a) In the case of Sustran/Facebook we stick to the very specific topic, as has by and large been so well achieved by the original Sustran site. (b) We discourage chatting (but not peer exchanges and certainly not wit). (c) We do not encourage personal information on our peer group sites. (There are plenty of other places on Facebook etc. for that. There is an important job to be done and we thus need to stick to our last. Does that sound a bit austere? I hope so. That's the intention. Eric PS. I love the original Sustran because not only is it an interesting and useful place to hang out, but also because I do not think I have ever once seen an incident of aggressive behavior or rude language, which all too often is to be found. We have, together over all these years, developed a Sustran culture, and for that we can all be both grateful and proud. -----Original Message----- From: sustran-discuss-bounces+editor=worldstreets.org@list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+editor=worldstreets.org@list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of Carlosfelipe Pardo Sent: Friday, 24 August, 2012 14:41 I think Facebook is good as a social networking site, but not as an archive of discussions. I love the fact that I can search something in the sustran archive, because many people are always giving many useful links or anecdotes or references that sometimes I've needed to support an argument. Facebook wouldn't have that capability, I think it is too ephemeral for these discussions... unless we want to have ephemeral discussions, in which case I'd suggest we do a Facebook page for that purpose. Carlos. _____________________________________________________________ Francis Eric Knight-Britton, Managing Director / Editor New Mobility Partnerships | World Streets | The Equity/Transport Project 9, rue Gabillot 69003 Lyon France | T. +339 8326 9459| M. +336 5088 0787 | E. eric.britton@ecoplan.org | S. newmobility 9440 Readcrest Drive. Los Angeles, CA 90210 | Tel. +1 213 985 3501 | eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: ericbritton ? Avant d'imprimer, pensez ? l'environnement From ianenvironmental at googlemail.com Sat Aug 25 00:54:05 2012 From: ianenvironmental at googlemail.com (Ian Perry) Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:54:05 +0100 Subject: [sustran] Re: Extending Sustran In-Reply-To: <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> References: <50376330.63df440a.3d07.ffffdd5dSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com> <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi, I'll agree with Carlos. FB is not a good tool for in-depth discussion, it's designed for sharing links, photos and short messages - ones a little bit longer than Twitter. Although there may be 1500 people as members of the FB group, how many are active; how many ever visit the group? Cross-posting only adds to the numbers of emails I ignore or leave forever unopened. I passed 10,000 unopened emails long ago, despite purges from time to time. FB does help with this, but it is still not an alternative to the email discussions... I'm sure that the gap will eventually be filled by a new networking and discussion platform. I think it's best no to rush and then have to rebuild in a years time... Ian On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 1:40 PM, Carlosfelipe Pardo wrote: > Hi Eric, > > I think Facebook is good as a social networking site, but not as an > archive of discussions. I love the fact that I can search something in > the sustran archive, because many people are always giving many useful > links or anecdotes or references that sometimes I've needed to support > an argument. Facebook wouldn't have that capability, I think it is too > ephemeral for these discussions... unless we want to have ephemeral > discussions, in which case I'd suggest we do a Facebook page for that > purpose. > > Carlos. > > On 24/08/2012 06:18 a.m., eric britton wrote: > > Dear Sustraners, > > > > > > > > Here's an idea which I put before you for your comments and suggestions. > It > > involves a Facebook Sustran Global South page which we set up at > > http://www.facebook.com/groups/worldstreets/ and which we propose as a > > possible complement to the original Sustran-Discuss site launched in the > > late nineties at > http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss. I > > personally have no fixed ideas on this, but let me share with you my > > thoughts. > > > > > > > > Hate or love Facebook we at least are finding that it is a valuable tool > and > > part of our overall communications strategy. The software behind the > pages > > that we work with is being steadily improved, and we are finding it a lot > > more efficient than the Yahoo Groups fora that we started to set up > already > > in the mid-nineties. I like that it permits the easy exchange of images, > > photographs, and videos , as well as handling html pretty well, all of > which > > makes a nice addition. > > > > > > > > The popular original Sustran-Discuss Forum offers a fine collaborative > > platform for exchanging information, ideas and comments and serves us > well > > for peer exchanges in matters involving specifically sustainable > transport > > in the Global South for more than a dozen years now. But as we have seen > in > > linking the main World Streets site (www.WorldStreets.org) to a parallel > > Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/worldstreets, there is good > > potential for creative interaction between the two which increases both > the > > reach and the depth of the discussions. The W/S Facebook page, for > example, > > currently brings in an additional 1453 (as of this morning) cogent > minds to > > the issues. > > > > > > > > Today and without really trying we have a modest 67 members on the > Sustran > > page, but it is at least a start. Again, my hope is that the two > devices > > will enhance and support each other. > > > > > > > > I look forward to your reactions and suggestions on this. If you have > > questions, let me try to answer them here or directly to me via > > eric.britton@ecoplan.org. > > > > > > > > Eric Britton > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _____________________________________________________________ > > > > Francis Eric Knight-Britton, Managing Director / Editor > > > > New Mobility Partnerships | > > World Streets | > > The Equity/Transport Project > > > > 9, rue Gabillot 69003 Lyon France | T. +339 8326 9459| M. +336 > 5088 > > 0787 | E. eric.britton@ecoplan.org | > > S. newmobility > > > > 9440 Readcrest Drive. Los Angeles, CA 90210 | Tel. +1 213 985 > 3501 | > > eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: ericbritton > > > > > > > > P Avant d'imprimer, pensez ? l'environnement > > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > > > ================================================================ > > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, > equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries > (the 'Global South'). > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > 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 daniel.bongardt at giz.de Fri Aug 24 22:13:41 2012 From: daniel.bongardt at giz.de (Bongardt, Daniel GIZ CN) Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:13:41 +0000 Subject: [sustran] Re: Extending Sustran In-Reply-To: <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> References: <50376330.63df440a.3d07.ffffdd5dSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com>, <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Eric and Carlos, I like facebook and google plus as networks and the extended audiance. A problem here in China is that both networks are blocked by the government. In addition, we might have to consider the target group, i myself still struggle a bit with facebook as it mixes my professional and private network. Best Daniel Check out: www.tdm-beijing.org Am 24.08.2012 um 20:41 schrieb "Carlosfelipe Pardo" : > Hi Eric, > > I think Facebook is good as a social networking site, but not as an > archive of discussions. I love the fact that I can search something in > the sustran archive, because many people are always giving many useful > links or anecdotes or references that sometimes I've needed to support > an argument. Facebook wouldn't have that capability, I think it is too > ephemeral for these discussions... unless we want to have ephemeral > discussions, in which case I'd suggest we do a Facebook page for that > purpose. > > Carlos. > > On 24/08/2012 06:18 a.m., eric britton wrote: >> Dear Sustraners, >> >> >> >> Here's an idea which I put before you for your comments and suggestions. It >> involves a Facebook Sustran Global South page which we set up at >> http://www.facebook.com/groups/worldstreets/ and which we propose as a >> possible complement to the original Sustran-Discuss site launched in the >> late nineties at http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss. I >> personally have no fixed ideas on this, but let me share with you my >> thoughts. >> >> >> >> Hate or love Facebook we at least are finding that it is a valuable tool and >> part of our overall communications strategy. The software behind the pages >> that we work with is being steadily improved, and we are finding it a lot >> more efficient than the Yahoo Groups fora that we started to set up already >> in the mid-nineties. I like that it permits the easy exchange of images, >> photographs, and videos , as well as handling html pretty well, all of which >> makes a nice addition. >> >> >> >> The popular original Sustran-Discuss Forum offers a fine collaborative >> platform for exchanging information, ideas and comments and serves us well >> for peer exchanges in matters involving specifically sustainable transport >> in the Global South for more than a dozen years now. But as we have seen in >> linking the main World Streets site (www.WorldStreets.org) to a parallel >> Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/worldstreets, there is good >> potential for creative interaction between the two which increases both the >> reach and the depth of the discussions. The W/S Facebook page, for example, >> currently brings in an additional 1453 (as of this morning) cogent minds to >> the issues. >> >> >> >> Today and without really trying we have a modest 67 members on the Sustran >> page, but it is at least a start. Again, my hope is that the two devices >> will enhance and support each other. >> >> >> >> I look forward to your reactions and suggestions on this. If you have >> questions, let me try to answer them here or directly to me via >> eric.britton@ecoplan.org. >> >> >> >> Eric Britton >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> _____________________________________________________________ >> >> Francis Eric Knight-Britton, Managing Director / Editor >> >> New Mobility Partnerships | >> World Streets | >> The Equity/Transport Project >> >> 9, rue Gabillot 69003 Lyon France | T. +339 8326 9459| M. +336 5088 >> 0787 | E. eric.britton@ecoplan.org | >> S. newmobility >> >> 9440 Readcrest Drive. Los Angeles, CA 90210 | Tel. +1 213 985 3501 | >> eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: ericbritton >> >> >> >> P Avant d'imprimer, pensez ? l'environnement >> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------- >> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit >> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss >> >> ================================================================ >> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). >> > > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). ________________________________ Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH; Sitz der Gesellschaft Bonn und Eschborn/Registered offices Bonn and Eschborn, Germany; Registergericht/Registered at Amtsgericht Bonn, Germany; Eintragungs-Nr./Registration no. HRB 18384 und/and Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Eintragungs-Nr./Registration no. HRB 12394; USt-IdNr./VAT ID no. DE 113891176; Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats/Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Hans-Juergen Beerfeltz, Staatssekretaer/State Secretary; Vorstand/Management Board: Tanja Goenner (Vorstandssprecherin/Chair of the Management Board), Dr. Christoph Beier (Stellv. Vorstandssprecher/Vice-Chair of the Management Board), Tom Paetz, Dr. Hans-Joachim Preuss, Cornelia Richter From operations at velomondial.net Sat Aug 25 01:42:23 2012 From: operations at velomondial.net (Pascal van den Noort) Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:42:23 +0200 Subject: [sustran] Re: Extending Sustran In-Reply-To: References: <50376330.63df440a.3d07.ffffdd5dSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com> <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> Message-ID: Facebook is for gossip and maybe sometimes the odd interesting message. Linked In is netter for that. By the end of the year we will publish the portal: Pas-Port to Mobility where we hope to create a permanent platform. The first load of content will be on cycling, in the context of CiViTAS MIMOSA and the book we are preparing. Afterwards we will grow other content. Pascal J.W. van den Noort Executive Director Velo Mondial, A Micro Multi-National operations@velomondial.net +31206270675 landline +31627055688 mobile phone Velo Mondial's Blog Search Button Booklet Click here for information on urban mobility issues you always wanted to have On 24 aug. 2012, at 17:54, Ian Perry wrote: > Hi, > > I'll agree with Carlos. FB is not a good tool for in-depth discussion, > it's designed for sharing links, photos and short messages - ones a little > bit longer than Twitter. Although there may be 1500 people as members > of the FB group, how many are active; how many ever visit the group? > > Cross-posting only adds to the numbers of emails I ignore or leave forever > unopened. I passed 10,000 unopened emails long ago, despite purges from > time to time. FB does help with this, but it is still not an alternative > to the email discussions... > > I'm sure that the gap will eventually be filled by a new networking and > discussion platform. I think it's best no to rush and then have to rebuild > in a years time... > > Ian > > > On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 1:40 PM, Carlosfelipe Pardo > wrote: > >> Hi Eric, >> >> I think Facebook is good as a social networking site, but not as an >> archive of discussions. I love the fact that I can search something in >> the sustran archive, because many people are always giving many useful >> links or anecdotes or references that sometimes I've needed to support >> an argument. Facebook wouldn't have that capability, I think it is too >> ephemeral for these discussions... unless we want to have ephemeral >> discussions, in which case I'd suggest we do a Facebook page for that >> purpose. >> >> Carlos. >> >> On 24/08/2012 06:18 a.m., eric britton wrote: >>> Dear Sustraners, >>> >>> >>> >>> Here's an idea which I put before you for your comments and suggestions. >> It >>> involves a Facebook Sustran Global South page which we set up at >>> http://www.facebook.com/groups/worldstreets/ and which we propose as a >>> possible complement to the original Sustran-Discuss site launched in the >>> late nineties at >> http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss. I >>> personally have no fixed ideas on this, but let me share with you my >>> thoughts. >>> >>> >>> >>> Hate or love Facebook we at least are finding that it is a valuable tool >> and >>> part of our overall communications strategy. The software behind the >> pages >>> that we work with is being steadily improved, and we are finding it a lot >>> more efficient than the Yahoo Groups fora that we started to set up >> already >>> in the mid-nineties. I like that it permits the easy exchange of images, >>> photographs, and videos , as well as handling html pretty well, all of >> which >>> makes a nice addition. >>> >>> >>> >>> The popular original Sustran-Discuss Forum offers a fine collaborative >>> platform for exchanging information, ideas and comments and serves us >> well >>> for peer exchanges in matters involving specifically sustainable >> transport >>> in the Global South for more than a dozen years now. But as we have seen >> in >>> linking the main World Streets site (www.WorldStreets.org) to a parallel >>> Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/worldstreets, there is good >>> potential for creative interaction between the two which increases both >> the >>> reach and the depth of the discussions. The W/S Facebook page, for >> example, >>> currently brings in an additional 1453 (as of this morning) cogent >> minds to >>> the issues. >>> >>> >>> >>> Today and without really trying we have a modest 67 members on the >> Sustran >>> page, but it is at least a start. Again, my hope is that the two >> devices >>> will enhance and support each other. >>> >>> >>> >>> I look forward to your reactions and suggestions on this. If you have >>> questions, let me try to answer them here or directly to me via >>> eric.britton@ecoplan.org. >>> >>> >>> >>> Eric Britton >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _____________________________________________________________ >>> >>> Francis Eric Knight-Britton, Managing Director / Editor >>> >>> New Mobility Partnerships | >>> World Streets | >>> The Equity/Transport Project >>> >>> 9, rue Gabillot 69003 Lyon France | T. +339 8326 9459| M. +336 >> 5088 >>> 0787 | E. eric.britton@ecoplan.org | >>> S. newmobility >>> >>> 9440 Readcrest Drive. Los Angeles, CA 90210 | Tel. +1 213 985 >> 3501 | >>> eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: ericbritton >>> >>> >>> >>> P Avant d'imprimer, pensez ? l'environnement >>> >>> >>> >>> -------------------------------------------------------- >>> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit >>> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss >>> >>> ================================================================ >>> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, >> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries >> (the 'Global South'). >>> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------- >> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit >> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss >> >> ================================================================ >> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, >> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries >> (the 'Global South'). >> > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > 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 eric.britton at ecoplan.org Sat Aug 25 18:03:59 2012 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2012 11:03:59 +0200 Subject: [sustran] From article entitled Hangzhou Bike Scheme:... Message-ID: <003f01cd82a0$92f85960$b8e90c20$@britton@ecoplan.org> Eric Britton posted in World Transport Policy and Practice From article entitled Hangzhou Bike Scheme:... Eric Britton 9:16am Aug 25 >From article entitled Hangzhou Bike Scheme: Hangzhou has a fantastic bike share program. It is now the largest bike share program in the world with some 50,000 bikes available throughout the city. The system eclipses the velib system in Paris which has 20,000 bikes. Not bad for a Chinese city and a city with a population of only 2 million in the urban core. Check out their 7 minute video report on how it works. Hangzhou Bike Scheme www.stcbj.com STC - Smarter Than Car, Bike Beijing View Post on Facebook ? Edit Email Settings ? Reply to this email to add a comment. From yanivbin at gmail.com Sat Aug 25 18:35:38 2012 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:05:38 +0530 Subject: [sustran] new draft Indian urban bus specs for comments In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: FYI 28th AUGUST IS THE LAST DATE FOR COMMENTS *4th Meeting of the Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of OSD(UT) & e.o. Joint Secretary for preparing "Specifications of Urban Buses - II" -regarding * http://urbanindia.nic.in/what'snew/OM_Spec_Urban_BusesII.pdf *Draft specifications on Non AC mini and midi urban buses* http://urbanindia.nic.in/what'snew/Specs_Midi_Mini_Bus_Revised_10aug2012.pdf *Draft specifications on Non AC urban buses of 400/650mm floor heights* http://urbanindia.nic.in/what'snew/Specs_Bus400_650mm_ht_10Aug2012.pdf From cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org Mon Aug 27 17:24:58 2012 From: cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org (Cornie Huizenga) Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:24:58 +0200 Subject: [sustran] Re: Extending Sustran In-Reply-To: References: <50376330.63df440a.3d07.ffffdd5dSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com> <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> Message-ID: Daniel, Good points, especially on the mix between professional and private networks. Cornie On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 3:13 PM, Bongardt, Daniel GIZ CN < daniel.bongardt@giz.de> wrote: > Hi Eric and Carlos, > I like facebook and google plus as networks and the extended audiance. A > problem here in China is that both networks are blocked by the government. > In addition, we might have to consider the target group, i myself still > struggle a bit with facebook as it mixes my professional and private > network. > Best > Daniel > > Check out: www.tdm-beijing.org > > > Am 24.08.2012 um 20:41 schrieb "Carlosfelipe Pardo" < > carlosfpardo@gmail.com>: > > > Hi Eric, > > > > I think Facebook is good as a social networking site, but not as an > > archive of discussions. I love the fact that I can search something in > > the sustran archive, because many people are always giving many useful > > links or anecdotes or references that sometimes I've needed to support > > an argument. Facebook wouldn't have that capability, I think it is too > > ephemeral for these discussions... unless we want to have ephemeral > > discussions, in which case I'd suggest we do a Facebook page for that > > purpose. > > > > Carlos. > > > > On 24/08/2012 06:18 a.m., eric britton wrote: > >> Dear Sustraners, > >> > >> > >> > >> Here's an idea which I put before you for your comments and > suggestions. It > >> involves a Facebook Sustran Global South page which we set up at > >> http://www.facebook.com/groups/worldstreets/ and which we propose as a > >> possible complement to the original Sustran-Discuss site launched in the > >> late nineties at > http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss. I > >> personally have no fixed ideas on this, but let me share with you my > >> thoughts. > >> > >> > >> > >> Hate or love Facebook we at least are finding that it is a valuable > tool and > >> part of our overall communications strategy. The software behind the > pages > >> that we work with is being steadily improved, and we are finding it a > lot > >> more efficient than the Yahoo Groups fora that we started to set up > already > >> in the mid-nineties. I like that it permits the easy exchange of > images, > >> photographs, and videos , as well as handling html pretty well, all of > which > >> makes a nice addition. > >> > >> > >> > >> The popular original Sustran-Discuss Forum offers a fine collaborative > >> platform for exchanging information, ideas and comments and serves us > well > >> for peer exchanges in matters involving specifically sustainable > transport > >> in the Global South for more than a dozen years now. But as we have > seen in > >> linking the main World Streets site (www.WorldStreets.org) to a > parallel > >> Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/worldstreets, there is good > >> potential for creative interaction between the two which increases both > the > >> reach and the depth of the discussions. The W/S Facebook page, for > example, > >> currently brings in an additional 1453 (as of this morning) cogent > minds to > >> the issues. > >> > >> > >> > >> Today and without really trying we have a modest 67 members on the > Sustran > >> page, but it is at least a start. Again, my hope is that the two > devices > >> will enhance and support each other. > >> > >> > >> > >> I look forward to your reactions and suggestions on this. If you have > >> questions, let me try to answer them here or directly to me via > >> eric.britton@ecoplan.org. > >> > >> > >> > >> Eric Britton > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> _____________________________________________________________ > >> > >> Francis Eric Knight-Britton, Managing Director / Editor > >> > >> New Mobility Partnerships | > >> World Streets | > >> The Equity/Transport Project > >> > >> 9, rue Gabillot 69003 Lyon France | T. +339 8326 9459| M. +336 > 5088 > >> 0787 | E. eric.britton@ecoplan.org | > >> S. newmobility > >> > >> 9440 Readcrest Drive. Los Angeles, CA 90210 | Tel. +1 213 985 > 3501 | > >> eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: ericbritton > >> > >> > >> > >> P Avant d'imprimer, pensez ? l'environnement > >> > >> > >> > >> -------------------------------------------------------- > >> To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > >> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > >> > >> ================================================================ > >> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, > equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries > (the 'Global South'). > >> > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > > > ================================================================ > > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, > equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries > (the 'Global South'). > ________________________________ > Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH; > Sitz der Gesellschaft Bonn und Eschborn/Registered offices Bonn and > Eschborn, Germany; > Registergericht/Registered at Amtsgericht Bonn, Germany; > Eintragungs-Nr./Registration no. HRB 18384 und/and Amtsgericht Frankfurt am > Main, Germany; Eintragungs-Nr./Registration no. HRB 12394; > USt-IdNr./VAT ID no. DE 113891176; > Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats/Chairman of the Supervisory Board: > Hans-Juergen Beerfeltz, Staatssekretaer/State Secretary; > Vorstand/Management Board: Tanja Goenner (Vorstandssprecherin/Chair of the > Management Board), Dr. Christoph Beier (Stellv. > Vorstandssprecher/Vice-Chair of the Management Board), Tom Paetz, Dr. > Hans-Joachim Preuss, Cornelia Richter > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, > equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries > (the 'Global South'). > -- Cornie Huizenga Joint Convener Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport Mobile: +86 13901949332 cornie.huizenga@slocatpartnership.org www.slocat.net From eric.britton at ecoplan.org Tue Aug 28 00:18:36 2012 From: eric.britton at ecoplan.org (eric britton) Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 17:18:36 +0200 Subject: [sustran] Extending Sustran In-Reply-To: References: <50376330.63df440a.3d07.ffffdd5dSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com> <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> Message-ID: <00ba01cd8467$3d04b8f0$b70e2ad0$@britton@ecoplan.org> Dear Sustran Friends, Your responses are fascinating; it was good to hear them. But the idea was neither to sell a technology or an approach. It was simply to tell you more about one small thing we are doing here to support sustainable transport and sustainable cities in the Global South. Whatever you may think or know about Facebook or social media, I can attest that it is working quite well for us, warts and all. If you think it might be an idea, you are invited to check it out at http://www.facebook.com/groups/worldstreets. And that's all there is to it. Eric Britton _____________________________________________________________ Francis Eric Knight-Britton, Managing Director / Editor New Mobility Partnerships | World Streets | The Equity/Transport Project 9, rue Gabillot 69003 Lyon France | T. +339 8326 9459| M. +336 5088 0787 | E. eric.britton@ecoplan.org | S. newmobility 9440 Readcrest Drive. Los Angeles, CA 90210 | Tel. +1 213 985 3501 | eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: ericbritton ? Avant d'imprimer, pensez ? l'environnement From operations at velomondial.net Tue Aug 28 00:20:16 2012 From: operations at velomondial.net (Pascal van den Noort) Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 17:20:16 +0200 Subject: [sustran] Re: Extending Sustran In-Reply-To: <00ba01cd8467$3d04b8f0$b70e2ad0$@britton@ecoplan.org> References: <50376330.63df440a.3d07.ffffdd5dSMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com> <50377658.4080700@gmail.com> <00ba01cd8467$3d04b8f0$b70e2ad0$@britton@ecoplan.org> Message-ID: <43FB9617-3824-4B2E-94E5-A022C8268A99@velomondial.net> We will follow whatever you do Eric :-) Pascal J.W. van den Noort Executive Director Velo Mondial, A Micro Multi-National operations@velomondial.net +31206270675 landline +31627055688 mobile phone Velo Mondial's Blog Search Button Booklet Click here for information on urban mobility issues you always wanted to have On 27 aug. 2012, at 17:18, "eric britton" wrote: > Dear Sustran Friends, > > Your responses are fascinating; it was good to hear them. But the idea was neither to sell a technology or an approach. It was simply to tell you more about one small thing we are doing here to support sustainable transport and sustainable cities in the Global South. > > Whatever you may think or know about Facebook or social media, I can attest that it is working quite well for us, warts and all. > > If you think it might be an idea, you are invited to check it out at http://www.facebook.com/groups/worldstreets. > > And that's all there is to it. > > Eric Britton > > > _____________________________________________________________ > Francis Eric Knight-Britton, Managing Director / Editor > New Mobility Partnerships | World Streets | The Equity/Transport Project > 9, rue Gabillot 69003 Lyon France | T. +339 8326 9459| M. +336 5088 0787 | E. eric.britton@ecoplan.org | S. newmobility > 9440 Readcrest Drive. Los Angeles, CA 90210 | Tel. +1 213 985 3501 | eric.britton@newmobility.org | Skype: ericbritton > > ? Avant d'imprimer, pensez ? l'environnement > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > To search the archives of sustran-discuss visit > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=014715651517519735401:ijjtzwbu_ss > > ================================================================ > 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 sudhir at cai-asia.org Tue Aug 28 18:27:53 2012 From: sudhir at cai-asia.org (Sudhir Gota) Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2012 17:27:53 +0800 Subject: [sustran] HCM City plans to ban old motorbikes in circulation Message-ID: Hi All, It seems that HCMC authorities are slowly improving the regulatory mechanisms to control old two wheeler population - http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/environment/25471/hcm-city-plans-to-ban-old-motorbikes-in-circulation.html This is in continuation of earlier discussion on control of private vehicles in Vietnam - http://www.lookatvietnam.com/2012/03/deputy-pm-advocates-restricted-use-of-private-vehicles.html It is interesting - *"**it would be better not to set up regulations based on the number of years a motorbike has been in use, but on the mileage. The principle has been applied in many other countries already" -* I am not sure if they mean mileage as "activity" or "KMT" or if such regulatory mechanisms are used in developing countries. Generally its either registration on age or restrictions based on street access. regards Sudhir