This is the second of a two-part article by Charles Komanoff, activist, energy-economist and policy analyst, looking at goals and tools for finding the right strategy for implementing some form of congesting charging measures in New York City’s crowded streets. He invites comment on his proposed “Balance Transportation Analyzer” tool.
Wanted: Crowd-Sourced Transportation Analysis
Tag Archives: Contributors
Authors and colleagues who have taken the time to share their thoughts and work with us.
Time to make bus travel free, says Friends of the Earth
– By Ekklesia reporter. Feb 6, 2019 – http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/27675
The latest government figures show that transport was the largest source of climate changing greenhouse gases in the UK. Transport, mostly passenger cars, makes up more than a third of total emissions.
To coincide with the publication of these figures, Friends of the Earth, along with researchers at think-tank Transport for Quality of Life have released new research: Transforming public transport: Regulation, spending and free buses for the under 30s. The findings show that for climate change reasons at least a 20 per cent reduction in car journeys is necessary, even with a faster switch to electrics cars and a more rapid decarbonisation of the electricity grid. This reduction requires a radical re-imagining of transport which would also realise the numerous other benefits of traffic reduction, for example to public health.
Mike Childs, Head of Research at Friends of the Earth, said: “It’s an idea whose time has well and truly arrived. Free bus travel for the under 30’s at first, before widening the scheme, would make for more livable cities and cut damaging greenhouse gas emissions.”
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WORLD STREETS HOT SPOTS AS OF 11/01/2019
Map identifying the points of origin of registered hits of the World Streets WordPress website as of 11 January 2019 – https://worldstreets.wordpress.com/
CLIMATE EMERGENCY ACTION PLAN? THE NEW MOBILITY AGENDA
WORLD STREETS 3.0 WATCHING BRIEFS: 2018-2020
Paris. 28 May 2018 update:
For the latest – v. 3.0 – edition of our long term collaborative and action program, we decided first to review the work accomplished and lesson learned over the first decade (i.e., World Streets v. 1.0, March 2008- March 2018) — and select from that collective learning experience a set of ten strategic policy targets that we intend to propose and support as possible to advance these key elements, building blocks if you will, of what we call the New Mobility Agenda over the coming near term 2018-2020 period.
Below you will find the ten briefs thus far selected, with corresponding URL’s that will take you to a first round of introductory information and further background on each selected policy challenge. As you will immediately see, this is a very eclectic group — and here below are our proposed collaborative projects we intend to discuss, promote and work to advance over the next three years .
On Principles of Efficient Congestion Pricing (William Vickrey)
William Spenser Vickrey, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, is considered the father of Congestion Pricing. He first proposed it in 1952, for the New York City subway system, recommending that fares be increased in peak times and in high-traffic sections and be lowered in others. Elected officials considered it risky at the time, and the technology was not ready. Later, he made a similar proposal for road pricing.
This review was written in 1992 by Todd Litman, executive director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, to summarize some of the defining principles set out in Vickerey’s extensive path-breaking early extensive pathbreaking contributions which in many ways defined the field. This essay can be found in its original form in the website of the Institute at http://www.vtpi.org/vickrey.htm.
Op-Ed: On-street parking fees despite zero public transport?
Can on-street parking fees really help places with poor public transport?
– Paul Barter, Adjunct Associate Professor, LKY School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
I was asked this many times in Pune, India, while I was there on mission three weeks ago*. Parking is a hot topic in this Maharashtra city of about 5 million people because many Pune streets have extreme parking problems and because the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has a new and progressive draft parking policy awaiting approval. However, public transport in Pune remains unappealing for vehicle owners. Hence the question.
The short answer is yes!
Victoria Transport Policy Institute. Spring 2017 Newsletter
This carefully compiled seasonal report from Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute is a fine tool and up to date source guide for researchers and policy makers worldwide. We are pleased to present it in its entirety here, together with references you will find handy to take these entries further.
2017 PLANNERS BOOKSHELF : PARKING
– Paul Barter, Adjunct Professor, School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
* Latest online version at https://goo.gl/SWvxvE.)
PRIMERS:
- Parking Basics (ITDP) at https://www.itdp.org/parking-basics/ Short and to the point. Initially meant for Indian audience but suited to much wider audience.
- On-Street Parking Management (GIZ SUTP). (English, Spanish Chinese) – https://goo.gl/CScQTX
- Parking Reforms: (D. Shoup) http://www.shoupdogg.com/reforms/
Sustainable Transport Planners Bookshelf (intro)
In support of the Better Choices process we are working hard to develop an open on-line library resource with select references on sources intended to be useful to planners, local government, decision makers, operators, the media, students, and concerned elements of civil society. These documents and references are being selected with the counsel of leading international authorities in our field.
For latest information on the Better Choices: Bringing Sustainable Transport to Smaller Asian Cities project, of which the Bookshelf is one part, click to https://goo.gl/qN85st
Equity, Efficiency and the Invisible Transportation Majority
That old transport paradigm, the one we are still living with today, is far too narrow in terms of the range and quality of people targeted and services offered, and in the process fails to serve what is — in fact — the transpiration majority.
Victoria Transport Policy Institute. Fall 2016 Newsletter
This carefully compiled seasonal report from Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute is a fine tool and up to date source guide for researchers and policy makers worldwide. We are pleased to present it in its entirety here, together with references you will find handy to take these entries further. Thanks Todd for your fine continuing contributions. You are definitely part of the solution.
Malaysian scholar on Transport and Land Use comments on The Battle of Penang
SRS projects vs. Penang Forum call for new Transport Master Plan
Translated from Chinese interview of Ahmad Hilmy, transport and city planning scholar from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), which appeared in the China Press of August 13, 2016. Mr. Hilmi closes the interview by stating frankly his recommendation that “the government engage independent experts to study both the proposals by SRS and the NGOs, based on best scientific estimates of construction cost, acquisition cost, maintenance and operation cost, life cycle, opportunity costs and externalities, ridership, environmental and life quality impacts, cultural and heritage issues, impacts on vulnerable populations, etc., instead of keep on arguing.
For full background on the fast-growing struggle to create a sustainable transport system for Penang. we direct you to The NGO Challenge Dialogue at http://wp.me/p3GVVk-xJ. The picture is rather murky at first due to considerable obfuscation on the part of the current administration, but if you are interested please take the time to work your way down through that top right menu section also entitled NGO Challenge Dialogue. You make up your mind, and if you have any comments, corrections or suggestions these pages are entirely open.
David Provoost, ISG 2016: On Understanding the Link between Sustainable Development and Big Data for Business
“Big Data” is a term referring to all the massive amount of information with which people can work in this 21st Century. It is fundamentally different from the casual denomination of “simple” or “historic” data because there is such a huge mass of information generated with Big Data that normal tools of treatment cannot deal with it. This change in the data itself is due to the technological revolution we call “digitalization”.
Op-ed: LLoyd Wright In Response to Free Public Transport?
Following up on Simon Norton comments here of 2016/08/07
“Public Space” is generally mostly free. This includes footpaths, parks, and town squares. If one advocates charging for public transport, it would seem most of the same arguments would apply to public space. And yet few would actually support such a position, principally on grounds of equity.
There are also ways to make public transport funded on a sustainable basis while making it free to the user. There are cities which utilize a parking levy to completely cover all public transport costs.
Such modal funding transfers also carry a great deal of appropriateness when one considers the actual societal costs brought by private motor vehicle use and the actual societal benefits of collective transport.
World Streets Reader Favorites: 2009-2016
What do the 4,448 readers (today) turn to when they check into Word Streets in the morning? It never fails to surprise us. The variety of choice is enormous, and it often happens that articles which we consider minor if still interesting suddenly take off, because it turns out that our readers make up their own minds for their own reasons. Take the most read posting over the last half-dozen years for example — Why Free Public Transport is perhaps a bad idea. We thought it was an interesting and timely topic, but never suspected the depth of interest and that in time it would attract more than ten thousand readers. And what is more continue to show up on the most read list day after day.
In any event once a year we sit down and review the most popular articles going all the way back to the first one published in March 2009, and share the top contenders with our readers and anyone who might be curious about what sort of thing shows up here. In this spirit you will find below the most consulted articles of more than 1,720 that have appeared in these pages. These are the issues that our 4,455 readers in 149 countries on all continents show they care about.
Is World Streets doing its job? (USA)
* We asked 100 international experts for their views. 101 have responded.
Professor Elizabeth Deakin wrote…
I am a regular reader of World Streets. I also pass along articles from the website to my graduate students.
The work is of high quality and it puts us in touch with other researchers and practitioners in the field of sustainable development and transport.
It provides a much-needed service and cuts through the media overload to the essentials.
And in 2016, seven years after the appearance of its first edition in spring 2009, it’s as needed as ever.
Elizabeth Deakin, Berkeley CA USA
Professor Emerita of city & regional planning and urban design
College of Environmental Design. University of California, Berkeley
First co-director of UC Berkeley Global Metropolitan Studies Initiative and first Director of the University of California Transportation Research Center
URL: http://ced.berkeley.edu/ced/faculty-staff/elizabeth-deakin
IS WORLD STREETS DOING ITS JOB? (We asked 100 international experts for their views.)
Brainstorming the Penang Transport Master Plan(s)
Draft introduction: Welcome to a collaborative thinking exercise inviting any and all who may have some questions about the focus, the vision and in the end the quality of future mobility services as being proposed and aggressively pushed by the state government of Penang. The central instrument for this group investigative process is a group of poster illustrations which combine simple images and a few telling words in order test our understanding of the Penang Transport Master Plan — all this as prepared for the recent Gertak Sanggul Art Festival by Kin Yin and a group of young collaborators (who will be identified shortly in the final section of this first presentation).
Whitelegg: Not nearly enough from India (So please contact us!)
Morning rush hour in Kolkata
Professor John Whitelegg writes in the lead editorial of the latest edition of World Transport Policy & Practice (WTPP Vol 21, No. 4, February 2016) *:
India has been in the news a lot in recent months mainly for its poor air quality, deaths and injuries on the roads and the serious damage this does to quality of life, family life and the economy. In the 23 years of World Transport Policy & Practice (WTPP) we have not carried enough material by Indian authors and want to use this editorial to encourage more submissions from that country.
WORLD STREETS __ A New Mobility Action Plan for 2022 