1. TRANSPORT AT EARTH SUMMIT II NEGOTIATIONS

A transportation caucus has been active at the preparations for the forthcoming Earth Summit II in New York. The transportation caucus has been co-chaired by the Institute of Transport and Development Policy - ITDP (Deike Peters) and the International Union of Public Transport - UITP (represented by Andy Anderson of London Transport).

At this stage the Earth Summit II statement which is being negotiated is a poor reflection of current thinking on sustainable transport and portrays the increased demand for transportation into the next century as an inevitability. There are only general statements about making transport more environmentally friendly, largely through a technological approach. The Declaration does nothing to challenge the global rapid growth in car use, the associated demand for energy and raw resources to feed an automotive dependant society, and does not emphasise the importance of reducing the need to travel by car and support other modes.

There are a few days left for negotiation in June. If anyone is planning to attend or can offer help, please contact: Deike Peters mobility@igc.apc.org or Andy Anderson Andy_Anderson@LTPlanning.ccmail.compuserve.com.

2. SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT CAPACITY BUILDING SEMINAR IN BANGKOK

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in association with the Netherlands Government is organising an intensive 5-day capacity building seminar on Integrated Policy Planning and Sustainable Transport Development. The seminar will be held in Bangkok on 2 to 6 June 1997, and will draw on the experience of several very senior resource people from the Netherlands. Practical examples, including the recent experiences of the Netherlands and Bangkok will be used to illustrate the concepts of result-oriented, comprehensive, integrated policy making and its application to transport.
[Contact: Dr M. Rahmatullah, Director, Transport, Communications and Tourism Division, UN-ESCAP, Fax: +662 280 6042].

3. MELBOURNE ROAD CONTROVERSIES

The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) in Melbourne, Australia is leading a coalition of environment groups trying to stop a proposed American-style ring-freeway around Melbourne. An environment effects statement is currently being prepared for the "Scoresby Freeway", the first stage of the road. Around half a dozen well-attended public meetings have been held on the issue so far. PTUA members (as individuals) are also involved in court action directed against the private promoters of Melbourne's giant City Link tollway, which competes directly with public transport. The court challenge, which seeks to strip the project of taxation concessions granted by the previous Federal Labor government, will be heard in the Federal Court in Melbourne on Friday 16 May. A parallel challenge to the project under the Trade Practices Act is due for a Federal Court hearing on 11 June.
[Contact: Paul Mees, Public Transport Users Association, Melbourne mees@coombs.anu.edu.au].

4. POLICE ON BICYCLES GATHER MOMENTUM

In its "Cities for Climate Protection" series of case-study information sheets, the International Council for Local Environment Initiatives (ICLEI) has profiled the Dayton Bicycle Police Patrol. Officials in this US town have found that putting some of their police officers on bicycles not only saves the city a great deal of money and reduces pollution but has also facilitated very effective policing and has improved the relationship between police and members of the public. Having police on bikes has also helped to promote the use of bicycles by other residents. These experiences have been common to many of the large number of police departments around the world which have adopted bicycle patrols since the early 1980s (including 1,200 in North America alone). There are now two international organisations which are sharing these experiences: the International Police Mountain Bike Association (IPMBA) and the Law Enforcement Bicyclists Association (LEBA). Dayton's Bike Patrol and IPMBA have developed a "Police Cyclist Course" which is being used to train students from law enforcement agencies worldwide.
[Source: ICLEI Case Study No. 42; Contacts: ICLEI: 8th Floor, East Tower, City Hall, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 2N2, Fax: +1 416 392 1478; IPMBA, 190 W. Ostend Street, Suite 120, Baltimore, Maryland, USA 212230, Fax: +1 410 539 3496; LEBA, 1816 North 53rd Street, Seattle, Washington, USA.]

5. SUSTRAN E-MAIL DISCUSSION LIST HAS STARTED

With the kind help of Yukihiro YASUDA of Japan Computer Access (JCA) and Obet Verzola of SURIAN in the Philippines, we have finally started the sustran-discuss list. This is an e-mail based discussion list which means that any message sent to the list address goes to everyone who is subscribed to the list. This allows discussions to occur among a large number of people all over the world. At the moment about 150 people are subscribed, including many of you.

The list is devoted to discussions related to the promotion of "people-centred and sustainable transport", primarily in Asia and the Pacific. The list can sometimes be busy, so be prepared to be selective and to ignore or delete messages which don't interest you. Some of the main topics discussed in the first two weeks include: the new car co-operatives which are springing up in Canada, Europe, Singapore and elsewhere; poverty alleviation and basic mobility; identifying where the most interesting transport innovations are taking place; and announcements of events and new resources.

There are TWO OPTIONS for joining the list. You can join either the ORDINARY sustran-discuss list or the DIGEST list, sustran-discuss-digest. In the ordinary list you receive individual messages from the list - sometimes several per day. In the digest version, messages get compiled together into one long message which will be sent to you at intervals - usually about once every day or every few days. If you don't like getting a lot of e-mails then the digest version may be for you. You still get exactly the same information as the ordinary list but in a bundled format.

To subscribe to the sustran-discuss list, send a message to: majordomo@jca.ax.apc.org with the BODY (not subject) of the message being: subscribe sustran-discuss

OR to subscribe to the DIGEST version of the list, use the same address, majordomo@jca.ax.apc.org but with the BODY (not subject) of the message being: subscribe sustran-discuss-digest

You will then automatically receive instructions on how to participate.

6. MORE CONFERENCES

a. 1998 International Conference on Traffic and Transportation Studies. July 27-29, Beijing. Organised by the School of Traffic and Transportation, Northern Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China. Abstracts of 500 words are requested by 20 August, 1997.
[Contact: bhmao@center.njtu.edu.cn].

b. The 2nd Conference of Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies December 6, 1997. Deadline for submission of 400-500 word abstract is 31 May 1997. [Contact: Dr. William H.K. Lam, Department of Civil & Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Fax: +852 2334 6389, e-mail: cehklam@hkpucc.polyu.edu.hk].

c. The first International Trails and Greenways Conference, San Diego January 28-31, 1998, organised by the Rails to Trails Conservancy, a US-based organisation dedicated to creating integrated trail networks from former rail corridors and other open space. [Contact: rtcconf@transact.org].

7. QUICK FACTS

Premium Gasoline Prices at the Pump (in approx. $US per litre, 1993):
Japan $1.33; Netherlands $1.14; Hong Kong, France $1.06;
UK $0.92; South Korea $0.77; Singapore $0.69; Taiwan $0.61;
New Zealand $0.57; Australia $0.49; Malaysia $0.41;
Philippines, Indonesia, United States $0.36;
Thailand $0.30; China $0.28
[Source: graph in World Bank (1996) Sustainable Transport: Priorities for Policy Reform, p. 92).

8. LIGHTER SIDE

Carl Reiner: "What was the main mode of transportation 2000 years ago?"
Mel Brooks: "Fear."
From "The 2000 Year Old Man".