8 March 2000 Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (SUSTRAN) Dr A. Rahman Paul BARTER P.O. Box 11501, Kuala Lumpur 50748, Malaysia. TEL/FAX: +60 3 2274 2590 E-mail: sustran@po.jaring.my Web: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2853/ CONTENTS
The SUSTRAN Network is hoping to hold a meeting of members of the SUSTRAN Assembly in Jakarta on June 1, 2000. The SUSTRAN Assembly is the core formal membership of the SUSTRAN Network. The meeting is being arranged in order to tie in with the Conference on Sustainable Transportation & Clean Air, being held in Jakarta from May 29 to 31 . ALL CURRENT MEMBERS OF THE SUSTRAN ASSEMBLY who can attend on those dates (May 29 to 1 June) are urged to IMMEDIATELY contact us (sustran@po.jaring.my) so that we can try to arrange funding to get you to these meetings in Jakarta. See http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran/net.html for the list of current SUSTRAN Assembly members. If you are already funded to attend or if you can fund yourself then this would be very helpful. The Registration fee for the Conference on Sustainable Transportation & Clean Air is US$300 (if paid before 10 May 2000) and US$350 (if paid after 10 May 2000). You are not a member of the SUSTRAN Assembly? Do not despair! Other organisations that are active in promoting people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport in developing countries can apply to join the SUSTRAN Assembly and apply to attend the meetings in Jakarta (subject to certain conditions). Please contact us quickly to apply and to discuss the options for getting your representative to the meetings. Again, if you can fund yourself it would be very helpful. We will need to move quickly if additional fundraising becomes necessary so please respond quickly - at the latest by 20 March, 2000. 2. COMMUNITY ACTION GUIDE TO TRANSPORT ISSUES The SUSTRAN Network's new book, entitled "Taking Steps: A Community Action Guide to People-centred, Equitable and Sustainable Transport." has just been published. This 120-page book provides a reference and guide to people-centred, equitable and sustainable urban transport. It is written especially to demystify urban transport issues for non-experts. The focus is on developing countries, especially in Asia. PLEASE CONTACT THE SUSTRAN NETWORK SECRETARIAT (sustran@po.jaring.my) FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO ORDER. The Guide includes introductions to: * Why we should worry about urban transport * Basic principles of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport * What is happening in Asian urban transport * How we can move towards better urban transport (with examples) * What we can do (as communities, organisations, businesses and individuals) * Tools for action (A to Z of transport terms, directory of contacts, lists of readings and web resources) The SUSTRAN Network runs on a tiny budget but we are able to provide a very limited number of free copies to non-profit organisations who cannot afford to pay. For all others, the minimum contribution per copy is RM 30 (inside Malaysia) or US$ 15 (from outside Malaysia). These contributions include the cost of postage and handling. 3. PEDICABS UNDER ATTACK IN JAKARTA: ACTIVISTS ARRESTED There have been dramatic developments in the campaign to persuade the Jakarta authorities to allow becaks (pedicabs) to continue to operate in Jakarta (see previous report in SUSTRAN News Flash #35, Dec 11, 1999 for background). On 17 February six becak drivers representing some 130 fellow drivers lodged a class-action civil lawsuit against Governor Sutiyoso demanding that the governor allow pedicab drivers to operate in housing complexes and markets in the capital. The filing of the lawsuit was witnessed by 150 pedicab drivers. The pedicab drivers allege that Governor Sutiyoso was inconsistent in his policy on pedicabs in the city. Bylaw No. 11/1988 rules that pedicabs are banned in the city, but on June 25 last year, Governor Sutiyoso decided to allow pedicab drivers to operate in the city due to the economic crisis. However, shortly afterward the governor reversed his decision leading to the confiscation of numerous pedicabs by city officials, sometimes through violence. "Even President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Jan. 23 that pedicabs were allowed to operate in housing complexes here," the lawsuit says. On Monday 28 February, several activists, including Ms Wardah Hafidz from Urban Poor Consortium (UPC)and Mr Edi Saidi, Mr Afrizal, Mr Congki, and Mr Anto were arrested by Jakarta Police outside the Presidential Palace for demonstrating with about 100 becak drivers against the Governor's policies on becaks. They were charged and convicted of participating in an "illegal" rally. More than 200 becak drivers showed up at Tuesday's hearing in support to the defendants. At the hearing, the defendants rejected all the charges, denying the legality of the 1998 law. "The law is a product of a regime that didn't appreciate its residents' rights to deliver their opinion," said Wardah. Please write letters urging that (1) pedicabs be allowed to operate in housing areas and markets of Jakarta; (2) that confiscations of pedicabs should stop (at least pending the outcome of the pedicab drivers' law suit); and (3) that the pedicab drivers' right to demonstrate be respected. Letters can be sent to: Mr. Sutiyoso, Gubernur Kepala Daerah Tingkat I Jakarta Jl. Merdeka Selatan No. 8 - 9, Jakarta 10110, Indonesia. Fax: +62 (21) 389-8653 and DPRD Jakarta (Jakarta Regional House of Representative) Jl. Kebon Sirih No. 18, Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia. Fax: +62 (21) 350-8781 4. MAJOR NEW URBAN TRANSPORT DATA PUBLICATION Recently published "AN INTERNATIONAL SOURCEBOOK OF AUTOMOBILE DEPENDENCE IN CITIES, 1960-1990" by Jeff Kenworthy and Felix Laube, with Peter Newman, Paul A. Barter, Tamim Raad, Chamlong Poboon and Benedicto Guia (Jr). University Press of Colorado, 737 pages, 130 colour maps, 29 tables, 35 illustrations; ISBN 0-87081-523-7, US$125.00, JULY, 1999. This book provides a large reliable digest of urban data about land use, private and public transportation, energy use in transport, environment and economics. The book sets out detailed data on forty-six metropolitan areas in the United States, Australia, Canada, western Europe, and Asia for 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990. The Asian cities covered are: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Seoul, Surabaya. Each city represented in the book has its own set of colour maps showing the various territorial boundaries and shape of the metropolitan area, the urbanised areas of the region, the freeway system and all the fixed track rail and bus-way systems. [Contact: Todd Adcock at University of Oklahoma Press. Email: mtadcock@ou.edu] 5. BOGOTÁ MAKES HISTORY WITH CAR FREE DAY Bogotá became the first major city in the "Global South" to hold a car free day on Thursday, 24 February 2000. Mayor Enrique Penalosa declared Thursday an auto-free day to force people to think about improving life in this traffic-choked metropolis. From 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., all private vehicles, including private cars, motorcycles, big trucks and sport utility vehicles, were barred from the capital. Very few drivers defied the order. The Mayor led a morning caravan of cyclists through quiet streets. Newscasts showed government ministers boarding buses. City Hall said traffic accidents fell from the daily average of 120 to 25, a drop of 79 percent. There were no injuries. Bogotá, a city of 6.4 million people, averages three traffic fatalities a day. Surveys show 65 percent of Bogotá residents supported the car-free day. The Bogotá authorities have had impressive help and support from many supporters around the world, rallied especially by Eric Britton of Ecoplan in Paris. For more details see http://www.ecoplan.org/carfreeday/ or contact Eric.Britton@ecoplan.org 6. WORLD CAR-FREE DAY: A PROPOSAL If you are inspired by Bogotá's example, CAR BUSTERS (in Prague, carbusters@ecn.cz) has put out a proposal for an annual World Car-Free Day for September 21. The idea is to expand upon the September 22 governmental European Car-Free Day, which will be truly European for the first time this year. The World Car-Free Day would fall on the day before, a Thursday, which, according to years of experience with car-free days, is the optimum day on which to hold such an event (see http://www.ecoplan.org/carfreeday/ for the report "Thursday: Breakthrough Strategies for Reducing Car Dependence in Cities"). Every aspect of this proposal is up for debate, elaboration and change. No one is going to copyright World Car-Free Day; it will be up to everyone to decide locally what they want to do with the idea. Please send in your feedback! 7. ANTI-SMOKE BELCHER CAMPAIGN IN MANILA A campaign against smoke belchers, as traffic polluting vehicles are known in the Philippines, was launched at the Asian Development Bank on 21 February. The campaign includes government authorities, heads of major bus, jeepney and truck organisations and representatives from civil society. The Bantay Usok (Guard Against Smoke) campaign is part of the ongoing US$300 million ADB-supported Metro Manila Air Quality Improvement Sector Development Program. A Swiss NGO, Swisscontact, will also begin a program to help transport organisations to improve vehicle maintenance in order to reduce fuel consumption and emission levels. An official website for the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Clean Air Act (http://www.hangin.org) was also launched. At least 70 percent of Manila's air pollution is caused by traffic. [Source: press release from the Asian Development Bank]. 8. DELHI DEBATES DIESEL VERSUS CNG There is heated debate in Delhi over moves to allow the registration of only commercial vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG). The Supreme Court in 1998 ordered that all buses over eight years old should move to CNG from April 1, 2000 and all buses should be running on CNG by March 2001. The court is also hearing a case recommending a ban on private diesel cars in Delhi. The Delhi government has followed up on the court order with a proposal to register only buses, taxis and autorickshaws that run on CNG from April 1, 2000. In response, scientists at the TATA Energy Research Institute (TERI) have said that this proposal will promote global warming. The Director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in New Delhi, Mr Anil Agarwal, has attacked the TERI position. He points to particulate matter as the city's main air pollution problem. Pollution due to PM 10 particles - particles with a diameter less than 10 microns - reach 820 microgrammes per cubic metre on some days in the city's ambient air. He points out that even in US states like New York and California (which contribute to global warming at rates many times higher than Delhi) local health concerns have taken precedence over global concerns leading to the purchase of more CNG buses. He alleges that TERI is acting as a part of the automobile lobby's efforts to block the introduction of CNG in Delhi. Mr Agarwal points out that a TATA company - TELCO - is a leader in the pro-diesel lobby. [Contact: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), 41 Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi 110-062, India. Tel: 91 11 698-1110, 698-1124, 698-3394, 698-6399, Fax: 91 11 698 5879, Email: cse@cseindia.org, Web: http://www.cseindia.org or www.oneworld.org/cse] 9. MUMBAI EVICTIONS OF RAILWAY SLUM-DWELLERS We have learned with great alarm from the Asian Coalition and its partner federation in India, the Railway Slum Dwellers Federation (RSDF), about recent evictions of slum dwellers living along the railway tracks in Mumbai. This is particularly disappointing since over the past five years Mumbai's state-of-the-art resettlement policy for railway slum dwellers has been watched with great enthusiasm around the world. The effective working partnerships between urban poor federations and various government agencies have exemplified enlightened governance. The model resettlement project along the Central Railway line at Kanjurmarg has been presented as a case study at the United Nations World Habitat Awards in Japan, and is scheduled to be visited by US President Mr. Bill Clinton later this year. Maharashtra State Law guarantees every slum dweller residing in their community before the cut-off date of January 1, 1995 protection against eviction and entitles them to a secure, 225-sq. ft. dwelling on the same site, or close by. It is therefore shocking to learn of the eviction of hundreds of poor railway slum families whom this enlightened resettlement policy should be protecting and supporting. Please send letters and faxes to the Maharashtra State Government urging them to stop these illegal evictions at once, and to go back to the negotiating table with their partners in the RSDF, SPARC, the Railways and the SRA. The letters should be addressed to: 1. Mr. Bongirwar, Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, Mantralaya, Mumbai, INDIA Fax Number : (91 22) 202-8594 2. Dr. Joshi, Urban Development Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, Mantralaya, Mumbai, INDIA Fax Number (91 22) 282-9282 3. Mr. Thamal, Housing Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, Mantralaya, Mumbai, INDIA Fax Number : (91 22) 202-5939 [Source: Somsook Boonyabancha, Secretary General, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR), 73 Soi Sonthiwattana 4, Ladprao 110, Ladprao Rd, Bangkok 1030, Thailand. Tel [662] 538 0919, Fax: +662 539 9950, Email: achrsec@email.ksc.net]. 10. BICYCLE DONATIONS TO EAST TIMOR A man from Darwin, Mark Pate, visited Dili twice in early February to distribute about 650 bicycles donated by ordinary Australians. Mr Pate says he has had an excited response to the bikes in Dili and has sent them to rural areas of East Timor as well. He hopes to supply 200,000 bikes to East Timorese residents during the next five years. [Source: Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), 10 Feb 2000]. 11. JAKARTA GOVERNMENT SEEKS NGO INPUT ON TRAFFIC RESTRAINT PLAN The Jakarta government has announced it will include NGO and community representatives in a working group to decide how best to restrain traffic in the city centre. The city administration will establish a working group to seek a replacement for the current traffic restraint system, known as the three-in-one policy, under which vehicles entering the restricted zone in peak hours must have at least 3 occupants. An evaluation of the three-in-one policy was held because it has encouraged children to serve as traffic "jockeys" - offering themselves as passengers for a small fee. The working group's members will consist of city officials, city councillors, community leaders, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI). [Source: The Jakarta Post, City News, March 03, 2000]. 12. WANTED: BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLES The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and the Municipality of Dubai, UAE are again inviting submissions to participate in the 2000 Dubai International Award for Best Practices in Improving the Living Environment. In June 2000, 10 initiatives will be selected to receive the Dubai Award which includes a US$ 30,000 cash prize, a commemorative certificate and a trophy. They are particularly interested in seeing examples of actions and initiatives in transportation. The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2000. [Contact: Bill Kagai, Consultant, Best Practices & Local Leadership Programme, UNCHS (Habitat), P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: +254 2 623456, Fax: +254 2 623080, E-Mail: bestpractices@unchs.org, Web: http://www.sustainabledevelopment.org/blp/awards/ or http://www.bestpractices.org]. 13. RESOURCES See item 2 above for announcement of the SUSTRAN Network's new book "TAKING STEPS: A Community Action Guide to People-centred, Equitable and Sustainable Transport." See item 4 above for announcement of "An International Sourcebook of Automobile Dependence in Cities, 1960-1990" by Jeff Kenworthy and Felix Laube, et al. "Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning: A Guide to Best Practices" by the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute. Available for download at http://www.vtpi.org then select "Pedestrian and Bicycle Issues". "Street Reclaiming - Creating Livable Streets and Viable Communities" by David Engwicht , Pluto Press 1999. "David Engwicht has put together an truly inspiring book full of practical ideas to get things changed, and very useful background information to help you on the way", Caroline Winstone in NZ Sustainable Transport Network Newsletter, Issue 9, February/March 2000. "Balancing the Load: Proceedings of the Asia and Africa Regional Seminars on Gender and Transport", International Forum for Rural Transport and Development. June and July 1999. [Contact: The Forum Secretariat, c/o Intermediate Technology, 150 Southampton Row, London WC1B 5AL, UK. Email: ifrtd@gn.apc.org, Web: http://www.gn.apc.org/ifrtd]. CHANGE OF ADDRESS for Car Busters Magazine: CAR BUSTERS Magazine and Resource Centre, Krátká 26, 100 00 Praha 10, Czech Republic. Tel: +(420) 2-781-08-49 ; Fax: +(420) 2-781-67-27, Email: carbusters@ecn.cz, Web: http://www.antenna.nl/eyfa/cb "Toolkits for Activists: A User's Guide to the Multilateral Development Banks". Download a full-text version of the Toolkits from http://www.bicusa.org or print out an order form from there. Spanish, Russian, Bahasa Indonesian, and Khmer versions are being prepared [Contact: Bank Information Center, 733 15th Street NW, Suite 1126, Washington, DC 20005, USA. phone: +(1 202) 737-7752, fax: +(1 202) 737-1155, e-mail: info@bicusa.org, web site: http://www.bicusa.org]. "Handbook of Transport Modelling" edited by David Hensher and Kenneth Button. Elsevier Science, October 2000, ISBN 0-08-043594-7. US$162. (Part of the Handbooks in Transport series). [Contact: Elsevier Science http://www.elsevier.nl]. "A UN Guide for NGOs" (contacts and services available in the United Nations system). Sept. 1999. [Contact: Tony Hill, UN NGO Liaison Service, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. Tel: +41 22 917 2076, Fax: +41 22 917 0049, ngls@unctad.org] IATSS Research journal from Japan recently had an excellent special issue on Non-Motorised Transport (vol 23 no 2, 1999). Find out more at http://injurypreventionweb.org/iatss/iatss.htm
14. INTERNET RESOURCES
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