14 June 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
1. TRANSPORT AT CSD Transport is to be a key focus of the 9th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) in April 2001. Transport is considered in Agenda 21 in the context of several chapters, including, among others, Chapter 9 on Atmosphere and Chapter 7 on Human Settlements. Over the next twenty years, transportation is expected to be the major driving force behind growing world demand for energy. It is the largest end-user of energy in developed countries and the fastest growing one in most developing countries. (http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/transp.htm) and http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd9/csd9_2001.htm ). 2. ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW SUSTRAN NETWORK SECRETARIAT FROM OCTOBER Starting on 1 October 2000 the Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network) will have a new host for its Secretariat. This decision was one of the highlights of the successful SUSTRAN Network Assembly meeting in Jakarta on 1 June. Pelangi Indonesia will be taking over from the SUSTRAN Resource Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Dr Bambang Susantono, Pelangi's chief transport person, will be coordinating the new secretariat on behalf of the new Indonesian Forum on Transportation (Infortrans), a coalition of Indonesian NGOs and CBOs. Congratulations to Pelangi, to Infortrans and to Bambang. The SUSTRAN Resource Centre will continue to contribute to the network by focusing on research and information services (such as these News Flashes). (Contact: Dr Bambang Susantono, Pelangi Indonesia, Jl. Danau Tondano no. A-4, Jakarta 10210, Indonesia. Fax: +62 21 573-2503, Email: bsantono@pelangi.or.id, Web: http://www.pelangi.or.id) MANY THANKS to all who made the effort to help organise and to attend the SUSTRAN Network Assembly meeting, to Pelangi Indonesia for hosting the meeting, to the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) (http://www.itdp.org) for sponsoring several participants. Thanks also to the organising committee of the excellent and inspiring International Conference on Sustainable Transport and Clean Air for sponsoring several SUSTRAN Network members to attend the conference, which then also allowed them to be able to attend the SUSTRAN meeting. 3. CAR FREE ASIAN CITIES ON EARTH DAY Sixteen cities in South Korea went "car-free" on April 23rd to celebrate Earth Day. In Seoul a major thoroughfare, Sejong Street, and the surrounding area was filled with an environmental fair, including a bicycle parade and environmental art exhibit, to draw attention to air pollution problems. Japan, Indonesia and Nepal also participated in car-free days as part of an Asian focus on air pollution. See http://www.gnet.org/Coldfusion/News_Page2.cfm?NewsID=10000 4. HANOI PUBLIC TRANSPORT PLAN STALLS An ambitious plan for buses to meet one-third of Hanoi's public transport needs by the end of this year has stalled due to lack of funds. Currently only 300 buses run in Hanoi and (partly due to fare leakage) all three-bus companies rely on sideline businesses such as children's toys, garaging cars and operating maintenance workshops to help run their services. (see April 19 message on the sustran-discuss list at http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran/discussion.htm). 5. FUEL PRICE WOES IN NIGERIA AND INDONESIA A 50% rise in fuel prices in NIGERIA in early June sparked riots and a general strike across the south-western part of Nigeria. Today the Government has relented and will now impose a much smaller price rise. Indonesia is also struggling again with the thorny issue of its huge subsidy on fuels. It is an enormous drain on Government resources at a time of continuing economic crisis. And most of the benefits of the subsidy seem to go to the wealthier parts of the population. Yet no-one seems to have an answer on how to phase out the subsidy without hurting the poor and without endangering the fragile political stability. (See messages on 3 and 14 April, 6 and 9 June 2000 on sustran-discuss at http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran/discussion.htm). 6. MORE WORRY OVER "HO CHI MINH HIGHWAY" Fears over this road project and its potential impacts on Cuc Phuong National Park (NP) were the focus of a dialogue on 17 May at the National Environment Agency organised by the Vietnam Forum of Environmental Journalists (VFEJ). Local environmentalists and international organisations expressed concern over the planned project. (Source: Nguyen Diep Hoa, Forum of Environmental Journalists (VFEJ) and distributed by the Asia Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists (AFEJ) HQ. Fax:(+94-1) 826607, Email: sobacine@sri.lanka.net, http://www.oneworld.org/slejf also see message on May 19, 2000 on sustran-discuss at http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran/discussion.htm) 7. JAPANESE VICTORY FOR ACCESSIBLE TRANSPORT The campaign to win accessible transport for people with disabilities scored a success in JAPAN this year. After a 12-year struggle a "Barrier-free Transportation Act" (albeit still with defects) will be passed in this Diet session in Japan. More information is at http://member.nifty.ne.jp/shojin/ (this was passed on by Topong Kulkhanchit, Access Officer, DPI-Thailand. Email: handipro@loxinfo.co.th) 8. BOGOTÁ AND ECOPLAN WIN STOCKHOLM ENVIRONMENT PRIZE The Commons (an initiative of Ecoplan) and the City of Bogotá were awarded the Stockholm Challenge Award in Environment for their collaboration on the successful Bogotá Car Free Day which took place on Thursday, 24 February 2000 see News Flash #37 (http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran/newsflash/2000.htm ). They were competing with 94 finalists chosen from 612 nominated projects. Enrique Peñalosa, Mayor of Bogotá, and Eric Britton of Ecoplan were in Stockholm to receive the award. For more information go to "@World Car Free Day" at http://ecoplan.org/carfreeday/. 9. DELHI CHAOS OVER BAN OF OLD BUSES New Delhi public transport was severely disrupted in early April when a Supreme Court Order forced the withdrawal of 1,750 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses (the State-owned operator) and 2,100 contract buses (mostly school buses). The court order banned all buses over 8 years old from operating in the city unless they were converted to compressed natural gas (CNG). DTC pressed its entire fleet of 750 inter-state buses onto city routes but this was still grossly inadequate. Many people were stranded during the first few days. Environmentalists and others criticised the Delhi State Government for not taking action in the 22 months between the court order and its enforcement. Public transport operators and unions faulted the government for not arguing its case for an alternative plan or postponement well enough in court. DCT had opposed the blanket ruling, proposing instead that Euro II emissions standards be adopted - allowing older diesel engines to remain on the road if they could meet the standards. It failed in a last minute attempt to have the court postpone the order. In fact, the court has also ordered that ALL buses in Delhi must run on CNG by April 1, 2001. The Delhi Government in turn blamed the Central government for failing to provide enough infrastructure for CNG refuelling in the city. The influential environment group, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) supports the Court's CNG ruling, saying that DCT was simply stalling,. CSE says the Euro II standards are too lax and points to the extreme particulate pollution problem with winter PM10 levels reaching as incredibly high as 800 microgrammes per cubic meter (µg/cum). However, most economists would point out in this situation that it is not efficient to require specific technologies. They would argue that policy-makers should set emissions standards and allow manufacturers and operators to find ways to meet the target with whatever technology can do the job. But the court has already spoken. (For more on this see messages in early April on sustran-discuss at http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran/discussion.htm). 10. AUSTRALIAN "SAFETY" PLAN TO DISCOURAGE CYCLING AND WALKING In February 1999 the Australian Minister for Transport and Regional Development launched a national cycling strategy which promised to promote cycling in all spheres of government and improve cyclist safety. A year later the same minister's department prepared a national road safety strategy that identifies cycling as less safe than motorised transport AND that transport and land use planning should discourage less-safe transport modes. Submissions from cyclists all over Australia were ignored by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). Around the world a new approach to road safety is gaining ground. This "Road Danger Reduction" approach urges that vulnerable road users be both protected AND encouraged. Instead this new draft road safety strategy puts most priority on car occupants and explicitly aims to discourage vulnerable road users, such as cyclists. A senior member of the ATSB even said that promoting cycling and walking might be "health" and "environment" policy but it is not transport policy. Fortunately, State transport ministers in Australia declined to endorse the strategy at the last minute (although for other reasons). So a high level task force has been established to review the NRSS. Australian cycling and pedestrian advocates are pushing for the environment and health effects of transport to be given appropriate weight in the revised document. (Source: based on information from Dr Harry Owen, Bicycle Federation of Australia, Email: Harry.Owen@flinders.edu.au, Web: http://www.bfa.asn.au/). 11. CYCLING PROMOTION FUND FROM BICYCLE INDUSTRY A Cycling Promotion Fund has been set up by the Australian bicycle industry to assist Australian voluntary organisations and individuals with projects aimed at increasing bicycle use. Such initiatives seem to be a growing (and welcome) trend, even if it has often taken a very long time for cycling advocates to persuade their business friends. Similar things have begun to happen in Taiwan and the United States. (Contact: Michael Oxer, Cycling Promotion Fund Secretariat, c/- PO Box 5085 Alphington, Vic 3078, Australia. Fax +60 3 9499 2552, Email: oxerm@bikeoz.com, http://www.cycling-australia.com). 12. USEFUL RESOURCES AND LINKS The JOURNAL OF WORLD TRANSPORT POLICY & PRACTICE is now available free of charge under The Commons web site. World Transport Policy and Practice provides a high-quality medium for original and creative ideas in world transport. Volume 6, Number 1 is now available at http://ecoplan.org/wtpp/ "ONLINE TDM ENCYCLOPEDIA" (draft version) by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute is now posted at http://www.vtpi.org/tdm. This is a unique and comprehensive resource for Transportation Demand Management planning and analysis. Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) in Surabaya (being conducted by GTZ) http://www.sutp.org/ NEW BOOK: "Carfree Cities" by J.H. Crawford (2000) - a "groundbreaking new book" 324 pages, 60 drawings, 170 photos. (for more information see http://www.carfree.com). "RURAL ACCESSIBILITY PLANNING TOOL" - an 8-step tool to help communities and local organisations identify their access problems and propose solutions (Contact: Dr Fatemeh Ali-Nejadfard, Senior Technical Advisor, Access and Rural Employment, ILO/ASIST, PO Box 210, Harare, Zimbabwe. Fax: +263 4 759427, email: asist@ilo.org). The Animal Traction Network for Eastern and Southern Africa (ATNESA) is developing a website at URL http://www.atnesa.org Article on gender and urban transport issues with a focus on Bangkok, "Faring Badly: The Gender Aspects of Travelling", by Teena Gill of PANOS news service is at: http://www.oneworld.org/panos/news/35nov99.htm TOUR OF THE FIREFLIES (Metro Manila's annual mass bike ride against pollution) http://www.fireflybrigade.org/ "Forum News" from the International Forum for Rural Transport and Development (IFRTD). A must read newsletter for anyone with an interest in addressing rural poverty and rural transport. (PLEASE TAKE NOTE: IFRTD has moved premises!! Their new contact details are: Priyanthi Fernando and Mike Noyes, IFRTD Secretariat, 2 Spitfire Studios, 63-71 Collier Street, London N1 9BE, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 20 7713 6699, Fax: +44 20 7713 8290, Email: ifrtd@gn.apc.org, Web: http://www.gn.apc.org/ifrtd) "Urban Transport in the Asian and Pacific Region" theme of Transport and Communications Bulletin for Asia and the Pacific No. 68 and "Participatory Approach to Transport Infrastructure Development" theme of Transport and Communications Bulletin for Asia and the Pacific No. 69 - both now available from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP). UN publicaton sales numbers E.00.II.F.22, E.00.II.F.23. **CALL FOR PAPERS: The Transport and Communications Bulletin for Asia and the Pacific is now calling for papers for the next two Issues: No. 70 on "Logistics for the improvement of transport efficiency of domestic goods traffic" and No. 71 on "Governance for sustainable development in the transport sector" (Contact: Director, TCTIDD, UN ESCAP, Fax: +662-280 6042, E-mail: moon.unescap@un.org, http://www.unescap.org/tctd/index.htm). "Public Transport International" is the official publication of UITP (International Union of Public Transport). Bimonthly, 48 pages published in English, French, German and Russian and with a shortened version in Japanese and Chinese. (Contact: Doriano ANGOTZI, Sales, International Association of Public Transport - UITP, avenue Herrmann-Debroux 17, B-1160 Bruxelles Belgium. Fax: +32 2 660 1072, E-mail: publications@uitp.com, doriano.angotzi@uitp.com, Web: http://www.uitp.com/). 13. COMING EVENTS, MEETINGS, CONFERENCES "VELO MONDIALE 2000 World Bicycle Conference", June 18-22,2000, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (Contact: Congress Organisation Services, PO Box 1558, 6501 BN Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Fax: +31 24 360 1159, http://www.velomondial2000.nl/). "Reinventing Mobility - Challenge of the 21st Century", June 24 - 27, 2000, Bremen, Germany. Organised by Bremen initiative, the global campaign for business-municipality partnership towards a sustainable future for cities. (For further information: Ecolo-Ecology and Communication, Leher Heerstr. 102, D-28359 Bremen - Germany. Tel: +49-421-2300110; Fax:+49-421-23001118; E-mail: conference2000@bremen-initiative.de, Visit http://www.bremen-initiative.de) American Urban Mass Transportation Trade Mission to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia. July 19-28, 2000 jointly developed by the Federal Transit Administration, The American Public Transportation Association and the US Department of Commerce. [Contact: Mark C. O'Grady, USDOC Liaison Officer, International Mass Transportation Partnership, Federal Transit Administration, USDOT, Office of Research, Demonstration & Innovation, 400 Seventh St., SW; Room 9401, Washington, DC 20590. Fax: +1 202.366.3765, Email: mark.ogrady@fta.dot.gov, Web: http://www.usatrade.gov/imtp) "6th International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment for the 21st Century", July 26-28, 2000, Cambridge, UK. (Contact: Sally Walsh, Conference Secretariat, UT 2000, Wessex Institute of Technology, Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst, Southampton, SO40 7AA, United Kingdom. Fax: +44 238 029 2853, Email: slwalsh@wessex.ac.uk) "Traffic Safety on Three Continents", September 20-22, 2000, CSIR Conference Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. (Contact: Dr Richard Pain, Transportation Research Board, 2101 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington DC, 204 18 USA. Fax: +1 202 334 2003, Email: rpain@nas.edu). "UITP Melbourne 2000 Public Transport Conference Event", 8 - 13 October 2000, includes the UITP Light Rail Conference and the Asia/Pacific Congress and City Transport Exhibition. (See http://www.lightrail2000.vic.gov.au or http://www.uitp.com). "Smart Urban Transport - Using Transitways and Busways" conference, 17-20 October 2000, Brisbane, Australia (Contact: Ozaccom Conference Services, PO Box 164, Fortitude Valley QLD, Australia 4006. Tel: +617-38541611 Fax: +617-38541507, Email: ozaccom@ozaccom.com.au). "XI Panamerican Conference in Traffic and Transportation Engineering" , 19-23 November, 2000, Gramado, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. [Contact: Dr. Luis Antonio Lindau, President of the Organising Committee, Escola de Engenharia/UFRGS, Praça Argentina n.9 Sala 408, 90040-020 Porto Alegre, Brasil. Tel: +55 51 316 3596, Fax : +55 51 316 4007, email: panam@orion.ufrgs.br, http://www.ufrgs.br/panam/eng/index.htm). "4th International Workshop on Transportation Planning & Implementation Methodologies for Developing Countries: Transport Infrastructure (Contact: Prof. S. L. Dhingra / Dr K. V. Krishna Rao, Co-ordinators, TPMDC-2000, Transportation Systems Engineering Group, Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai - 400 076, India. Fax: +91 22 5767302/5783480, Email: tpmdc2k@civil.iitb.ernet.in). "Australia: Walking the 21st Century - An International Walking Conference", 20-22 February 2001. Perth, Western Australia. (Contact: John Seaton - Manager, Pedestrian Strategy, Metropolitan Division, Department of Transport, PO Box 7272 Cloisters Square, Perth 6850, Western Australia, Australia. Tel: +61 8 9313 8680, Fax: +61 8 9320 9497, e-mail: jseaton@transport.wa.gov.au). 54th UITP International Congress to be held in London, 20-25 May 2001. International Exhibition of Public Transport - City Transport 2001. London, England, 21-24 May 2001. In conjunction with the 54th UITP International Congress. (International Association of Public Transport (UITP), Avenue Herrmann-Debroux 17, B-1160 Brussels, Belgium, Tel:+32 2 673 6100, Fax: +32 2 660 1072, E-mail: administration@uitp.com, URL: http://www.uitp.com). "Transed 2001: Towards Safety, Independence and Security. 9th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled People." Warsaw, Poland, 2-5 July 2001. ABSTRACTS DEADLINE 20 June 2000. (Contact: TRANSED, 02-783 Warsaw 59, PO Box 10, Poland. Fax: +48 22 8316526, Email: transed2001@idn.org.pl). "9th World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR)" to be held at ASEM International Convention Center, Seoul, July 22-27, 2001. Co-organisers: Korean Society of Transportation & The Korea Transport Institute. Deadline for submission of abstracts April 15, 2000. (For further information, contact: Secretariat of 9th WCTR Conference, The Korea Transport Institute, 2311 Daehwa-Dong, Ilsan-Gu, Koyang-city, Kyonggi-Do, 411-410, KOREA. Tel : +82-344-910-3100, Fax: +82-344-910-3200, Email: wctr@cis.koti.re.kr, Web: http://www.koti.re.kr/~wctr). "Fourth Conference of the Eastern Asian Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS)", Hanoi, Vietnam, 24-26 October 2001 hosted by the Transportation Science Society of Vietnam (TSSV) [Contact: Office of the EASTS Secretary General, c/o Association for Planning and Transportation Studies, K-Wing 6F, 5-2-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, Japan. Tel: +81 3 32651774, Fax: +81 3 32215489, Email: easts@sa2.so-net.ne.jp, http://ichini.cv.titech.ac.jp/~easts/) 14. QUICK QUOTE Dato' Seri Samy Vellu, Malaysian Minister for Public Works, responded as follows to attacks from civic groups over Government plans to go ahead with a massive new bridge-tunnel between Penang Island and the mainland: "This is not a privatised project. This is a government project and there is no need for public opinion…". He went on to say that there would be no proper roads in the country if public opinion was needed for construction of roads. He said the Government was borrowing money from overseas to undertake the project and not utilising public funds. (for more details on the Penang "Third Link" controversy see several messages in late March on the Malaysia Transport list http://www.egroups.com/messages/malaysia-transport). Written and compiled by A.R. Paul Barter. There are currently 442 direct subscribers to the SUSTRAN News Flash service. The Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific (SUSTRAN) promotes and popularises people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on Asia and the Pacific We rely on you, the participants in the network, for our news. Thank you to everyone who has sent material. Please keep it coming. We welcome brief news and announcements from all over the world.
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