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Your nomination and comments on Greenwheels’ contributions |
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Posted On: August 19, 2005 04:10:56 AM Name: 54tw43t Title: 435t4y Affiliation: ghjkfyuk City/Country: gfhjfgj Email: sadfg@lkhj.com Views: 7. Bad idea. (And poorly implemented at that) Comments: Livingston is wrecking London. The economy is being wrecked and the city is dying.He is a dangerous, destructive and evil person. Recommendations: Bugger off to North Korea. London Hates You. | |||
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Posted On: July 22, 2004 11:45:33 AM Name: Colin Black Title: Divisional Director Affiliation: JMP Consulting City/Country: London /UK Email: colin.black#jmp.co.uk URL: www,jmp.co.uk Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city Leadership/Consensus: 5. Local leaders should listen to the experts, 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures, 7. Should also be scrutinized carefully in Third World. | |||
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Posted On: July 15, 2004 08:14:37 AM Name: Alfie MANDALL McKENZIE Title: Pastor Affiliation: FOCUS City/Country: Surrey CANADA Email: alfemandel@hotmail.com URL: http://stjhonsfishinglodge.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities | |||
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Posted On: June 23, 2004 09:47:55 AM Name: Katherine Wilson Title: Miss City/Country: Manchester/UK Email: kjwilson78#hotmail.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 8. Could you improve on it? (You bet! see Recommendations below), 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city Leadership/Consensus: 2. Most important is achieving stakeholder consensus, 4. Links between innovation and consensus need more work, 5. Local leaders should listen to the experts, 7. Sustainability requires full consistency in policy & practice, 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 1. Best way to solve mobility problems of cities, 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures, 7. Should also be scrutinized carefully in Third World. | |||
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Posted On: June 19, 2004 10:46:38 AM Name: Carlos Cordero Velasquez Title: Consultant City/Country: Lima, Peru Email: ccordero@amauta.rcp.net.pe Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities Comments: I think this is a good example "what you see is what you pay" aproach. It creates a good example of the cost of financial sustaniability...and political will to move for a better world... Recommendations: Go ahead!!! | |||
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Posted On: June 19, 2004 08:30:23 AM Name: Jacob John Title: Research Officer Affiliation: India Community Development Service Society City/Country: Bangalore, India Email: jacob4u2nv#yahoo.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. Leadership/Consensus: 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures Where next?: Bangkok, Bangalore, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai Comments: The London Initiative is the start of a process to give the streets back to people. It is important that our streets are designed for people rather than vehicles. Only then, can we talk about a sustainable transport strategy | |||
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Posted On: June 17, 2004 02:05:18 AM Name: Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier Title: University lecturer and president of Bicycle Advocacy NGO Affiliation: UDESC and VIACICLO City/Country: Florianópolis, Brazil Email: giselle#udesc.br URL: www.udesc.br/ciclo www.viaciclo.org.br Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city Leadership/Consensus: 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Where next?: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro Comments: Timing is different for countries...the threaten for Congestion charging in other countries, like Brazil, rely in the public transport capacity of “changing for better” and how much it is invested to public transport promotion. There has been a lot of pressure for organizing PT, but in big cities the informality makes it a difficult task. Also, the automobile lobbying is so strong, it is hard to convince the common citizen that “the wonder” of the cities, “the symbol of wealthy”, now needs to be restrained. Recommendations: Consider more and more to give prizes to the ones who cooperate by not using the car. Almada’s (Portugal) program is an excellent example http://www.melhorsemcarros.org/en/incentives.htm | |||
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Posted On: June 16, 2004 07:21:01 PM Name: jan gehl Title: Professor of Urban Design, Dr.Litt Affiliation: Centre for Public Space Research, School of Architecture, Royal Academy City/Country: Copenhagen, Denmark Email: jan@gehl.dk URL: www.gehlarchitects.dk Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. Leadership/Consensus: 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention | |||
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Posted On: June 16, 2004 06:30:18 PM Name: Kevin McLaughlin Title: President Affiliation: AutoShare City/Country: Toronto / Canada Email: kevin#autoshare.com URL: autoshare.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities Leadership/Consensus: 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention | |||
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Posted On: June 16, 2004 04:51:31 PM Name: Lisa Peterson Title: Communications Director Affiliation: Institute for Transportation and Development Policy City/Country: USA Email: lpeterson@itdp.org URL: www.itdp.org Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city Leadership/Consensus: 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures, 7. Should also be scrutinized carefully in Third World. Where next?: New York City Comments: Ken Livingstone deserves this nomination for breaking new ground with London’s innovative congestion charging program. Livingstone stood up to the many car drivers who want unrestricted access to their city’s roads, taking the political risk that voters would appreciate reduced congestion, better public transit and more space for cyclists. His risk paid off, and sends a message to other elected officials: voters don’t want a city that is dominated by car traffic. | |||
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Posted On: June 16, 2004 03:15:51 PM Name: Bina C. Balakrishnan Title: Consultant, Transportation Planning & Engineering Affiliation: Bombay First City/Country: Mumbai, India Email: binac#rediffmail.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city Leadership/Consensus: 2. Most important is achieving stakeholder consensus, 5. Local leaders should listen to the experts, 7. Sustainability requires full consistency in policy & practice On road pricing: 1. Best way to solve mobility problems of cities, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures Where next?: Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore (India) Recommendations: We in Mumbai have been trying to implement a congestion pricing scheme for almost 10 years, and are yet to make any progress. Its admirable that London has been able to implement it, AND that it is working so well. | |||
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Posted On: June 16, 2004 01:44:07 PM Name: Dr. Ayad Altaai Title: Chairman Affiliation: Sustainable Development International City/Country: Little Falls/NJ USA Email: sdi_nj#hotmail.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Where next?: Cairo, Istanbul, Tunis, Anu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharja, Amman. New York-USA, Newark-NJ-USA, Comments: Singapore has led the World when it started its first ever Lience Plate pricing project (Traffic Pricing). London should be contragulated on taking this challeging and proven policy. Anyone who is behind this action is a people's Hero. Recommendations: Mayor Livingstone, The World needs people like you. Keep on the Good Work for sustainable access and mobility. I can assure you that you are a winner. | |||
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Posted On: June 16, 2004 01:08:47 PM Name: Erhan Oncu Title: General Manager Affiliation: Transport Planner, Urban Planner City/Country: Ankara TURKEY Email: erhan#u-art.com URL: u-art.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city Leadership/Consensus: 5. Local leaders should listen to the experts, 7. Sustainability requires full consistency in policy & practice, 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical On road pricing: 1. Best way to solve mobility problems of cities, 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures | |||
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Posted On: June 16, 2004 10:34:29 AM Name: Noel Hodson Affiliation: ITAC City/Country: Oxford UK Email: noelhodson@btconnect.com URL: www.noelhodson.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 8. Could you improve on it? (You bet! see Recommendations below) Leadership/Consensus: 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process On road pricing: 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures, 6. Useful, but probably mainly in rich countries. Where next?: Most major cities. Not as suitable for small conurbations where the surrounding rural population is car dependant Comments: I wholly endorse Eric's nomination of London's Congestion Charge (LGC) as a bold, brave and effective innovation to reduce traffic. I make business trips from Oxford to London (50-60 miles) by car and find the roads are clearer for the whole journey, the centre of London is less congested - and therefore my journey time is shorter (about half) and I use less fuel; thus less pollution. However the LGC is a model which other cities should learn from and improve rather than emulate. It is very complicated to use and is wholly computer based, including novel car number recognition cameras backed by a very hostile and inhumane robotic fines, collection and court system. The LGC operates only at certain times of the day, on weekdays only and the boundary signs are often lost in a bewildering mass of road-furniture. Paying the charge is complex and can take up to 15 minutes of negotiating auto-phone-systems. On top of a long, often stressful workday, fiddling around with codes and identity and credit card numbers to be grudgingly allowed to pay five pounds - can be the last straw. And if a visitor to London forgets to pay - then all hell breaks loose, culminating in escalating costs, loss of all normal legal rights to respond, and Court Bailiffs smashing into innocent homes to take away goods to pay their accumulated costs and fines. "Welcome to London". The LCG computers make more than 50,000 mistakes a year and then they pursue, bully and frighten blameless citizens - some of whom have never even been to London. Recommendations: Computers and Cameras are not needed. It is the boundary to the zone which is the key. This should simply be defined with gates or toll booths, manned by polite, mature Londoners. When the LGC is not operative - the gates can simply be left open. Such a human, sane and manned system also costs about 1/5th of the LCG computer/camera system. The LGC effectively discourages road use. Like me, the visitors try to do their business elsewhere. Done badly, Congestion Charging simply stops cars coming at all and turns the centre into a ghost town. This has happened in Durham, Northern England, which introduced Congestion Charging a year before London. It has lost more than 40% of its retail business and is desperately trying to entice people (shoppers and tourists) to return. Journey-Time is the most important factor for most travellers (we live for 75yrs x 365 days x 24 hrs = 657,000 hrs; 4 hours commuting is 40 years x 235 days x 4 hrs = 37,600 hrs, 5% wasted). Journey-Time is lowest in an unbroken door-to-door journey - hence the popularity of the car. What LGC does not address is integrated-transport. It simply perpetuates the war on cars. Can Ken Livingstone, who cannot even drive a car, ever conceive of an integrated-transport system for London - and therefore, ultimately by osmosis, for the whole of the UK. C'mon Ken; forget that you hate cars - and get it all integrated. I could plan a practical system for you. Tarmac the Railways. | |||
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Posted On: June 15, 2004 10:55:00 AM Name: Shamsul A M A Hoque Title: Mr City/Country: Milton Keynes/United Kingdom Email: sam_aminul@yahoo.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities Leadership/Consensus: 2. Most important is achieving stakeholder consensus On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures Recommendations: Congratulation! it was a BOLD step without caring for the "Chair"; normally we do not expect this type of steps from people in your position. | |||
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Posted On: June 15, 2004 02:38:03 AM Name: michael yeates Title: mr Affiliation: public transport alliance City/Country: Brisbane Australia Email: michaelm#myoffice.net.au Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 9. The mayor is otherwise on a wrong track and a number of his other transport policies need to be urgently rethought. Leadership/Consensus: 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures Comments: While recognising the magnitude of the project and the opposition, concern remains that other "integrated" strategies have not proceeded (eg 20mph limits, cycling and walking priority) and a number of major priojects seem destined to encourage an INCREASE in car traffic unless a means for prioritising public transport and walking and cycling is "invented". Recommendations: Strongly support the nomination but on the basis of it being for the London Road Pricing project ... the jury is still "out" on his other proposals. | |||
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Posted On: June 14, 2004 08:15:44 PM Name: Sujit Patwardhan Title: Hon. Secretary Affiliation: Parisar City/Country: Pune, India Email: sujit#vsnl.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city Leadership/Consensus: 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 1. Best way to solve mobility problems of cities, 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Where next?: Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and most other fast growing cities with mushrooming number of personal auto vehicles (two wheelers as well as four wheelers) Comments: Like Jaime Lerner and Enrique Penalosa, Ken Livingstone has become another rallying point for those who refuse to accept that "things will never change" and have faith in themselves and in others committed to a vision that "a different (better) world is possible". Recommendations: Ken Livingstone deserves our vote and wholehearted support for his unique initiative pursued against great odds. | |||
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Posted On: June 14, 2004 03:20:55 PM Name: Philine Gaffron Title: Senior Researcher Affiliation: Hamburg Technical University City/Country: Hamburg, Germany Email: p.gaffron#tu-harburg.de Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 9. The mayor is otherwise on a wrong track and a number of his other transport policies need to be urgently rethought. Leadership/Consensus: 5. Local leaders should listen to the experts, 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures Where next?: are we talking about congestion charging or road pricing? If the latter - not just cities. Motorways are definetely another important candidate - just a shame our government was too incompetent/badly advised to get the lorry charging scheme set up as planned (so far). European road freight transit will be an even more crucial issue than it already is. Recommendations: Flagship projects such as this one are definetely extremely important as signals of political will both "within" and to the outside (i.e. other cities and countries). However, it is just as important not to stop there but create a policy package of both land use and transportation policies, which support the initial impetus. Not everything can be achieved at once but it is important to continue on the way - walking & cycling policies, location policies, transport policies outside the charging zone are all part of the overall issue. | |||
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Posted On: June 13, 2004 11:43:06 PM Name: Michael Schabas Title: Director Affiliation: First Group - Rail City/Country: London England Email: michael#schabas.net Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city, 11. Other (see Comments below) Leadership/Consensus: 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning, 13. Other (See Comments) On road pricing: 1. Best way to solve mobility problems of cities, 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 8. Other (see Recommendations below) Where next?: All cities which suffer congestion (which is most of them) Comments: Congestion charging in London has attracted the same controversy as parking meters did 50 years ago. Congestion charging will become widespread as other cities adopt it, just as they have adopted parking meters. Recommendations: Recommend award | |||
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Posted On: June 13, 2004 11:07:21 PM Name: felix dodds Title: executive director Affiliation: stakeholder forum for our common future City/Country: london, uk Email: fdodds@stakeholderforum.org URL: www.stakeholderforum.org Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 3. Good idea for London (but experience not transferable) Leadership/Consensus: 2. Most important is achieving stakeholder consensus, 4. Links between innovation and consensus need more work, 7. Sustainability requires full consistency in policy & practice, 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention | |||
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Posted On: June 12, 2004 10:33:23 PM Name: J. Langeveld Title: Mr City/Country: Zutphen / The Netherlands Email: jlangeveld2000#yahoo.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. Leadership/Consensus: 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures Where next?: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Arnhem | |||
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Posted On: June 12, 2004 09:24:13 PM Name: Christopher Congleton Affiliation: Transport Technology and Policy Graduate Group, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis City/Country: Davis, CA USA Email: cdcong#ucdavis.edu Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. Leadership/Consensus: 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures Comments: While supporting bold experimentation such as the London CC by our political leaders, we must also critically evaluate these initiatives, make recommendations for their improvement, and make these evaluations and recommendations accessible to the public. In addition, we must educate the broad citizenry about the multiple problems such initiatives solve. Most democracies worldwide function under a disenfranchised and unenlighted polity, with a minimum of interest or understanding of the issues they are expected to form collective choices about. The current nomination serves as a spring board for such evaluation, recommendation, and education - and as such, I am in full support. | |||
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Posted On: June 11, 2004 11:35:37 PM Name: John Holtzclaw City/Country: San Francisco, USA Email: john.holtzclaw#sierraclub.org URL: www.sierraclub.org/sprawl Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city Leadership/Consensus: 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical, 11. Innovation is inevitably an imperfect process, 12. Good leadership builds in adaptability for future fine-tuning On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures Where next?: Needs to be combined with convenient, walkable cities and great public transit. London achieves both. Recommendations: Thanks, | |||
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Posted On: June 11, 2004 05:42:05 PM Name: Jorge Acevedo Title: Associate Professor Affiliation: Universidad de los Andes City/Country: Bogotá, Colombia Email: jacevedo#uniandes.edu.co Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city Leadership/Consensus: 9. Strong leadership needed to achieve major changes, 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical On road pricing: 1. Best way to solve mobility problems of cities, 7. Should also be scrutinized carefully in Third World. Where next?: All big cities, though I think that third world cities, with a lower (but growing fast) car population, should find easier to implement it. Certainly my home city - Bogota, Colombia - is a very attractive candidate. Comments: This is a challenging approach to put economics at work in a typical situation of a scarce resource supply (road space) and growing demand, but where there are many social and political issues (many losers and many winners). Key is to aware the winners of their benefits, and palliate and explain the losers about ways to become winners - less congestion, less polution, improved transit services, and always the possibility of getting there quickly (paying) when the trip is really important. Recommendations: I strongly support his nomination for being a world leader on this respect. | |||
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Posted On: June 11, 2004 05:08:21 PM Name: John Adams Title: Prof Affiliation: UCL City/Country: London Email: john.adams#ucl.ac.uk Views: 11. Other (see Comments below) Comments: Final appeal - further to my comment posted on 6 June Votes so far in favour – some with significant qualifications - are from USA (2), New Zealand (2), Malaysia, Australia (3), Germany, Malta, Brazil (2), Spain, Columbia, India, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, Japan, Peru, Sweden and UK (Suffolk) – they sign up to “Important pathbreaking example coming at a critical time in our cities.” Ambivalent – one (England, Cambridge) “Important pathbreaking example coming at a critical time in our cities” but “In many areas, there is a need for measures to stop relocation of economic activity to avoid road pricing, especially when the relocation is to places poorly accessible except by car.” Votes so far against are all English – one from Oxford (in favour of converting railways to roads and getting rid of bus lanes!!) and two from London (one of which is mine). All of the votes in favour are from countries whose motor vehicle populations are growing, forecast to continue to grow, and in which policy is either actively fostering this growth or doing nothing effective to restrain it. Virtually all of this growth is taking place, and will take place, outside the areas for which congestion charging is being proposed – at densities that will be car-dependent. So long as this growth continues, congestion charging will augment the centrifugal pressures of congestion itself, and foster yet more dispersal. It is not just our cities that are experiencing a “critical time”. Indeed they are the least critical part of the problem; most still have viable public transport. Much more critical are the growing areas of low-density sprawl that can never be effectively served by public transport. Congestion charging is symptom treatment that will make the underlying disease worse. Please reconsider. PS an extended version of my argument can be found at http://www.rsa.org.uk/acrobat/hypermobility.pdf | |||
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Posted On: June 11, 2004 01:29:53 PM Name: Peter Markusson Title: Carsharing Consultant Affiliation: Ekokompaniet City/Country: Gothenburg/Sweden Email: peter.markusson#ekokompaniet.se URL: www.bildelning.nu Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city Leadership/Consensus: 10. Effective communication and outreach are critical On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures Recommendations: Whenever you spend something or the road sector, be sure you spend at least as much on the rail transport sector (Underground, Light Rail etc.), and on the walking/biking sector (1:1:1, yes). The results are interesting: better commerce, better living and better health. Remember that the spending also includes maintainance of the systems. | |||
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Posted On: June 11, 2004 11:44:57 AM Name: Simon Norton Title: Coordinator Affiliation: Transport 2000 Cambs & W Suffolk branch City/Country: Cambridge, UK Email: simon#dpmms.cam.ac.uk URL: www.t2000cam.org.uk Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city On road pricing: 1. Best way to solve mobility problems of cities, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures, 7. Should also be scrutinized carefully in Third World. Where next?: Almost anywhere, and not only in cities. Some form of road user charging is urgently needed in my own urban area (Cambridge), and should not be confined to the city itself. Comments: In many areas, there is a need for measures to stop relocation of economic activity to avoid road pricing, especially when the relocation is to places poorly accessible except by car. Recommendations: * Extend scheme outwards ASAP * Don't curtail the scheme before the end of the evening peak * Reduce some of the exemptions. | |||
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Posted On: June 10, 2004 08:51:09 PM Name: Suely Sanches Title: Professor Affiliation: Federal University of São Carlos City/Country: São Carlos, SP - Brazil Email: ssanches#power.ufscar.br Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities On road pricing: 2. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, 3. Must be accompanied by linked packages of measures Where next?: São Paulo, Brazil | |||
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Posted On: June 08, 2004 11:52:12 AM Name: Mikel Murga Title: President and Research Associate and Lecturer Affiliation: Leber Planificación e Ingenieria, SA and MIT, Cambridge, MA City/Country: Boston, MA, USA and Bilbao, Spain Email: mmurga#compuserve.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. On road pricing: RP1. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Comments: After so many years of discussions on road pricing, Mr Livingstone should be commended for having the political courage to implement such scheme in spite of the criticism before and as it was to be expected, after. His actions are proving that to lead and to innovate is possible too within the political arena. Hopefully it will encourage other Mayors to think out of the box Recommendations: The current debate should spill beyond transport and into the quality of life realm. So together with who is using the system, for what purpose, how often and how efficiently, we should raise questions such as: Is this scheme facilitating a more convivial public space? What improvements have taken place or can be implemented because of this transport policy? What have been the unintended consequences of this project? What have we learned so far? | |||
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Posted On: June 06, 2004 08:21:18 PM Name: John Adams Affiliation: UCL City/Country: London Email: John.Adams#ucl.ac.uk Views: 11. Other (see Comments below) On road pricing: RP3. To the contrary, a very bad idea and should be set aside Comments: Eric I am strongly in favour of un-nominating Ken – or John W’s proposal of nominating for environmental vandal of the year. I have recently been invited to update my paper on hypermobility for a book entitled “New Modes of Governance”. This is how it begins "The paper below is a revised version of lecture given to the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce) in November 2001 . That year was a record year for new motor vehicle sales in Britain – 3,137,700 were sold. The following year surpassed this record with 3,229,400. 2003 produced yet another record – 3,231,900. The forecast for 2004, at the time of writing, is a number of a similar size – another record or nearly so. Allowing for the scrapping of old vehicles, the annual increase over these years in Britain’s motor vehicle population has been over 800,000. Allowing 20 feet for each of these vehicles (the distance between parking meters) we can estimate the size of the parking space they demand – each year the equivalent of a new car park stretching from London to Edinburgh more than 9 lanes wide was required to provide one parking space for each of these extra vehicles. The threat posed to the natural environment by the growth globally in the numbers and use of cars, and the much more rapid growth of air travel, has received much attention but little effective action. The social consequences of this growth have received much less attention. This growth, I argue below, is not only exacerbating environmental and social problems, but making solutions to these problems by democratic means – by governance – increasingly difficult." Britain (and the rest of the world) is filling up with cars. Outside the congestion charging zone the Labour government AND KEN are pursuing policies that are feeding this growth. Congestion charging in the absence of global restraint measures simply encourages further dispersal into landuse patterns that are more car-dependent. | |||
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Posted On: June 03, 2004 10:02:22 PM Name: Stephen Plowden Title: Environment consultant and author Affiliation: Public Policy Institute City/Country: London, UK Email: stephenplowden#blueyonder.co.uk Views: 4. Oof. Fair idea perhaps, but not better than that, 8. Could you improve on it? (Explain in Recommendations below), 9. The mayor is otherwise on a wrong track and a number of his other transport policies need to be urgently rethought., 11. Other (see Comments below) On road pricing: RP1. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Comments: Limiting the number of cars driving into, out of and within central London is very important. Livingstone's oft-repeated remark that no one has been able to suggest any other method but the congestion charge is incorrect. I examined several in a report published in 1987. The method I now regard as most promising combines taking out (not just taxing) most of the very numerous off-street parking spaces in the centre with reallocation of road space away from cars and with lower and well-enforced speed limits. This would be more effective than the congestion charge, especially in reducing traffic in inner London as well as in the centre itself. Cars going to and from the centre make up a large proportion of traffic in inner London and the problems there cannot be solved without getting rid of most of this through traffic. It would also be fairer: most people who now commute by car into central London every day do so because they have free parking at their place of work. The availability of this facility is unrelated to transport need. In its present form, it is not even clear that the congestion charge is better than doing nothing, because of the increase in crashes and casualties that can be expected both from the general increase in speeds and from the exemption for motor cycles. Both these defects could be put right, but there is no sign that Livingstone will do so - in fact he is encouraging motorcycling in other ways too. Other very unfortunate features of Livingstone's transport strategy are his plans for road building in east London and the proposal to spend £10 bn on a new east-west Underground line - not worth the money and in some ways actually harmful. Livingstone's policies for cycling in London are also inadequate. Cycling could make a huge contribution, but will need a much bolder approach and a much larger share of the transport budget. At one point, Livingstone was proposing to cut spending on cycling altogether, but was stopped from doing so by vigorous protests. Recommendations: See above | |||
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Posted On: June 03, 2004 08:34:40 PM Name: Carlos F. Pardo Title: Project Coordinator- Human Mobility Affiliation: Humane City Foundation City/Country: Bogota /Colombia Email: cpardo#ciudadhumana.org URL: http://www.ciudadhumana.org Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities On road pricing: RP2. Not an especially powerful approach to the problem Where next?: Bogotá (Colombia) México City Comments: I think the initative is a very effective measure in the short term, but should be complemented by more non-economical strategies, starting from awareness of other modes of transport and their potential benefits. Recommendations: I would enforce this measure with other measures different from the typical hardware versions or economical software versions. Psychological awareness is key to the initiative. | |||
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Posted On: June 03, 2004 02:54:06 PM Name: Kisan Mehta Title: President Affiliation: Save Bombay Committee City/Country: Mumbai India Email: kisansbc#vsnl.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities | |||
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Posted On: June 03, 2004 10:07:57 AM Name: Francesca Forestieri Affiliation: Net Engineering City/Country: Rome, Italy Email: f.forestieri@netspa.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. On road pricing: RP1. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, RP5. Should also be scuitinized carefully in Third World. | |||
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Posted On: June 02, 2004 05:14:58 PM Name: Matt Craig Title: Student Affiliation: University of Calgary City/Country: Calgary/Canada Email: mattsregister#yahoo.ca Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city On road pricing: RP1. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention | |||
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Posted On: June 02, 2004 03:37:05 PM Name: Francisco Valdes-Perezgasga Title: Ph.D. Affiliation: En Defensa del Ambiente, A.C. City/Country: Torreon, Mexico Email: fvaldes#avantel.net Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. On road pricing: RP1. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Where next?: Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Torreon | |||
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Posted On: June 02, 2004 03:32:06 PM Name: Francisco Valdes-Perezgasga Title: Ph.D. Affiliation: En Defensa del Ambiente, A.C. City/Country: Torreon, Mexico Email: fvaldes#avantel.net Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. On road pricing: RP1. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Where next?: Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Torreon | |||
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Posted On: June 02, 2004 02:17:50 PM Name: Mark Zuidgeest Title: Assistant Professor Transport Engineering Affiliation: University of Twente City/Country: Enschede, The Netherlands Email: m.h.p.zuidgeest#ctw.utwente.nl URL: www.cit.utwente.nl Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. On road pricing: RP5. Should also be scuitinized carefully in Third World. | |||
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Posted On: June 02, 2004 12:03:45 PM Name: David Kemp Title: Cycling OffIcer, Suffok County Council City/Country: Suffolk, UK Email: david.kemp@et.suffolkcc.gov.uk Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. Comments: I think the best solution of all is to design our cities with less access and parking for private cars in the first place. But given that we have to start from where we are in a car-dominated cultue I think the Congestion charge is a both a brave and effective step in the right direction. It has proved a most effective measure to promote cycling. Since the introduction of the charge cycle use has increased 30% while cycle accidents reduced by 17%. My vote goes to Ken! | |||
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Posted On: June 02, 2004 02:25:03 AM Name: Kerry McConnell Title: Transport Planner City/Country: Melbourne Australia Email: kmcconnell#boroondara.vic.gov.au Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities On road pricing: RP1. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Where next?: Melbourne, Sydney Comments: Need to use sticks and carrots to change behaviour. Governments tend to take the easy way and focus on carrots eg Travelsmart. | |||
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Posted On: June 02, 2004 02:09:39 AM Name: Maureen Brewer Title: Strategic Transport Planner Affiliation: City of Yarra City/Country: Melbourne, Australia Email: brewerm#yarracity.vic.gov.au Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. On road pricing: RP1. A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Where next?: Melbourne, Australia Comments: Increasing dependence on cars (esp in Australia of 4WDs) indicate that the general public just don't get it! Racing to a totally unsustainable lifestyle, 'fuelled' by ignorance and total disregard for future impact of current decisions. Recommendations: Go Ken. Someone with courage, foresight and good leadership. Now for 'pay as you use' for all car use - index linked to salaries (as with Finnish speeding fine system). | |||
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Posted On: June 01, 2004 04:41:25 AM Name: Nash Sinarimbo Title: Graduate Student Affiliation: Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology City/Country: Tokyo, Japan Email: nsinarimbo@yahoo.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities On road pricing: A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Comments: And now, we are beginning to see those class room lectures into reality. I must visit London to see how it works. At the beginning, it must be difficult owing to the fact that these car users have never been refrained (or should I say disciplined) since they learned to drive. Driving is not a right, it is a privilege. Most politicians usually have only knowledge on upgrading the transport infrastructure (hard measure) as a way to smoothen the traffic. But we have to remember that the land has a limit and therefore this is not a sustainable measure. This soft measure (congestion pricing) by the mayor is one of the rare in most leaders plan today and deserved recognition (they must be afraid of its unpopularity yet efficient). Go for it, mayor – for sure, your constituents would understand the benefits of it tomorrow if not today. | |||
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Posted On: June 01, 2004 03:20:38 AM Name: Sally McAra Title: Ms City/Country: Auckland, New Zealand Email: s.mcara#auckland.ac.nz Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. Where next?: Sydney Auckland many more Comments: I like the idea of measures to reduce car use. There also need to be good incentives to ride bicycles. Obviously some people will be disadvantaged by this pricing system - so it needs modification over time, to improve it. Are they open to adapting & improving it? | |||
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Posted On: May 31, 2004 09:51:45 PM Name: Ana Bravo Title: Ms City/Country: Lima, Perú Email: ana.bravo@ifrtd.org Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities On road pricing: Useful, but probably mainly in rich countries. Comments: I find it hard to see it implemented in Lima. It goes beyond being simply a chaotic city. Adaptation of such an approach would require a good understanding of the critical economic situation, the 'messy' organisation of the city, the moral values of those who drive and enforce the law and the users. Recommendations: We need to start by influencing the thinking that because some people want to travel in private cars or want to make money at any expense (often providing public transport services without being qualified), we all who need to move are not obliged to make all sort of concessions and give them our shared public space to use it selfishly and aggressively. | |||
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Posted On: May 31, 2004 04:09:32 PM Name: Dave Brook City/Country: USA Email: dbrook@easystreet.com Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities On road pricing: A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Where next?: New York City Comments: London experience is valuable because it demonstrates the political feasibility of doing something as radical as pricing. | |||
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Posted On: May 31, 2004 03:40:13 PM Name: Maria Attard Title: Ms Affiliation: University of Malta City/Country: Malta Email: maria.attard@um.edu.mt URL: www.um.edu.mt Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities On road pricing: A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Where next?: Valletta has in place a licensing system to grant vehicles access into the peninsula. This could be revised to have clearer objectives and be more effective. | |||
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Posted On: May 31, 2004 01:27:33 PM Name: Noel Hodson Title: Mr City/Country: Oxford, UK Email: noelhodson@btconnect.com URL: www.noelhodson.com Views: 6. Good idea maybe - but mediocre implementation, 8. Could you improve on it? (Tell us how in Recommendations below) Where next?: Congestion Charging which requires monitoring of vehicles, payments and default fines, is a damn nuisance and an imposition on already overburdened, over regulated drivers.The methods applied reveal the aggression, greed and rage in the minds of the designers. They quite simply hate people - and are being hated in turn. Comments: The London scheme has been designed as an aggressive war on drivers and is resented by most road travellers. London Congestion Charging is accompanied by stupid road blocking schemes and dedicated Bus-Lanes which greatly increase journey times and therefore pollution. Even taxi-drivers and bus-drivers, the supposed beneficiaries of these ill-planned ideas, are publicly complaining that their vehicles and their and their passengers' bodies are being badly damaged by road humps (sleeping policemen) and other road obstacles. Residents on the traffic-humped streets are kept awake by the clatter of humping vehicles - and are illegally tearing them up. Hostility will always be answered with hostility. Together with thousands of Speed-Cameras (in a city with an average speed of 11 MPH) the policing and surveillance required and the auto-computer-courts are driving UK travellers to physically attack the road cameras. This is no way to win cooperation and consensus in a nation where 85% of journeys are by car.Innocent, busy, careful drivers are being banned from driving by computers and by operaters hidden in deep concrete bunkers. It's more like WW3 rather than intelligent traffic management. I want to meet the man (it must be a male) who dreamed up Bus-Lanes, taking out half the road system which costs about £3M per lane mile to build. Will the inventor of Bus-Lanes please stand up and be examined. Much of The nation's transport planning is, at huge cost, in the power of anonymous, secretive, anti-social half-wits. Recommendations: Get rid of the computers, cameras, auto-fines, computerised courts, nasty letters, awkward telephone agents. Define a Congestion Zone with gates at every entrance. Man the gates with polite, mature, friendly people. Enable the money/charge to be thrown into drive-by nets. Ensure vehicles arriving at the gates by mistake can turn around without causing a traffic-jam. 100 such gates, employing 100 gatekeepers, at £20,000 a year costs £2M. Ken Livingstone's war based Orwellian computer scheme costs £120M a year and creates hatred, paranoia and aggression. We reap what we sow. Our railways do not work - and will never work. The UK is about to embark on the largest civil-engineering project in history, costing more than NASA spends on Mars shots, to try to repair a system to enable steel waggons to run on steel rails, orginally invented to allow mining carts to cross muddy expanses. Stand by any rail track - connecting city heart to city heart - and it will be evident, even to a UK traffic planner, that the track is in use less than 5% of the time. Railways are costly, inflexible, inherently inefficient and per passenger mile are immensely polluting. Tarmac the railways - for goods and passenger buses travel. We should have a Footpath Czar to force footpaths through, between "private" offices and homes and similarly a Cycle-Path Czar. No vehicle should be allowed to stop within 500 yards of any school between 8.30am-10am and 3pm-5pm. that should tackle walking to school and the UK's burgeoning child obesity - at a stroke. Vehicles should be taxed on the basis of the road-space they take up (size x weight x speed). QED | |||
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Posted On: May 31, 2004 08:46:27 AM Name: Bodo Schwieger Title: Dr. Affiliation: team red City/Country: Berlin, Germany Email: bodo.schwieger@team-red.net URL: www.team-red.net Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 10. We should look into similar approaches for our city On road pricing: A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention, Useful, but probably mainly in rich countries. Where next?: Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg surely are candidates for a first German approach. Comments: Ken Livingston seems to me a very brave man. The UK was never first in implementing environmental schemes. But this scheme is definitely a step into the future: Make drivers pay for what they use (roads) and destroy (livable cities). Recommendations: If schemes like these enable lower taxes for the general public, the approach will find MANY international adaptions. Ken Livingstone should be nominated as a "cutting edge" politician with the ability to go for long-term solutiong. | |||
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Posted On: May 31, 2004 08:34:32 AM Name: Peter Newman Title: Professor of City Policy Affiliation: Murdoch University City/Country: Australia Email: P.Newman@murdoch.edu.au URL: wwwistp@murdoch.edu.au Views: 1. Important pathbreaking example at a critical time in our cities, 2. Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities. On road pricing: A potentially useful sustainability strategy worthy of attention Where next?: Sydney and Melbourne Comments: The UK is not known for its innovations in sustainable transport so it was a very brave move by Ken Livingstone and has given me a new respect for the English! Recommendations: Strongly supportive of the nomination. | |||
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Posted On: May 31, 2004 07:18:31 AM Name: Anwar Fazal Title: Senior Regional Advisor Affiliation: United Nations Development Programme City/Country: Kuala Lumpur , MALAYSIA Email: anwar.fazal@undp.org Views: Important pathbreaking example coming at a critical time in our cities, Should accelerate more radical mobility approaches in cities., We should look into similar approaches for our city On road pricing: Should also be tried in Third World. Where next?: Kuala Lumpur George Town | |||
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