2007a): 'Success and Failures in Urban Transport Planning (original) (raw)
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Success and failures in urban transport planning in Europe—understanding the transport system
Sadhana, 2007
Technological determinism has become a kind of religion for many people since it appears to offer solutions for societal problems as never before in history. Transport is one of the fascinating technology branches developed during the last 200 years. Effortless movement over long distances has become possible for car users as long as cheap fossil energy is available. However, the effect of fast transport on urban structures and society was not taken into account when developing these technical means. Technologists and economists have used indicators for expected benefits of these fast transport modes without taking into account the real system effects on society and urban structures. Plausible assumptions and hopes instead of scientific understanding of the complex system are used in practice. In contradiction to widely held beliefs of transportation planners, there is actually no growth of mobility if counted in number of trips per person per day, no time saving by increasing speed in the system, and no real freedom of modal choice. Modal choice is dependent on physical and other structures, the artificial environment built by urban planners, transport experts and political decisions. The core hypothesis of traditional urban and transport planning 'growth of mobility', 'travel time saving by increasing speed' and 'freedom of modal choice' are myths and do not exist in the real urban and transport system. This is the reason why urban planning and transport planning based on traditional non-scientific assumptions is creating continuously not only more transport problems, but also environmental and social as well as economic problems all over the world, where these principals are applied. Urban transport planning in Europe, understanding the transport system and the solutions are presented in this paper.
Urban transport: time for change
IMAGINE a future in which travel in large Australian cities was a mere fraction of today's levels, public transport dominated ve hicular travel, and most short trips were made on foot or bicycle. Such a future, of course, conflicts with over four decades of car travel ascendancy, with the predictions of nearly all transport experts, and with present transport policies. In Victoria, at least, the govern ment is still trying to close urban rail lines and construct new freeways. Despite all these adverse signs, I will argue in this paper that urban transport systems should be modified to resemble more those of the late 1940s (the 'future' described above), than our present practices. Immediately several questions arise. Why should a dramatic modifica tion of present urban travel systems be attempted? Can it be done? Even granted that these changes will improve our cities, travel patterns and urban structure may be too closely adapted to the car to allow much change. And a related question: is it politically feasible in the next decade or so?
URBAN TRANSPORT GROWTH: THE CHALLENGES AHEAD - THE NEW REALISM AND INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES
2006
The focus of this paper is on urban traffic congestion and car dependency in the city of Kuching, where rapid motorisation in the last thirty years, and the spread of low-density suburban settlement patterns have seriously undermined and diminished the role of public transport and created unacceptable social and physical environmental problems. It explores the issues and challenges in the search for a change; what are the barriers to changewhether people are prepared to change their travel behaviours in the light of the increasing daily congestion situation for a more sustainable transport mode.
Future of Transport?- Future of Cities!
Promet Traffic Transportation, 2012
The future of transp01t, whatever it will be, cannot be considered separately from that of cities. But what, where and when is the city today? The ability to provide opportunities for human interaction is the essential reason for cities to exist. In the pre-industrial past this required high-density, compact urban forms. Modem transport and communication techniques have however increasingly offered human beings ways of interacting at a distance. Physical proximity is no longer needed by many types of urban activities. As a result, cities have decentralised, as industry first, then residences and services have fled the diseconomies of high-density agglomerations. For the future, some even predict the advent of an entirely diffuse, 'virtual' city. Actual evidence is at best mixed. Next to ongoing decentralisation, there are also signals that point in the opposite direction, as there are activities that show a tendency to physically concentrate, underscoring a persistent need for physical human interaction. These activities include business and financial services, the emerging sectors of culture, entertainment and the media, but also certain types of residences and of production. As a result, rather than decentralisation or concentration, contemporary cities show a complex combination of decentralisation and concentration. How will these contrasting movements shape the cities of the future? Are telecommunication technologies going to radically alter current trends? Or will the quest for sustainability do this? And what will the role of transp01tation-as cause and effect-be? The diffuse urban-regional accessibility warranted by the car and the inter-metropolitan connections provided by the aeroplane have been essential conditions for the urbanisation patterns of the recent past. But will the car and the aeroplane also be the transportation means of the cities of the future?
2017
The transport sector, especially in growing cities, faces challenges relating to the climate, local environment, congestion, funding and equality, and uncertainties over political leadership, self-driving vehicles, citizens" reactions, and how the system is understood. Despite ambitious goals and investments, problems escalate via motoring"s self-supporting processes: more cars, more roads, longer journeys, urban sprawl, more cars .... Neither technical streamlining nor investing in public transport and attractive urban environments can trump the process. This paper examines whether we can use the methods of the fourth industrial (r)evolution to transform the urban-transport system. Starting points are: the role of transport in creating accessibility; the sector"s inherent logic and vast unused capacity, particularly in infrastructure; and the methods and business models of the rapidly expanding digital-platform monopolies. A feasible future is described, its basis a digital multimodal urban-transport platform for information and payment, founded on the sector"s base services: room on the streets, roads, rails, car parks and public transport. The technology exists but institutional problems abound. Radical public-sector service innovations are required. The paper identifies opportunities and obstacles. It concludes by evaluating the potential to realize these ambitious goals, looking at public transport"s role in a reorganized system of this kind. 1. Introduction Many remedies have been suggested to solve the growing transport problems that cities, mainly in the West, are facing (Santos et al. 2010a, b)hugely expensive economic problems and frightening inefficiency; major congestion and a lack of predictability; ecological problems resulting in climatic effects that are hard to address, damage to local environments through noise pollution, barriers, exhaust gases and particle emissions, and the use of valuable urban space; and social problems such as inequality in illness and death, and in access to necessities such as work and amenities such as shopping and recreation (Niedzielski & Boschmann 2014). The problems are so great, and ambitions so high, especially in terms of the climate, that small gradual changes are insufficient, if they cannot quickly overcome the resilience of the current transport system. Numerous proposals aim to increase capacity, build more roads, more efficient engines, or develop more eco-friendly fuel, measures that have failed to show any radical transformative power. Any improvements are consumed, wholly or partly, by increased consumption, larger vehicles and longer journeys. Life-cycle perspectives are routinely overlooked: the fact that manufacture, maintenance and eventual disposal of vehicles, fuel and infrastructure have a significant environmental impact. Major investment in public transport, cycling initiatives and courses to wean motorists off cars yield only marginal benefits, if these carrots are not used alongside sticks.
2018
Apparent discrepancies between modal shares in USA and Japan we tried to explain through analysis of various geographical, social and even historical factors. We took into account topography, administrative organization of country, population distribution, transport networks, lend use, industrial versatility, telecommunication infrastructure, and even evolution of settlements, not individually but through their synergy. Particular attention is devoted to settlement size distribution, observed through administrative organization of state territory. Commuting modal share in large and small cities is analyzed. The core finding is that the difference in modal share in these two countries is superfluous and is just the result of dominated social factors, since each population behaves in similar way under similar conditions.