Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest - Vol. 6 Issue 1

[sudhir]

Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest

Vol. 6 Issue 1 - 16 January 2008

SUMA News Digest is a free weekly e-mail publication that features
news, information, and events related to sustainable urban
transportation in Asia.

*** VISIT THE SUMA PAGES: http://www.cleanairnet.org/suma ***

SUMA PARTNERS ON THE MOVE!

Sustainable Transport Award 2009

New York City Wins the Sustainable Transport Award 2009

New York beat the likes of Beijing, Istanbul, Mexico City, Milan to
win the 2009 Sustainable Transport Award. The Award was awarded on
January 13, 2009 by a jury composed of ITDP, Embarq, CAI-Asia, GTZ,
UNCRD, UITP, ICLEI and Environmental
Defense.

Some of the actions taken were – implementation of PlaNYC 2030 (http://
www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/home/home.shtml), its comprehensive
long-term sustainability vision. The city took 49 acres of road
space, traffic lanes and parking spots away from cars and gave that
space back to the public for bike lanes, pedestrian areas, and public
plazas. Protected on street bike lanes were part of the 140 miles
(255 kilometers) of bike lanes implemented. Bike ridership has
increased by 35 percent over the past year. Over 98,000 trees were
planted, a select bus service was implemented, car free Sundays
introduced. As part of its standard operations, the city’s Department
of Transport also recycles 40 percent of its asphalt. Although not
successful, the city pushed for congestion charging, a first for US
city and now other cities are considering it. More details at

http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/120997 &
http://www.itdp.org/index.php/news_events/event_detail/sustainable_transport_award_2009/

Transforming Transportation 2009

EMBARQ, World Bank, Clean Air Initiative - Asia, Clean Air Initiative
- Latin America, and the Asian Development Bank hosted the
Transforming Transportation, a multi-day event featuring transport and
planning experts from around the world during the previous week. This
year's event focused on three topics: Bus Rapid Transit, safety and
security, and climate change. The Presentations can be found at

http://www.embarq.org/transforming-transportation-2009

NEWSREPORTS

Global: Nations want climate plan for transport

http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20090116-183786/Nations_want_climate_plan_for_transport

Singapore: Coming: Electric scooter

http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73202.html

Vietnam: City residents demand better bus service

http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73207.html

Japan: Retired buses find new lives in rural areas

http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73208.html

Indonesia: Stuck in Jakarta traffic: Is the gridlock coming early?

http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73209.html

Srilanka: Fuel price reductions not being transferred to consumers

http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73205.html

India: Owning a car could get more expensive

http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73201.html

Philippines: Govt eyes two natural gas stations

http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73210.html

Philippines: Cebu City Government Passed Resolution Declaring BRTS As
Policy Direction

On dec. 10, 2008, the Cebu City Council passed Resolution No. 08-1430,
declaring as a policy direction of the Cebu city government, the
establishment of a BRT. The process was a result of numerous
discussions and push provided by various stakeholders in convincing
the need for BRTS. The history of Cebu BRTS can be found at some of
the news reports

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20080902-158200/Cebu-City-takes-close-look-at-new-bus-system

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20081215-178121/Bus-system-on-a-roll

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/letterstotheeditor/view/20081219-178864/Cebu-to-Mandaue-Back-rapid-bus-transit

http://balita.ph/2008/12/20/bus-rapid-transit-advocate-offers-to-help-in-srp-design-bus-system/

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20081222-179386/Private-sector-role-in-BRT-mulled

* * * *
INTERESTING FINDS/SEMINARS

Policy makers must address transport demand in Europe

Transport’s carbon footprint is a major obstacle to achieving a
sustainable, low-carbon economy in Europe. A new report by the
European Environment Agency (EEA) urges policy makers to take a fresh
approach to address the spiralling growth of transport, supporting
“realistic” measures that include pricing schemes for unsustainable
mobility and improving citizens’ awareness about the environmental
consequences of their shopping basket and travel choices. Read more @

http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/policy-makers-must-address-transport-demand-in-europe

EU to exceed air pollutant limit due to growth in road transport

Despite significant emission reductions in recent years, only 11 EU
Member States expect to remain within their emission limits for all
four air pollutants set by the EU National Emission Ceilings Directive
(NEC Directive). The nitrogen oxides ceiling remains the most
difficult to comply with. This is partly due to the fact that demand
for road transport has grown faster than anticipated. Read more @

http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/eu-to-exceed-air-pollutant-limit-due-to-growth-in-road-transport

Estimates of the Full Cost of Transportation in Canada

The Full Cost Investigation project (FCI) was undertaken with a view
to produce defensible estimates of the financial and social costs of
transportation for Canada. It was felt that these estimates, once
developed, would allow for a better understanding of the relative full
costs of the different modes of transportation. The estimates
represent an additional analytical tool transportation analysts can
use to take into consideration a large number of impacts associated to
transportation activities. Access this document at
http://www.tc.gc.ca/pol/en/Report/FullCostInvestigation/Synthesis/report-final.pdf

Sustainable Urban Transport in Review - 2008

In case you would like to read the main events, news of 2008 which
created the impact on Sustainable urban transport policies and
actions, Please read http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-73177.html



FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Traffic accidents account for more than a million deaths and 50
million injuries each year worldwide; children 5 to 14 are most at
risk
Fatality rates in developing countries are 25-30 per 10,000 vehicles,
compared to 1 to 2 per 10,000 vehicles in rich nations
The cost of traffic deaths and injuries could be as high as 5 percent
of a country’s GDP
(Source: World Bank:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22032705~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html)

CALL FOR RESEARCH PAPERS

We in CAI-Asia are looking for good analytical/research papers on
Sustainable Transport and Air Pollution. If you would like your paper
to be linked/ published in the CAI website, please let us know…

* * * *
MARK YOUR CALENDARS



Third International Conference on Urban Transport Systems, Shanghai
China,March 18-20, http://www.asce.org/files/pdf/conferences/Call-for-Papers-v2.pdf

Transport Asia 2009 Exhibition, Karachi Expo Centre,28-30 March 2009

The 4th International Conference on Future Urban Transport ,
19-21/4/2009 , http://www.fut.se/

eceee 2009 Summer Study , 1-6/6/2009 , http://www.eceee.org/summer_study/

Urban Transport 2009 , 22-24/6/2009 , http://www2.wessex.ac.uk/09-conferences/urban-transport-2009.html

ICSUTE 2009 : "International Conference on Sustainable Urban Transport
and Environment" Paris, France, June 24-26, 2009, http://www.waset.org/wcset09/paris/icsute/

Read more @ http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/propertyvalue-27089.html

* * * CONTRIBUTE * * *

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Past issues from March and April 2008 are found at
http://groups.google.com/group/suma-news


* * * ABOUT SUMA * * *

The Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) program is supported by
the Asian Development Bank through a grant from Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency. SUMA is implemented by the Clean Air
Initiative for Asian Cities Center (www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia), in
partnership with EMBARQ - the World Resources Institute Center for
Sustainable Transport (http://embarq.wri.org), GTZ Sustainable Urban
Transport Project ( www.sutp.org), Interface for Cycling Expertise
(www.cycling.nl), Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
(www.itdp.org), and United Nations Center for Regional Development
(www.uncrd.or.jp/est)