Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest - Vol. 5 Issue 11

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Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest
Vol. 5 Issue 11
5 July 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 ***

NEWSREPORTS

India ready with climate action plan: http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72839.html
An electrifying transport solution: http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72835.html
Vietnam shows effect of motorcycle helmets:
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72837.html
Asian Cities Back Climate-friendly Future:
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72836.html
China: Xi'an Sustainable Urban Transport: http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72838.html
Car-Free Day reduces air pollution: http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72824.html
ADB: Asia needs sustainable cities: http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72823.html
Jakarta needs balanced development: http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72800.html
Ahmedabad Metro gets red signal: http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72801.html
P1B set aside for PUV gas conversion : http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72803.html
Odd-even rule to reduce traffic by 70%: http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72804.html
Facing urban congestion: http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72805.html
Delhi Metro most comfortable mode: http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72764.html

* * * *
INTERESTING FINDS

AVERT THE GREAT GUZZLE - FUEL ECONOMY REGULATIONS: SETTING THE
PRINCIPLES RIGHT: By Anumita Roychowdhury,Vivek Chattopadhyaya,Jayeeta
Sen & Priyanka Chandola

This report has come at the apt time when governments across Asia are
still pondering as to how to absorb the impacts of increase in fuel
prices. This report has an interesting take as to how fuel economy can
solve lot of problems. The authors state that “The oil price surge has
caught the market watchers and media agog. Expert views war on price
insulation, energy security and our vulnerability. But oil price peaks
do not make lasting impression on the public memory as the Government
either makes generous cuts in petrol and diesel prices and taxes or
caps its increase to take the heat off the price rage. Consumers are
thus insulated at a huge cost. Vehicle industry is not pushed to
innovate to ensure substantial fuel savings through efficiency gains.
There are no checks on them as they continue to drift towards bigger
and more powerful cars. Price shocks have not provoked policies to
prevent the oil guzzle for a more energy secure and low carbon future.
How fuel efficient, are our cars? Nobody knows. The fuel economy level
of Indian car models is confidential. There is no official policy to
get carmakers to publish the fuel economy levels of models they make.
The valued Indian customer relies on anecdotal information, the car-
owner grapevine, car companies' self-proclamations or data the niche
car magazines publish. There is no official certification data to back
the claim of the car companies.”
Read more of this article and please pass on the comments to
anum...@yahoo.com

http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72816.html

Compilation of Public Opinion Data on Tolls and Road Pricing: Johanna
Zmud & Carlos Arce

This NCHRP SYNTHESIS report extracts information from several projects
and brings out the public opinion data on tolls and road pricing. The
various projects on such schemes have been used and public opinions
collated to understand the public behavior on such schemes.
Traditionally, prior empirical research in transportation indicated
that public acceptance of tolls and road pricing is low—in spite of
the perception of traffic problems as serious. These prior studies did
not have the broad set and more recent data that are compiled and
presented in this synthesis. Read more of this bibliography…………..

http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72808.html

Climate Impacts of Air Quality Policy: Switching to a Natural Gas-
Fueled Public Transportation System in New Delhi : Conorc O Reynolds &
Milind Kandlikar
This brilliant paper researches on how the move to switch public
transport vehicles fuel to natural gas impacted air pollution and
subsequently the climate “Between 2001 and 2003, public transport
vehicles in New Delhi were required to switch their fuel to natural
gas in an attempt to reduce their air pollution impacts. This study
examines the climatic impacts of New Delhi’s fuel switching policy,and
outlines implications for such efforts in rapidly industrializing
countries. Natural gas is mostly composed of methane, an important
greenhouse gas. Emitted aerosols (black carbon, particulate organic
carbon, and sulfate) also cause radiative forcing. We find that
methane and black carbon emissions are critical contributors to the
change in carbon dioxide equivalent [CO2(e)] emissions. In New Delhi,
the switch to natural gas results in a 30% increase in CO2(e) when the
impact of aerosols is not considered. However, when aerosol emissions
are taken into account in our model, the net effect of the switch is
estimated to be a 10% reduction in CO2(e), and there may be as much as
a 30% reduction in CO2(e). There is significant potential for
emissions reductions through the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Clean Development Mechanism for such fuel
switching projects”

Read more: http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/html/es801744p.html

FOOD FOR THOUGHT (Source : http://www.gtkp.com/sectors.asp?step=4&typeOfPage=1&contentID=545
)
•In Malaysia, motorcyclist contributes to almost 60% or the fatal
accidents.
•A recent study also by Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research
(Miros) has shown that 3.80 meters is the safe control width in
Malaysia to ensure that the lane is safe for all motorcycle riders and
comfortable to do overtaking maneuvers.

UPDATE

Asian Cities in order to improve public transport have embraced the
concept of BRTS. In many cities it is under active implementation and
in many cities it is under planning stage. CAI-Asia has updated the
BRTS status in Asia collecting details from various sources. Please
visit http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-59592.html to
know more about the progress…

* * * *
MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Fourteenth International Conference on Urban Transport and the
Environment in the 21st Century, 1 - 3 September 2008, Malta,
http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2008/urban08/

PODCAR City Sustainable Transport Conference,
14-16 September 2008, Ithaca, New York,
http://www.podcar.org/ithacaconference/

UITP 2nd Sustainable Development Conference
Making tomorrow today
22-24 October 2008, Milan, Italy
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72425.html

Better Air Quality (BAQ) Workshop 2008
12-14 November 2008 Bangkok, Thailand
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72312.html

See more SUT events
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/propertyvalue-27089.html

See CAI-Asia's events calendar
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/propertyvalue-13577.html

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* * * ABOUT SUMA * * *
The Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) program of the Clean
Air Initiative for Asian Cities
( www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia), Asian Development Bank
( www.adb.org), 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) is made possible through the generous support of the Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency
( www.sida.se). SUMA works with Asian countries and cities to
strengthen then formulation and implementation of sustainable urban
transportation policies, specifically in
(i) Improving urban air quality by adopting AQM planning in
sustainable transport policies and promoting public transportation,
(ii) Improving road safety by encouraging non-motorized transport and
public transport, and
(iii) Reducing transport's contribution to climate change by adopting
a co-benefits approach with urban air quality management.