Sustainable Urban Mobility in Asia (SUMA) News Digest 7 March 2008
Bert Fabian
Vol. 5 Issue 5
7 March 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 ***
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The CAI-Asia Center would like to thank Au Ables for managing the SUMA
News Digest, for her contributions to the SUMA Program and for being part
of the CAI-Asia Family. She now works with ADB as Project Coordinator and
Knowledge Management Consultant under RETA 6300 Promoting Best Practices
in Urban Infrastructure in South Asia.
In the meantime, please direct your queries and comments to
bert(dot)fabian(at)cai-asia(dot)org.
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HEADLINES
LONDON, ENGLAND: Congestion charge 'boosts health'
28 February 2008
Congestion charge saves 1,888 years spread across the whole of London
according to study published in the journal Occupational and Environmental
Medicine. The link between certain types of traffic pollution and health
problems, including heart attack and breathing problems in children, are
well-established, and Transport for London's own figures estimate that the
capital's poor air quality is responsible for 1,000 premature deaths and
1,000
extra hospital admissions every year.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72424.html
JAKARTA, INDONESIA: Busway Consortium Inefficient: NGOs
27 February 2008
The Jakarta governor says his administration is still studying whether a
counterflow system along busway lanes could reduce the city's traffic.
"We will evaluate the counterflow policy but I want everything to be
coordinated. All lanes should be guarded, if necessary," Governor Fauzi
Bowo said Monday morning.
http://www.itdp.org/index.php/news_events/news_detail/busway_consortium_inefficient_ngos/
KARACHI, PAKISTAN: ADB and CDGK to start bus rapid transit system
26 February 2008
City District Government of Karachi to launch a BRTS project in the city
to facilitate transportation of at least 20,000 passengers on a persons-
per-hour-per-direction basis as part of the DB Karachi Mega City
Sustainable Development Project (KMCSDP) Programme.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72421.html
DELHI, INDIA: India Wants Better Public Transport to Cut Emission Levels
8 February 2008
India is working on a policy that will encourage the biggest cities and
towns to build up their public transport systems as an alternative to
cars to
curb emissions in the nation's polluted urban areas. Montek Singh
Ahluwalia, one
of the government's top advisers said they want a much stronger system of
public transport in order to avoid excessive dependence on individualized
forms of transport...
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72427.html
BANGALORE, INDIA: IT Hub in Acute Pollution Distress
5 February 2008
Air pollution levels in the southern Indian city have risen alarmingly
over the last five years. The rise in pollutants is highest in sensitive
areas
that house hospitals or are mixed urban zones that are part-residential and
part-industrial. Addition of 1,200-1,400 vehicles per day and increasing
congestion
partly to blame.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72426.html
More air quality and sustainable mobility news at
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/propertyvalue-14783.html
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INTERESTING FINDS
More on the Nano ...
Urban Transport in India: Beyond the Nano
11 February 2008
Urban Transport in India: The Nano Effect
5 February 2008
Briefing notes on Nano, its development, impact on vehicle ownership and
motorization and as well as the current state of urban transport in
India and the options and/or policy measures to make this sustainable.
Documents were prepared by Dr. Shreekant Gupta, a Visiting Senior Research
Fellow, at the Institute of South Asian Studies, an autonomous research
institute within the National University of Singapore. Dr. Gupta is also a
member of the Board of Trustees of the CAI-Asia Center.
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72439.html
5th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the
Philippines
7 December 2007
Presentations from the 15th Annual Conference of the Transportation
Science Society of the Philippines now available!
http://tssp.tripod.com/Conferences.htm
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Third Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum
17-19 Mar 2008 Singapore
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72269.html
GTZ-SUTP SUMA Travel Demand Management (TDM) Workshop/training course
19-20 March 2008 Singapore
http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia/1412/article-72399.html
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
Call for Abstracts ongoing; First Call for Pre-events
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
<http://www.cleanairnet.org/caiasia>), Asian
Development Bank ( www.adb.org <http://www.adb.org>), EMBARQ-the World
Resources Institute Center
for Sustainable Transport ( http://embarq.wri.org ), GTZ Sustainable Urban
Transport Project ( www.sutp.org <http://www.sutp.org>), Interface for
Cycling Expertise (
www.cycling.nl <http://www.cycling.nl>), Institute for Transportation
and Development Policy (
www.itdp.org <http://www.itdp.org>), and United Nations Center for
Regional Development (
www.uncrd.or.jp/est <http://www.uncrd.or.jp/est>) is made possible
through the generous support of the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency ( www.sida.se
<http://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.