A special bench comprising Chief Justice AP Shah, Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice NK Kaul also asked the civic body not to scrap or dismantle any rickshaw if impounded but grant liberty to charge a fee.

“The unlicensed cycle rickshaw if seized or impounded would not be scrapped or dismantled by the MCD. However, the MCD would be entitled to levy a composition fee of Rs 50 plus Rs 5 per cycle rickshaw towards storage charges or departmental expenses,” the bench said.

The Court’s order came while hearing a petition filed by the.Initiative for Transportation and Development Programmes (ITDP)-an NGO, highlighting the violations of several by laws and its provisions of the Delhi Municipal Committee (DMC) Cycle Rickshaw Bye-Laws 1960, done by the MCD.

While posting the matter for July 9, the bench also suggested the civic body to nominate a senior officer from the traffic police as member in the committee constituted by the MCD to examine the cycle rickshaw policy, existing Cycle Rickshaw By-laws and to study its impact. The court has also directed the report of the panel in the court.

Through its counsel-Anand Nandan, the organization, has approached the High Court requesting that directions should be issued for civic body and Delhi Traffic Police to act in accordance with the law. “Direct the MCD and Delhi Traffic Police to immediately start disseminating information, awareness and training about traffic rules, road signage and safe driving among cycle rickshaw drivers”, said the petition.

Alleging that MCD has been flouting the by-laws, Nandan has submitted in the Court that according to a bylaw of DMC Act, cycle rickshaw pullers should be trained by the civic body. “The MCD has not been implementing its own rules and not providing drivers knowledge of essential rules of the road, signals and road signs to rickshaw pullers”, he said.

According to the petitioners, wearing a khaki uniform, a cap and a metal badge bearing the name of license number for a rickshaw puller is mandatory under the rules but the civic agency has failed to implement the provisions.

To read the original article, click here:
High Court Relief For Cycle Rickshaw Pullers in Dehli

The laws will do nothing to improve road safety or ease the traffic that is choking the life out of the capital city of some 12 million people, and serve only to highlight official incompetence, analysts said.

Within five years, if nothing changes, experts predict Jakarta will reach total gridlock, with every main road and backstreet clogged with barely moving, pollution-spewing cars.

That’s too late for the long-awaited urban rail link known as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), which has only just entered the design stage and won’t be operational until 2016 at the earliest.

‘Just like a big flood, Jakarta could be paralysed. The city’s mobility will die,’ University of Indonesia researcher Nyoman Teguh Prasidha said.

Instead of requiring level footpaths and ramps, lawmakers voted unanimously this month to demand disabled people wear signs announcing their condition so motorists won’t run them down as they cross the street.

Experts say the new traffic law is sadly typical of a country which for decades has allowed cars and an obsession with car ownership to run rampant over basic imperatives of urban planning.

‘It is strange when handicapped people are asked to carry extra burdens and obligations,’ Institute of Transportation Studies (Instran) chairman Darmaningtyas said.

‘The law is a triumph for the automotive industry. It’s completely useless for alleviating the traffic problem.’ The number of motor vehicles including motorcycles in greater Jakarta has almost tripled in the past eight years to 9.52 million. Meanwhile road space has grown less than one percent annually since 2004, according to the Indonesian Transport Society.

‘Traffic congestion is like cancer,’ Institute for Transportation and Development Policy specialist Harya Setyaka said. ‘This cancer has developed over 30 years as Jakarta begins to develop haphazardly beyond its carrying capacity.’ A 2004 study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency found that traffic jams cost Jakarta some 8.3 trillion rupiah (822 million dollars) a year in extra fuel consumption, lost productivity and health impact.

To view the original article, click here:
Indonesia’s Traffic Nightmare

Eleven years later, the city has expanded cycle paths and pedestrian zones and improved parks.

Every Sunday and public holiday, over 120km of streets are closed to motor vehicles from 7am to 2pm and are used for walking, skating and cycling.

These are the kind of changes that make a city a nicer place to be, but it is about much more than that.

One of the major challenges we face as a country - and indeed all round the world - is that people are becoming less and less active.

This is obviously bad news for our health generally, but what is less well known is that being physically active also reduces risk of cancer.

‘Not about the gym’

According to a recent YouGov survey, over half of us do not know about the link between physical activity and cancer prevention.

But the stark fact is that the decline in physical activity levels across the world is one of the reasons scientists are projecting a doubling in global cancer rates over the next 40 years.

This needs to be addressed.

This does not mean we should all join a gym tomorrow.

In fact, it is the smaller changes that fit into our existing routines, such as walking or cycling to work rather than driving that can make a difference and we are also more likely to stick to them in the long run.

But it is no good people like me recommending that you trade in your car for a bike if the roads around where you live seem too dangerous to cycle safely.

This is why when it comes to our attitude towards our public spaces, we in the UK need to become a bit more like Bogota.

We at the World Cancer Research Fund want to see widespread safe walking and cycling routes throughout the country.

Right direction

To be fair, the UK is not doing badly at the moment.

According to Transport for London, there has been a 66% increase in cycling in central London between 2002 and 2007.

Also, three “sustainable travel demonstration towns” have been created that, within two years, led to an increase in walking of about 20% and in cycling of about 50%.

So there is no doubt we are moving in the right direction.

But have we got to the point where all of us can safely cycle to wherever we want to go?

The answer is “no” and that is why there is still a lot more work to do.

You could argue that it would be too expensive to make these sorts of changes, particularly in the current economic climate, but this is an investment in the health of the population.

Making these changes would help prevent many thousands of cases of cancer.

In fact, scientists estimate about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented if people ate healthily, maintained a healthy weight and were regularly physically active.

This is how high the stakes are, and this is why places like Bogota, with all the problems that exist there, are grasping the nettle and prioritising these kinds of changes.

And while they may cost a significant amount of money, the cost of doing nothing and sleepwalking our way towards a public health catastrophe is surely too high to bear thinking about.”

To view the original article, click here:
“Make London like Bogota”

Transportation experts from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States gave presentations at the event, generating a discussion on different options for a public bicycle system and its integration with mass transportation systems. The “Bike Week” program - geared to public officials, bike enthusiasts and the general public - included presentations and training courses held by experts as well as workshops and organized bike rides.

Photo: Cámara de Comercio Bogotá

In addition to ITDP working closely with the Chamber of Commerce on the program and event planning for the event, several people from ITDP made presentations such as Jonas Hagen (ITDP Deputy Country Director for Brazil), as well as Mónica Alvarado and Mariana Monge (from the Transport Department in Rosario, Argentina). Training courses were led by Patricia Calderón (ITDP NMT Technical Expert for Latin America) and Andrés Jara-Moreno(ITDP International Delegations Coordinator).

On Friday afternoon, a round table organized and facilitated by ITDP with local and international stakeholders resulted in a Bike Manifesto. The Manifesto includes advice and suggestions for bike track designs, infrastructure, mobility and road safety requirements for the implementation of a public bicycle system in Bogotá.

See the full program of bicycle week in Spanish:
Semana Completa Agenda - Foro 2009 [pdf size: 237 KB]

Read the Manifesto in Spanish:
BOG Manifiesto: Segunda Semana De La Bicicleta [pdf size: 161 KB]

Download presentations from the event:
Semana de la Bicicleta, María Fernanda Campo [pdf size: 1.01MB]
ICE & Bicycle Partnership Program, Tom Godefrooij [pdf size: 2.33MB]
La Política de Promoción al uso de la bicicleta [pdf size: 1.64MB]
Cicloparqueaderos, Jonas Hagen [pdf size:4.58MB]
Bici-Bogotá, Conejal Ferreira [pdf size: 2.74MB]
Transportation Alternatives, Noah Budnick [pdf size: 2.57 MB]
La Implamentación de la Bicicleta Pública en Europa, Xavier Corominas [pdf size:1.95MB]

[Radio Transcript]

NEW YORK, NY June 18, 2009 —Say you’re standing on Second Avenue at rush hour, and you need to get downtown fast. You look uptown, at six lanes of traffic crawling along. Delivery trucks are double parked, bus drivers are waiting for a long line of passengers to board, and there is not a free taxi in sight. In 10 years time—planners hope—you’ll be able to get on a bus that feels nicer than the newest subway, and get downtown just as fast. But to embark on that future, New Yorkers will have to make some tough choices about whether to privilege mass transit or private cars. WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein has been listening in on the debate.

Facilitator: It’s like a subway train that operates in its own track –-without tracks. Rubber wheels.

Reporter: A few dozen Bronx residents are attending a one of a series of work shop on bus rapid transit in New York.

Facilitator: Also, has subway-like station spacing.

Reporter: Staffers from the MTA and the city DOT are showing mock-ups of what a New York street might look like.

Bus Rapid Transit –- using buses like trains. You pay before you board. The bus pulls in, multiple doors open, you don’t have any stairs. There’s a lane only for buses, and stops about every eight blocks. BRT is working already in Istanbul, Mexico City, and most notably, Bogotá, Columbia

Vincente: In Bogotá, fugeddabout it that was out of sight!

Reporter: Anna Vincente works for the Bronx environmental group Nos Quedamos. She was part of working group that travelled to Bogotá to see how that city has made it vastly easier to get around while greatly reducing pollution.

Vincente: If you could do something like that, that would be phenomenal because then you don’t have to worry about long lines. When we were in Bogotá Columbia, that went like (snaps fingers) that was fabulous.

Reporter: But to get to that level of fabulous, a city has to be willing to make choices – eliminating some street parking, for example, and taking lanes of traffic from private cars. Technology is readily available to turn red lights to green for buses. But there’s a catch.

Gualtieri: It reminds me last summer when I went to the Bronx zoo with my family in the car

Retiree Richard Gualtieri got caught on the flip side.

Gualtieri: From the entrance to the Bronx zoo took a half an hour because it was constantly red so it could be green for the Fordham and it was unbelievable, half an hour, hungry kids.

Reporter: The Fordham. That’s the so-called select bus service that links Upper Manhattan to the Bronx. It’s not BRT. It’s a regular bus, with steps. But it shares some BRT features.

On a recent rainy morning, City Transportation Chief Janette Sadik-Kahn joined me to wait for the bus at the busy commercial intersection of Jerome Avenue and Fordham road.

Bernstein: So that’s what we’re looking at here, metrocard-like machines.

Sadik-Kahn: So people put in their metro-card grab their receipt and off they go.

No waiting in line at the front of the bus, fumbling for a Metrocard or exact change.

Sadik-Kahn: That’s responsible for about a third of the delay.

Sadik-Kahn says NYC has the largest bus fleet in North America – and the slowest bus speeds in North America. The Bronx select travels with flashing lights in a designated lane colored terra cotta. But there’s no physical barrier that separates it from traffic.

Bernstein: I can see right now one car making a right turn. I can see another red car double parked there.

Sadik Kahn: When we implement these kinds of changes, it takes a while to get used to them.

Reporter: Still, Sadik-Kahn calls the Bronx select “a home run.” She says ridership is up 30 percent, travel time has improved by 11 percent.

Sadik-Kahn: And we just did a survey and some 98 percent are satisfied which is something that’s unheard of in New York City.

Reporter: We did a survey too:

Man: I can’t believe they took away a hospital stop.

Woman: Que pasa mas, mas rapido.

Bernstein: Mucho mas rapido?

Woman: Mucho mas rapido.

Woman: It’s sometimes a little bit frustrating how you have to pay for your ticket in advance.

Bernstein: What do you do?

Man: I’m a bus driver.

Bernstein: You’re a bus driver!

Reporter: But select service has its foes. In eastern Queens, transit agencies had hoped to put one on Merrick Boulevard. But Councilmember James Sanders said the merchants in his district wouldn’t hear of it.

Sanders: As soon as the word was getting out that the limited parking that they have was going to be taken away, they certainly complained. And also my neighbors complained because then people who would stop park their cars would try to use the residential side streets.

Reporter: Sanders acknowledges that a select bus could have meant a faster commute for some of his constituents. But he says all transportation is not about commuting.

Sanders: If a person wanted to bring a pizza home for their family it would be difficult to do on a bus.

The Queens select bus service is on hold, for now. But plans are in the works for select buses in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and in the spring of 2010, on First and Second Avenue in Manhattan.

Reporter: Walter Hook is the Executive Director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. He’s designed BRT systems in Mexico City, Johannesburg, and Jakarta – and says Second Avenue is tailor-made for BRT. As we stand at a bus stop in the East 60’s, Hook watches a M15 try to negotiate around a UPS truck which seems to have made its home here for the afternoon.

Hook: I mean, look, here’s an articulated bus pulling into traffic, it’s already blocking two full lanes anyway.

Reporter: Hook notes that planners have been trying to build a Second Avenue subway here for more than half a century. He says a BRT could be up and running in less than a tenth that time, and move people as quickly

Reporter: Hooks advice to New York: build a physical barrier between Second Avenue traffic and the bus lane. Take three lanes –- one for stations and parking, one for the local, and one for the BRT. Anything less, he worries, will fall short. He says that’s what happened in Boston.

Hook: People got angry and they said you promised us a light rail and now you’ve just given us a bus stuck in congestion. Well, people are right to be angry. That’s not BRT that’s a bus painted silver operating in a traffic jam.

Reporter: Transportation Commissioner Sadik-Kahn says other design solutions can do the trick.

Sadik-Kahn: New York is complex environment. We move some 7.3 million riders on the transit system every day. This isn’t Bogotá, we don’t have the opportunity to just grab streets and build out a whole new network. We have to work within the existing geometry of New York.

Reporter: Hook is hoping it works. He says at least one American city should have a well-designed BRT, one that really does feel like a train.

Hook: There is no other solution for American cities. If you look across the globe, the only cities that have actually shifted people from private cars back into public transit are cities that have built bus rapid transit.

Back in the Bronx, Anna Vincente says she’ll be one of them.

Vincente: It takes me almost two hours, but if I take my car, 20 minutes But if I had a BRT, ba-da boom !

The final city planning workshop on BRT will be held in Manhattan, tonight. For WNYC, I’m Andrea Bernstein.

For photos of the Bronx Select, and links to BRT design proposals for New York, or if you missed any of the stories in our series on BRT, go to the news blog.

To access the original radio stream on WNYC, click here:
Bus Rapid Transit — Can It Make It in NYC?

Penalosa’s urban development model includes more public spaces, the Transmilenio, an extensive network of cycle paths, the ‘pico y placa’ system that allows car owners only to use their vehicles on specific days, greater pedestrian access and improved public transport.

The model was recognized as sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Previous winners of the prize include ex-U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Norweigan Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and the Japanese inventors of an electric car.

This is the first time a Latin American has been awarded the prize. Penalosa will officially receive the award on November 26.

To view the original posting, click here:
Ex-Bogota Mayor Wins Environmental Prize

En medio de muchas críticas el Masivo Integrado de Occidente (MIO) cumplió el pasado 7 de junio 100 días de operación, con los resultados proyectados.

De acuerdo con su presidente, Luis Eduardo Barrera, en este período el MIO transportó 5,3 millones de pasajeros en tan sólo seis corredores.

Hace sólo seis meses el sistema estaba a punto de colapsar por problemas en la licitación del recaudo, pero una vez solucionado y con una gran parte de la flota y las vías construidas, decidieron iniciar la operación, pese a que aún no existen los portales, talleres y zonas de parqueo.

Para la socialización del sistema, Barrera autorizó el inicio de la operación sin costo para el usuario durante más de dos meses, lo que permitió que la comunidad conociera de cerca la operación y aprendiera a usarlo.

A diferencia de los sistemas Transmilenio de Bogotá y Megabús de Pereira, el MIO de Cali tendrá un cobertura del 100%, para lo cual incluirá un sistema de cable hacia el sector de Siloé, el cual se deberá iniciar en el segundo semestre del presente año.

Actualmente la operación cuenta con seis rutas troncales, nueve rutas alimentadoras, 47 buses articulados, 38 buses padrones, similares a los alimentadores de Transmilenio; 18 buses complementarios, que operan en barrios donde las vías impiden el ingreso de los padrones.

En los seis corredores que se encuentran en operación hay 41 troncales que facilitan la movilización de personal que se dirige a las universidades, colegios, hospitales y establecimientos comerciales localizados a lo largo de la Avenida Quinta.

De acuerdo con Barrera, el número de usuarios ha venido creciendo cada mes. Arrancó con una movilización de 993 mil pasajeros en marzo, en abril ascendió a 1,7 millones, en mayo alcanzó los 2 millones y durante los primeros siete días de junio movilizó 491 mil viajeros.

Si bien el sistema tiene como socios a los propietarios de los buses y empresas de transporte de Cali, aún hay algunos pequeños propietarios que no lograron acceder a una de las concesiones y están realizando una serie de protestas para presionar a Metrocali para que les permita ingresar a la operación de los nuevos corredores.

Barrera explicó que lo que deben hacer es cumplir con los requisitos para participar en la licitación que les permita convertirse en socios del MIO.

En la construcción del sistema de transporte masivo se han invertido $692 mil millones, cifra en la que se destacan $850 millones que fueron destinados a la recuperación de algunas estaciones destruidas durante algunas protestas.

En el segundo semestre de este año se abrirán licitaciones para la construcción de la Avenida de las Américas, la Glorieta Estación, la Troncal del Distrito de Aguablanca, los puentes sobre el río Cali y el Miocable.

Barrera explicó que la ciudad de Cali cambió después de la iniciación de la operación del MIO, pues sostiene que la comunidad se puede desplazar en menos tiempo y con mayor comodidad, ya que el transporte regular sigue en la guerra del centavo y pone en riesgo a los usuarios.

Si bien hay buena acogida del sistema, hay mucha gente que prefiere movilizarse en transporte colectivo, por considerar que es muy demorado el servicio y que va muy lleno.

El presidente del MIO considera que sólo a partir de octubre la operación será regular, es decir, que entrarán los buses que hacen falta, con lo cual se ampliarán las rutas.

Para leer el artículo original, haga clic aquí:
El MIO Ha Cumplido Con Las Expectativas en Cali [in Spanish]

“The number of passengers is growing. I think more and more people have made the most of this route during peak hours,” a Transjakarta officer Sudirman said Wednesday at Lebak Bulus Terminal.

“We usually have around 500 passengers *250 an hour* hopping on buses at this station during our first two hours of operation, from 5 a.m to 7 a.m. They are usually people going to work,” he said.

From 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., the number drops to around 700 or 116 per hour. Most passengers using the bus during off peak hours don’t usually travel daily, he said.

From 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., Lebak Bulus Terminal sees as many as 1,000 passengers, he added.

Bambang, another officer at the terminal, said there were also many people using this corridor on weekends, with the number hovering around 3,000.

The route has seen an increasing number of passengers because the operator expands the route to Harmoni in Central Jakarta at the weekend, he said.

On weekdays, the corridor stops at the Grogol shelter in West Jakarta. Passengers who want to go to Harmoni and surrounding areas have to transfer to Corridor 3 at Indosiar, Jelambar or Grogol 2 shelters.

“On Saturday and Sunday, we usually have a greater number of passengers after 9 a.m. Most of them are families going to recreational places such as Ancol and Ragunan,” he said.

People in South Jakarta and surrounding areas usually take the bus to go to Ancol in North Jakarta, while people in North Jakarta and surrounding areas use the bus to go to Ragunan in South Jakarta, he said.

“Although they have to transfer between corridors to reach recreational places, they prefer to use the Transjakarta bus than regular buses,” Bambang said.

According to Sudirman, the operator only serves the Lebak Bulus to Harmoni route on weekends to avoid too many passengers crowding the Harmoni shelter.

“We might serve the full route from Lebak Bulus to Harmoni once Corridor 9 *running from Pinang Ranti in East Jakarta to Pluit in North Jakarta* is open, so we can avoid having too many passengers in Harmoni.”

Corridor 8 has been criticized for being an ineffective and congested route, especially along the Pondok Indah road, where many other vehicles also enter the Transjakarta special lane and obstruct the passage of buses.

Elis, a passenger from Bintaro, also bemoaned the congested traffic on the arterial road during peak hours, thus extending her waiting time at the shelter.

“Actually, I save time riding on this bus, except in peak hours,” said the woman, who boarded from Lebak Bulus to go to Mangga Dua.

“Moreover, it takes me more time to transfer because I can’t go directly to Harmoni on my way to Mangga Dua.”

To view the original article, click here:
Busway’s Newest Corridor Popular Despite Heavy Congestion (Jakarta)

La actividad es coordinada por la Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá. Se calcula que en Bogotá ruedan 400 mil bicicletas lo que significa un estimativo de 240 mil viajes.

Hoy en la capital se realizan 7 veces más viajes diarios en ‘burra’ (como algunos llaman a este vehículo de dos ruedas), que en 1998.

La Semana de la Bicicleta busca que los ciudadanos conozcan las ventajas para cambiar el uso cotidiano del carro por la bici.

Según cifras entregadas por la Cámara de Comercio, esta acción reduce en 1,5 kilos el dióxido de carbono que emiten los vehículos hacia la atmósfera por cada cinco kilómetros de recorrido.

De hecho, ayer, en la primera jornada, quedó claro que las grandes metrópolis de Latinoamérica deben integrar sistemas públicos de alquiler de bicicletas con los masivos de transporte, como el TransMilenio, en el caso de Bogotá.

Uno de los participantes en el panel de expertos, el brasileño Jonás Hagen, director del Instituto de Políticas de Transporte y Desarrollo de Brasil, relató la experiencia sobre esta práctica en ciudades tan populosas y complejas como Sao Pablo y Río de Janeiro.

El investigador explicó cómo funciona actualmente el servicio de alquiler de bicicletas en estas dos ciudades. “En Sao Pablo, por ejemplo, se está desarrollando un programa piloto en las estaciones de bus y del metro. Los usuarios se registran en Internet y, luego, liberan la bicicleta por medio del celular. Todo se maneja vía satélite. El ciudadano usa la bicicleta en el trayecto que necesita, y la deja de nuevo en la estación de su destino”, afirmó.

Vea la programación completa de la Semana de la Bicicleta en: http://www.eltiempo.com

Para leer el artículo original, haga clic aquí:
Segunda Semana de la Bicicleta Irá Hasta Este Viernes en Bogotá