News aggregator

The somewhat too small bikelanes of Bangalore.

With the initiation of the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), the government of India has shown a clear interest in promoting sustainable transport initiatives which include bicycles and non-motorized transport. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), an initiative of the Indian Ministry of Urban Development, calls for bike facilities to be integrated into BRT systems along with bicycle sharing systems. While there seems to be a clear policy level focus on non-motorized transport, projects which have been implemented have not been very successful in luring riders to non-motorized transport. Cities such as Delhi, Pune and Bangalore have created bike lanes without much success. Pune, has more than 80km (49.7 miles) of bicycle lanes,the lengthiest in India, and Jayangar, a neighborhood in Bangalore which  has recently constructed around 40km of bicycle lanes. At a policy level both of these projects have identical goals – to promote as a viable alternative for commuting. Since they have not been very successful, where could they have gone wrong?

Jayanagar is predominantly a residential neighborhood with many schools and a gridded street network. Both of these are positives for creating a bicycle network. In the Bicycle Friendly Streets Report, school children have been targeted as the intended users of the bicycle lanes This decision seems to be driven by the presence of many schools in the neighborhood rather than the number of children bicycling to school. Experience shows that insufficient demand (or, critical mass) on these lanes could lead to other uses such as increased car parking demand  – which is indeed occuring in Jayanagar. Secondly, the bike lanes have been marked inconsistently, varying from half-a-meter to two meters into the streetway, causing a jarring switch for users, in addition to being too small for use at the narrow half-meter minimum (see headline image).

The other issue plaguing this network is street selection for the bike lanes: most are on main roads. Since Jayanagar has a gridded street network, it would have been better for parallel streets to be chosen for implementing bicycle lanes. This would have physically separated bicyclists from faster moving vehicles and provided a greater sense of safety. Of course, it would be possible to physically separate bicycle lanes from traffic, but that would be a costly affair (discussed later). Finally, the issue of parking – the picture below speaks for itself. It is necessary to remove existing parking symbols where the bicycle lanes have been implemented. Public education and a redux of system implementation, including outreach efforts, enforcement and overall better design are all  potential solutions to these problems.

Competing signage and functionality creates parking where non-motorized bikes should be.

 

Critical Mass Creation

Essential to creating successful bike lanes anywhere is creating a base of users: a critical mass. Instead of merely linking land uses, traffic trends analysis and identifying groups likely to make use of bike lanes is key, and is a best practice used by Transport for London. Creating comfort and ease of use has to be intuitive to even an achieved critical mass of riders, while accounting for cost of street reengineering. While physical separation from on-street traffic is best at attracting riders (and also solve other infrastructural needs – see image below) only high speed “arterials” merit this kind of infrastructure upgrade.  With the renewed interest in cycle as a sustainable mode of transport, funding these projects might not be that difficult.

Creating dedicated rights of way for motorized traffic solves multiple urban ills. Design/image courtesy of Nikhil Chaudhary / Binoy Mascarenhas.

Creating a safe, well-lit, obstruction-free environment for cyclists is also key when designing bicycle lanes. On these streets sufficient lighting must be provided to encourage bicyclists. Physically separating bicycle lanes also helps reduce the potential for conflict with other modes of traffic and hence improve safety. By providing a ‘utility buffer’ between the bicycle lane and traffic, we can ensure that there is continuous pavement for pedestrians as well as continuous lanes for bicyclists. Issues such as the image below can be eliminated .

This is from Pune where the lanes are separated from traffic by raising the bicycle lane – a good practice but dealing with intersections become a problem. Photo by Joseph Swain.

Cycling as an alternative mode of transportation is gaining momentum and the Government of India is promoting this as well. The pilot projects in Pune and Bangalore have been very good cases and have provided sufficient learning. A few minor changes to the planning of these networks will help us implement a successful bicycle project in India

 

China now has the world’s longest HSR line. Photo by dcmaster.

Welcome back to TheCityFix Picks, our series highlighting the newsy and noteworthy of the past week. Every week, we’ll run down the headlines falling under TheCityFix’s five themes: integrated transport, urban development and accessibility, air quality and climate change, health and road safety, and communications and marketing.

In a sociological quirk of New York City’s subway system and underground culture, riders on the F and M trains have developed an interpersonal signalling system, ranging from tipped hats to a stairwell tango, communicating the approach of arriving connecting trains to fellow passengers.

The longest high speed rail line in the world opened in China this past week, connecting the capital, Beijing and south chinese industrial powerhouse, Guangzhou. The line, which would span in length from London to Belgrade, is currently operating at 186 miles per hour (300 km/h)  between the two cities.

The Sierra Club has released its state by state analysis of the most environmentally friendly transportation projects of 2013 in the U.S. Unsurprisingly, all of the projects not recommended for build-out consist of widening highways or creating new ones. The District of Columbia, where this post is produced, was featured as a “go,” or recommended project for its Capital Bikeshare program.

The Canadian news aggregator and social commentary site, Global Research, published a detailed set of recommendations for urban accessibility, calling for free public transit in Toronto. It recommends funding a “free transit” system through increased local taxes.

The Sustainable Transport Award, which recognizes cities’ efforts to increase mobility, reduce greenhouse emissions, improve road safety and increase pedestrian-cycling access has released the five final nominees for the 2013 prize: Bremen, Germany, Lviv, Ukraine, Mexico City, Mexico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Rosario, Argentina. EMBARQ, the producer of this blog, is a co-sponsor and award committee member.

In preparation for what is anticipated to be a spectacular New Year’s Eve, Dubai will operate its metro and 9 key bus routes for 24 hours straight to accommodate an expected 132,000+ NYE revelers. An additional 10,000 “parking slots” will also be made available for New Year’s festivities.

The Indonesian branch of automobile manufacturer Isuzu will “focus on public transit in 2013″ as demand for its trucks and minibuses used in mining and agriculture slip. The general manager of sales for Isuzu Indonesia noted that the market for these vehicles exists in both large and medium sized cities across the country, not just in Java.

Meanwhile, in a tandem effort to increase mass transit ridership, Minibus operators in Jakarta may be able to access Transjakarta BRT exclusive lanes when the regional authorities limit car usage through a license plate lottery. The lottery is set to commence in March and integrating these smaller operators is currently under consideration by the City Administration.

Pennsyslvania State Senate leaders have proposed legislation to issue bonds to pay for the $3.5 billion backlog in transportation infrastructure investment across the Commonwealth’s road, public transport and air network.

 

 

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) runs a network of more than 2300 routes with around 6100 buses

This piece was originally published on India Together.

 

It would be difficult to identify a more maligned aspect of the public transport experience than the transfer. Particularly with bus services, having to transfer between one bus to the next is perhaps the number one peeve of public transport users. Users attach a very high price of inconvenience to it, more than the initial wait for the bus itself. And bus service providers are very aware of this fact; public transport authorities in cities across India resist transfers, no matter how large the benefits are.

But the bad rap that transfers get is very unfortunate for those who want a high quality bus service for their city – government officials, planners, sustainability advocates, and most of all public transport users. Transfer-based bus networks can result in services that provide significantly higher quality and coverage compared to the alternative. It is doubly unfortunate because many complaints that users have regarding transfers can actually be solved by moving to a more intensively transfer-based system itself.

But before dealing with the issues of transfers directly, it is important to make the case for why transfer-based bus services should be the preferred option.

Broadly speaking, there are two ways in which city bus services can be organised. The first is to offer ‘direct services’. This is where each bus route acts as a direct connection between two given destinations. This is the form of bus service that will be most familiar to Indian bus users. Most city bus services in India operate along this principle, connecting each major destination – residential areas, shopping districts, business parks – directly to another such destination.

An alternative system of organisation for city bus services is what is increasingly being called the ‘integrated services’ model. This model goes by many names – ‘trunk and feeder system’ has been used in the past, ‘direction-oriented services’ has also been used more commonly in recent years. But whatever the name, the essential organising principal is the same. A given destination, instead of being directly connected to the city centre by a specific route, is connected to an intermediate transfer point from where the user transfers to another service that continues in the direction of his or her travel.

For example, a ‘feeder’ bus service will connect a destination to the nearest major arterial or main road. At this point the user transfers to a ‘trunk’ route that travels on the arterial road only. The trunk route may take the user to the final destination, or the user may make a transfer to another trunk or feeder service.

The superiority of the transfer-based integrated services model over direct services boils down to two main aspects: Simplicity and Service Quality.

The complexity of direct services grows significantly compared to integrated services as the number of destinations increases

 

Simplicity

To illustrate how integrated services result in networks that are simpler, consider the following model. Suppose we have three major destinations in the city centre. These could be, for example, the central business district, the main city market, and a transportation hub. Now, consider the route network that would be required to serve a series of neighbourhoods that lie along one major arterial road leading away from the city centre. Let us first suppose that there are 3 residential neighbourhoods, each at a moderate distance away from the arterial itself.

In the direct services model, each of these residential neighbourhoods would require a direct bus service to each of the three destinations in the city centre. That is, three routes serve each neighbourhood. The direct services route network therefore comprises of 9 routes.

Consider now the case of the integrated system. In this case, each neighbourhood is connected only to the nearest arterial road. That adds up to 3 routes. Three routes, however, serve the arterial road itself, – one to each major destination in the city centre. So by making one transfer, users can still reach any of the three central destinations from their individual neighbourhood. In total then, this system has 6 routes – 3 feeder routes connecting neighbourhoods to the arterial and 3 trunk routes on the arterial.

So in this particular case the integrated services model provides the same level of coverage with 3 fewer routes than the direct services model. A difference of 3 routes may not seem like a lot. But this differential rapidly grows as the number of neighbourhoods along the arterial increases. Say the city grows in size, and the arterial road now has 6 neighbourhoods that lie along it. In the direct services model we now have 18 routes – 3 routes from each of 6 neighbourhoods. In the integrated model, by contrast, we only need 9 routes – 6 feeders but still only 3 trunk routes. That’s a difference of 9 routes.

If the city expands even further to the point where 50 distinct destinations lie along the arterial, the integrated services model has 53 routes while the direct services model has a whopping 150. The number of routes in the integrated model can also further be reduced if a single feeder route can serve different neighbourhoods across an arterial road.

But why is simplicity in a bus service network so desirable? The main reason is that simple systems are easier to use and, more significantly, allow for an expanded choice of travel patterns.

Bangalore is a good example of the dizzyingly high number of routes that can result from the direct services model. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Commission (BMTC) operates over 2300 routes in the city. From personal experience, even the most ardent public transport advocate will struggle to make sense of such a complex network. By contrast, London, a city with similar numbers of residents, bus ridership numbers and bus fleet size, operates a little over 700 routes – by no means simple, but certainly simpler.

Due to the large array of route numbers that result from direct services and the lack of any intuitive or logical way to organise them mentally, users will often stick to a route that they know works for them – even if using other unfamiliar routes will result in more efficient travel. For example, a user may be used to traveling by route 350-A. Route 368-F would also take the user to the exact same destination. But if there is no easy way to figure this out just by seeing the route number or destination name – and memorising the patterns of many different routes is not feasible – the user will continue to wait for the 350-A bus even as several 368-F buses come and go.

Finally, transfer-based systems also open the possibility of many new travel patterns that are more difficult to execute in the direct services model. For example, consider a user who wants to travel from one neighbourhood to another that lies on the other side of an arterial road. In the direct services model, such a trip is difficult to plan – the user has to get to the arterial, and then wait for the very specific bus route that will take them to their destination. If the destination isn’t one where routes terminate, they will also have to know the exact routing of the bus they are waiting for. More likely, the user will take a bus till the arterial then hop in a rickshaw, taxi or other mode.

In the transfer-based system, however, such trip patterns become easier to execute. The user takes a feeder to the arterial, travels on the trunk service in the direction of their final destination, and then transfers again to another feeder to the final destination.

Excessive complexity also raises many barriers to entry for new public transport users. When a system has so many different routes, creating good user information systems such as maps at bus stops or online journey planners is a Herculean task. On a busy arterial road, it would take an enormous amount of display space at the bus stop simply to list all the bus routes serving each stop, and if this were done digitally, it will take several minutes to scroll through the whole lot on a small screen.

In the absence of such information, then, a new user would have to rely on the knowledge of fellow bus users, which in itself may or may not be reliable, or undertake a significant number of trial-and-error trips before identifying the solution that best works for them.

 

Service Quality

When we talk about Service Quality, we’re talking mainly of two things: Frequency and Reliability. These are by far the two most important factors that determine whether users are happy with bus services. Integrated systems do better on both counts.

One of the weaknesses of the direct services model is that as cities expand rapidly and, therefore, the number of destinations requiring bus services increase, the number of routes increases even faster. And since these new destinations are likely to be farther away, their route lengths also steadily increase. But cities struggling with limited resources – as in India – cannot increase their fleet sizes fast enough to keep up. Over time, a slowly increasing number of buses are spread more and more thinly over a rapidly increasing number of routes.

Bangalore again, is a good example of this phenomenon. Although it has a very healthy fleet size of over 6100 buses, these are used to service more than 2300 routes. So what you ultimately end up with is a system that has a large number of routes where only one bus is serving a route length of 35-40km or more. This means that you can only achieve a bus service frequency of 1 bus every 2 or 3 hours. At this low frequency, public transport is not a preferable alternative to private vehicles.

In the integrated system, by contrast, route lengths for feeders are usually 4-6 km or so. This means that, even with one bus, you can provide service at a frequency of 15-20 minutes. And on arterial roads, high frequency trunk services can arrive in as little as 1 or 2 minutes. Integrated services can thus provide higher frequencies on feeder routes, and the difference is very significant for destinations that are far away from the city centre.

On the arterial roads, however, direct services actually provide higher frequencies as you get close to the city centre, as more routes, and therefore buses, join the trunk road. But this is not a positive. In many cases there is actually an oversupply of buses in the city centre. And having more buses than necessary entering the city core may actually make congestion worse.

In other words, direct services result in a grossly unbalanced service pattern that offers significantly higher frequencies in the city centre compared to the periphery, a pattern that is often at odds with the real travel demands of users. Integrated services, on the other hand, provide the same frequency throughout the length of any given ‘link’, be it the trunk or the feeder. Moreover, if the frequency on a given link is found to be higher or lower than required, removing or adding a bus can easily remedy it. Thus optimizing integrated bus services to meet actual demand is also much easier.

The modular nature of integrated services also has a major positive effect on reliability, that other most cherished desire of public transport users. This effect is particularly noticeable on the arterial road. In direct services, the arrival of the ‘next bus’ at any given bus stop is highly unpredictable. This is because of the large number of routes and the large spread of their route lengths. The same stop may serve some buses that have a route 10km long, some that are 15, some 20, some 35, and any length in between. This means that the next bus may arrive 2 minutes from now, 6 minutes from, or 25 minutes from now.

In the integrated services model, however, there will not only be a significantly reduced number of routes but most of these will also be of similar lengths. Thus the variation in the time till next bus arrival will be far lower and much more predictable, leading to a more reliable service.

 

Overcoming the resistance to transfers

Thus Integrated, transfer-based services are simpler to use, can provide more appropriate frequencies and can be more reliable than direct services – ultimately resulting in a bus service that is more convenient to use. With that, now let’s get back to the issue of transfers themselves. Are transfers really so painful and inconvenient as to negate all the advantages that can be captured in a transfer-based system?

There are several reasons to suggest that the general perception about the inconvenience of transfers is overblown. First, let us look at why people dislike making transfers. The main complaint about transfers is that waiting time for the following bus is very high. This, ironically, is a by-product of the direct services model itself (due to its tendency to result in low frequencies on individual routes). When frequencies on connecting services are high and waiting times low, much of the reluctance to transfer disappears.

A second major reason is that the physical experience of making a transfer is often uncomfortable. Having to wait at ill-designed bus stops, often while being exposed to the elements and not having a place to sit, justifiably results in negative associations with the act of transferring. The key lesson here is that any animosity towards transferring is due to the inconvenience of the process itself rather than due to any inherent dislike of the concept. Providing comfortable, all-weather bus stops with a few basic amenities puts another large dent in the reluctance to transfer.

A useful analogy to draw here is with metro systems. The use of transfers on metro systems is much more prevalent and the people who make them complain much less – or at least their complaints are much fainter. This is largely because metro stations are enclosed and comfortable and users know their next train is going to come pretty soon.

A second reason to doubt predictions of mass user resistance if a transfer-based system is introduced is that most people using city bus services make transfers anyway. It’s just that these transfers are from other modes. In other words, many people reach the bus stop by rickshaw, or are dropped off by two-wheelers or other private vehicles and then transfer to the bus. A recent survey conducted by EMBARQ India at several bus stops along a major arterial road in Bangalore found that the majority of people accessed the bus stop through motorized modes other the bus, even when they came from areas that have a bus service. The poor frequency of the first bus meant they had to find other means to reach the bus stop.

So what’s the catch? There are a few. But these are by no means deal breakers. The first is that to make a transfer-based system work, you need to develop a large network of well-designed bus stops. This in turn, will require a certain sum of money. But this amount would certainly be very modest compared to other investments like flyovers or underpasses. Second, making transfer based systems truly convenient also requires seamless ticketing. This is a technology fix, and smart card-based solutions, though undoubtedly tricky, have been tried and tested the world over. Cleverly designed ‘analog’ systems can also work.

Fares will also need to be reformed to encourage transfers, but as long as the new system remains at least cost neutral to the user this should not be an insurmountable problem. User education is another challenge. Changing long-established patterns of how things work is bound to generate some resistance, especially in something that plays as large a role in people’s lives as public transport. But experiences from several cities around the world – Bogota, Sao Paulo, Seoul, to name just a few – show that such large-scale changes are not only possible but that the pain is temporary and quickly replaced with praise if the new systems works better.

In summary, while transitioning to integrated transfer-based bus services is not without costs, these are relatively minor and are far outweighed by the benefits.

Ultimately every city is different and the best network design for a given city will be highly contextual. Smaller cities may very well find that the direct services model is perfect for their needs. But as cities grow bigger, the benefits that accrue to transfer-based systems grow more significant. And, of course, every well-designed and comprehensive bus service network will always be a hybrid of trunk-and-feeder routes and high-demand direct services.

But if cities, especially the bigger ones, want a truly high quality bus-based public transport network that provides convenient services and wide coverage then they will have to make integrated services the foundation of their system. And to do that we will all need to embrace the transfer.

Happy Holidays from EMBARQ! Photo by Darren and Brad.

For those of you out there who have yet to buy your family and friends holiday presents, consider checking off wish lists with transit-centric swag. DIY, transit provider sponsored and homespun tchotchkes and apparel exist in quantity. Consider this 3D t-shirt of Chicago’s L Train for your urbanite boyfriend? Perhaps this embroidered wall art of Le Metro for your Parisian grandmother? I would personally fancy this London tube map bow tie. Representing DC’s Metro in the abstract with fine art is also high on this blogger’s Christmas wish list…if not, this quilt will suffice.

For the jewelry inclined, these DC and Paris Metro earrings are a great gift for showing transit love while in public. For those in your life more keen on mapping-out in private, this shower curtain will keep your bathroom dry while planning your next trip. While you’re at it, that same bathroom could be illuminated in style via Metro. The transit gift giving possibilities are boundless, but may require transfers.

Happy Holidays from Everyone at EMBARQ!

Ailun Yang

The latest International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Medium-Term Coal Market Report 2012 re-confirms the dangerous path the world is on–a path of increasing dependence on coal, which carries serious environmental risks for people and the planet. According to the report, the world will burn 1.2 billion metric tons more coal per year by 2017 compared to today, surpassing oil as the world’s top energy source.

read more

Compartimos la edición de diciembre de nuestra serie Temas de Análisis, en la que analizamos el procedimiento penal a causa de un problema que ha estado vigente desde la emisión de la Ley de Gestión Ambiental y que se ha resuelto en la dirección correcta, es decir, el respeto a los principios de “inmediación y economía procesal”.

read more

This article was written by Peter Veit and Gilbert Sendugwa and orginally posted on WRI Insights

Open government requires an open executive branch, an open legislature, and an open judiciary. Historically, however, global attention to government transparency and access to information has focused on the executive branch.

read more

Today is the last full day to apply to The Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship! We are seeking applicants to innovate for sustainable transport. Lee was a founder of EMBARQ and dedicated his professional life to the efficient use of energy in mobility. An astrophysicist and a studied musician, Lee was an iconoclast in the field of energy efficiency. This scholarship celebrates his vision and the bold challenges to conventional wisdom that Lee gave to the field.The scholarship will award two extraordinary candidates up to US$10,000 each to advance transformative research in efficient and sustainable transport.

The first selection phase requires an expression of interest, to be completed by tomorrow December 19th, 2012. Applicants can learn more about this process here. From this first phase, up to ten candidates will advance to the next phase and will be notified in early January at which point a more detailed research proposal will be required. Final awardees will be notified in early 2013.

Begin Your Application Here!

 

 

This research analyzes the nature of bus transit pollution.

This blog post is part of EMBARQ’s sustainable urban transport fuel and vehicle program made possible by generous funding from FedEx.

EMBARQ, the producer of this blog, has recently released a working paper “Exhaust Emissions of Transit Buses”. This report is the first in a series that will compare bus lifecycle emissions and costs specifically in Mexico, Brazil and India.

Erin Cooper is a Research Analyst with EMBARQ’s Research and Practice Program, where she works on projecting the impacts of EMBARQ’s various transportation and development projects. We sat down with her to discuss the insights of her research.

This first report looks at bus exhaust emissions. What specific emissions/pollutants did you consider? Why?

This research uses a collection of data from in-use transit bus testing. Transit bus testing tends to look at the regulated pollutants which cause local air pollution and contribute to human health problems: particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and hydro-carbons. Researchers may include tests for other pollutants such as carbon dioxide or volatile organic compounds. We review this data with respect to different fuels and exhaust after treatment technologies.

We are also looking at bus exhaust emissions with respect to a few variables: emissions standards, mileage of the bus, altitude of test location, driving pattern (does driving resemble an urban or suburban environment), and field testing versus lab testing. This allows us to see how fuels and emissions may change in different situations, which helps to make the information more relevant for specific agencies.

What are the key results of this research?

This report shows that exhaust after-treatment technologies and diesel quality, improvements to which are driven by regulations, are more important factors in reducing emissions than changing fuel type alone. There are also trade-offs between different fuel and technology combinations with regards to reducing global warming pollutants or reducing pollutants that are harmful to human health.

How valuable are emissions standards to reducing urban bus emissions?

Exhaust after-treatment technologies are needed to meet emissions standards. If buses are regularly tested, emissions standards are very effective in reducing the regulated emissions. However, because CO2 has not previously been regulated, the current emissions standards can have either a positive or negative impact on the amount of CO2 emitted. The sulfur content of diesel also has an impact on the ability of buses to meet proscribed emissions standards.

How does the sulfur content of fuel impact emissions?

The sulfur content of diesel fuel contributes to air pollution in the form of sulfur dioxide, and it also contributes to the formation of particulates which can reduce the effectiveness of emissions reduction technologies. Ultra low sulfur diesel (roughly 10 to 15 ppm) is what is used in the US and Europe. Many developing countries can have diesel sulfur content values higher than 500 parts per million. Below this value, oxidation catalysts can be used which reduce emissions.  Many countries, including Brazil, Mexico and India, are working to reduce the sulfur content of fuel below 500 ppm and to 50 ppm in metro areas. Below 50 ppm, diesel particulate filters can be used.

Which fuels perform best in terms of public health impact?

Though there are health impacts resulting from many emissions types, particulate matter is often used as an indicator of impacts because there is a quantifiable impact between increases in particulate matter and mortality. Natural gas fuels are naturally low in particulate matter. Using exhaust after-treatment technologies on diesel and biodiesel can also bring particulate matter down to a level comparable to natural gas.

Why aren’t CO2 emissions regulated?

There is new legislation in the US for heavy-duty vehicles which will result in CO2 emissions reductions in 2014. Because the regulations are new, emissions standards are not considered in many past bus tests, though bus emissions tests often captured values for CO2 emissions which are included in this report.

Hasn’t a lot of data about urban bus emissions already been published?
There are many emissions tests for vehicles of many fuel types, but much of this testing has taken place in the US or Europe. This test data is not directly relevant to EMBARQ’s target countries, Mexico, Brazil, and India where different vehicle technologies and fuel qualities are prevalent. Much of the US and European data must be analyzed to understand how it relates to developing countries.

Also, there are many reports that compare only one or two fuel types – often CNG and Diesel but EMBARQ was interested in a broader comprehensive analysis. The tests are also performed in locations that may not represent the countries where we work. Our approach was to combine as much data as possible from different reports, and looking at different fuels, to create a broader picture of the expected range of emissions resulting from different fuels and technologies.

Why isn’t there a greater market share of these alternative fuels already?
Diesel is an important heavy duty vehicle fuel because it provides high energy content. This is why it is used and why bus manufacturers have worked to reduce harmful emissions from diesel engines for decades while maintaining it as an energy source. Fuels that have been less prominently used until now, such as CNG, may have lower emissions, but generally have lower energy content as well. They have also not benefited from as much effort to reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency as has been done with diesel technology. However, the EPA 2010 emissions standards will hold all fuels to a common standard.

What can the results of this research be used for?
The results of the combustion emissions working paper can be used to assess different fuels, and which factors might be involved in choosing different fuels or technologies. We would also like to use this paper to start a discussion on emissions and true comparisons between fuels and help us to identify further data sources of exhaust emissions.

What are the next steps of the research?

We are continuing to search for bus emissions testing data to improve the accuracy of our report. Additionally, we want to tie the results as directly as possible to public health impacts.  The goal of the full program of research is to look at lifecycle costs and lifecycle emissions to understand which buses are the better options for different locations. Lifecycle cost looks at the full cost of the bus including purchase, operation, and maintenance.  Lifecycle emissions is an important concept to consider as most regulations up until the present have focused on reducing emissions that cause air pollution. This portion of the research should be available early next year.

Recreating a subway at rush hour through performance art…danse, if you will. Photo Credit: Aaron Minnick

Maybe we need a better understanding of the human condition if we are going to succeed at improving transit! If you modeled the interior of a crowded Metro train at rush hour, this set of images would you and your friends make. If outside of the Metro, people might look at you strangely, but on the Metro, its completely acceptable.

Something that all art forms strive for is the understanding of the human condition. Post-modern art is very good at taking very ordinary things out of context to highlight a particular idea or emotion. This often creates a more human or emotional response to a situation which may lead to better recognition of a particular issue or a new understanding of an idea.

Erin Cooper, a Research Analyst at EMBARQ -the producer of this blog- wanted to show how this concept, often used in the dance the world, could itself be abstracted and used to take a different look at transit. Dance today take ordinary pedestrian movements and situations from daily life, like transit, in order to build dances, but what if we learn from the arts and deconstruct  the ordinary?

What can we learn about transit and what makes it attractive?

Transit and transportation planning is so often focused on getting from point A to point B that the very human elements of the commute is lost in the whirl of high level discussions about transport finance, increasing capacity, and encouraging people to switch to alternative modes. Here are some new metrics that came out of our experiment. Let us know if they would improve your transit-riding experience!

Top to bottom distance ratio.

 

Graze squeeze ratio.

 

 

Hands in air time.

Measuring headphone noise to drown out the train could offer insight into transit noise pollution.

 

Angel Hsu

Although major greenhouse-gas emitting countries were criticized at the latest round of climate negotiations in Doha for failing to show enough ambition, an event held during the second week highlighted leadership from Germany, China, Morocco, and South Africa on clean and renewable energy. Hosted by Peter Altmaier, Federal Environment Minister of Germany, and moderated by the President of the World Resources Institute, Andrew Steer, the panel also included Xie Zhenhua, Vice-Chair of China’s NDRC, Nandi Mayathula Khoza, Minister of Agriculture of South Africa’s Gauteng province, and Fouad Douiri, Morocco’s Energy and Environment Minister.

read more

 

This piece was first published on Dec 12, 2012, in ‘The Small Picture’ in the newspaper edition of Mint.

 

This graphic narrative depicts the plight of a pedestrian through the perspective of a person who has been a pedestrian for years in a typical Indian metropolis. The story depicts his daily struggle to move around in the city on foot, throwing light on some glaring issues of urban pedestrian accessibility. Coupled with recent studies that have shown that road fatalities in India to be at a gruesomely staggering 1.4 million people annually, this becomes a critical issue to be addressed. Pedestrians are the most common victims in any given situation, and account for 10% of all road fatalities. In some Indian cities, this percentage is as high as 40%.  It is a common observation, especially in Mumbai, (where I currently live), of how Indian pedestrians typically bunch up against oncoming traffic, and cross roads valiantly in the absence of any essential infrastructure, like signals and zebra crossings (cross-walks). It’s almost a silent and compulsive uprising, a commonplace act of day-to-day survival.

Typical peak-hour jams on main-roads meant for exclusive use by vehicles.

Narrator: Everyday on the city streets, I become part of hundreds of quiet uprisings…To assert freedom to have something as basic as food, water and air…

 

 

An exaggeration of how signals only aid traffic and not people, with an array of ‘legalized’ movements of the traffic; the two adversaries being addressed. The zebra crossing barely there, burdened with the walking crowds, while a devilish driver looks on (his grip resembles the Satan’s clutch while an ironically cute soft-toy dangles on the mirror.) A dominating signage of ‘NO JAY-WALKING’ signifies the overall situation, with the symbolic human figure, portrayed in all other panels, representing the pedestrian.

Narrator: Against decades of apathy from those who pave the ‘development’… against the skewed planning priorities that aid and abet today’s oppressors behind wheels.

The struggle to claim public space for more than half of the urban population on the move within the city…on foot.

 

Inadequate walking space with crushing effects, the imbalance of allocated space – purely a fault of poorly designed roads, compared to the volumes.
The construction of mega-scale public projects, especially fly-overs, that stretch on for decades leaving pedestrians vulnerable to walking along dangerous sites. The ubiquitous car-advertisement billboard further mocks the large populace on foot, with its pretentious promotion lines – “Experience Freedom, experience luxury, now at just 3.6 Lakhs*.” Ironically the ‘Freedom (?)’ letters spring out of the billboard and merge over the traffic-jam. ‘Is this the ‘freedom’ that we really aspire for?’ is the implication.

Narrator: Over the years, I’ve witnessed every situation that belittles us…corners us into cramped domains…

 

Sky-walks move pedestrians away from traffic, however, they are a huge investment, are not used to their optimum value, and are not designed for universal access.

Narrator: that mocks us insensitively, encroaches our rightful path…

 

Inadequate walking infrastructure that nobody cares to maintain and the resulting threats and obstacles to pedestrians.

Narrator: or lays hurdles where there should be none.

 

This visual portrays a zebra crossing, and is the ‘plot point’ of the story. The vertical stripes metaphorically translate also into a ‘cage’ for the enthusiastic joggers while it concludes in showing a fatality on it, with the newspaper proclaiming facts on traffic fatalities. The middle panel shows the barricades being dangerously crossed with zooming traffic on both sides.

Narrator: Conditions that force us within our own confines…or push us out to tempt fate at every step.

Every now and then, there are wake-up calls, that go unnoticed and nobody steps on it. The anger simmers day by day on the streets.

 

The sequence until this point is a flashback, setting the premise. The human figures are in the shape of that on a traffic-sign – A nameless – faceless – genderless entity as it is treated in the city-planning. Now, the narrative shifts to a present day situation of the narrator. 

 

The ‘uprising’ begins through the means of the narrator, and the figures slowly assume form, identity, and personality. The narrator is the first to step out on the road, later joined by others, until they bunch-up into a crowd.

Narrator: Most of the time, the power of one is all it takes to cross the metaphorical line. Today, that one will have to be me… (A moment of choice for our protagonist)

A call to arms, or rather feet, with a stoic stance, and without a word spoken, is what always works…

To find safety in numbers, to find comfort in company while facing vulnerability. To stand united without class, creed or race.

 

The climax, a situation that any urban-dweller can relate to, pedestrians forcefully entering the vehicle lanes to cross. In Mumbai, they even gesture the drivers to STOP.

Narrator: There’s no walking away now. I march against the oppressor, not looking him in the eye.

 

The uprising succeeds, vehicles halt, people cross. The allegory here, is with the well-known monument in Delhi of Gandhi leading the historical Dandi march to perform the Salt-Satyagraha, (salt and the right to walk are both a common daily need) The figures are in exactly the same stance. Another day, another dawn!

Narrator: I am the average pedestrian, and my right to walk is non-negotiable.

 

Image source: Universidad de los Andes

The International Seminar on Road Safety Research, held on 19th and 20th November 2012 in Bogotá, Columbia, was organized by Universidad de los Andes with support from the Corporación Fondo de Prevención Vial, the Latin American Development Bank CAF, EMBARQ (the producer of this blog), Universidad del Norte, Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the Colombian Ministry of Transport. The event was a discussion of diverse perspectives on some of the latest advances in road safety research. The importance of multi-disciplinary approaches, the relevance of good data collection and management, the role of advanced simulation and modeling, and the opportunities provided by sustainable transport, among other issues, was discussed by experts from France, Spain, USA, Canada, Peru, and Columbia. In addition, the participants talked of ways to create and expand a possible road safety research network for Columbia with connections to international research centers.

José Rafael Toro Gómez, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Universidad de los Andes, opened the seminar, followed by Nicolás Estupiñán, Deputy Minister of Transportation, Columbia, who welcomed the initiative, and provided an insight into the work of the Ministry of Transportation, such as the creation of a road safety observatory to improve the quality and availability of road safety information in Columbia. In 2011, Columbia registered over 5,500 traffic fatalities. In response, the Ministry is committed to reduce this number by half by 2020 as part of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, and has announced the presentation of a legislative initiative to Congress to advance the insitutions in charge of road safety.

EMBARQ (the producer of this blog) participated in this seminar by bringing the idea that ‘sustainable transport saves lives’. Dario Hidalgo, Director – Research and Practice, EMBARQ, brought an additional dimension to the traditional approach to improve road safety –focused on risks.

He presented worldwide evidence on the importance of reducing exposure – vehicle-kilometers travelled (VKT) – and indicated that the most efficient way is through the introduction of avoid and shift measures. Avoid measures include land use changes to reduce trip distances and the need for motor vehicles. Shift measures include promotion of public and non-motorized mobility and car travel demand management measures.  Combined avoid and shift measures reduce VKT and thus the exposure to road safety risks, while also improving efficiency, reducing harmful emissions and increasing personal physical activity.

Dr. Hidalgo also stressed that the sustainable transport facilities need to be designed with safety in mind.  He presented a product of the research activities by EMBARQ, Traffic Safety on Bus Corridors guidelines, which include several recommendations resulting from modeling crash frequencies, expert inspections, and audits.  Some of the main messages were the introduction of traffic calming devices to reduce speed, like narrower lanes; as well as simple intersections and short pedestrian crossing distances, using islands.  For bus corridors, recommendations include closed stations, physical separation of bus lanes from the general traffic, and avoiding the use of contraflow lanes.

He indicates that sustainable transport should be included in road safety strategies, complementing traditional approaches focused on the safe roads, safe vehicles and safe drivers, and that sustainable transport facilities should be designed for safety.

 

Other presentations at the seminar included:

‘Co-responsibility in Road Safety’ by Alexandra Rojas, Director of Coroporación Fondo de Prevención Vial, stressing the importance of addressing road safety and the concept of co-responsibility of all road users and authorities in dealing with road safety issues.

‘Better Understanding of the Causes and Risks in Influencing Public Policy’ by Juan Pablo Bocarejo, Director of the Research Group on Urban and Regional Sustainability, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, sharing results of work from previous years.

‘Data and Knowledge Help in Prediction of Road Incidents, and Selecting Cost-effective Counter-measures’ by Andrew Tarko, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, speaking of the relevance, severity and frequency being the key aspects in collecting, keeping, and managing road safety data.

‘Incentives to Incorporate Road Safety in the Operation of Highway Concessions’ by Pablo Pérez de Villar Cruz is the Director of the Road Safety Service, Ministry of Development, Spain; and Researcher, Madrid Polytechnic University, sharing the results of a research project to improve concession contracts so that they include adequate incentives to road safety management, showing the weaknesses of most contracts in this aspect.

‘Road Safety Research Goes Way Beyond the Road and the Vehicle’ by Joel Gregorie Yerpez, Director of Research, IFSTTAR, the new transport, development and networks research center in France, highlighting the importance of all aspects in road safety research, including vehicle dynamics, ergonomics, psychology, environment, road design, and applied bio-mechanics, amongst others.

‘Human Factor Behind 90% of the Causes Associated with Road Incidents’ by Francisco Alonso Pla, Director, DATS; and Secretary, Traffic and Road Safety Research Institute (INTRAS) of the University of Valencia, Spain, explaining his research oriented to causality, recognizing that traffic incidents are the result of a complex interaction of multiple factors, stating that road accidents are not accidents; they are the result of foreseeable errors.

‘Quality of Motorcycle Helmets Save Lives’ by Claudia Puentes, Directora de Comunicación, Pedagogía y Relaciones Institucionales de la Corporación Fondo de Prevención Vial, suggesting the adoption of a quality assurance process, including the designation of an independent technical institute for pre-market testing and enforcement mechanisms.

‘Pedestrian Footbridges are a Priority for Cars, Not Necessarily a Road Safety Improvement’ by Victor Cantillo, Professor, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla; and Coordinator, Transport Research Group Tranvía, presenting a behavioral study on attitudes towards pedestrian road crossings using choice modeling in which the tradeoff between jaywalking and safety was tested.

‘Public Spaces for Pedestrians and Bicyclists are Fundamental to Road Safety’ by Juan Carlos Dextre, Professor, Catholic University, Lima, Peru, presenting a holistic approach to road safety issues that involves three dimensions for road safety: exposure, risk, and impact, concluding that it is very important to include adequate public spaces, so that pedestrian and cyclists are safe.

‘Models and Tools for Road Safety Need to be Calibrated to Local Conditions’ by Bhagwant Persaud, Faculty Members, Ryerson University, Canada, speaking from his extensive experience in research and applications in road safety, discussed base conditions, crash modification factors and calibration factors are different from place to place, and need to be adapted for different contexts.

‘Low Cost Measures Improve Urban Road Safety Through a Systematic Approach’ by Nestor Saenz, Faculty Member, National University of Colombia, presenting the results of a research project to reduce the risk and severity of crashes in urban areas, with a focus on protecting pedestrians at intersections, using a systematic approach for assessment of current conditions, selection of alternatives, implementation, and evaluation.

‘Success in Road Safety in Spain – A Combination of Legislation, Improved Data, Analysis, Modeling, Design, Education, and Control’ by Francisco Aparicio Izquierdo, Director, Instituto Universitario de Investigación del Automóvil INSIA, of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid UPM, speaking of the successes in Spain where fatalities have reduced from 10,000 in 1989, to 2,000 in 2012, as a result of a continuous improvements in legislations with activities like the vehicle license by points, the requirement for safer vehicles and good maintenance practices, and improvements in infrastructure, driver education, alcohol control, and enforcement.

All presentations are made available online by the Universidad de los Andes.

 

 

Girish Sant

Image source: electricitygovernance.wri.org

 

Prayas, a  non-governmental, non-profit organization based in Pune, India, working on initiatives in health, energy, learning and parenthood, has launched a Young Researcher Fellowship in memory of Girish Sant, a pioneering policy researcher and public interest advocate in the energy sector, who passed away in February 2012. The Fellowship is intended to encourage young researchers to imbibe Girish Sant’s values and approach of high quality analysis, commitment to social equality, and emphasis on policy impacts. Applications are invited from interested candidates.

 

Objectives

• To encourage young Indian researchers to take up public interest oriented research and advocacy in the Indian energy sector
• To provide financial and professional support to young people in the early stages of their careers in the energy sector

 

Details of the Fellowship

• The fellowship is full-time, and will be of a one-year duration, to begin in April 2013, and is managed by the Girish Sant Memorial Committee, and administered by the Prayas Energy Group.
• The researcher will be based at Prayas and be mentored by a senior researcher from the Prayas Energy Group. Additionally, affiliations and mentoring by experts from other institutions will be encouraged to gain diverse perspectives.
• The fellow will receive a monthly stipend of INR 30,000, with some provision for other expenses, such as travel.

 

Eligibility

• The fellowship is open to Indian citizens below the age of 30.
• Applicants should have a minimum qualification of an undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline.
• The successful candidate will have strong analytical skills, multi-disciplinary interests, and the ability and willingness to learn

 

Selection Process

Interested candidates should send in their applications containing:

• Updated CV
• List of publications
• Names and contact details of two references from the energy or development sectors
• Detailed research proposal, not exceeding 1500 words, describing the proposed problem statement, its relevance and importance, outline of research activities, and expected outputs and outcomes
• Applicants are also encouraged to include a rough schedule in the proposal indicating the various other potential collaborator institutions.

All applications must be sent electronically to gsm-yrf@prayaspune.org on or before midnight on 13th January 2013. The successful applicant would be announced in February 2013.

For more information, log on to prayaspune.org/peg. Contact gsm-yrf@prayaspune.org for any questions regarding the fellowship.

 

 

In an unprecedented move, Argentina’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of freedom of information when it ordered the National Institute for Retirees and Pensioners (PAMI) to release information on its advertising budget as requested by the Association for Civil Rights (ADC).

read more

 

Although over 80% of Mumbai’s population use public transport, the city still struggles with congestion.

A recent study by Barffour et al. (2012) highlighted the shortfalls in data maintained by the two main authorities on road safety in India, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH), and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Their study used the benchmark specified by the World Health Organization manual for comprehensive assessment of road safety data, and found that while national-level data was sufficiently available for outcome and exposure indicators, there was stark inadequacy for state-level data over all indicators. This raises an important question for micro-based public policy for road safety – the lack of useful data might be hindering objective assessment of road safety standards in India’s states and cities.

Along similar guidelines, data from the Mumbai Traffic Police, and the Motor Transport Statistics of Maharashtra (2010-11) put out by the Maharashtra State Transport Department can be assessed to ascertain if monitoring and enforcement for a metropolitan area like Mumbai is supported by publicly accessible data. The availability of this data is of high utility to the cause of road safety mainly due to its potential effect on informing policy decisions.

Using the same methodology as Barffour et al. (2012), this author finds that upon pooling two data sources for the city of Mumbai, several requirements of the WHO manual are met. While a formal analysis remains to be conducted, our overview tells us that both, the Mumbai Police’s Traffic Training Institute (Byculla) and the Motor Vehicles Department (Government of Maharashtra) maintain data to a great level of detail as specified in the guidelines for outcome and process/implementation indicators, as well as some detail on safety performance indicators. However, the major gap comes in the area of cost indicators, as there are no mentions of socio-economic costs of traffic congestions, injuries or other aspects of road accidents.

The data obtained from the Traffic Training Institute, Byculla speaks volumes about the seriousness of road accidents and the role their frequency plays in road safety measures in the city. Month-wise data reports that were made available to EMBARQ India for a project on road safety, and detailed yearly data on the nature of road accidents in India were found to contain a number of road accidents over the years categorised by traffic divisions and police stations across Greater Mumbai. Furthermore, the ‘HSP Report’ comprised of several datasets that classified road accidents in Mumbai according to different characteristics. These included weather conditions, features of the road (i.e. width, surface material etc.), accident-prone areas, highway classifications, and vehicle age, break-up of causes and classification of victims according to age group, gender and role in the accident.

Considering the case for lack of data on cost indicators, it can be said that there is little estimation done by the Mumbai Traffic Police or the Regional Transport Authority, possibly due to lack of availability of information regarding scientific procedures for ascertaining the value of road accidents in monetary terms. The recommendation would then be to involve an organization, or academic expert to understand the economic and social costs sustained by increasing road traffic injuries and deaths. The social cost incurred due to road accidents is pegged at 3% of GDP by the Eleventh Five Year Plan (Planning Commission of India), although it does not provide any details on how the figure was estimated (9.3.81, Page 306). The State Transport Department may find it useful to assess the cost of congestion in a rapidly growing city like Mumbai, as it would guide the need for appropriate policies on registration of new motor vehicles and disbursements under road development funds. The Mumbai Traffic Police, by including such analysis in their reports can highlight the impact of road accidents to enhance enforcement norms.

No assessment of data maintenance is complete without acknowledging the possibilities of biases in reporting and collection. Ambiguity over data verification processes raises queries regarding over-reporting or under-reporting of road accidents in the data, as there may be leakages while recording the First Information Report (FIR, standard recording document that is prepared at the time of the accident), as well as errors in coding the FIR correctly into useful data. This can be improved by ensuring standardized FIRs for reporting accidents, with stricter monitoring of data entry procedures. The need for reporting norms for data is paramount in this Decade of Action for Road Safety (United Nations), where without verified, comprehensive, and publicly accessible data, we may forego an opportunity to ascertain guidelines for optimum road safety in our urban areas.

NOTE: The data obtained from Mumbai Traffic Police is not publicly available on their website, but can be obtained by filing a Right to Information claim at their Headquarters in Worli, Mumbai.

The NYC Subway suffered immense damage in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Photo credit: NYCMTA

Welcome to “Research Recap,” our series highlighting recent reports, studies and other findings in sustainable transportation policy and practice, in case you missed it.

 

States Sans Heavy Transit Use Spend Big On Gas

A report issued by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) suggests that certain regions in the United States are far more dependent on oil than others, by ranking states by their citizens’ incomes by percentage spent on gasoline. The American South and Appalachia host the most heavily transport-gasoline dependent states, with Mississippians spending 8.98-percent of their incomes on gas, followed by West Viriginians who spend 8.1-percent of their total incomes on gas every year. The least gas dependent state was Connecticut -located in the transit, and intercity-bus and rail dense service area of the New York Metropolitan area-  whose citizens spend only 3.51-percent of their income on gas.

Hurricane Causes Damage, Introspection

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the New York University Rudin Center for Transportation, has completed an assessment of local and regional transit service changes and damage affected by the storm in New York City. The report’s key findings for preventing some of the mass transit network’s failings include installing backup power for subway pumps (used in tunnels) and changing pavement types around stations in flood prone areas to absorb excess water.

E.U. Cars On Emissions Target Trajectory…Years Early

The European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E) has found in its annual report, “How Clean Are Europe’s Cars” that the E.U. -wide auto industry has cut CO2 emissions by 3.3-percent over last year, and Toyota, PSA and Fiat have reached mandated emissions reductions well in advance of their 2015 deadlines. The report also indicates that European car makers are much more likely to achieve 2020′s 95 grams-per-kilometer E.U. mandated emissions rating on time, when compared to their Asian counterparts.

D.C. Metro Rail Ridership Slides

The Washington, D.C. subway system, Metro, has seen declining ridership over the past six months, due to constant track work, delaying trains and transferring mode share. The 4.9-percent dip in Metro Rail travel is highly correlated to weekends, when such track work occurs, suggesting that the mode is still viable for commuting.

Ridership Inches Upward, Part Of A Bigger Trend

The American Public Transportation Association, or APTA, has released its 3rd quarter nationwide ridership statistics, indicating a 1.1-percent increase in ridership from July to September of this year. Of the most transit rich metropolitan areas in the U.S., Atlanta suffered the greatest year-to-date downturn in ridership, taking an 8.5-percent dip of trips taken, and San Francisco and Cleveland experiencing ridership swells of 6.4-percent and 10.3-percent increases in trips taken respectively.

 

Nose hair length is the newest metric for measuring local air pollution. Photo courtesy of Clean Air Asia.

Visualizing air pollution is akin to to understanding several hundred shades of gray smog or looking at the local newspaper’s air quality indicators on a sliding scale of green (good air) dots to red (don’t go outside, ’tis dangerous) lozenges. While both of these are fine indicators that bring home the point of local air pollution and/or low air inversion rates, Clean Air Asia has taken abstract air particulates to an even more personal level.

The Clean Air Asia Hairy Nose campaign has created an interactive indicator of poor air quality using nose hair length as a rough metric for just how much nasal fiber one would need to catch and filter harmful particulate matter in Asia’s urban air…the results are not pretty, but make the point obvious. Studies have found  that more nose hair gives individuals a three times less likely chance of developing asthma, and the hairy nose metric demonstrates just how vital hirsute nostrils must be to deal with a dirty air epidemic that the World Health Organization notes kills 1.3 million people globally: 800,000 (about 61.5-percent) of those are in Asia.

Dirty air and its human eco-system externalities don’t exactly make up the stuff of Friday Fun, however, imagining foot long nose hair lightens (or rather, highlights) the need to lower -or at least trim- air pollution in cities.

 

 

San Francisco approved free transit for underprivileged youth. Photo by Brandon Doran.

Welcome back to TheCityFix Picks, our series highlighting the newsy and noteworthy of the past week. Every week, we’ll run down the headlines falling under TheCityFix’s five themes: integrated transport, urban development and accessibility, air quality and climate change, health and road safety, and communications and marketing.

 The Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship has been opened for applicants seeking to radically change the public transport, urban infrastructure or renewable urban energy space. The two strongest projects will be awarded up to US$10,000 each.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority will begin fully subsidizing its public transit services for low-income youth next spring, after its board voted unanimously to approve free access to the cities estimated 40,000 low income residents under the age of 18. The action comes after an earlier failed attempt for the SFMTA to achieve a grant from regional transport  authority MTC.

Philippines President Benigno S. Aquino III has stalled federal funding for the Cebu City BRT Project, which was set to receive US$162 million in loans to construct. Financing for the BRT project in one of he Philippines’  most populous cities was to be provided jointly the L’Agence Française de Development and the World Bank, is still on the table according to World Bank representatives and expects only a short stall in the projects’ advancement.

Business leaders in Minneapolis, Minnesota are pushing for light rail expansion to the southwest portion of the city, appealing to what they describe as a lack of transit development for the growing city, in the U.S. context. This call from chambers of commerce and local businesses alike echoes Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton’s recommendations for an increased statewide gas tax earlier in the week.

Across Canada, growth in public transit ridership is up 3.2-percent compared to last year. This curious uptick across North America’s least densely populated country reflects growth in Canada’s cities and a near 91-percent approval of expanded transit service in communities that currently lack public transit access.

Great Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, the equivalent of the American Secretary of the Treasury, has announced ambivalent support for cycling infrastructure across the United Kingdom yesterday. The Chancellor’s Autumn report granted between £42-50 million (about US$67.6-$80.5 million) in cycle transport spending countrywide, while concurrently upgrading a stretch of the A1 Highway into a “motorway” at a cost of £378 million (about US$608 billion).

Downtown Los Angeles, which removed its last streetcar line nearly six decades ago, is on the way to reviving its surface railroad system. Downtown voters, who currently enjoy heavy rail, light rail, rapid buses and a funicular, voted with a resounding 70-percent plus vote to bring back a Downtown Streetcar line that is estimated to loop LA’s most transit dense neighborhood by 2015.

A Canadian software company has created a moving map of 24-hours of New York City transit, presenting buses and subway trains a like as points of light. The video highlights vehicles moving to and fro along the system, giving insight into not only peak-commute demand to and from Manhattan, but also late evening trends and daytime anomalies.

Dar es Salaam and Nairobi have introduced commuter rail efforts for citizens in the famously congested capitals of Tanzania and Kenya. In Nairobi that cost less than half of current bus fares (with multiple transfers considered) and can reduce commute times by half.

Travel and Leisure Magazine, a publication more associated with vacation planning, delved into transport planning analysis this week with its ranking of the most transit friendly cities in the world. The ‘big gorilla’ of public transit, New York City was beat out by Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Savannah, Georgia and San Francisco, coming in 5th of 18 cities surveyed.