WRI Blog News

Bike-sharing set to expand in São Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Fora do Eixo.

With each passing day, the bike is increasingly becoming part of the urban landscape of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city. Desiring to more fully integrate bikes as a transport mode – not just recreation – the city of São Paulo is planning a bid for a new bike-sharing system fully integrated with other transport modes and accessible with a unique transport pass, called the Bilhete Único (Unified Ticket), which is accepted throughout the São Paulo transportation system.

The idea is to enable people to use the city’s bike lanes as a feeder to the bus and subway systems, thereby eliminating the need for automobiles in the city.

According to recent local news report, the city intends to invest heavily and offer a large network of shared bikes. Stations will be installed in all areas of the city, with about 50,000 bikes. The plan is still under review at the city level. Rio’s secretary of transportation, Jilmar Tatto, gave no timeline nor estimated cost for the project, but he confirmed that a proposal had been presented to São Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad.

Current bike-sharing systems in São Paulo

Bike Sampa Bike Station, São Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Bruno Namorato – SM2 Fotografia.

São Paulo already has a few bike-sharing systems. The largest, Bike Sampa, is sponsored by Itaú Bank, with around 100,000 bicycles at stations throughout the city. Cyclists can also find rentals available from the Our Bike system operated by the Parada Vital Institute since 2009. Our Bike offers 240 bikes for rent at 17 subway stations and four bus terminals throughout Rio.

Originally posted on TheCityFix Brasil.

Luke Schoen

The U.S. and China pledged to boost cooperation on climate change in a Joint U.S.-China Declaration on Climate Change signed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi on Saturday April 13 in Beijing.

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The Camden Town tube station, one of the busiest in the London underground system. Photo by zer0_pt.

TheCityFix discovered what quite possibly could be the world’s coolest transport-related master’s thesis project-recap video.

The recent debut of the BRT in Action Newsletter, published by Santiago, Chile’s Centre of Excellence for Bus Rapid Transit, included a link to Jay Gordon’s ambitious visualization of data gathered on commuter transit patterns by bus and rail in the course of one day in greater London. The map is color coded so that blue represents passengers at home or at their starting point; green indicates they are traveling in the system; and red means they are transferring or in between trips. Check it out:

Gordon explains:

This visualization merges all 16 million daily transactions made on London’s Oyster card [metro pass] with vehicle-location data from the city’s 8,500 buses to infer the travel histories of that day’s 3.1 million Oyster users. After inferring the times and locations of each bus boarding and alighting, bus and rail transactions are combined to reconstruct each cardholder’s daily travel history…By matching Oyster transaction records to data from the iBus vehicle-location system, buses are shown to traverse the street network at their observed speeds, and their brightness reflects the number of passengers on board.

A young rider enjoying Transoeste, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo by Mariana Gil – EMBARQBrasil.

On March 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its latest Global Status Report on Road Safety, previously published in 2009. The Global Status Report is the authoritative document for traffic safety. The 2009 publication of the report included just two references to  mass transport embedded within the global road safety status section — the first highlighting safety risks on public transport around the world and the second on the need to prioritize the safety of pedestrians and cyclists on roadways.

This year’s report devotes a full section of the Transport Policies chapter to the connection between public transport and safer roads. The fact that the report is including this section is an encouraging sign of a growing recognition that mass transportation and urban planning have a positive impact on traffic safety.

WHO increasingly recognizing mass transport and urban design as traffic safety solutions

The 2013 Global Status Report section on Transport Policy observes that, in both developed countries and the developing world, public transport has been shown to be a safer mode of transport than private cars. “Safe public transport systems,” the report explains, “are increasingly viewed as important to improving mobility safety, particularly in urban areas with increasing traffic congestion” (Global Status Report 2013, page 33). The report also observes a rise in physical activity and overall health with the investment and promotion of safe public transport. In order to make urban mobility both safer and more effective in reducing traffic volume, the WHO encourages governments to focus on making public transport systems safe, accessible, and affordable. Citing a case study I co-authored with EMBARQ India Director Madhav Pai, the report offers the example of Ahmedabad, India and the implementation of an advanced bus system there (p. 34). The WHO’s detailed individual country assessments in the appendices of the report are built on five pillars, and research from EMBARQ has contributed to the pillar on Safer Roads and Mobility. The report also includes a case study of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s action plan for pedestrian safety (p. 31). Mayor Bloomberg, who spoke at the launch of this year’s report, cited sustainable transport solutions, such as advanced bus systems, increased pedestrian space, and protected bike lanes, as proven examples of “what works”.

How does mass transport increase road safety?

Public transportation offers benefits to both commuters and residents, on the roads, on bicycles, and on foot. “Sustainable transport,” observes Dario Hidalgo in a recent post on TheCityFix, “in the form of protected facilities for walking and biking and well designed and operated public transport systems … can help reducing trips in individual motor vehicles and making these trips of good quality – less hazardous than driving a private vehicle to work, not only for the vehicle’s driver but for all road users.” When commuters opt for the bus over their own cars, they dramatically reduce the likelihood of injury or death in traffic accidents. Sustainable transport also helps mitigate the health risks of poor air quality, due to particle emissions from automobiles. Advanced bus systems, such as that of Ahmedabad, India, are designed to create safety for pedestrians going in and out of the stations, and crossing the streets.  Speeds are reduced in these areas, and bus drivers are trained to recognize and reduce accident risk.

Case Study: Ahmedabad, India

The city of Ahmedabad is projected to grow from 5.5 million inhabitants today, to 13.2 million by 2040. If the city’s development continues on a path of lowering density, rapid expansion, and increased auto use, EMBARQ estimates it will also witness an increase in annual traffic fatalities from 240 to almost 7300 — amounting to a 3,000% increase. On the other hand, if the city chooses a more sustainable path, by expanding along high-density transit corridors and promoting high quality public transport (thereby curbing the increase in vehicle travel) we estimate it can reduce fatalities in 2040 by over 5,500. [1] There are additional benefits, such as a reduction of CO2 emissions by over 10 million tons per year. In a context of continued urbanization, and given the current motorization trends, increases in both vehicle travel and traffic fatalities are inevitable to some extent.

At a more detailed level, the implementation of a high-quality public transport system – such as the Janmarg bus rapid transit (BRT) in Ahmedabad – can significantly improve safety along the streets where the advanced bus system operates. According to data from the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology in Ahmedabad, the implementation of the Janmarg BRT has resulted in a 55% reduction in fatalities, a 28% reduction in injuries, and a 32% reduction across all crash types.

How cities are designed and how mobility within those cities is provided are key components of traffic safety. When carefully designed to avoid or minimize risk, sustainable transport and urban development can save lives by improving traffic safety, reducing air pollution, and encouraging physical activity.

Notes:

[1] EMBARQ analysis, based on Rayle, L. and Pai, M. (2010) Scenarios for Future Urbanization: Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Passenger Travel in Three Indian Cities, Transportation Research Record: 2193, pp. 124-131.

Chowpatty cityscape, Mumbai, India. Photo by Tom Spender.

In 2011, nearly 350 million people lived in Indian cities. More than 300 million new residents will join them over the next few decades to become part of the new urban India. This population boom will stress an already-pressured urban infrastructure system, especially with regard to transportation.

Indeed, Indian cities have become synonymous with congestion, noise, and air pollution. Each year, 135,000 people die in traffic crashes on Indian roads. Currently, India has 120 million vehicles, a number that is steadily growing. In 2010, outdoor air pollution contributed to over 620,000 premature deaths, and nearly 18 million healthy years of life lost. Plus, urban transport’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are set to increase almost seven-fold in the next 20 years.

This trend is clearly not sustainable if India’s city residents want to have any sort of quality of life in the future. In order to reverse course, the country must begin scaling sustainable transport and ensuring that it is integrated with land development. This is a topic we’ll discuss extensively during next week’s CONNECTKaro, a sustainable transport and urban development conference co-hosted by EMBARQ India, WRI’s center for sustainable transport in India.

Moving cars, or moving people?

Existing investments to improve urban transport have centered mostly on moving vehicles farther and faster, largely by increasing road space. Urban development planning is often characterized by a separation of land uses, such as residential from commercial. These two trends shunt growth to a city’s periphery and reduce density, leading to urban sprawl and increased trip lengths. [1]

Such policies also make it difficult and expensive to develop public transport networks with quality service and wide coverage. The result is a cityscape where personal vehicles are the only convenient option.

Building more roads, then, is not the answer. Indian cities will need to invest in public transport, with a priority on city bus services integrated with other transit modes, as well as pedestrian and cycling networks to encourage non-motorized transport. Cities will also need to actively manage their growth and development patterns in order to both facilitate and reinforce the advantages of sustainable transport modes.

Smart investments in urban transport

India is already starting to make strides toward sustainable transport. The 2006 National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) promoted “moving people, not vehicles,” and rightly recognized the need for changes in the way the country invested in urban transport to improve the quality of life for people in cities.

Cities that wish to access funds from the government’s $20 million scheme for upgrading urban infrastructure, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM), must comply with standards set out in the NUTP, such as equitable allocation of road space, priority to the use of public transport, and integrating land use and transport planning.

In 2009, Ahmedabad used this funding to launch Janmarg, India’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, which has an average daily ridership of 132,033 passengers. This system has served as a success story to encourage other cities around the country to plan and implement similar systems. The concept of BRT is gaining acceptance as a means to scale up mass transit in Indian cities.

Also in 2009, the central government helped 61 cities procure more than 15,000 buses in order to launch new city bus services or augment existing services.

While a significant portion of transportation funding is still set aside for the development of urban roads, central policies like the NUTP—coupled with success stories from cities like Ahmedabad—lend credibility to the idea that investments in sustainable urban transport should be the way forward for Indian cities.

CONNECTKaro: “Making it Happen”

Within this scenario, WRI’s EMBARQ Center for Sustainable Transport recognizes that there is a huge opportunity to improve the quality of life in Indian cities through sustainable transport and integrated development.

EMBARQ India will host CONNECTKaro, a conference on sustainable transport and urban development, on April 15-16, 2013. More than150 experts — including government officials, policymakers, and practitioners in the field of urban transport and urban planning — plan to attend the event.

The theme for the conference is “Karo” – to make it happen – to translate ideas into action. The ideas of sustainable transport and integrated land development have already been demonstrated in a few cities around the world, such as London, Paris, New York, and more recently, Guangzhou, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and others. CONNECTKaro sessions will focus on how these success stories can be adapted and replicated in India.

CONNECTKaro aims to highlight the gaps and consequent opportunities for implementing long-term sustainable transport solutions in Indian cities. We will initiate a dialogue between various agencies working in this field, share knowledge, and review the challenges and barriers in making sustainable transport happen. CONNECTKaro will be a platform where participants will gain a good understanding of the state of practice in sustainable transport and urban development in India.

To watch the sessions in a live webcast, register here. To learn more about CONNECTKaro 2013, click here.

[1] Rayle L, Pai M. Scenarios for future urbanization: carbon dioxide emissions from passenger travel in three Indian cities. (Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2010, 2193:124–131) 

Jonathan Moch

In a visit to China this week, Jerry Brown, the Governor of California, is putting a special emphasis on the promotion of business deals between China and California as part of the solution to China’s pollution problems.

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Relaxing after work along Cheonggyecheon stream, Seoul, South Korea. By longzijun.

In her February post on sustainable urban development, EMBARQ expert Robin King posed the question: “What does good urban development mean to you?” Keeping people in mind, she identified three key areas for action to produce good urban development:

1. Providing accessible public transport services

2. Emphasizing inclusion and equity in urban transport services.

3. Ensuring the health and safety of public transport passengers and others who share the road.

Taking these criteria to heart, TheCityFix found one city in Asia that is setting the example for its neighbors, inviting the question: How do you make good urban development better?

Home to over 10 million people, Seoul likes to refer to itself as “the Soul of Asia.” With a population density twice that of New York City, Seoul, is making good urban development better by 1) continuously integrating modes of transport, making them more accessible; 2) making mobility affordable for all; and 3) and transforming the urban landscape and actually removing unhealthy, car centric infrastructure.

Continuously working to integrate modes of transport

Making the city accessible to residents and commuters by public transport is essential to successful urban development and growth, but allowing for the smooth integration of different modes of transport makes a city even better. The Seoul Metro covers the most track distance of any subway system in the world, serving over 7 million people every day, second only to the Tokyo Metro in annual passenger volume. In Seoul, unlike in Tokyo, you can hop off the subway and onto the bus with the same reusable pass. For those without immediate subway system access, the city offers an advanced bus system, the Seoul Bus Rapid Transit system. To make life easier, Seoul’s bus system is color coded with four types of services, based on location and transit time, offering 400 express/residential buses and 8,500 city buses. Similar to the subway, the bus system provides riders real-time bus info and route planning guide online. Seoul also offers commuters 17 water taxi stations up and down the Hangang River, a regional, high-speed  Seoul train, and the BikeSeoul bike-sharing program. Oh, and in case cyclists were curious, the Metro system (but not the bus rapid transit yet) has dedicated areas for bikes and ramps alongside stairways leading to the stations.

Making transport affordable for all

Not only is Seoul committed to getting people to their destinations by a wide variety of interconnected modes; they also manage to make these options more equitable and affordable for a wider socio-economic demographic than, say, London or Washington D.C. A trip on the subway system costs about $1; the bus ranges from $0.76 to $1.75; the water taxi comes in at just under $4.50, and regional trains offer family discounts. Tourists can hop on and hop off the bus and subway system to their heart’s content, with an unlimited tourist pass. The champion of affordability, however, is BikeSeoul, which offers riders a whopping 4-hour initial no-charge period and subscribers receive a 7-day subscription for $3 and 30 days for $5.

Transforming the urban landscape

Cities can add a subway, bus rapid transit, or light-rail to their transport infrastructure, but how many go the additional distance of removing the sources of their car-centric, unhealthy built environment? Prior to 2003, an elevated highway ran directly over the 6-kilometer course of Cheonggyecheon Stream, in downtown Seoul. But following a 2-year, USD$ 900 million investment, which was heavily criticized at first, the city removed the road, restored the stream, and constructed narrower, less invasive streets on either side. Now the stream serves as a focal point for downtown recreation, cultural festivals, wildlife viewing, and tourism. Both the stream restoration transformed this section of downtown Seoul into an attractive urban destination, rather than simply a transit corridor.

Other initiatives to improve the well-being of people include:

• Parks, artwork, and other attractions within city subway stations.

• A fleet of electric buses on the Namsan circuit, which only require a 30 min charge time.

• A bike safety improvement agenda.

In these ways and more, Seoul is showing the world that good, people-centered development is better for growth and urban development in the long run.

Cycling in Moema, south of São Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Blog do Mílton Jung.

Some actions, such as hopping in your car to go to the bakery, may be putting your life at risk. This week in the online journal, Galileu, Professor I-Min Lee, from the School of Public Health at Harvard University, draws attention to a serious problem that humanity must face in the coming years: the health risks of a sedentary lifestyle. She warned that a third of people who do not engage in exercise regularly occupy a dangerous risk zone.

To try to understand the magnitude of the problem, researchers studied the relationship between physical inactivity and the leading non-communicable diseases that kill people worldwide. The conditions chosen were those that the United Nations World Health Organization identifies as global health threats: heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer (specifically breast and colon cancer, which have been linked to physical inactivity). The results revealed that 6% to 10% of disease cases are caused by the inactivity.

The researchers also estimated how many deaths could be avoided if each inactive person were to become physically active, as well as the impact of this measure on average life expectancy around the world. They concluded that if the periods of inactivity were completely abolished, we could save 5.3 million lives per year, and the average global life expectancy would extend 6 months and 24 days.

To get an idea of what this means, these results can be compared with the statistics of cigarette usage — widely accepted as a health risk. Smoking causes about 5 million deaths per year worldwide, according to Dr. Lee  — slightly less than the 5.3 million lives lost in the same period, due to lack of regular exercise!

It does not take an “athlete”

Dr, Lee, who also co-authored a series of studies on physical inactivity published last year in the scientific journal, The Lancet, ensures that living healthy is simpler than it seems. Studies show that devoting 150 minutes per week to moderate exercise is enough, i.e. less than a half-hour walk five times a week would take a person out of the sedentary category.

“Many people also questions what are moderate activities,” explains Dr. Lee, “ The tip I like to give is that you need to feel your heartbeat increase enough that you can still hold a conversation with a friend but not have enough breath to sing. Any exercise that fits that profile is valid: swimming, biking…”

Besides sports, other basic activities can help improve the quality of life and prevent disease. “Gardening, dancing, playing with the kids, walking the dog, or walking to work,” added Dr. Lee, “are also included in this category [and] contribute to health. Initiating them and keeping them in everyday life is as good a deal as stopping smoking.”

Source: Galileu

Originally posted on TheCityFix Brazil.

A pedestrian crossing in Singapore. Photo by Scania Group.

Each time we travel extra miles in private cars, we emit more CO2, and we create more traffic related deaths and injuries (see data from the International Energy Agency and the World Health Organization). Each year 1.3 million die from traffic crashes on average; and the transport sector currently contributes approximately 13% of annual greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The CO2 we emit with transport is a function of how much we travel –in kilometers, and of the emission rate of our vehicles -in grams per kilometer. Similarly, traffic crashes are also a function of the exposure -in kilometers driven, and of the level of traffic crashes death risk -fatalities per kilometer driven. While road infrastructure design, better vehicles and other risk reduction measures have proven effective in decreasing the traffic deaths risk, it is important not to overlook the potential for further safety improvements from reducing exposure. We need to reduce distance traveled in private cars, and as we do so, we will also reduce our carbon footprint. We are in a win-win situation when we reduce our travel: less fatal crashes and less CO2 emitted.

Reducing distance traveled, increasing safety

Most traffic fatalities are preventable and predictable. Most traffic crashes are not accidents and even some traffic authorities have removed the term “accident” from their reports. Reducing traffic fatalities is a matter of making trips safer and reducing the length of individual motorized trips. Sustainable transport, in the form of protected facilities for walking and biking and well designed and operated public transport systems with transport demand management strategies, has the opportunity to provide us with a way out of our problems. Sustainable transport can help reducing trips in individual motor vehicles and making these trips of good quality – less hazardous than driving a private vehicle to work, not only for the vehicle’s driver but for all road users.

When looking at the reduction of distance traveled necessary to curb CO2 emissions, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has been looking at different scenarios. The reductions the IEA considers in distance traveled are calculated for their CO2 benefits. They project 151 billion vehicle kilometers saved by 2020, that is a 7% reduction. When we translate the targeted reductions in distance traveled into lives saved, we estimate that the reduced fatalities may be between 103,000 to 126,000 lives saved in year 2020 (the difference comes from different assumptions on risk rates[i]).

This is a remarkable reduction, but it is not enough to meet the ambitious targets pledged by the United Nations in the Decade of Action of Road Safety. The UN calls for a 50% reduction in fatalities in 2020 from the 1.3 million accounted for in 2010. If we assume a reduction in the fatality risk per kilometer driven in 5% a year (more than the current trend of 1.95%), distance traveled would have to be reduced by 58%.[ii] This is 8 times the proposed vehicle kilometer reduction projected by IEA.

Achieving these reduction targets on distance traveled and risk is not easy, but the synergies of combining the climate change and road safety agendas are clear and can provide incentives for the collaboration of the communities working on these critical issues. If we look closely, and further demonstrate the opportunities of collaborative work, then we can see sustainable transport and urban development initiatives as contributors to both the global road safety agenda and the climate change agenda.

Road safety risk reduction

Reducing road safety risks requires a complete set of policies and a systems approach as clearly laid out in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The actions involve five pillars: building road safety management capacity; improving the safety of road infrastructure and broader transport networks; further developing the safety of vehicles; enhancing the behavior of road users; and improving post-crash care. This involves defining clear targets and working on the different components of the safety issues, as has been suggested, for example in the “Safe System Approach” by the International Transport Forum and the World Bank. Reducing risk through integrated and systematic approaches can continue to be the main target of the road safety policy, but can be effectively complemented with policies to avoid individual motor vehicle travel and shift travel from less efficient to more efficient modes (see for example, the transport chapter of UNEP´s Green Economy Report and the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013).

Safer mobility also means less climate change

If more effort is done to reach the Decade of Action road safety target (half of the 2010 road fatalities in 2020) through reductions in motor vehicle travel we can receive huge benefits in terms of reduced energy use and lower greenhouse gas emissions — a win-win situation. For instance a reduction in distance traveled in individual motor vehicles of 58%[iii] as compared with the IEA’s 4-degree scenario, would result in savings of 813 billion tons of oil equivalent and 2,857 million tons of CO2 eq.[iv] The level of energy consumption and GHG emissions would be 60% and 58.5%, respectively, of those in the IEA’s 4-degree scenario. This suggests that an effort on reducing exposure to road safety risks may also significantly lessen our burden on fossil fuels and place the planet much closer to avoiding the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

The promise of sustainable transport

This ambitious goal would have multiple benefits: not only we would escape the most daunting scenarios of extreme weather events, but we would also save hundreds of thousands of lives. We would also expect other improvements in the quality of life in cities resulting form reductions in congestion and in air pollution and eventual increases in physical activity. Thus, several important sustainability goals can be met through the same recipe. This is the challenge and the promise of sustainable transport.

The high level estimations indicated in this note should be studied further. There are open questions like the feasibility of reducing motorized travel to the target levels, and the regional differences from developed countries reaching peak travel and emerging nations rapidly motorizing. Also understanding and advancing integrated policies for risk reductions, particularly for sustainable transport initiatives (see, for example Traffic Safety on Bus Corridors: Pilot Version – Road Test). There is also a role for compact, mixed used and accessible urban development in reducing the need for individual motor vehicle travel, among other interesting topics. EMBARQ will continue advancing knowledge on these issues and working with governments, international organizations and initiatives, like the Global Road Safety Partnership, in making the promise a reality.

 

Notes:

[i] IEA projects travel in 25,452 billion vehicle-km in the 4 degree scenario and 23,678 billion in the 2 degree scenario. The intrinsic fatality rate in 2010 is 71.1 deaths/billion veh-km (from data reported at http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd/visualizations/country). If this rate is kept constant to 2020, the total number of fatalities would be 1,809,590 in the EIA´s 4 degree scenario and 1,683,462 in the 2 degree scenario. That is 126,128 lives saved in 2020.Nevertheless, the assumption of constant fatality rate may not hold, as the historic data has shown improvements over time. If the historic reduction in fatality rate of 1.95% per year observed form 2000-2010 continues during this decade, the risk would be 58.71 deaths/billion veh-km. With this rate the number of fatalities can be estimated at 1,481,531 in the IEA´s 4 degree scenario and in 1,381,990 in the 2 degree scenario. That means a 103,541 lives saved in 2020.

[ii] In this hypothetical scenario the risk would be estimated at 43.13 deaths/billion veh-km in 2020 (26.1% less than in the vegetative decline scenario and 39% less than in 2010). With this risk rate we would need to have less than 15,401 billion vehicle-km to have 664,270 traffic fatalities. This a 58% reduction from the vehicle travel projected in the IEA´s 4 degree scenario.

[iii] The estimated vehicle-km reduction required to achieve 664,270 road traffic deaths in 2020 with a risk rate of 43.13 deaths/billion vehicle-km. This needs a risk reduction of 5% per year, 2.56 times the reduction rate observed between 2000 and 2010. [iv] For this estimation, we use the intrinsic rates of oil consumption and CO2 eq derived from the IEA´s scenarios, that is 0.0791 tons of oil equivalent per billion veh-miles and 0.2629 tons of CO2 eq per billion vehicle miles. The 4 degree scenario projects oil consumption in 2,031 million tons and GHGs from transport in 6,890 million tons of CO2 equivalents.

Cyclists ride bike path along Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo by peskymonkey.

TheCityFix interviewed EMBARQ Health and Road safety expert, Claudia Adriazola-Steil, for World Health Day 2013:

Q1. How can we tackle the problem of rising obesity and physical inactivity through transport?

Lack of physical activity contributes to 3.2 million deaths annually, yet just 150 minutes of physical activity per week – about 20 minutes per day – can improve health and reduce the risk of disease. A study by the New York City Department of Health showed that those who take mass transport, cycle and walk as their main form of transport, receive more physical activity than those who rely on cars.

Physical activity can be promoted in neighborhoods through access to mass transport, bike and pedestrian paths, safe streets, connectivity between different transport modes, and a compact mix of housing, retail, parks and offices. One study showed that Barcelona’s Bicing bike sharing system saved an estimated 12 lives per year, mostly by getting people out of their cars and active on the streets.

Q2. How can sustainable transport save lives?

Traffic accidents claim over 1.3 million lives around the globe each year. Research has shown that more distance traveled in individual vehicles leads to more traffic fatalities. Thus, mobility can be made safer by reducing car travel and moving people through safely designed mass transport, walking, and biking infrastructure. In Guadalajara, Mexico, for example, just one lane of their corridor with an advanced bus system called Macrobus transports 5,000 passengers per hour, in each direction. Normal traffic lanes can only accommodate 3,194 passengers per hour and were the locus of 726 crashes in 2011. The advanced bus system saw only 6 accidents in the same year.

At the core of its road safety work, EMBARQ has undertaken policy initiatives bridging high-level declarations to real change in cities. In 2010, as a member of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration Group, EMBARQ worked to include mobility and sustainable transport in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action on Road Safety while working with national to local governments to put these international goals on the ground in countries. EMBARQ, together with the Association for Safe International Travel, Global Road Safety Partnership, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, and the  World Health Organization, is part of the Bloomberg Global Road Safety Program, which works to improve road safety in the ten countries that make up almost 50 percent of all road traffic fatalities.

Q3. What do we need to do to make urban areas safer?

Thoughtful design that protects all road users — especially pedestrians and bicyclists — is crucial and can be achieved in ways ranging from improved crossings and intersections to traffic calming that reduces high impact crashes. Organizations like EMBARQ can work with local governments to implement urban codes supportive of mixed land use (less dependent on automobile use), street connectivity, and safe “street hierarchies,” which simply means designing streets that are appropriate for their use and context. High-speed arterial roads may be convenient and necessary for traffic patterns but should never be shared with pedestrians, cyclists, or implemented in areas with schools or hospitals, for example. It is a recipe for disaster. These areas require strict speed limits, more intersections, and safe and plentiful crossing opportunities. Long blocks without intersections naturally lead to longer distances traveled and more jay-walking mid-block.

Q4. How can safe transport contribute to the culture and identity of a city?

Striving to make more walkable and vibrant cities, EMBARQ Turkey has played a role in the pedestrianization of Istanbul’s Historic Peninsula, a United Nations World Heritage site which is home to thousands of residents, workers, and tourists. EMBARQ is now helping to plan and program the areas to ensure their vibrancy. In light of increasing air pollution, long commute times, and a desire to preserve its cultural and historic assets, the city of Arequipa, Peru — also classified a UNESCO World Heritage site — took the initiative to implement an advanced bus system and completely pedestrianize the first four blocks of Mercaderes, the main shopping street in downtown Arequipa.

In the slums, or favelas, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, bicycling and walking are already rooted into the lifestyle and urban fabric, which creates enormous potential for the further leveraging of non-motorized solutions. In order to keep cycling a popular mode of transport, the favelas can concentrate on improving bike lanes and infrastructure and increasing connectivity of the bike infrastructure to the central city, other modes of mass transit, and popular locations like stores and malls.

Q5. Are there additional benefits of improving road safety through sustainable transport?

According to the World Health Organization, 1.3 million deaths occur each year from the effects of urban outdoor air pollution, with vehicles being one of the major emitters of deadly pollutants, such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5). This dirty air can irritate lungs, worsen asthma and emphysema, and increase the risk of heart attacks and premature deaths.

Shifting trips to mass transit, biking and walking, as well as improving vehicle and fuel technologies, can reduce exposure to air pollution and lengthen life span — thereby offering benefits for both human health and efforts to fight climate change.

Claudia Adriazola-Steil is Director of the Health & Road Safety Program at EMBARQ.

Save Mon Region Federation and Ors Vs Union of India and Ors M.A 104 of 2012. Judgment dated 14-3-2013

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Les invitamos a informarse del proceso de implementación un instrumento regional sobre el Principio 10 (acceso a la información, participación y justicia ambiental), acordado en la Declaración sobre la aplicación del Principio 10 de la Declaración de Río sobre el Medio Ambiente y el Desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe, y del cual son suscriptores los gobiernos de Brasil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Jamaica, México, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, República, Dominicana, Trinidad y Tobago, y Uruguay.

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A New York City block. Photo by Jack Amick.

Yes, yes y’all, you know we talkin it all, see how we bringin the street corner to Carnegie Hall.

–Busta Rhymes

How many songs have you heard that have New York, L.A., or London, or Paris in the lyrics? They are as innumerable as taxis in the Big Apple. For those who have not set foot in New York City, movies, music, television, and the movies might form the backdrop of your first impressions. Across the world, the urban landscape plays a key role in the development and spread of popular culture. But now, thanks to one New York artist, popular culture — music to be specific — is returning to its origins and paying tribute to the urban landscape.

Cause I want to be on 106 and Park pushing a Benz.

–Kanye West

Artist Jay Shells created a unique art exhibition on the streets of New York City that features street signs with famous rap lyrics, such as, “Sometimes I rhyme slow, sometimes I rhyme quick. I was on 125 and St. Nick,” (from the title, “Sometimes I rhyme slow,” by Smooth B) set up at the corner of West 125th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, in Harlem. Check out the project video below:

TheCityFix thanks Erica Schlaikjer and Aaron Minnick for passing along the inspiration for this story.