Transport Planning Vuvuzela

Taking the lid off transport planning

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Last night I gave a short talk to the Urban Design Institute of South Africa and I motivated for a process to move us towards a new design manual for roads and streets in South Africa. It's time to move past the divisions of the past; the process should be one which brings together designers and engineers in a mutually respectful way.

I also suggested that if designers are to be heard by engineers then they need to be more convincing in their arguments, appealing to the language of engineers (which is dominated by talk of efficiency, safety and the economy). Designers - consider this a strategy for effective projects rather than selling your soul!

So here are some progressive Manuals to help us get started with the task of finding a shared language:

Dutch: Recommendations for Traffic Provisions in Built-up Areas

British: UK Manual for Streets

The Americans have also been waking up to this theme, under the name of Context-Sensitive Solutions

I have a few ideas on this blog which also give ideas for bridging the language gap, see the tag 'street design', and there are links to follow also.

Enjoy.

Sustainable transport and energy

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:40:00 +0000

So here I am lecturing again, which I love to do by the way, this time to the "Energy for sustainable urban development" students at UCT. Hello and welcome.

Here is a commentary on the sources which I used for the lecture on 13 November.

I started off by saying that energy is linked to CO2 emmissions, and while this is broadly true, the reality is that the aggregate transport data is simply not often shown in energy terms, and I think that is a reflection of the low profile of energy in the transport debates. The work that has been done, though, puts transport/mobility use/outputs at 25-50% of total. I referred to the excellent WWF One Planet Business report, and the (also excellent!) City of Cape Town State of Energy Report 2007.

I went on to talk about how transport obviously covers a range of sectors, some city, some regional, some international. The focus for the talk was on land-based transport, although on a per km basis air travel is a heavy energy user. The WWF has some concise and well considered information on issues in air travel.

The problem with any comparison on energy use between modes is that the outcome depends heavily on occupancy, trip length and prevailing conditions. So, to use an example from the South African context, although a minibus taxi is clearly way more energy efficient per passenger in the peak when occupancies are high, and average private car occupancies tend towards 1, the situation in the off-peak is less clear-cut. Nevertheless - don't let this example cloud your view - this is an extreme example and in all comparisons, regardless of occupancy, private car is clearly the most energy inefficient way to travel.

I went on to show overall energy use by mode for the EEU . Fuel consumption data is also available for South Africa from SAPIA. Some very accessible work on transport, energy and environment in developing countries has been done by Paul Barter in Asia, and we gave his basic principles document to you as a handout. (Paul Barter developed the lovely egg-energy comparison which demonstrates the energy efficient nature of the cycle).

The strong relationship between GDP or wealth growth and car ownership was illustrated through an international comparison from the Commission for Integrated Transport. The point to remember of course is that not all countries show the same strength of relationahip between wealth and car ownership, and so governmental policy does seem to also be a significant factor, and who knows what the future holds?

Then I showed you a series of slides from the Worldmapper series to illustrate how wealth, cars and fuel use are currently concentrated in the Global North. The forecasts of car ownership, though, show that the most growth into the future will likely come from India and China, and that there is still enormous potential for growth in the car market there (and here).

So the question is - what to do? I showed you several slides illustrating the car culture which we live in and which - I suggest - we are largely unaware of. The culture of cars is the air we breathe, the sights we see, the ads we read and view. (Twenty-five percent of global ad-spend is car related.) I asked you to think (or feel?) what the advertisers are actually selling to you? The first response - status, then freedom, power, speed, safety, convenience. (Afterwards I reflected on how different the male and female responses were!) We didn't talk about sex-appeal...

Clearly the advertisers and car manufacturers have been very successful! They tap into some deep human cravings! And any response to car culture must address that more emotive, sensory, qualitative part of human nature if it is to be successful. In the next post I will talk about what that means in practice. (And in later posts I will get to those questions which you posed at the end).

Long absence..and sustainability

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:37:00 +0000

This blog has been silent for a while...because I have been busy with my PhD! It has meant many hours of reading and finally also much writing. So this will be my last post here for a while. I may be back later in the year with a PhD blog...if anyone is interested...!

My presentation swansong was a talk to the Meadowridge environmental issues group. Thanks for the invite to talk with you about sustainable transport, and welcome. On the right hand side of this post are links to some of the issues I talked about. Click on 'lisakane' and you will see my full list of about 90 bookmarks to web resources about sustainable transport and street design. As you read I hope you feel encouraged to change your own transport practice and spread the word about the benefits. Don't forget, though, to enjoy the process.

Farewell for now!

Lisa

Congestion Charging - Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:05:00 +0000

At a recent UCT Summer School lecture I talked about travel demand management and particularly congestion pricing. Two case studies were discussed: Stockholm and London, although there are others. Singapore is freqently cited, but there is also urban cordon charging in Oslo, Trondheim and Bergen.

As congestion charging is a rapidly evolving field, with several cities (eg Manchester, New York ) seriously considering it as a means of reducing congestion and raising revenue, the international broadsheet newsmedia, such as the BBC, The Guardian , The Independent , The Telegraph, The (London)Times , The New York Times are the best sources of up-to-date information.

Video footage on congestion charging (and links to much great street and transport video material) is available at Streetfilms.

Transport for London provide full information about the practicalities of the charge.

Welcome to Summer School participants

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Welcome - especially if you are new to the Web and to transport. I hope that you will find lots of interest in the posts and links.

How to cut Cape Town's traffic deaths in half

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:10:00 +0000

While researching for a lecture this week I came across this press release from 2003. Almost five years later there are still lessons to be learnt.

From November 8-13 2003, Michael King , New York City’s leading traffic safety expert, walked and examined Cape Town’s most dangerous streets and intersections. On November 14, at the Vineyard Hotel, Mr. King unveiled his prescription for saving over 400 lives per year.

King’s four-point plan, informed by years of work as New York City’s Director of Traffic Calming and also by what has worked in other cities such as London and Bogota, Colombia, would also reduce injuries and enhance everyday mobility for hundreds of thousands of average Capetonians facing daily peril as they struggle to access school, work, and public transport without the benefit of a private automobile.

By the City’s own reckoning, Cape Town’s 955 annual traffic deaths cost taxpayers R 2.2 billion per year. Cutting those deaths in half—as New York City, London, Bogota, Colombia and some Australian cities have done recently—would save R 1.1 billion per year

“Given the fact that Cape Town’s low-income majority travels primarily on foot, our roads should have lower speed limits than Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and America,” said Andrew Wheeldon, the Director of ITDP South Africa, the NGO that organized King’s visit. “In fact, South African speed limits are much higher,” added Wheeldon. “The result: Cape Town in particular and South Africa as a whole has one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the world.”

Mr. King said that if Cape Town is really serious about reducing fatalities, then traffic engineers and urban planners must move their focus away from the behavior of the victims towards what has actually worked in other cities around the world. Quoting from the Federal Office of Road Safety of Australia (where recent speed reductions have led to a 40-46 per cent reduction in serious pedestrian casualty crashes) King remarked:

“…behaviour change on a large scale, while not impossible to achieve, is a difficult and time consuming task. There may be greater road safety benefits to be derived from changing the other variables in the pedestrian crash equation, ie the [road] environment…”

The main tenets of King’s Cape Town Traffic Death Reduction plan are as follows:

Reduce Speed Limits. Speed-- more than pedestrian error or poor road conditions-- causes deaths. The higher the speed, the longer the stopping distance and the more severe the impact. “It’s simple physics,” said King. “if a walker is hit at 60km per hour, they are going to die or at least be very seriously injured. Below 40km per hour, chances are that the walker will come away with minor injuries. If Cape Town is serious about reducing pedestrian fatalities, then Cape Town will reduce vehicle speeds.” If speed reductions in other cities around the world are any indication, dropping the overall “default” speed limit from 60km to 50km the city of Cape Town would save 200 lives per year. Specifically, King recommended:

40 km/hr on commercial corridors such as Main Road
50km on 2-4 lane roads with no commercial activity
60km on divided urban arterials like Vanguard Drive

Clearly, simply decreeing lower limits will work better if more speed limit signs and speed cameras are put into place. “But if only 15% of drivers do lower their speed according to new limits,” said King, “it will have an overall traffic slowing effect on other motorists as well.” King also pointed out that lower posted limits would in turn lower design speeds so that roads could more easily be inexpensively retrofitted with speed-reducing measures like medians and narrower striped lanes.

Improve “Design Induced” enforcement: According to the experience of London, New York, Bogota, and other cities, the most effective and inexpensive method to improve enforcement is through low cost road improvements that perform like ‘sleeping policemen’ in that they induce drivers to slow down automatically. “We’re not talking about speed humps here, but other less controversial traffic calming interventions such as medians, lane narrowings, curb extensions, and refuge islands.” Narrowing traffic lanes to 3.0 meters through the striping of bicycle lanes—a strategy that has recently been applied to streets surrounding schools inTable View could be applied in lower income neighborhoods in the Cape Flats.

Cape Town has started experimenting with roundabouts and Speed cameras are another solution that is working well in other cities around the world, often paying for themselves within…

Replace ineffective Traffic Signals with traffic circles and give ‘Green Men’ permanent priority: Many intersections in Cape Town would be safer and work better if signals were done away with and replaced with roundabouts (traffic circles). They would also be much cheaper to maintain. Most ‘Green Man’ pedestrian crossings must first be activated by those wishing to cross the street. By making crossing signals ‘fixed’ so that they occur automatically on every signal cycle, people will be less prone to jaywalking because the time that they must wait for the signal is lessened. Many activated buttons malfunction, and Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs)--especially timed pedestrian crossings that allow those crossing the street to get a jump on turning vehicles— should be applied throughout the city.

Reduce car capacity: Many streets in Cape Town are much wider than necessary. Streets such as AZ Berman in Mitchell’s Plain could be narrowed or even partially reclaimed for children, bicyclists, and pedestrians without impacting the flow of traffic. Evidence from around the world shows that reducing road capacity—particularly on roads with medium and low traffic volumes— does not lead to traffic jams. This is due to a recently discovered phenomenon known as “suppressed demand” that was uncovered in a study of over 100 case studies where road capacity was decreased through narrowing or eliminating lanes, or closing streets altogether.

Place pedestrian crosswalks along ‘Desire Lines’: Pedestrians tend to go where they want to go regardless of where they are supposed to cross. This is not a phenomenon unique to South Africa, but has been demonstrated throughout the world. By reshaping pedestrian infrastructure to be more responsive to actual walking patterns, pedestrians are much more likely to use it. “Nowhere is this more evident that at the notorious intersection of Buitengracht and Coen Styler, the primary pedestrian access corridor to the Waterfront for both labourers and tourists alike,” said King. [Two British tourists were killed at this intersection at the beginning of 2007].

Kings plan, which entails the installation of a simple low-cost signalized pedestrian walkway at mid-block (where recent counts indicate 90% of pedestrians cross), would not back up traffic due to a synchronization of the crossing phase that would create a ‘holding pen’ for turning traffic that would then be released after the crossing phase.

Road classification

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 02:27:00 +0000

Assuming that we care about deaths on the road, then we should care about speed on roads (as the two are directly linked), but what determines the speed on a road, and how can it be changed?

Road classification sounds like another dry subject in transport planning but I believe it holds a key to changing road deaths in South Africa.

Road networks are classified into types: freeways, arterials, collectors....in order to simplify the management and design process. Once allocated to a road class then the planning and engineering decisions are clearcut, and can follow guidelines. This has been the case since the 1960s, and remains a strong thrust in practice internationally today.

Over the years, conventional, 'functional' road classification has been criticised, and alternatives have been suggested. In the last five years significant work has taken place in Europe, initially under the EU ARTISTS project.

For South Africa, the crux is this: current classification systems in use are too narrow. They focus on car access and mobility to the detriment of other road users (pedestrians, public transport), and also other road / street functions (leisure, play, socialising, market). Until other users and functions are fully acknowledged throughout the transport planning process, including classification, then conflicts are inevitable.

Why is this? As transport planners, we are living in delusion. In the transport planning dream transport planning is about moving cars about the city in a free-flowing manner, pedestrians are separate and roads are clear of other activities. In reality, this does not happen. When we wake up and see the reality, we may have a chance of bringing down those fatalities.

For further reading see Brindle, RE (1999) Road herarchy and functional classification in Ogden, K and Taylor, S (Eds) Traffic Engineering and Management. University of Monash, Clayton, Victoria

Measuring the benefits of good street design

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:53:00 +0000

The value of good street design is a tricky one to argue with transport engineers.

How can you (the planners argue) put a number to livability, pedestrian friendliness and a 'sense of place'. Isn't it obvious that good design should be supported? Many transport engineers know (in their hearts) that good street design is worth something, but they want numbers to justify the expenditure to Treasury. Engineers are taught to quantify, and the qualitative soft stuff is often unconvincing to them (and to their financiers).

Now some bright spark has illuminated this issue, and I suspect the engineers and planners will both be rubbing their hands with glee. The UK Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment has published research from a London study which shows that "simply improving street design can make a difference to market values". The small study of ten high streets in London used regression analysis and stated preference surveys to show that "an achievable improvement in street design quality can add an average of 5.2 per cent to residential prices on the case study high streets and an average of 4.9 per cent to retail rents".

Locally there is anecdotal evidence from Gugulethu where houses facing the upgraded NY1 are apparently valued more by residents than similar houses on non-upgraded streets. It makes sense that the poor value good street design since (as Enrique Penalosa has pointed out), where housing is poor, or cramped, the street becomes an extension of living space. And so, if you are poor, then having your street upgraded feels similar to having your lounge-diner refurbished.

So - there are at least three good reasons to promote excellence in street design in low income areas of South Africa. Firstly it's about social housing - effectively extending living space by creating outdoor communal rooms. Secondly it's about poverty alleviation - increasing the value of adjacent properties and so 'giving' equity to home owners. Thirdly - it's about transport and the environment - supporting sustainable modes of walking and cycling in a safe manner.

Football, taxis, beer and Brits

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:51:00 +0000

Attending a presentation about transport projects planned for 2010 I started thinking about British football, beer and taxis (the metered kind). Football is an obsession in the UK and although England haven't won a World Cup in 40 years, there is always hope in the eyes of a Manchester United supporter. Equally obsessive is the British love of the 'bender', the weekend slump into oblivion through massive consumption of alcohol . Young and old; professional and manual-worker; male and female, all enjoy the British pursuit of getting 'plastered'(binge drinking).

There is little better for a typical British football supporter than drinking to celebrate a football win, or drinking to commiserate a football loss. In short, South Africa has a lot of drunk football supporters to look forward to.

Luckily for road users, most UK drinkers have been convinced that driving after drinking in really off-limits, and typically a British supporter would expect to catch public transport to a football match, and catch a metered or sedan taxi home. 2010 then is potentially a windfall for our sedan and metered taxi industry. Is anyone talking to them?

Beyond beer, Brits and taxis I began thinking about taxis as a 'legacy' of 2010. At the moment taxis are a last resort for locals and an expensive option even for tourists. If only taxi operators could be taught a bit of supply and demand economics, they would see that lowering prices would enlarge their market share, and mean that more of them could earn more money on the road, instead of sitting in large numbers at the Waterfront. Taxis are used regularly in Europe for the trip between public transport stop/ station especially at night, and after travel or shopping. Women enjoy metered taxis as an alternative to walking.

Growing, educating and supporting the sedan and metered taxis is a potential win-win for authorities. These taxis can support the safety and usability of public transport; get drunk drivers off the roads; offer an improved service to tourists and generate employment. Where's the downside?

Monorails - a project in constructing inevitability

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 09:13:00 +0000

The debate generated by the monorail 'plans' calls to mind a little known piece of work by Yaakov Garb, called "Constructing the Trans-Israel Highway's Inevitability".

Garb argues that big project proponents have to be as clever at 'constructing inevitability' as they do at constructing with blacktop (or in this case, railway). If the proponents can generate a consensus view (or paradigm) that Project X is 'inevitable', then opponents have a hard time indeed convincing anyone that Project X is doomed to failure. In Garb's words, Project X must "overwhelm the space of possibilities". So how is this done? In brief, there are five complementary ways:

1. The visionary confidence and absolute conviction of the project developers. If the project is to be 'inevitable' then the project developers have to be 100% convinced that it is, indeed, inevitable. The Gautrain developers certainly fitted this mould.

2. The creation of a problem statement which has Project X as an absolutely obvious solution. This can be done quite easily in the transport sector which is poorly understood and rapidly changing.

3. Rewriting history, so that Project X seems like an inevitable conclusion of a sequence of events.

4. The closing down of debate on Project X, especially debate on issues which are strategic, and which may raise issues about the requirement for the Project. This was attempted on debate some years ago over the Foreshore Freeway Completion Project. The developer at the time told me that "the public participation was about mitigation measures, the decision had already been taken to complete the road". That the decision-process appeared flawed was not on the developer's public participation agenda at that time.

5. Presenting the project as a 'fait accompli', which would have to be accommodated. Recall the name used for the last version of the Foreshore Freeway work - the 'Completion Project', not the 'Options' or 'Proposal' or 'Strategy' Project!

Whether developers do any of this this consciously is debatable, but one thing is for sure, the public sector will need to continue to be fast on the mark and vocal if it is to ensure future transport projects have public values at heart.

Sustainable (transport ) unpicked

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Tue, 22 May 2007 07:05:00 +0000

I've had an amazing two weeks. Inspirational, inspirational again. It started with electing to sit in on some lectures by Don Huisingh, an Ove Arup fellow who was lecturing on UCT's Urban Infrastructure:Design and Management MPhil Programme . Don is an inspiring speaker and teacher, who strongly encourged us all to watch Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". Like most professionals in the transport sector I had not bothered to see the movie, thinking I knew the arguments. Well, I didn't. If you haven't seen it and you do nothing else this week - grab it from your video shop and watch it!

Coming out of the lectures on sustainability was the message that even the conventional economic-environmental-social model of sustainability is too narrow. The 'problem' of sustainability starts at home, with each individual choosing to make a difference in the way we are able to. Don inspired us with the story of the changes he has made to his own home. It got me thinking.

From sustainability to drama. I spent the weekend on an amazing journey of self discovery with the 'More to Life' programme , on a course called 'All the Worlds a Stage'. This amazing course helped me to unpick the habits I had fallen into and put some better ones back in their place. I recommend this programme to anyone wanting to put changes in place in their lives!

Monday - more inspiration. I was encouraged to visit Vernon Collis who is now working in the field of sustainable building, although it goes way beyond that. Mmmm, I wonder what I should call it? He and his partner Anna Cowan are undertaking engineering practice which reaches into materials design, energy conservation, recycling, social work, empowerment - comprehensive and integrated and SUSTAINABLE. They are busy with a project at Mbekweni which looks like a really interesting model to watch. Their approach echoes Don's teaching, don't wait for someone else to do this, just get started with what you can. Think broad, and burst open that silo approach to engineering and planning.

Finally, back to UCT again, and to a lecture on Futures by Chris Luebkemann , also Ove Arup. More confirmation of the need to be bold and be an agent of change by making changes.

Tomorrow I go to SEA, back into my work as an advisor on their Sustainable Transport programme. These inputs have been strategic and motivating. I got started. For two days I have not used my car. I feel great about it. The car will be used again, but I'm choosing to make more conscious choices.

Thanks to all involved with this most inspiring two weeks. I trust I will put it all to good use!

To join the mailing list for UCT open lectures email Romano Del Mistro

The need for new hierarchies

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Wed, 02 May 2007 01:47:00 +0000

One of the central tenets in the new Manual for Streets is the definition of a new way of classifying streets, which implies a new hierarchy. In the 1950s and 1960s, two types of highway were defined by traffic engineers: 'mobility' routes and 'access' routes. This led to layouts where buildings were considered quite separately from roads, and where roads were considered only in terms of their transport function. The separation ethos ran deep, with the solution to conflict (between pedestrians and vehicles) being separation in time (pedestrian crossings) or in space (footbridges). This mobility-access philosophy , which is pervasive in South Africa, and remains evident even in the current draft of the Road Access Management Guidelines, leaves little room for multi-functional streets.

In reality multi functional streets exist across South Africa. There is frequently high pedestrian activity along important traffic routes. Commercial activity commonly occurs along key arterials. High road crash statistics bear grim witness to this reality. What is the answer? Tradition suggests that the answer is to protect the mobility function at all costs and to separate or stop the pedestrian or commercial activity. The MfS approach is rather more pragmatic suggesting that we need to make space in our philosophies for streets which have both an important 'place' function and a key 'movement' function. (These streets are typically high streets and main roads.) Accomodating both 'place' and 'movement' calls for a new approach to street design, which is more accomodating of skills commonly seen as the domain of the urban designer. Bringing more creativity into the road design process has been difficult in the past due to concerns over safety and increased risk. The MfS addresses this in two ways. Firstly it gives some very specific guidance on the design process, and particularly on speed and road geometry, which will help designers. Secondly it calls for the transport planning process to be far more rigorous in its quality assurance, through the implementation of a series of quality audits. In this way rational decision-making, which can be defended in court should the need arise, is assured.

New Manual for Streets - Radical or disappointing?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 03:28:00 +0000

According to UK's Channel 4 the recent release of the Manual for Streets (MfS) heralds the biggest change in road design philosophy since Colin Buchanan's seminal work "Traffic in Towns" (1963). Hot air, or real? It's an important question, since a major philosophical shift like this will have knock on implications for South Africa transport and urban planning practice, design and teaching, as all are derived from British and US roots.

My view is that the Manual for Streets is a radical departure from conventional practice. Very little is completely new, but the status given to the principles, and the research which backs it up, mean that ideas which were previously associated with the fringe have been mainstreamed.

The authorship is the first clue to the nature of the new direction. It was developed from a partnership between departments of transport, planning and design and draws on professional input from across the spectrum. Although South Africa tried to do this over ten years ago in the "Red Book" "Red Book" the result was far from satisfactory, with little common voice from the planners and engineers on road design.

The new MfS supersedes earlier road design guidelines and although the focus is on lightly trafficked streets "many of its key principles may be applicable to other types of streets". It calls for a completely new approach to road classification and hierarchy, with 'place' and 'movement' having equal consideration. This will surely be music to the ears of the UCT School of Architecture and Planning who have been singing the song of 'a sense of place' for many years.

The MfS justifies this change of design direction by putting "well designed residential streets at the heart of sustainable communities". In so doing it "challenges some established working practices and standards that are failing to produce good-quality outcomes, and asks professionals to think differently about their role in creating successful neighbourhoods". Of course, engineers and planners have been doing this asking for a long time, but what MfS does is put some research on the table that demonstrate (although for rather small sample sizes) that some cherished tenets of road design are "based on questionable or outdated practice".

Perhaps the most important step is the acknowledgement that a user hierarchy be established with pedestrians at the top. If this can be established in the UK where car ownership is approximately 400 vehicles per thousand, how more relevant is it in South Africa where car ownership is just over 100 vehicles per thousand?

Over the next few weeks I will be focusing in on different aspects of the Manual for Streets, and reflecting on the implications for South African transport planning.

Parking and vehicle ownership among poor communities

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 02:04:00 +0000

Last year the Social Housing Focus Trust ran a competition amongst architecture students to "generate ideas and debate on alternative housing design options that are ultimately deliverable". Entrants were given some urban design guidelines and asked to ensure that 25% of units designed were suitable for families earning R1000 to R2500 per month. The criteria which caught my eye, though, was : "one parking bay was required per ten beds or three dwelling units" (which roughly translates to a car ownership of 100 per thousand population).

Given that SHIFT focuses on "low-to-moderate" income housing, I am unconvinced that this amount of parking is really necessary. The National Household Travel Survey 2003 provides some relevant data. Disaggregating the NHTS data into income quintiles, and looking at metropolitan areas only, car ownership figures tell an interesting tale.....of very low ownership amongst the poorest 60% of the population. SHIFT's suggested parking allocation is, in fact, more relevant to a middle or middle-rich income bracket....

Parking is a contentious issue amongst transport planners and when criticised for over-supply of parking the reply is usually that car ownership growth is so rapid that additional parking is needed for future car owners. Predicting future transport needs is notoriously vague but here goes.

I made a rough calculation and estimate that car ownership growth runs at approximately 55% of GDP growth. Assuming that the economy grows at 5% for the next 20 years, and assuming that the upper income brackets do not demand an improvement to public transport thanks to ever increasing congestion on the roads, then (in this business-as-usual scenario) by 2024 the middle income group would have approximately 100 cars per thousand, the poor 70 cars per thousand and the ultra-poor 50 cars per thousand. (Which translates into 1 parking bay per 10 beds; 1 parking bay per 7 beds or 1 parking bay per 5 beds). Clearly SHIFT's competition parking requirements were on the generous side.

Why bother with all of this? Accurate parking provision is important because at a local scale too much parking leads to sterile and empty environments which can encourage crime. Unused parking spaces detract from urban quality and are a waste of valuable development resources, including land. Excessive parking increases walking distances, which in turn decreases the accessibility of public transport. In lower to middle income communities it is public transport and walking which are the travel modes used by the vast majority.

Perhaps the next competition could focus more on making vibrant places for walking, cycling and public transport rather than parking?

Completion of Cape Town Foreshore freeway?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 07:10:00 +0000

If only life were as simple as traffic engineer Calverey suggested in his Cape Times article on Jan 22, 2007 “Foreshore Freeway must be completed for the World Cup”. If only we could complete the Foreshore Freeway and solve all of the access problems around the Waterfront/ Buitengragt interchanges in one swoop, with no other impacts on the city. If only life were so simple, then we would build road capacity every time we had congestion problems and they would be solved in a jiffy.

Unfortunately, we only have to look to the urban American landscape to see that road construction has had many unintended impacts, and needs to be assessed very carefully. Urban road construction generates barriers to development as impermeable as any wall. Elevated freeways cause visual blight which can mar even the most beautiful of vistas. The areas beneath them are dead and often no-go zones, which have limited development potential. All of this is evident in our own city where the Foreshore Freeway effectively severs the city from its port and contains development on the mountainside. If we debate the completion of the Foreshore Freeway link we have to ask “at what cost to the urban landscape in that area?” If the pedestrian access from the city to the Waterfront is unfriendly and unwelcoming to tourists now, just imagine how much worse that would be with an elevated freeway running overhead?

Perhaps the destruction of that area would be worthwhile if it alleviated congestion along Buitengragt, as Calvary suggests, and if it provided a free-flow vehicle travel experience to the proposed stadium, plus a less congested experience along Buitegragt. Unfortunately, research evidence demonstrates that building new road capacity in already congested urban areas, where demand for travel is strong, will not give the congestion relief that Calvary suggests. Basic economics points to the reason why this is so. As road capacity is added to an urban network, then the cost of traveling on the road (measured in minutes) decreases. When the cost of something decreases, then demand increases in response and so, in the case of transport networks, congestion reappears. Sadly, the debate is not a case of whether or not congestion would return to Buitengragt, but a case of how very quickly it will return to the congestion levels we experience today.

So, the decision about whether or not to complete the freeway needs to take into account blight on the urban area, considerable cost implications, and questionable traffic congestion relief. In addition, the argument that the Foreshore freeway demands completion in time for the 2010 World Cup is questionable. It implies that the state of transport on the roads on the day of the match is inflexible and will not change. Predictions of transport chaos at events such as these are notoriously unreliable since looming chaos tends to drive anyone with a choice out of an area . There is rigorous research evidence which demonstrates that road capacity reduction is not something to fear.

That is not to say we do not need to plan. Sixty thousand visitors to one area is considerable, and Buitengragt is undeniably a bottleneck. Completing the Foreshore freeway is one possible solution, but would go counter to international practice, and has the potential to pronounce us as dinosaurs out of touch with current transport thinking. The new trend overseas is to demolish inner city freeways (See reports from Birmingham, UK; Seoul, Korea; San Francisco, USA; Milwaukee ,Denver, USA; and others ), and to create ground level routes. This may seem counter-intuitive, but actually offers many benefits. At ground routes tend to be slower but have the advantage of generating new development space, opening up vistas and urban space for tourism, and bleeding inner city traffic into the general inner city network instead of funneling it into the current one congested spot. Something needs to be done - but we must remember that in urban areas the simplest of solutions can have bizarrely complex consequences.

(This twelve minute film on Embarcadero Freeway gives the full, fascinating San Francisco story, but is a slow load on my Telkom ADSL!)

Good street design can make you happy

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 01:56:00 +0000

"It's time we focused not just on the GDP, but on the GWB: General wellbeing" UK Opposition leader, David Cameron.

As South Africans fight to eradicate poverty and unemployment it is sobering to notice that in the UK, where the economy buoyant, and unemployment negligible, there is widespread acknowledgement that (surprise!) more money does not make for more happiness. The UK Opposition leader David Cameron appears to be campaigning for votes on an altogether different ticket from his South Africa counterparts - general wellbeing.

The interesting thing for transport planners is in the smallprint of recent wellbeing/happiness research in the UK which points to ways in which transport planners can improve wellbeing in a meaningful and measurable way. For example, six studies have found that life satisfaction and/or happiness are positively linked to social contact. In 1981 Donald Appleyard demonstrated in his book 'Livable Streets' that social contact at a street level is negatively linked to traffic. (The more the traffic, the less the contact between neighbours). Since then, the 'livable streets' movement has grown internationally, and has its influences can be seen in many places, but is still on the periphery of mainstream transport thinking in South Africa.

The UK wellbeing research also found that noise, pollution and commuting were all negatively linked to wellbeing and/ or happiness. All this is intuitively sensible and will come of little surprise to most, but mainstream transport planners in SA rarely engage with issues such as 'happiness'. Pity. I suspect that a whole host of other street and transport design issues also impact on happiness. What about landscaping? Good, safe walking networks? Great access to schools? Easy crossing places? Boulevards, squares, or even just sensible, well-thought out transport interchange design?

If the argument can be made that good transport design improves wellbeing, and that wellbeing wins votes, then 'livable street' designers are moved out of the liberal 'nice-to-have' fringes into the political mainstream. It's enough to make you *SMILE*.

All those in favour of minibus taxis say 'I'

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 02:07:00 +0000

The graph opposite was developed from South African National Transport survey data which was collected in 2003. It records the percentage of people who used the given motorised modes in the past seven days.

I think this graph is fascinating. It so graphically illustrates the differentiation in metropolitan South African society, but from a transport perspective. The income groups are between 15-20% big (the closest I could get to 'quintiles' given the survey questionnaire and mising data). For approximately 50% of the poorer South Africans travel is dominated by the mini-bus taxi. The top 15% of travel is dominated by the private car, and inbetween there is a group who still make good use of the taxi, but who also have (increasingly) a car available. I labelled the groups the 'first' and 'second' economies but interestingly this graph also adds weight to other labels which have been used in transport circles since the Moving South Africa strategy of the late 1990s - that of stranded (poor); selective (middle-upper) and stubborn (rich) customers.

The situation is so varied, it makes you wonder where the efforts of the transport ministers should be. If it were my job to look at motorised transport in the metros I would be putting my efforts towards the mini-bus taxi industry. Taxis are quite obviously the backbone of the public transport industry, and need to be improved quick-sticks before those 'selective' customers become 'stubborn'. For now, winning position is to improve the taxi system for the majority who have no choice; and so to also keep as many as possible of the selective customers from becoming stubborns. Good luck Jeff.

Another take on December traffic 'accident' news

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 07:34:00 +0000

In 2005 14,125 people were killed on South African roads. That is equivalent to a jumbo jet crash every 11 days. As professionals hit the road for summer holidays, this is the time of year when attention turns to traffic 'accidents'. In fact, the use of the work 'accident' is misleading, as it implies that everything that can be done is being done to reduce the 'mortalities' (some say carnage) on the roads, and that any injury or death was unavoidable - an accident. Unfortunately this is not true, and there is certainly a case for arguing that our speed limits are too high and that this has a impact on road casualty rates.

What is often forgotten is that more than half of all fatal crashes involve a pedestrian. In rural areas fatal crashes involving a pedestrian account for about 45% of all crashes, and in urban areas they account for more than 60%.

We know from research that when a vehicle hits a pedestrian, the likely outcomes are:
•At 35km/hour – 5% death; 65% injury
•At 50km/hour – 45% death; 50% injury
•At 70km/hour – 85% death; 15% injury

So why are most of our suburban arterials designed for speeds of 60km/hour or more, and why is the urban speed limit 60km/hour?

Pedestrians walking along our high speed rural roads are of course especially vulnerable, but to make an indent in the road fatality stats will require more than the usual education and enforcement. Government will need to invest heavily in pedestrian infrastructure as well as in new roads if the carnage is to be reduced. This will require a shift in the traditional definition of the work of a highway engineer, and some serious questioning about how highway engineering has been done. Such a shift in approach could bring some small consolation to the thousands of families who will be without loved ones this festive season.

What is the (transport) problem?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 06:01:00 +0000

I was recently approached by a local ratepayers association who are concerned about a junction in the Claremont, Cape Town area. The junction is under scrutiny due to a recent fatality (an elderly gentleman who was crossing Palmyra Road to visit the supermarket) and a major planned development nearby. In addition, there is a primary school adjacent to the junction, and many children cross the busy road daily. Typical speeds are high (I would estimate 50-90km/hour) and the junction is also crossed by vehicles going to/ from the supermarket. In short, it is ripe for attention.

It is always tempting in situations such as these to 'dive straight in' and develop plans for crossings; one-way systems; traffic signals; roundabouts; the list is (almost) endless. I prefer the UK approach to transport appraisal which basically forces a deep consideration of what are we trying to achieve? This is important since the 'transport problem' is actually a myriad of problems, and unless the problem is clarified at the beginning of the design process then conflicts between those involved and wasted (expensive) design work are almost inevitable. From the government perspective a good design will fit in with local transport policy. Generally speaking the following will need to be considered at a local junction level:

Access to local property (by pedestrians/ vehicles)
Impact on local economy (eg shops and traders)
Through mobility - speed, volume (by pedestrians/ vehicles)
Conflicting cross-flows (into/ out of/ across streets) (by pedestrians/ vehicles)
Safety and security
Environmental impact and amenity of public space (landscaping, pavements)
Special (vulnerable) users (eg children, elderly, disabled)
Public transport access and integration

The questions to ask are which group of users are important here, and what are we trying to optimise?

A clear set of objectives for the design can then be developed, and the possible options for the junction design are reduced.

UK Approach to Transport Analysis

"These steps are usually defined as a 'transport study', and typically should include:

agreement on a set of project specific objectives which the solution should seek to satisfy, these likely to be a subset of the Government objectives outlined above;
analysis of present and future problems on, or relating to, the transport system;
exploration of potential solutions for solving the problems and meeting the objectives;
appraisal of potential solutions, seeking combinations which perform better as a whole than the sum of the individual components; and
selection and phasing of the preferred solution, taking account of the views of the public and transport providers." (Department for Transport Transport Analysis Guidance)

Bogota - streets for people

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 19:10:00 +0000

“We cannot talk about urban transport until we know what kind of a city we want, and to talk about the kind of city we want, we have to know how we want to live.” Enrique Peñalosa, ex mayor of Bogota.

So often we talk about transport as if it is something that happens elsewhere, and we ignore the consequences that transport has for the places we live in. As Enrique Penalosa, the inspirational ex-mayor of Bogota, Colombia reminds us, the consequences are most obvious to people at street level. Who uses these streets? Tourists and the poor are two groups who deserve some special attention. Tourists because they are a key driver of our economy, developing jobs for the low skilled. As 2010 approaches the friendliness of our street environments to tourists will be even more on show.

The poor deserve more attention from transport planners because they have limited choices for play, recreation and movement. For many poor the street is the park, beach and garden. Sadly, in South Africa the street is too often a dangerous place to be.

See what Penalosa did in Bogota when faced with similar problems:

Biography, quotes, publications
Review

Children, speed and road design

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:17:00 +0000

Today's Cape Town Argus had a small piece about the death of two children Zakhe Tsicelo (age 5) and Akhona Adonis (age 9) in a hit-and-run incident in Lusaka informal settlement, along Klipfontein Road. My heart goes out to the mothers of those children and I wish the spokesman for transport, Vincent Jonas, and the local ward councillor, Elese Depouch, strength and courage in their efforts to make sure this does not happen again.

Unfortunately, the statistics for road deaths in South Africa are grim - with more than 9,000 people dying each year. My view is that road death will not be reduced until average road speeds are reduced, and road design practice in the country needs to change to make sure this can take place. Road design has a long and complex history in South Africa but in a nutshell the problem as I see it is that vehicle efficiency (read speed) is too often given favour over pedestrian safety, and this leads, inevitably, to conflicts.

The evidence for the link between speed and accidents is very strong. (See Monash University's work on Speed for a good summary). This link is recognised in South Africa and the Arrive Alive campaign puts emphasis on speed reduction, but the focus tends to be on improving enforcement. Enforcement is essential but good road engineering, the type of engineering which forces drivers to slow down, is even better. Good engineering is on the job 24/7, and does not take resources away from crime-fighting. The problem is this: at the moment traffic authorities are reluctant to put in place engineered speed reduction measures on important through routes, perhaps out of fear about overall transport system efficiency.

Several things needs to happen:

1. The city needs to review its speed limit policy. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that 60km/hr is too high. 5% of pedestrians hit by a car travelling at 30km/hr will die. 45% of pedestrians hit by a car travelling at 50km/hr will die. 85% of pedestrians hit by a car travelling at 65km/hr will die. Despite this on many of Cape Towns arterial roads 80km/hr can be comfortable (for the drivers).

2. The city needs needs to review its policy on road hierarchies - basically the policy which decides which roads are more or less important for vehicle efficiency - and decide on appropriate speeds on those roads. As they do this they need to remember that higher speeds do not mean higher throughput of vehicles!! (This is a basic rule of traffic engineering).

3. The city needs to think hard about roads which are important in the hierarchy, but which are also places of intense human activity. Inevitably, these are places where conflicts will occur, crashes are likely and deaths an unfortunate inevitability. Some creative engineering will be needed, but there is plenty of precedent overseas now. Traffic calming on arterial roads does not have to be only about speed humps, as MIT shows. In the US there is a new move to flexible or context-sensitive design and in the UK a new 'Manual for Streets' (which goes well beyond issues of only residential streets) is currently being debated and is expected to be adopted as a supplement to the current UK road design manual. These new moves in design lift the importance of the human being and try to counter the current design emphasis on vehicles.

In South Africa the road deaths are higher and the numbers of vulnerable pedestrians greater than in the UK or US, and so it is even more essential that local engineers grasp the nettle and take a fresh look at road design. Only by doing this can we make sure that Zakhe and Akhona did not die in vain.

Guidelines for South African Transport Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Kane) — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 21:47:00 +0000

I have griped many times and in many forums about the lack of Guidelines for South African transport planners and engineers, but I have been remiss in not stating anywhere exactly what I think is missing...so here is my list:

1. Road classification, road hierarchy and road access management

Work has been done in the Western Cape and nationally, but to my knowledge the two are still not agreeing and that is a problem. I think the issue here is a fundamental one as road classification may sound dull but requires thinking about what should be prioritised (people, public vehicles, private vehicles) and for what purpose (economy, quality of urban space, safety, beauty, efficiency...)

2. Traffic impact assessment

The problem is in the title. If policy is really 'public transport first', then why are we not talking about transport impact assessments? Anecdotally, TIAs as they stand are a major component of consultants' work, but the scope of innovative remedial measures around new developments (which are often paid for by developers) is hampered by narrow TIA guidance.

3. Transport assessment

If we are concerned about efficiency of the private vehicle system then the Cost Benefit Assessment is a reasonable tool (although it has been extensively criticised and this is rarely acknowledged in SA). But is efficiency of private vehicles our major concern? I would say - no! In many cases we are looking to transport infrastructure for alleviating poverty, redressing inequities, providing basic access... The CBA is entirely inadequate for measuring these. (I have extended these arguments in a recent paper "Instilling pro-poor values into transport assessment" available at http://www.gendertransportconf.com/ReadContent.aspx?id=397)

4. Public transport provision guidelines

If we are serious about public transport, then we need to be serious about providing guidance to capacity-short authorities and consultants. These guidelines need to be describing low-cost measures for bus and taxi which are suited to SA road conditions...

I am sure there are more, but it's a start.