On: E-Lecture: Transportation

Dr Khan Rahaman, Assistant Professor, Urban and Rural Planning Discipline
Khulna University, Bangladesh. The lecture on transportation was a on-line lecture live from Canada, and can be rewatched from this link. In the lecture he compared transport solutions of Asia, Europe and North America. He is very keen on developing public transport and doesn't own a car, even if it makes it hard to get around in Canada.

Some main points about urban transportation planning:
1) Etablishing a vision, what does the community want
2) Understanding, how to reach the vision
3) Assessing opportunities and limitations, how to reach the system performance
4) Identifying short- and long-term consequences, what are the different alternatives
5) Relating the different alternatives, likns between goals, objectives and so on
6) Presenting the plan, to decision makers
7) Helping decision makers, to establish priorities and develop an investment program
(Urban Transportation Planning, a decision-oriented approach / Michael D. Meyer, Eric J. Miller. New York, 2001)

Urban transport planning is about all means of getting around in the city. Passanger cars are responsible for 75% of passanger kilometres travelled, and less than 10% of journeys are made by pyblic transport and less than 5% by bike. As car occupancy is close to one it means that cities fill up with cars, a need for sustainable urban transport planning is awakening.

Sustainable Urban Transport focuses on access and mobility rather than the movement of vehicles. It provides access for all groups of the society, keeps within the environmental carrying capacity and is affordable to both providers and users. Sustainable Urban Transport allows generation of economic growth, without compromising economic and social dimensions, to a point beyond repair. Sustainable urban transport is a pre-condition for improved quality of life and the SUT sustems combine technological and non-technological measures to enhance the sustainability of transport systems.

I think it's hard to compete with the private cars, but the struggle is still easier in the tight urban areas where parking is a much bigger issue than on the countryside, where distances are lond and you can park anywhere. As looking for parking takes time walking or biking short distances is much handier. Walking and biking can also be combined with public transport. The questions are how far would you walk and do you want to own a bike or rather borrow one on the fly?