Hi, Some of you may find this interesting, it's a very comprehensive
guide of how to do Sunday ciclovías (many of us contributed to its writing):

English version:
http://cicloviarecreativa.uniandes.edu.co/english/index.html

Best regards,

Carlosfelipe Pardo
Country Director, Colombia
Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP)

Regional Office
Carrera 7 Nº 79B-15, Oficina 404
Bogotá, DC, COLOMBIA
Tels: +57 (1) 211-0654 / 235-4240 -  Fax: +57 (1) 211-0654
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Headquarters
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URL: www.itdp.org - cpardo@... E-mail 2: carlosfpardo@...
Promoting environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide
*consider the environment: please think*

I suspect that if carshare became the predominant form of access to motoring
then advertising wouldn't disappear, but it would change to a more acceptable
form. The emphasis would be on "what kind of car would you like your carshare
scheme to get".

Regarding advertising standards in the UK, I once had a letter in the London
Cyclist magazine suggesting that if advertisers were prohibited from promoting
inconsiderate behaviour then all car advertising would be banned. I later
modified this to yield the following draft for a green car advertisement:

A person puts down the phone after having received news of the illness of a
close relative. Together with his/her spouse they consult Traveline [the UK
travel planning website -- though I think it didn't exist at the time I first
drafted the advertisement] and finds that it is too late to make the journey by
public transport. They express regret that they will have to hire a car, and
ring their carshare provider. They then say "Thankfully they've got a [specific
model] available" and say why they think this is important.

  Simon Norton

Ashok Sreenivas schrieb:
> >
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2009/11/cabinet_finalises_road_pricing.php
>
> Interesting. But how would this differ from just taxing gasoline/diesel?
At current levels, fuel prices are only a small part of motoring prices.
They would need to be "taxed" much higher than today, which is
politically impossible. "Smart" road-pricing via GPS can also take local
and temporal variations into account and the same equipment can also
help with safety assessment for insurance purposes. This might curb
things like speeding excesses dramatically but would also allow
insurance costs to be levied per distance, which would encourage
not-driving. In contrast, today's methods encourage driving, because
costs per distance are lower when tax and insurance is paid in a lump
sum per vehicle each year. Against the electronic road-pricing scheme
are of course the "Big Brother" implications.

Interesting that this comes from the Netherlands. Looking at data from
2006, this and other Benelux countries consume about as much oil per
capita as the North American countries, only the oil-producing Arab
states are worse.

Theo Schmidt, Switzerland

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 9:47 PM, Ashok Sreenivas
<ashok.sreenivas@...> wrote:
>
>
> Interesting. But how would this differ from just taxing gasoline/diesel? Is it
because this applies only to motorists (and thus excludes buses etc.) and
because this can vary with time-of-day? I am also curious to know how something
like this would get implemented. Would motorists be expected to report the no of
kms they drove in the last year and pay up, or would all vehicles have a smart
card or chip on them which would directly beam the data to the tax authorities?

Proposals in the USA and UK have suggested using GPS.

I haven't decided how I feel about this.  California has looked into
it because so many residents are driving fuel efficient vehicles that
their fuel tax revenue has fallen.  A per distance tax would solve
that, but people no longer have a strong incentive to drive fuel
efficient vehicles, particularly in high-tax nations like the UK and
Holland.

I'm not sure how they would handle drivers from other countries.
Would a Belgian driver need to stop at the border and get a GPS unit?
Would they simply have to pay a high price at the pump?

John

--
John Mayson <john@...>
Austin, Texas, USA

 

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2009/11/cabinet_finalises_road_pricing.php

Dutch Cabinet finalises kilometer tax plan

Monday 16 November 2009

The Netherlands is set to become the first country in Europe to replace road tax with a kilometer charge for all motorists, over 10 years since the idea was first put forward.

If the legislation is passed by parliament, motorists will start paying tax on every kilometer they drive, which the government hopes will reduce traffic jams and pollution.

On Friday, ministers agreed that the tax will be three cents a kilometer when the charge is introduced in 2012, rising to 6.7 cents by 2018 - for the greenest cars . But if revenues generated by the tax are not in line with expectations, the tax can be adjusted, the transport ministry said.

Rush hour

The tax will be higher during the rush hour and for more polluting vehicles.

To make sure motorists are not worse off, road tax will be scrapped and the purchase tax on new cars will be reduced. Some 60% of drivers will be better off, the government claims.

The transport ministry said on Friday it expected fatal accidents will fall by 7% and carbon emissions would be down by 10%. Traffic jams will be halved and the amount of kilometres driven will go down by 15%.

Each car on the roads will be fitted with a GPS device which will use satellites to monitor where and when the car is driven and send the information to a central billing point.

Privacy

The ministry said the information collected about motoring habits would be 'legally and technically' protected and would not be accessible to other government agencies.

The ANWB motoring organisation and green groups welcomed the final go-ahead for the kilometer tax. At last it means 'a fair cost for mobility,' ANWB director Guido van Woerkom told the Volkskrant.

But some opposition MPs say the tax will be used by the government to generate extra income and is a danger to privacy.

'Even in the former Soviet Union they did not have as much control,' Liberal VVD MP Charlie Aptrots said in the Telegraaf.

Aptrots said the government should put the estimated €4bn start-up cost for the scheme into improving the road network and other anti-congestion measures.

-- --------------------------------------------
Todd Edelman
Green Idea Factory
Urbanstr. 45
D-10967 Berlin
Germany
Skype: toddedelman
Mobile: ++49 0162 814 4081
edelman@greenidea.eu
www.greenidea.eu
www.flickr.com/photos/edelman
CAR* is over. If you want it.
"Fort mit der Privatautostadt und was Neues hingebaut!" - B. Brecht (with slight modification)
* "Car" is a sub-category of automobile, i.e. one used inappropriately, opportunistically or without creativity

In reply to Richard, if the media are underpinned by car advertising (and I am
not disputing this), won't this skew their editorial policies against New
Mobility solutions ? Not completely of course, but sufficiently to offer a
considerable handicap to those campaigning for such policies.

  Simon Norton

----- Original Message -----

From: Zvi Leve

To: NewMobilityCafe@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 13:59

Subject: [NewMobilityCafe] Re:Transportation, Sharing and Sustainable Development

 

Very interesting thoughts Richard and Chris (and Aaron).

Being in Montreal, I have quite extensive experience with the Bixi bikeshare program and can offer my own personal impressions of it's place in the transportation mix. I own two bicycles myself and thought (and still think) that the pricing model for Bixi was too expensive for Montreal. I read somewhere that a monthly or annual subscription includes a 'bixi-key' which is very convenient to loan to friends. I was expecting a visitor so I decided to make the leap and I signed up for one full year at $76 (which did not seem like that bad of a deal).

Once I got my Bixi key, the first thing that I did was try it out. I am fortunate that I live in an inner-ring area that is well-served by the system. There is a station around the corner from where I live, and I rarely need to walk more than two-four blocks to find a station anywhere in the areas where I frequent. Wow - All of a sudden my 'range of options' was just so much larger! Instead of going to one of my local neighborhood stores, I could now go a few extra blocks and go to a more specialized place if I wanted to.

For a while I really started going crazy - using Bixi for what would have only been ten minute walks: feta cheese from this place, grapefruits from that one, spices from yet another.... I still use my bicycle to get to work, but Bixi has replaced (or rather 'augmented') my walking trips around the neighbourhood. I probably actually make a larger number of trips now, since it is easier to go out and get back home in a given amount of time.

I also find it convenient to get to the metro station on the days when the weather is bad and I do not want to bring my bike.

On balance, I would say that Bixi has 'augmented' my mobility and provides me with access to a larger range of options. I still walk and still use my own bicycle(s), but I have an additional option now which is very comfortable and convenient.

Cheers,

Zvi

2009/11/13 Chris Bradshaw <hearth@ties.ottawa.on.ca>

> I'm concerned that it is not clear in our discussion that people disagree
> that carshare, bikeshare and rideshare are good things.

...

Bikesharing is also a big question mark, as it hasn't been studied enough
yet to learn what its users' deem their best alternatives to be.  Would they
be walking otherwise, or riding an owned bike, or driving, or taking a taxi,
or using transit?

Monday 16 November 2009

The Netherlands is set to become the first country in Europe to replace road tax with a kilometer charge for all motorists, over 10 years since the idea was first put forward.

If the legislation is passed by parliament, motorists will start paying tax on every kilometer they drive, which the government hopes will reduce traffic jams and pollution.

On Friday, ministers agreed that the tax will be three cents a kilometer when the charge is introduced in 2012, rising to 6.7 cents by 2018 - for the greenest cars . But if revenues generated by the tax are not in line with expectations, the tax can be adjusted, the transport ministry said.

Rush hour

The tax will be higher during the rush hour and for more polluting vehicles.

To make sure motorists are not worse off, road tax will be scrapped and the purchase tax on new cars will be reduced. Some 60% of drivers will be better off, the government claims.

The transport ministry said on Friday it expected fatal accidents will fall by 7% and carbon emissions would be down by 10%. Traffic jams will be halved and the amount of kilometres driven will go down by 15%.

Each car on the roads will be fitted with a GPS device which will use satellites to monitor where and when the car is driven and send the information to a central billing point.

Privacy

The ministry said the information collected about motoring habits would be 'legally and technically' protected and would not be accessible to other government agencies.

The ANWB motoring organisation and green groups welcomed the final go-ahead for the kilometer tax. At last it means 'a fair cost for mobility,' ANWB director Guido van Woerkom told the Volkskrant.

But some opposition MPs say the tax will be used by the government to generate extra income and is a danger to privacy.

'Even in the former Soviet Union they did not have as much control,' Liberal VVD MP Charlie Aptrots said in the Telegraaf.

Aptrots said the government should put the estimated €4bn start-up cost for the scheme into improving the road network and other anti-congestion measures.

-- --------------------------------------------
Todd Edelman
Green Idea Factory
Urbanstr. 45
D-10967 Berlin
Germany
Skype: toddedelman
Mobile: ++49 0162 814 4081
edelman@...
www.greenidea.eu
www.flickr.com/photos/edelman
CAR* is over. If you want it.
"Fort mit der Privatautostadt und was Neues hingebaut!" - B. Brecht (with slight modification)
* "Car" is a sub-category of automobile, i.e. one used inappropriately, opportunistically or without creativity

Yes, we need restrictions on car advertising. How about a complete ban -- it's
bad enough being surrounded by cars wherever we go, why do we have to have their
images thrust upon us as well ?

If not a complete ban, then let's at least set up the following guidelines:

1. The car must always be promoted as a means of transport, not an ego trip, sex
symbol or expression of power.

2. The driver should be shown as choosing to use the car only because other
modes of transport have failed, i.e. as a means of last resort.

3. Advertisements should be required to say things like "cars kill" and "cars
pollute".

As for carshare, I think this will only reduce transport's carbon footprint
significantly as part of an overall strategy which restricts car ownership, e.g.
by charging full cost for residential parking, certainly as least as much per
hour as is charged for visitor parking.

Maybe car advertisements could depict drivers who express relief when they find
the relevant model available for their use in carshare ?

  Simon Norton