Monday, January 16, 2012

Changing Mindsets on Sustainable Transportation


.....
In some countries, such as the Netherlands, the price of a gallon of gas is around $8, this is one way the government is trying to change behavior. However, drivers still behave as if accelerating doesn’t cause higher fuel consumption and the Netherlands can afford to push drivers away from cars; there are bike paths everywhere. In most major cities it is easier to get from place to place on bicycle than by car. A country like the United States does not have that option. Additionally, a developing country has even less of an option of using bicycles.
For bikes to be an efficient alternative there needs to be large flat areas that are easy to traverse using a bicycle. Hilly areas are extremely difficult to travel if bikes are used to carry goods as well as people. In the Netherlands it’s possible to carry a case of beer on the back of the bike because there are so few hills to climb. However, in a hilly country like Afghanistan or India it’d be extremely difficult to do the same on anything other than a motorize bike.
In the upcoming decades we will be seeing a huge increase in the number of people with vehicles. Tata is now producing a $2000 car, which is just above the GDP per capita of India. The GDP per capita of India is likely to continue to increase. If India moves in a direction of the United States, which has roughly 250 million passenger vehicles (roughly 3 cars for every 4 people), this will lead to roughly 900 million passenger vehicles on the road.

Amsterdam biker, by hiro_putra

similar posts:

What's In A Name: Branding Rail Travel

Smart Transportation Planning in Freiburg, Germany

Pedestrian (and stroller) priority in Vancouver

The streets of downtown Amsterdam

 

No comments:

Post a Comment