A STUDY ON INTEGRATING PARATRANSIT AS A FEEDER SYSTEM INTO URBAN TRANSPORTATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON MODE CHOICE BEHAVIOR: A STUDY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

by Akkarapol Tangphaisankun, Toshiyuki Okamura, Fumihiko Nakamura, and Rui Wang

Motorized paratransit have continued their dominant function as a feeder in several developing cities due to their services satisfied captive riders in terms of mobility. However, the dissatisfaction with their services especially in the aspects of traffic safety and service images could hinder patronage of paratransit in the future, and this transport mode has not been systematically considered in the transportation plans. Therefore, more efforts are required in order to promote the solution of integrating paratransit as a feeder into urban transportation, particularly, on the rider side. Personal behaviors and attitudes towards the services provided by paratransit and public transport will be one of the important keys for the future development of this solution. This study investigated present choice consideration and influences of personal behaviors and attitudes towards the services of paratransit and public transport on the commuter choice selection. Empirical results revealed that car users prefer to continue driving, while patronage of paratransit combination is decreasing. Further, car preference and dissatisfaction with comfort and convenience of public transport and paratransit significantly influence the choice to drive. The pessimism about difficulties and images of the combination of paratransit and public transport modes potentially discourage usage of public transit and paratransit. Moreover, risks, especially on traffic accidents and crimes, of using the combination between paratransit and public transport was founded to be the driving factor of selecting public transport-only and driving alternatives.

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more about paratransit:

Paratransit for mobility impaired persons in developing regions: Starting up and scaling up

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PARATRANSIT AND NON-MOTORIZED TRANSPORT IN BANDUNG, INDONESIA

Paratransit for mobility impaired persons in developing regions: Starting up and scaling up

by Access Exchange International

It is about addressing the need of persons with disabilities and others for paratransit service when accessible “fixed-route” bus or rail service is not available or, if available, cannot be used by persons who need more specialized transportation.
This guide is written for city officials, transit operators, entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), social service agencies, and others who may wish to start up or expand door-to-door paratransit services to help mobility-impaired persons to get to where they need to go. It is not aimed at countries which already have such services and have the resources and money to support and pay for them, although many of our findings will be relevant to them. Rather, this guide provides information and guidance for cities and towns and villages in less-wealthy regions faced with many barriers to such transportation. These barriers are so great that many cities, to say nothing of the countryside beyond these cities, have not begun to address the task of providing paratransit for those who most need it.
The financial, infrastructure, and operational issues are daunting. In many rural areas, nearly everyone is mobility-impaired because there is very little public transportation. The situation can be equally bad in cities for persons with disabilities who are unable to use bus and rail lines. They remain trapped where they live, unable to get to work, to school, or to medical help and other activities due to the prohibitive cost of hiring a taxi or finding an accessible vehicle.
To provide guidance in these situations, we will be helped by the example of practitioners in cities which have begun to address some of the needs of mobility-impaired citizens. We will look at case studies of paratransit systems in São Paulo, Cape Town, Moscow, New Delhi, Istanbul, and Kuala Lumpur. We will also bring in the hard-won knowledge of paratransit systems in countries with longer histories of paratransit provision, such as the USA and France, or wealthier cities such as Hong Kong or San Francisco.
If the problems are large, so are the opportunities! This guide is about leveraging opportu- nities to overcome problems.

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more about sustainable transportation:

A “STEP” TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT: A CASE STUDY OF PENANG, MALAYSIA

Impact Assessment of Sustainable Public Transportation System on Quality of Life in Tehran

China’s Hangzhou Public Bicycle: Understanding Early Adoption and Behavioral Response to Bikesharing

Chinese bike-sharing dwarfs US and European programs

Measuring Perceived Accessibility to Urban Green Space: An Integration of GIS and Participatory Map

The eco-city: ten key transport and planning dimensions for sustainable city development

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PARATRANSIT AND NON-MOTORIZED TRANSPORT IN BANDUNG, INDONESIA

by  Tri Basuki JOEWONO and Hisashi KUBOTA

Angkutan Kota (paratransit) and non-motorized vehicles still exist in many small and big cities in Indonesia. This paper intends to explore the characteristics of paratransit and NMT in Bandung. Operational, financial, perception, and users’ ability and willingness to pay data were collected using survey. There is significance difference in becak operational characteristics between 1984 and 2001. Analysis shows that NMT provides mobility for women, student, low-income user, and job opportunity for people with limited skill and education, including exercise. Survey shows that NMT still accepted by community. Paratransit is 61.24% of total public transportation in Bandung. The minimum load factor is 29.17% and the maximum is 82.34%. 70.7% of paratransit user answers that the service quality of paratransit is good enough and 53% respondent says that tariff is suitable with the service quality. User ability and willingness has been analyzed according to service quality, trip purpose, user expenses, and fare perception.

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more about urban Indonesia:

THEORIES AND MODELS OF THE PERI-URBAN INTERFACE: A CHANGING CONCEPTUAL LANDSCAPE

SPATIAL GROWTH AND FUNCTION IN A JAVANESE COASTAL CITY

Strategic Urban Planning and Design Tools for Inner City Regeneration: Towards a Strategic Approach of Sustainable Urban Form Future The Case of Bandung City, Indonesia

SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN REVISITED: Some brief notes of ecological notions in creating liveable city

Call for papers: Colonial and postcolonial Urban Planning in Africa

CALL FOR PAPERS :International Planning History Society (IPHS) CONFERENCE & Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Colonial and postcolonial Urban Planning in Africa Lisbon, 5-6 September 2013

According to the United Nations, around 40 percent of the African population lived in urban areas in 2009. Population living in these vibrant and complex cities,  different from one another in patterns, processes and functions, is expected to reach 60 percent in 2050 and to set important challenges to both central and local governments in the continent. The answer to these challenges seems to require above all systematic urban planning, as acknowledged recently by the director of UN-Habitat.

The Conference – Colonial and Postcolonial Urban Planning in Africa – aims to re-examine the history of colonial urban planning in Africa and its legacies in the post-independence period, to learn from contemporary African scholarship, and to discuss how postcolonial urban planning cultures can actually address these urban challenges and contribute effectively for the development of resilient and sustainable cities in Africa.

The Conference to be held in Lisbon, in September 2013, organized by the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning - University of Lisbon and the International Planning History Society (IPHS), will explore two key themes in the history of urban planning in Africa:

· Theme I - 19th and 20th Century Colonial Urban Planning in Africa

· Theme II - Postcolonial Urban Planning in Africa

IMPORTANT DATES

Abstracts are due before January 15, 2013. Notices of acceptance will be sent by e-mail on February 15, 2013. Upon notification of acceptance, authors are expected to acknowledge receipt of the acceptance and to confirm their intent to attend the conference. Papers accepted will be assigned to a specific session based on topic. PowerPoint Presentations are due before the Conference. Full papers will be submitted just after the conference for possible publication (deadline to be announced during the conference).

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more conferences:

The Art as Cultural Diplomacy Conference: A Forum for Young Leaders (London, Weeklong Seminar, August 24th – 27th, 2012)

Call for Papers: The inaugural conference of the Travel Research Network will be held at The University of Melbourne, 18-20 July 2012

Call for Papers: Spaces and flows 2012: Third international conference on urban and extraurban studies

URBAN SPRAWL IN IRANIAN CITIES AND ITS DIFFERENCES WITH THE WESTERN SPRAWL

by Houshmand E. Masoumi

Recently a number of studies have focused on urban sprawl in the Iranian cities and the negative impacts of such development pattern. Although in a general view the phrase “urban sprawl” is used for fast and sometimes uncontrolled urbanizations, but there are dissimilarities between the urban sprawl in the western societies with the so-called Iranian urban sprawl. This paper discusses these differences as part of five main aspects that are mentioned in the internationally recognized urban sprawl definitions. Suburban sprawl, single-use developments/zoning, disconnected street network, low accessibility of the new developments, and commercial strip development are the aspects that are descriptively discussed as the main differences between the two types of sprawl. The main point of the discussion is that due to the wide range of similarities, which are briefly introduced, the type of the fast outward urban growth that is observed in the periphery of the Iranian cities can be defined as a part of the universal urban sprawl trend. Finally a definition is suggested for explaining urban sprawl in Iran.

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more about urban planning in Iran:

Interconnections of Urban Green Spaces and Environmental Quality of Tehran

Art in the Tehran Metro

Tehran and the challenges of a metropolis in the millennium

Urban Ecological landscape of Tehran

Earthquake Management in Iran A compilation of literature on earthquake Management

An Analysis to Challenges of Urban Management in Historic Center of Cities in Iran

COMPARATIVE SUSTAINABILITY OF BAZAAR IN IRANIAN TRADITIONAL CITIES: CASE STUDIES IN ISFAHAN AND TABRIZ

Transforming the Land Public Transport System in Malaysia

by Azmi Bin ABDUL AZIZ and Nor Fanim MOHD AMIN

The public perception of the existing public transport system in Malaysia has been declining over the years. The challenges in transforming the public transport system into the mode of choice are not limited to increasing infrastructure and capacity. A more integrated and comprehensive approach is required as it is also about improving the regulatory framework, planning structure and level of services delivered. The transformation of the public transport landscape in Malaysia is consistent with principles underlined in the National Physical Plan 2 and guided by the transformation thrusts which form the basis for national policy measures.

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Monorail in Kuala Lumpur

more about Malaysia:

A “STEP” TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT: A CASE STUDY OF PENANG, MALAYSIA

Applications of Geographic Information Systems in Urban Land Use Planning in Malaysia

Skyline photos of Kuala Lumpur 1

A STUDY ON URBAN PLANNING /URBAN TRANSPORTATION ISSUES IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES AND JAPAN’S TECHNICAL CORPORATIONINS

A “STEP” TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT: A CASE STUDY OF PENANG, MALAYSIA

by Ganesh Rasagam

Ownership of cars and motorcycles in the state of Penang, Malaysia, is increasing at average rates of 9.5 per cent and 7.2 per cent a year, respectively. The total number of private vehicles registered in the state doubled between 1985 and 1995.
This has resulted in urban traffic congestion, with increased delays and travel times, higher rates of injury and death from traffic accidents, as well as environmental degradation.
While the rapid increase in vehicular traffic is usually attributed to economic growth and urbanization, in this case it is because current transportation policy and investment in transportation projects are disproportionately skewed towards meeting unabated demand for road space. The needs and concerns of pedestrians, cyclists and bus users are seldom, if at all, taken into consideration in national and state transportation policies and plans.
The transportation requirements of mobility-impaired and vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities and the elderly, as well as vulnerable groups such as children and the poor, are almost always neglected when transportation planning is undertaken and investments are made.
Sustainable Transport Environment in Penang (STEP) was established in 1998 by a group of concerned citizens and voluntary groups in Penang, with the primary aim of addressing the concerns and advocating the interests of pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users and mobility-impaired groups.

This paper provides a brief discussion of the transportation issues in Penang and highlights concerns such as the environmental impact of road traffic, with emphasis on vehicular traffic-generated noise and air pollution.
The paper then proceeds to describe the formation and the various initiatives of STEP, following its participation in the Sustainable Penang Initiative (SPI). Successful lobbying initiatives, such as improvements to a major bus terminal in Georgetown, Penang, and the efforts of the group known as Sustainability, Independence, Livelihood, Access (SILA) are also mentioned.
The paper also discusses the advocacy experience of STEP and the issues for the future.

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more about urban Malaysia:

Applications of Geographic Information Systems in Urban Land Use Planning in Malaysia

 Skyline photos of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2)

Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Urban Planning & Design in Limkokwing University, Malaysia

Urbanism, Space and Human Psychology: Value Change and Urbanization in Malaysia

A STUDY ON URBAN PLANNING /URBAN TRANSPORTATION ISSUES IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES AND JAPAN’S TECHNICAL CORPORATIONINS

Photos of pedestrian urban spaces in Barcelona (2)

more street photos:

Photos of pedestrian streets in Tokyo, Japan

Pedestrian streets in inner Copenhagen city, Denmark

Photos of public spaces and pedestrian streets in Oslo, Norway

The streets of central city of Aachen, Germany

Potos of pedestrian spaces in downtown Madrid, Spain (1)