Transforming Transportation 2010: embark on practicality

MindsinMotion.net usually focuses on European developments and events, but sometimes it is a good idea to compare our ways to those of the rest of the world, including to transport solutions in developing countries. Climate knows of no borders and one of its major influences, transportation, is therefore clearly also an international theme.

If anything, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) of 7-18 December 2009 made clear that the third, second and first world are not always on the same page. But cooperation is necessary and one of the organisations striving to break down borders is EMBARQ, based in Washington DC, USA.

Dynamic
At the seventh annual Transforming Transportation event in Washington DC early next year, two questions will be central. Which transportation transformations work for major cities on other continents? And what must come after the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) of 7-18 December 2009?

A partnership between EMBARQ and various international organisations (see above) are organising the two-day conference. Day one will see two sessions: one about communications and public involvement in public transport, with Asian, African and Latin-American cases, and the other about the relations between transport, health and safety. Day two focuses on the steps to be taken after COP15.

The form of panel presentations and discussions ensures a dynamic event. In the highlight below we present you with the main organiser and with one case to raise your appetite.

Highlight: EMBARQ

Their full name, World Resources Institute (WRI) Center for Sustainable Transport, doesn't sound half as cooperative and ready for action as their short name, EMBARQ.

The global network employs over sixty experts, from geographers, air quality managers and civil and transport engineers to architects, sociologists and journalists.

Together with local transport authorities, in combined public-private-civil partnerships, EMBARQ tries to improve urban life quality in developing countries. They identify, test, evaluate and implement reasonable and effective solutions to local transport problems within a three to five year time horizon. Projects must be environmentally and financially sustainable.

With two-year intervals, EMBARQ embarks upon partnerships with three major cities every five years. Since 2002, the network has grown to include five Centers for Sustainable Transport, located in Mexico, Brazil, India, Turkey and Peru.

Speedy in every way
An impressive project example will leave you convinced of the practicality of EMBARQ. Although it didn't take place in a developing country, its simplicity and its speedy implementation make it worth highlighting the project here.

77 days was all it took the Istanbul city government to complete an entire intercontinental 'bus rapid transit' (BRT) corridor over the Bosporus bridge in March 2009. The eleven kilometre bus corridor connects the Asian part of Istanbul with its European counterpart. It is an extension of a successful 'metrobus' corridor that was completed in 2007.

Istanbul has an estimated twelve million inhabitants and the Bosporus crossing used to be the bottleneck for traffic between Europe and Asia. With 64 million vehicles crossing it in 2005, it took cars about three hours to cross the bridge.

The BRT solution that EMBARQ proposed to the city in 2004 proved well chosen. The two projects combined practically solved the bottleneck: intercontinental commuters can now cross the Bosporus in a mere 30 minutes. And once on the other side, they find good metro and bus connections to continue their journeys.