A bus rapid transit system can carry as many passengers as a subway system, as the city of Curitiba in Brazil has shown.
I like this quote in the above video clip: “The problem is not the people who use the buses but the people who use the cars.”
Surely our urban planners can learn something from Curitiba.
More links from soohuey for anyone who would like to know more.
This video explains how things are done in Curitiba a little better
Some of our leaders might find it useful to read Step #2 – Action from ‘How to Make Cities for People? : 7 Steps for success’. Haha!
Also while you’re there, check out statements here.
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Penang is not ready for subways, never will due its geographical & terrain level, except for higher grounds not easily flood for the next 30-50years. Flood mitigation plan is also not seen proper. Every year sea water rises from glaciers meltdown at North Pole, Penang Island experience this. How many inch seawater rise every year due to global warming? One day, Penang needs to go to Holland to study sea level and land, flood management. More areas in Penang are prone to flash flood when its rains very heavily more than 3hours with high sea tide, a good recipe for… Read more »
Very nice video. The smart traffic lights and concern of riding bicycles in an ever-increasing city reminded me of my time in Melbourne, which placed nearly as much, emphasis on Curitiba’s traffic woes.
A far cry from the state of the Klang Valley today, which has more cars than bicycles. It would be an incredible challenge for our country to adopt such an approach to easing traffic, given how our roads have been designed for cars and development, rather than people.
Sorry Anil,
Typo error. It should be Curtiba having 17 billion USD GDP. Penang has less than 1 billion USD GDP
Anil,
One just got to check the GDP of Curtiba. 17 Billion USD.
Anil,
How much is Penang GDP? 17 Billion GDP. That’s in US dollars. Definitely have budget more than Penang measly 457 million. That’s in Malaysia dollars. Merely above 100plus millions USD.
Curtiba is a metropolitan city. Penang still got rural section across the straits. See the big difference.
Again, it’s ECONOMY, STUPID! Unless Penang got Temasik Holding, EPF & 100 billion USD. ahem..ahem……
Better secure federal government first. Then talk…..
Money, money, money. It’s so funny. It’s a rich man’s world
An interesting and eye-opening video. I like particularly his concept of city acupuncture. A city is actually organic and as such its health would depend on efficient flow of energies. No one really know FOR SURE what acupuncture points are for but some researches are now coming out where acupuncture points are actually points that helped gave a boost to the flow and at the same time distribute the energy to all the organs in the vicinity of the centre. When acupuncture points are stucked and the level of energy is low then organs in the vicinity will start to… Read more »
Most modern cities have extensive and efficient public transport, and you don’t really need to own a car to get around.
The other thing LGE should remember, is that most tourists are quite entirely dependent on public transport. You pride yourself on heritage and hope to capitalise on that, but your lack of people-friendly streets and the ability to move around easily hamper your efforts at selling yourself as a place people should come to visit.
It would be a many-pronged approach. First thing needed is political will and the ability to be open to creative new thinking.
a very good article anil——keep it up.
only problem i see is the federal gov is bn, get more malaysians to vote for PKR then you will see the difference.
bn only wants to waste money like the latest F1 idea?????
—- hey its the rayak’s money when you think of it.
Bogota in Colombia is a metropolitan with 7 million people can move around 1.3 million passengers in each day with the low cost BRT a.k.a. Bus Rapid Transit. And the cost is just 1/10 of expensive MRT system.
Video link, http://www.nkkhoo.com/2008/12/29/low-cost-alternative-to-lrtmrt-in-cities/
Thanks for highlighting my links again, Anil.
Public transport is not a question like chicken and egg, which must come first. We love our car. But if you are given the opportunity to use an effective and effecient public transport. I strongly believe that you will opt for it. As you will find out that it is hard to make a living. If there is opportunity for you to save, you would like to ‘cos you can’t even effort the basic of living. To tell you about basic right to luxury is like a wildest dream that will never come true. When curitiba start the idea of… Read more »