Common Urban Myths About Transport
Myth:
The objective of transport planning is providing more mobility
Fact:
Driving further, faster and more often is not an end in itself - particularly
if one's neighbourhood facilities are within walking distance. Transport
planning is very closely linked with the health of cities and regions and
cannot be carried out in isolation from these other factors.
The stated goal of traffic engineering is the maximisation of mobility.
More traffic and faster traffic is seen as an end in itself and an entire
engineering discipline has grown up to serve this end. The narrowness of
the traffic engineer's perspective is summed up admirably by activist
Roberta Gratz:
Transportation is only about mobility is probably the most
misleading myth of all. [In fact], everything connects to transportation
like spokes on a wheel. Community development. Downtown stability.
Farmland preservation. Business locations. Local economies. Clean air
and water. All environmental, planning, design, and preservation issues
lead to transportation.
---Cities Back from the Edge, p. 146
In fact, the enhancement of mobility for its own sake goes against most
people's best interests. What people want is not mobility per se, but
rather access: to workplaces, to recreation, to shops, to other
people. The logical result of continuously enhanced 'automobility' is
the Los-Angelisation of cities. This is the future in store for Melbourne
if transport planning continues to be seen as no more than traffic engineering.
The first question to ask is what is your objective. Is in fact our
objective in transport planning to enable everyone to drive at the speed
limit whenever they feel like it? That's actually not the underlying
objective of an urban transport system. An urban transport system is
supposed to get us from A to B in a reasonable amount of time at a
reasonable social and economic cost. It doesn't follow from that, that
one has to be travelling at high speed. If one lives in Los Angeles and
has to drive 20 kilometres to the nearest shop to buy a bottle of milk,
one will demand to be able to do that a very high speed. If one lives in
Vienna and can do the same thing by walking 100 metres one won't require
to walk at such a fast pace. So, getting from A to B is what it's about,
rather than driving at the speed limit.
---Paul Mees, Melbourne
University Up Close
Return to index
© 2007 Public Transport Users Association Inc. (PTUA), Victoria, Australia. ABN 83 801 487 611.
General copying and distribution on a non-commercial basis is permitted subject to proper acknowlegement.
Authorised by Tony Morton, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, for the PTUA
Last modified: 7 February 2007
|
