Op-Ed - This car-free neighborhood was designed to revolutionize American cities

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Op-Ed - Uber and the road construction lobby just killed Illinois’ transit funding bill, and your lawmakers let them

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Op-Ed - The Only Congestion Pricing Explainer You Need (Except Ours)

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Op-Ed - A third of Americans don’t drive. So why is our transportation so car-centric?

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Op-Ed - Opinion: Cars Have F@#%ed Up This Country So Bad

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Op-Ed - How Copenhagen Measures the Costs of Driving — And Crafts Policy to Reduce Them

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Journal Article - Carsharing in Europe: a critical review of policy, research, innovation, and practice

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Car License Plate in Beijing = A Golden Ticket

Beijing is one of only a handful of Chinese cities that limits car license plates by official decree. The competition for a license plate in Beijing is ferocious. In the June lottery, only about one in 725 out of the 2.7 million applicants was granted a license plate, according to official data, making the system one of the most selective in the country.

As China has urbanized and the Chinese have become more affluent, owning a car has become a way of life for many middle-class citizens. Even in Beijing, a city plagued by notorious traffic gridlock, the desire for cars remains strong.

Troubled by crowded public transportation systems, the middle class has come to associate cars with the freedom to travel. The city, with a population of about 21 million, now has 5.6 million cars, more than double what it had 10 years ago.

The glut of cars is believed to cause 31 percent of the air pollution in Beijing, according to the city’s environmental watchdog. Not only are cars clogging the city’s streets, they also encroach on public spaces like sidewalks and bike lanes because of a lack of parking.

Faced with the problems brought on by the growing number of cars, city officials decided to take action. This month, Beijing’s transportation authorities said they would keep the number of cars under 6.3 million by the end of 2020 by further tightening the annual quota for license plates. The quota this year is set at 90,000, down from 120,000 a year earlier. City officials are also considering traffic congestion fees based on driving radius and number of trips.

China is the world’s largest car market. In big cities, along with a house, a car is widely seen as a must-have before marriage. So as Mr. Li’s wedding date drew near, his patience ran out: After buying the Volkswagen in April, he drove more than 620 miles to his fiancée’s home province, Jilin in northeast China, to register his car.

Read the full article @ the New York Times

Car Ride Sharing Legalized in China

China is already the largest market for ridesharing services, with Uber fighting to gain market share against leader Didi Chuxing. But until now the practice has been quasi-legal at best. That changed on Thursday when the Chinese government ruled that the industry is legal and set guidelines for things like fares and driver employment. Most notably, the government told local authorities to “encourage, support and guide” the industry, according the Associated Press.

“DiDi welcomes the government’s endorsement and encouragement of the industry and China’s emerging sharing economy,” the company said in a statement. “We believe the Rules will usher in a new stage of growth for China’s online ride-booking ecosystem and that DiDi is prepared to meet these new requirements.”

The joint ruling from China’s transportation ministry and other departments still designates most regulation of ridesharing services to local governments. But at the least, companies like Uber hope that their offices won’t be raided by police again, like they were in several cities last year.

Read the full article @ Forbes

US Researchers Estimate 10-13% Reduction in PM2.5 Concentrations During Odd/Even Program in Delhi

@ Indian Express

Despite Hostile Weather, Odd/Even Program Cut Pollution in Delhi

CSE Press Release - Delhi has lost the air quality gains of odd and even scheme. Delayed winter will make pollution worse if quicker steps are not taken to sustain the gains and delayed winter will make pollution worse if quicker steps are not taken to sustain the gains.

Today’s Supreme Court ruling on public transport and all other key pollution sources can help gather momentum and meet clean air targets 

1. New analysis by CSE shows air pollution is back with a vengeance. The first three working days after the completion of odd and even scheme have seen rapid worsening of air quality – more than 57 per cent jump in PM2.5 levels on the first working day, and have stayed elevated at severe levels
2. Without the moderating influence of emergency action, pollution levels are building up more rapidly. The odd and even scheme has proved that the city needs curbs on high traffic volume to pull down peaking of pollution, reduce congestion that further increase emissions, and cut direct exposure to toxic vehicular fumes. Delhi government should expedite action for more systemic solutions 
3. A series of directives from the Supreme Court today set the terms for pollution control in the entire National Capital Region of Delhi – advancement of Euro VI emissions standards, augmentation of public transport, notice on closure of Badarpur power plant and stronger action on waste burning, construction dust and road dust

Read the full article @ CSE Press Release section

News coverage @ Times of India

Infographic - Restricting Vehicle Movement for Better Air Quality in Delhi

Car Restrictions in Mexico City and Bogota

Several cities around the world, including Mexico City, Bogota, Sao Paulo and Santiago, have implemented licence-plate restrictions in various forms. Mexico City’s story resembles Delhi, where car restriction was started to counter the extremely high pollution levels in winter. The idea originated when air pollution levels were seen to drop significantly on car-free days, similar to Delhi’s Raahgiri initiative, where small sections of roads are car-free on Sundays. Vehicle restrictions in Mexico City began in 1987 as a voluntary initiative led by an environmental group. By 1989, the metropolitan area of Mexico City was faced with such high levels of atmospheric ozone that the government implemented a programme that banned the circulation of 20 per cent of all private vehicles on each weekday between 5 am and 10 pm. The ban was based on the last digit of the vehicle’s licence plate. Early results were good, with reduced fuel consumption, faster road speeds, etc. However, these gains were shortlived, as by 1995, about 22 per cent people had bought second cars. These second cars became notorious as “chocolate cars” for the colour of their exhaust, as they were cheaper, older, poorly maintained vehicles, bought with the purpose of circumventing the car restriction by those who could afford it.

Interview with Dr. Lucas Davis, Associate Professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley, on Reuters

Vehicle restrictions were first introduced in Bogota in 1998. Here, 40 per cent of private vehicles were prevented from operating in the city each day between 7 and 9 am and between 5.30 and 7.30 pm. Vehicles having any of four digits as the last digit of their number plate are restricted each day. Over the years, the programme has helped significantly reduce peak-hour congestion in Bogota. While congestion has reportedly worsened in the hours before and after the restriction period, peak-hour travel times have reduced by 40-50 per cent and car users have managed to change their schedules, organise car pools or use taxis. The reason Bogota succeeded where Mexico City struggled was that the initiative in Bogota was accompanied with implementation of the bus rapid transit (BRT) and cycling infrastructure. This ensured that public transport was boosted to deal with the added influx of people and did not choke with the additional pressure.

Read more @ Indian Express - Delhi's Pollution Diet

Car Sharing Increasing in Chinese Cities

Car-sharing has been one of the most attention-grabbing trends in urban transport in recent years, as commercial car-sharing clubs like Autolib' in Paris have taken off. But the habit has yet to catch on in Chinese cities.

Yet that may be set to change, as efforts to control toxic air quality have spawned increasingly-restrictive number plate lotteries, no-driving days, and higher parking fees to tackle gridlock and pollution. The steady increase in such measures could make car-sharing more appealing and commonplace in China.

Greater use of car-sharing could also help to popularise electric vehicles (known as EVs) if car-sharing companies choose them for their vehicle fleets, as has happened in Paris. So far, battery-operated cars have struggled to attract significant numbers of buyers in China, the world’s biggest car market, partly because of lack of charging stations and preferences for cheaper, petrol-fuelled models.

Hangzhou, south of Shanghai, is arguably China's most progressive city in terms of experimenting with car-sharing; it has five competing companies where the cost of car-sharing is US$3.25 per hour, more than a taxi, but giving greater comfort and mobility, as well as cutting down on the waiting time to hail a cab at busy times of day. Hangzhou's city government wants to see 100,000 car-sharing vehicles on its roads by 2018.

Read more @ China Dialogue