ITDP: GEORGE TOWN COULD BECOME A MALAYSIAN BEST PRACTICE IN TRANSPORT (with 42 ITDP policy recommendations, notes and commentary)

_SOURCE: https://www.itdp.org/2019/03/04/george-town-cycling-walking-transport/

George Town, a scenic Malaysian city on the island of Penang, is a culturally-significant and popular tourist destination. The city is a dense, beautiful collection of colonial-era and other historic, well-preserved architecture. Listed as a UNESCO World Culture Heritage site, George Town has long been an important center of trade in Penang, founded as an entry port by the British in the 1700s, and attracting traders and workers from all over the region. Today, George Town is a diverse mix of cultures, with influences of China, India, Indonesia, Burmese, the Arabic world, and many others, including the native Malays.

Editorial note: We have discussed this article in group peer commentaries reviews in recent months, and have been urged to highlight a certain number of key points and recommendations advised by the ITDP team which in our view provide an excellent starting point for the revised mobility strategy for Penang in the years immediately ahead, starting in 2020.  The original ITDP article of  4 March 2019 with illustrations, can be found at   https://www.itdp.org/2019/03/04/george-town-cycling-walking-transport/  Your comments are particularly invited on any one or all of these 42 critical points and recommendations.                 

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Penang: A Walk along the Street of Harmony

Penang Street of Harmony Project celebrates mutual tolerance illustrated by this amazingly cosmopolitan microcosm.

 – Anwar Fazal takes us for a walk down the Street of Harmony in Penang.

The island of Penang, Malaysia, has long been a magnet for a multitude of people from all over the world and has over the last two centuries succeeded in integrating countless cultures and religions into its very fabric.

Penang  is very special.  It was a place that opened up for all the communities of the world. That particular special flavor, sometimes in many places in the world, is all too often lost over history. But in Penang, uniquely, it continued.

There is much Penang can teach the world today about acceptance and harmony in diversity.

* * * Walk down the streets of Penang with Anwar Fazal. |  View: https://vimeo.com/219493364

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Small is beautiful. May we present Micro-mobility?

micromobility one scooter street

In brief:

Micro-mobility is a category of modes of transport that are provided by very light vehicles such as electric scooterselectric skateboardsshared bicycles and electric pedal assisted, pedelec, bicycles.  The primary condition for inclusion in the category is a gross vehicle weight of less than 500 kg. Additional conditions are the provision of a motor, primary utility use, and availability as a shared service. (Thanks WP.)  Note: Additional graphics below purloined from the net. Creative Commons –

Micro-mobility’s 15,000-mile checkup

Article By Kersten Heineke, Benedikt Kloss, Darius Scurtu, and Florian Weig   January 2019 |  Source and full text, graphics and links:  https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/micromobilitys-15000-mile-checkup

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QUESTION TIME : RM46 billion PTMP is a risky undertaking that must be reviewed

SRS Consortium and State government meeting in Komtar to finalise PTMP.

– P Gunasegaram, Malaysians Kini, 1 Nov. 2019

The RM46 billion Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP), expected to span 30 years, is a major risk, whichever way one looks at it because there are way too many imponderables and assumptions made – which may impact the viability of the project further down the road.

The entire project hinges heavily on the reclamation of three islands. The Penang state government says that the land reclaimed – islands A, B, and C – will have a sale value of RM70 billion for 1,800 hectares (about 4,448 acres). However, cost breakdowns and timelines are not available.

The other thing is the high cost of the projects, with activist groups claiming that many of the highways and other links involved in the project may not be needed. If these are scrapped, the cost could be much lower.

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2020 CLIMATE/MOBILITY ACTION PLAN & PARTNER SEARCH Invitation to pitch in and join the Five Percent 2020 Challenge in your city

Reykjavik Iceland Blog cover bike street peds

THE  FIVE PERCENT 2020 CLIMATE CHALLENGE

          The World Climate Emergency   // //  The New Mobility Action Plan 

You never change things by fighting against the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.   —  Buckminster Fuller

 Communication to individuals and groups contacting us to express interest in knowing more about the Five Percent Challenge program, cities and projects in 2020

Thank you for your expression of interest in our shared concerns about our cities and our planet.  We are honored and look forward to being able to follow progress in your related work and projects as well.

Looking ahead — and just so it is clear — as a result of a vigorous recentering of my priority concerns for 2020 and beyond, I have shifted the totality of my work and engagement to the World Climate Emergency — and the following six key words and references: Climate.Cities.Space.Time.Action.NewMobility.org.

2020 PARTNER SEARCH: 

The 2020 project is aiming to network and bring together . . .

  • Cities that are ready to step up the 2020 Five Percent Climate Challenge
  • Research/Consulting groups or teams with deep expertise in these issues
  • Sponsors of specific city projects, supporting events, overall research and support

OPEN CITY PROJECTS GETTING UNDERWAY – (Facebook intro + Global/Local context)


FOR MORE AS IT OCCURS. . . 

CONTACT: Climate@NewMobility.org, Tl. W/app +336 5088 00787,Skype — newmobility.
                       E. fekbritton@gmail.com     eric.britton@NewMobility.org  
                              * * *  For now please copy to both emails please   * * *

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? –  Attributed to Albert Einstein

# # #

About the convenor:

Eric Britton
13, rue Pasteur. Courbevoie 92400 France

Bio: Founding editor of World Streets (1988), Eric Britton is an American political scientist, teacher, occasional consultant, and sustainability activist who has observed, learned, taught and worked on missions and advisory assignments on all continents. In the autumn of 2019, he committed his remaining life work to the challenges of aggressively countering climate change and specifically greenhouse gas emissions emanating from the mobility sector. He is not worried about running out of work. Further background and updates: @ericbritton | http://bit.ly/2Ti8LsX | #fekbritton | https://twitter.com/ericbritton | and | https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericbritton/ Contact: climate@newmobility.org) | +336 508 80787 (Also WhatApp) | Skype: newmobility.)

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THE FIVE PERCENT CHALLENGE: WORLD CLIMATE/MOBILITY CHALLENGE PARTNERS FOR 2020

magnifying glass climate.PNGDRAFT FOR COMMENT AND EDITING
— to be contacted and integrated into program from the beginning as full partners designing and monitoring the 2020 Five Percent Challenge.
Please share your contact information, addresses, names to that we can bring them into the project from the beginning.

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Expert Op-Ed: Role of public transport in relieving traffic congestion in Penang

Penang CAT bus
EXPERTS believe that improving public transportation is one of the most important ways of easing traffic flow on highways during festive seasons.
 
Traffic engineering specialist Dr Law Teik Hua said instead of widening roads and highways, the authorities should focus on upgrading the public transportation system.
 
“It is not necessary to widen roads to ease traffic. It will be costly and time-consuming to do this.
 
“We cannot say that widening roads will solve the congestion problem. That is not right.
 
“We must have a clear policy whether we want to promote private or public vehicles.
 
“Perhaps it is okay to have roads widened to ease traffic flow in the future, but what about the off period (non-festive season)?
 
“It is wasteful. Why don’t we use our resources to invest in upgrading public transportation?
_ _ _ _
Author: Dr. Teik Hua Law.
Universiti Putra Malaysia | UPM ·
Department of Civil Engineering ·
PhD in Transportation (Imperial College)

INVESTIGATE MORE HIGH PROFILE CORRUPT POLITICIANS IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia corruption Najib PM police

The aggressive crackdown by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on graft in the public sector should be extended to corrupt high profile politicians. Investigation of politicians should be conducted in all aspects of anti-corruption legislation against those who live beyond their means and using anti-money laundering acts for money trail investigation. All this will deter others from being involved in corrupt practices.

As such, those who are involved in the corrupt practice should be brought to justice. On the political arena, the Malaysian Corruption Barometer (MCB) 2014 Survey indicated that political parties were the most corrupt bodies in Malaysia, followed by the Police and the Civil Servants. Politicians were perceived the most corrupt by replacing the police who were in the previous year’s top spot.

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ARE MALES COMPETENT TO MAKE DECISIONS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS WHEN IT COMES TO MOBILITY ISSUES IN THEIR DAY TO DAY LIVES? (And if not or dubious how to fix this?)

Penang _ meeeting of state government with SRS consotium 15 aug. 2015

I ask this group the following.

(1) Is it possible for men and male-dominated decision fora and processes in general to plan and implement efficient and fair mobility policy and practice for women and girls?

(2) Are the planning and decision fora in Penang largely dominated at present by males?

(3) In your view should women and women’s group organize to support a state-wide movement to full gender parity in the transport sector? Starting on Monday morning?

(Please share your thought, including on the COMMENT link here.)

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Op-Ed: PIL 1, THE STRAW TO BREAK PENANG’S BACK?

Penang CM selling PIL1

By Eric Cheah  August 7, 2019,  www.freemalaysiatoday.com 

When Yeo Bee Yin, the minister in charge of the environment, praised the Penang government for making the state the first to eliminate plastic straws during a town hall meeting on the Pan Island Link 1 (PIL 1) on Sept 20, 2018, civil society cringed.

Why ban plastic straws when they are pushing for a monstrous six-lane highway which is three storeys tall and 72ft wide and which will plough through the spine of the island?

It will plough through all three fault line zones of the island located in the sensitive Penang Hill and Paya Terubong hills, according to the environmental impact assessment (EIA).

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