Here are some of the reasons he recently put forward in favour of the controversial project:
1. You would stop using your bike. Hmm, riding a bike keeps people in shape. In Edinburgh bus corridors double up as bike lanes. And here's what the rush hour looks like in Copenhagen where 45% travel by bike to school or work.
2. You would stop travelling by bus. Ok, so the tram will be a door-to-destination service. Interesting. To say the least.
3. Won't need to wake up early to wait for a bus God only knows when it's arriving. And not being sure you'll have a seat. How will we get to a tram station if we don't live near one? Schedules can be improved, posted at bus stops and bus routes reassigned accordingly. We can also reserve 20% of the front seats of buses for people over 60. Buses can be very comfortable too.
4. You will know when you arrive at your destination. Again these can be fixed by penalising buses that are late for no good reason. Significantly curbing the unchecked growth of private cars won't hurt either.
5. You won't be stuck in traffic anymore. There's traffic everywhere now and at hours we never had it before. A proof that our transportation policy is too primitive. Blame it to a great extent on a car pool that's growing in an uncontrolled fashion.
1. You would stop using your bike. Hmm, riding a bike keeps people in shape. In Edinburgh bus corridors double up as bike lanes. And here's what the rush hour looks like in Copenhagen where 45% travel by bike to school or work.
2. You would stop travelling by bus. Ok, so the tram will be a door-to-destination service. Interesting. To say the least.
3. Won't need to wake up early to wait for a bus God only knows when it's arriving. And not being sure you'll have a seat. How will we get to a tram station if we don't live near one? Schedules can be improved, posted at bus stops and bus routes reassigned accordingly. We can also reserve 20% of the front seats of buses for people over 60. Buses can be very comfortable too.
4. You will know when you arrive at your destination. Again these can be fixed by penalising buses that are late for no good reason. Significantly curbing the unchecked growth of private cars won't hurt either.
5. You won't be stuck in traffic anymore. There's traffic everywhere now and at hours we never had it before. A proof that our transportation policy is too primitive. Blame it to a great extent on a car pool that's growing in an uncontrolled fashion.
With the NTC-level of maintenance that prevails everywhere in Mauritius, should we train the future tram drivers this too?
ReplyDeleteAn alternative to the tram: what if we could swim to work...? Or implement the system of lending out electric bikes?
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I like the comment of the guy in the second article who says traffic was killing him.
ReplyDeleteJust saying: if these types of near misses happen routinely elsewhere, why should we be spared from them? Unless we plan for safety first by elevating the whole thing above ground level, like in Malaysia and Japan, or bury it underground like Singap... But I'm dreaming.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's not any different from crossing the road when you should not. Not sure we want to use elevated structures without first taking an audit of the views of Mauritius we want to keep. Besides a BRT is all that we need for the next little while.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. And those who were elected to plan ahead should resign when they fail from utter incompetence, like in Taiwan recently.
ReplyDeleteIf we have to boost our "paradise island" motto, would a cable train do the job?
ReplyDeleteOf course not adapted for mass transit, but as feeders to the main bus lines, why not?