Kunming is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwestern China. In many ways it is typical of other similarly sized cities in China. Car ownership has increased by more than 100% between 2005-2009. But still only 17% of residents own cars. According to the Kunming Urban Transportation Institute 30% of residents still…
This week, the new Streetfilms series ‘Moving Beyond the Automobile’, covers Bus Rapid Transit and features ITDP Board President, Enrique Penalosa, and ITDP Executive Director, Walter Hook. Moving Beyond the Automobile is a ten part video series which explores solutions to the problem of automobile dependency. It’s a visual handbook that will help guide policy makers, advocacy…
ISTANBUL – Metrobus, a public transit system in Istanbul, received the honorable mention award at the “Sustainable Transportation Awards 2009.” The award, given each year to a city that has provided an innovative transportation strategy, is given by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, or ITDP. The working project should lessen the impact of…
Over 350 people celebrated the opening of Our Cities Ourselves – or Nuestras Ciudades, Nuestro Futuro as it is known in Mexico – earlier this month in Mexico City at the Museo Franz Mayer. The show has been enthusiastically received, with over 80 articles, television spots and radio broadcasts to date, including strong coverage in…
A manual for calculating greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits for GEF transportation projects was presented by the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) at the 39th GEF Council in November 2010 (GEF/C.39/Inf.16) and has now been posted on the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) website. This is a work prepared…
From public bike systems to BRT to integrated mass transit solutions – all of the 2011 Sustainable Transport Award-nominated cities are exemplars in implementing integrated transport solutions. Over the next week, we will cover profiles of the nominated cities – Guangzhou, León, Lima, Nantes, Tehran – culminating in the presentation of the Sustainable Transport Award…
By Amalia Holub, ITDP Argentina The city of Buenos Aires launched the first public bicycle system in Argentina on December 1, 2010. The pilot program will roll out in two phases; three stations and 100 bikes, followed by an increase of 500 bikes and 12 stations within the next three months. Once registered, users can…
By Andrés Jara-Moreno, Country Director, Colombia TransMilenio, Bogota’s world-class BRT system, celebrated ten years of successful operations on October 28th. ITDP President and former Mayor of Bogota, Enrique Penalosa, described TransMilenio as “the best bus system in the word’ in his key-note address at the anniversary celebrations. Penalosa commissioned its creation during his tenure as…
By Jonas Hagen The 22nd of September, International Car free Day, came and went, but as in 2009, this year left lasting legacy in the city of Rio de Janeiro. In addition to prohibiting parking in the city center for one day, the municipal government permanently established nine slow speed zones throughout the city, creating…