Curitiba of a lively, pedestrian-exclusive avenue.
Figure 6. A pedestrian-only street in Curitiba (Curitiba Municipal website, 2006).
Curitiba’s Master Plan also sought to provide public transport access for citizens across the entire city. To achieve this goal, the primary arteries were eventually modified to make public transport the predominant transport mode; each artery contains exclusive express bus lanes. This bus lane is flanked by lanes for cars and a high-capacity one-way lane for any vehicles. The bus stops have safe, tubular shelters for those waiting to embark, as shown in Figure 7. These roadway divisions brought the city’s residents and visitors an efficient bus service with reduced delays and increased density along the bus routes (Birk, 1993).
Figure 7. A bus bay in Curitiba (Wikipedia, 2006).
The development of intermodal transportation in Amsterdam has a distinct history from those of
Washington, DC and Curitiba, and it presents an alternate approach to moving people and goods.
Amsterdam, the capital of The Netherlands, is the country’s financial and cultural centre. As of 2005, the population of the metropolitan Amsterdam area is approximately one and a half million; this is roughly 200,000 less than Curitiba’s present population and three times less than the current Washington metropolitan region’s population (City population website, 2006). The city has one of Europe’s largest historic centers, dating largely from the 17th century, when the distinctive, concentric canals were built. Amsterdam and its concentric circular patterns at the core are shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Amsterdam and highlighted highways and main arterials (Google Earth, 2006).
The public transportation network in Amsterdam consists of national and international train connections, more than 30 bus lines, 5 ferry lines, 4 metro lines, and 17 tram lines (GVB website, 2006). The network also includes several ferries for pedestrians and cyclists. Despite an extensive and effective public transportation system, Amsterdam has not been untouched by environmental justice concerns. During construction of the main metro line, plans to demolish a Jewish neighborhood near the Nieuwmarkt led to strong protests. Although the metro was built, the plans to construct a highway through Nieuwmarkt were discarded (Hamm, 2004).
In terms of land use strategies, multiple European cities, such as Amsterdam, have sustainability planning initiatives with “conscious policies aimed at strengthening a tight urban core”; these European governments are also willing to invest heavily in innovative multimodal public transportation (Beatley, 2004). Part of the investment in public transportation abroad arrives from transportation matrix theory; this dictates that an increase in a rail service network brings increases in both the destination options and rail traveler revenues, which then lead to profits. For example, bicycle rentals in Amsterdam have marginal daily costs and provide an inexpensive and comfortable way to access most parts of the city; anyone with a monthly rail pass also may purchase a deeply discounted monthly bicycle rental ticket (Replogle, 1992). For these reasons and more, bicycle transport is one of the most abundant and popular transportation modes in Amsterdam, as shown in Figure 9 (author’s collection).
Figure 9. Bicycles in Amsterdam (Author’s own).
In addition, as stated by Replogle, “such combined marketing of transit with the bicycle as a unified system is characteristic of Dutch transport policies, which also features a nationally integrated public transportation fare system for trains, buses, and trolleys to make the use of nonautomobile modes as attractive and as easy to use as possible” (1992).
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