Urban Transport Strategy. Management in Developing Countries John A Cracknell, страница 101

Lessons on street parking - In Bank projects there have been few parking components and parking control and management has received little attention.  However, parking pressures will increase as vehicle ownership and use grows and at a minimum, an on-street parking policy is an essential element in a wellmanaged traffic system.  On street parking, at least in central and congested areas, should be charged since charged parking can assist in managing demand (see Chapter 9) and car drivers should pay the full costs of their journey (as parking is a part of any journey made by car and free parking would be a subsidy to car users).  Few developing cities appear to have, or are developing, well managed on street parking policies. The traffic police are not the appropriate agency to plan, operate and manage a parking policy and some form of “parking agency” (as part of, or responsible to, the traffic management agency – see Chapter 4) is required but responsibilities for fines or other sanctions on illegally parked vehicles often requires rationalisation and changes in traffic laws will often be necessary to ensure (i) clear responsibilities for planning, management (including enforcement of fines etc), (ii) realistic charges and (iii) realistic levels of fines or other sanctions against offenders.  Charged parking policies require little investment for implementation, should be self financing and may be contracted-out; many developing cities are not capitalising on the revenue potential.  There is virtually no investment role for the Bank but it is necessary that Bank traffic management projects encourage cities to include a parking management and control policy within their traffic strategy

Bus Priority

Rationale and Objectives  Urban buses are frequently unable to provide rapid and reliable services due the effects of endemic traffic congestion in peak periods (and sometimes all day) and at other times, due to random traffic events, such as illegal kerbside parking.  The objectives of bus priority measures are to:

§  protect buses from the effects of traffic congestion and thus reduce delays to buses and passengers

§  improve the reliability and thus attractiveness of  bus services;

§  increase and improve mobility for members of the community, particularly the poor, without access to private transport modes;

§  contribute to demand management by providing an efficient and quality alternative transport service.

Types of Intervention – Bus priority interventions are of three basic types:

§  Traffic regulation exemptions – buses may be exempted from prohibitions applied to general traffic (such as banned turns) to improve directness of bus journeys and to reduce bus and passenger journey distances;

§  Traffic signals applications – (i) buses may be selectively detected at traffic signals and thus be given preference over other vehicles to pass through signalled junctions; detection is commonly through the use of transponders on buses but higher technology systems are being used; (ii) traffic signals can be used to meter traffic into narrow road sections or city areas where other bus priority is not possible due to restricted road space, and buses are provided with bus lanes to by pass the relocated traffic queues (sometimes termed queue location management);

§  Preferential re-allocation of road space from general traffic to buses – (i) bus only lanes either operating full or part time and either with-flow or contra-flow, or (ii) busways, segregated from general traffic to the maximum extent practicable, and (iii) bus only (and pedestrian) streets.

Inclusion in Bank traffic management projects/components – bus priority has been included in a some recent Bank projects.  Measures have usually been bus lanes or busways; typical measures have been: