Petrol prices forcing parents to share school run

Nearly half of parents are thinking of sharing the school run in an attempt to cut down on the cost of running their cars, after petrol prices hit a fresh record.

By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor 2:48PM GMT 11 Jan 2011

The average price of a litre of unleaded petrol climbed higher on Tuesday from 127.80p to 127.88p, edging ever closer to the equivalent of £6 a gallon (132p a litre).

The price has climbed steadily since the New Year, when first fuel duty was increased, and then a few days later the increased level of VAT came into force.

Consumers have been cutting back on driving – as they did during the fuel price spike of 2008. According to a poll by Halfords, the retailer, 44 per cent of parents say they are talking to friends about sharing the school run.

The survey also suggested that 78 per cent plan to drive less, with daily short trips to local shops the biggest casualty of the attempt to save on transport costs.

Figures from HM Revenue and Customs suggest that fuel consumption falls when the price of petrol increases. During December 4.28 billion litres of fuel – either unleaded petrol or diesel – was released for consumption, a fall of 4.48 billion in November. - The Telegraph

A Daily Snapshot Of Carbon Usage In Figures

Graphic showing the consumption of CO2 per person per year in various regions around the world, ahead of an IPCC report on climate change. Graphic courtesy AFP.

by Anne Chaon  
Paris (AFP) Jan 23, 2007

Greenhouse-gas pollution, the driver for dangerous global warming, is all around us -- and almost as invisible are the huge disparities in individual emissions around the world and carbon cost of the things we buy. For instance, the average American, whose lifestyle is based on profligate burning of oil, gas and coal, causes nearly 10 times more carbon pollution than the average Kenyan. And a bottle of champagne costs 1.7 kilos (3.75 pounds) in carbon -- the pollution emitted by machinery to cultivate the vines, grow and treat the grapes, produce, fill and store the bottle and transport it to a shop where it is sold.
The world's biggest single polluter is the United States, which by itself accounts for about a quarter of global emissions of greenhouse gases, followed by China.
Here is a snapshot in figures of emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas, according to lifestyle, product and sector:
PER CAPITA CO2 (Source: International Energy Agency, IEA. Figures are in tonnes of CO2 per person per year)
- North America: United States 19.5 tonnes; Canada 17; Mexico 3.7
- Europe: Germany 10.2 tonnes; Britain 9.1; France 6.4
- Asia-Pacific: Australia 17.1 tonnes; New Zealand 8.3; China 3.2; India 1; Bangladesh 0.2
- Middle East-North Africa: Saudi Arabia 13.3 tonnes; Algeria 2.5
- Africa: South Africa 8.2 tonnes; Kenya 0.2
POLLUTION PER ACTIVITY (On the basis of a western Europe lifestyle, where one litre of petrol, or gasoline, causes 2.7 kilos (5.9 pounds) of CO2. Source: Jean-Marc Jancovici, French climate and energy consultant)
- One year of car driving (14,000 kilometers, 8,750 miles): 3.78 tonnes of CO2
- Return flight Paris-New York, second class: 1.6 tonnes of CO2
- One year's lighting for average-sized home: Depends on energy source, varying from four kilos (8.8 pounds) of CO2 for hydro to 400 kilos (880 pounds) for coal-fired plant.
- One year's heating oil for 100m2 (1,076-square-feet) dwelling: 4.86 tonnes of CO2.
- One kilo (2.2 pounds) of beef, cooked and ready to eat: 3.7 kilos (8.14 pounds) of CO2. Figure includes proportionate cost of making tractor and agriculture chemicals, does not include greenhouse-gas emissions from cows and fertilisers.
- One kilo (2.2 pounds) of locally-caught fish: 1.6 kilos (3.5 pounds) of CO2
- One kilo (2.2 pounds) of ocean-caught tuna: 3.2 kilos (7.04 pounds) of CO2
- One kilo (2.2 pounds) of prawns (shrimp): 8 kilos (17.6 pounds) of CO2
- One bottle of champagne: 1.7 kilos (3.75 pounds) of CO2
- US- or Asian-made flat screen for computer: 1.3 tonnes (2.9 pounds) of CO2
FOSSIL FUEL USE: EMISSIONS PER SECTOR (Source: IEA)
- Power production: 40 percent
- Transport: 21 percent
- Industry: 17 percent
- Buildings: 14 percent
- Other sectors: 8 percent.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Report calls for radical redesign of cities to cope with population growth

Alok Jha, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 December 2010 07.

Megacities on the Move report says authorities must start planning their transport infrastructure now for a future when two thirds of the world's population will live in cities
Moving away from car ownership, using real-time traffic information to help plan journeys and having more virtual meetings will be vital to prevent the megacities of the future from becoming dysfunctional and unpleasant places to live, according to a study by the environmental think tank Forum for the Future.
The report argues that authorities must begin to plan now in order to create easier and more sustainable ways of accessing goods and services in the world's ever-growing cities. Citizens must also be encouraged to change their behaviour to keep cities liveable.
By 2040, the world's urban population is expected to have grown from 3.5bn to 5.6bn. The new report calls for a radical re-engineering of cities' infrastructure to cope. "The future is going to look pretty urban ... with more and more people shifting to cities to the point that, by 2040, we're going to have two thirds of all the people in the world living in cities," said Ivana Gazibara, senior strategic adviser at Forum for the Future and an author of the report, Megacities on the Move.
"If we go on with business as usual, what happens is unmanageable levels of congestion because personal car ownership has proliferated," she said. "Cities could be a pretty nasty place to live for the two-thirds of the global population in the next 30 years if we don't act on things like climate change mitigation and adaptation, smarter use of resources and sorting out big systemic things like urban mobility."
The report looked at transport, but not just moving from A to B. "It's about accessibility and productivity and interaction," said Gazibara. "Those are things you can do through physical interaction but you don't have to.."
One issue is to integrate different modes of transport: citizens will want to walk, cycle, access public transport, drive personal vehicles or a mixture of all modes in one journey. "Information technology is going to be incredibly important in all of this, in terms of better integrating and connecting physical modes of transport," said Gazibara. "But we're also going to see lots more user-centred ICT [information and communication technology] so it makes it easier for us to access things virtually."
She said there are already cars that have integrated hardware allowing them to communicate with each other and central traffic hubs. By collecting and centralising information of this kind, city authorities could manage traffic information in real time and help speed up people's journeys. And better "telepresence" systems for virtual meetings could remove the need for some journeys altogether.
The trickiest part, though, could be getting citizens themselves to take part. "We have the technological solutions, whether it's alternative drive-trains for vehicles or sophisticated IT – the real challenge will be scaling it in a meaningful way," said Gazibara.
City planning will also be important, she said, creating self-contained neighbourhoods where everything is accessible by walking or cycling.
The report also highlights examples of good practice that are already in use. Vancouver, for example, has recognised that many of its inhabitants will use several modes of transport in one journey, so city planners have widened pedestrian crossings, built more cycle lanes and provided cycle racks on buses.
For the future, Gazibara pointed to innovative car-sharing schemes such as the CityCar concept, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with "stackable" electric cars lined up near transport hubs. These could be rented out for short journeys within city limits. They could also store power at night, when renewable sources might be generating electricity that would otherwise have to be dumped.
Friends of the Earth transport campaigner Richard Dyer agreed that action was needed now to make cities more sustainable. "Tackling climate change must be at the heart of building a greener, fairer future – and local people must have their say. New technologies will be part of the solution, but rising populations and the urgent need to cut carbon emissions mean that we also need policies that reduce the need to travel, cut car use and make walking and cycling the first choice for short journeys. Alongside green energy and better insulation for our homes, this will make our cities healthier, more pleasant and vibrant places to live – and will create new jobs too."
Gazibara said city authorities needed to start taking the issues more seriously. "[There are] far too many places where cities that are acknowledging climate change as a threat continue to build more roads, continue to provide incentives to more car ownership and more driving. That's something that will fundamentally need
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

Nations again try to bridge rich-poor climate gap

 

29 November, 2010.  Associated Press

 An aerostatics balloon of the environmental group Greenpeace is seen next to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010.  - AP

 (AP) -- World governments begin another attempt Monday to overcome the disconnect between rich and poor nations on fighting global warming, with evidence mounting that the Earth's climate already is changing in ways that will affect both sides of the wealth divide.
During two weeks of talks, the 193-nation U.N. conference hopes to conclude agreements that will clear the way to mobilize billions of dollars for developing countries and give them green technology to help them shift from fossil fuels affecting climate change.
After a disappointing summit last year in Copenhagen, no hope remains of reaching an overarching deal this year setting legal limits on how much major countries would be allowed to pollute. Such an accord was meant to describe a path toward slashing greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, when scientists say they should be half of today's levels.
Eighty-five countries have made specific pledges to reduce emissions or constrain their growth, but those promises amount to far less than required to keep temperatures from rising to potentially dangerous levels.
The recriminations that followed the Danish summit have raised questions over whether the unwieldy U.N. negotiations, which require at least tacit agreement from every nation, can ever work.
But Christiana Figueres, the top U.N. climate official, said world capitals are aware of both a growing environmental and political urgency. "Governments need to prove that the intergovernmental process can deliver," she said Sunday.
"They know that they can do it. They know that they need to compromise. I'm not saying it's a done deal. It's still going to be a heavy lift," she said.
About 15,000 negotiators, environmental activists, businessmen and journalists are convening at a resort complex under elaborate security precautions, including naval warships a few hundred yards (meters) offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
While delegates haggle over the wording, timing and dollar figures involved in any agreement, scientists and political activists at the conference will be offering the latest indications of the planet's warming. Some 250 presentations are planned on the sidelines of the negotiations.
Meteorologists are likely to report that 2010 will end up tied for the hottest year globally since records began 131 years ago.
The U.N. scientific body that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for its climate change report, which called global warming "unequivocal" and almost certainly caused by human activity, is expected to tell the conference its findings and warnings of potential disasters are hopelessly out of date.
Agronomists are due to report on shifting weather patterns that are destabilizing the world's food supply and access to clean water, and that could lead to mass migrations as farmers flee drought or flood-prone regions.
As often during the three-year process, attention will focus on the United States and China, key protagonists representing the industrialized and developing world.
U.S. negotiators may feel further constrained from showing flexibility toward the Chinese after the Republican swing in this month's congressional elections, which brought dozens of new legislators who doubt the seriousness of climate change.
The U.S. has insisted it will agree to binding pollution limits only if China also accepts legal limitations. China, now the world's biggest polluter but also the biggest investor in renewable energy, rejects international limits, saying it still needs to overcome widespread poverty and bears no historic responsibility for the problem.
But Figueres, the Costa Rican diplomat who became head of the U.N. climate secretariat in July, said the public argument may appear more bitter than it really is. At the most recent round of talks last October, "they were working very constructively with each other inside the negotiations," she said.
©2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Latinos, Asians more worried about environment than whites, poll finds

The survey examined attitudes on such issues as global warming, air pollution and tainted soil and water.

By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

November 20, 2010

California's Latino and Asian voters are significantly more concerned about core environmental issues, including global warming, air pollution and contamination of soil and water, than white voters, according to the latest Los Angeles Times/USC poll.

For example, 50% of Latinos and 46% of Asians who responded to the poll said they personally worry a great deal about global warming, compared with 27% of whites. Two-thirds of Latinos and 51% of Asians polled said they worry a great deal about air pollution, compared with 31% of whites.

FOR THE RECORD:
Times/USC poll: An article in the Nov. 20 LATExtra section about a Los Angeles Times/USC poll of Latino and Asian voters' views on environmental issues identified the Southern California director of the California League of Conservation Voters as David Smallwood. His name is David Allgood. —

Similarly, 85% of Latinos and 79% of Asians said they worry a great or a fair amount about contamination of soil and water by toxic waste, compared with 71% of whites.

The poll surveyed 1,689 adults by telephone. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

"Latinos and Asians are far more likely to be registered as Democrats than whites, and Democrats hold these views more closely," said Peyton Craighill, who supervised the poll.

Beyond that, their feelings reflect a fact of life in California: "Environmental hazards are a part of the everyday lives of Asian American and Latino voters who are disproportionately represented in locations with high levels of pollution and contaminants," said Jane Junn, a professor of political science at USC and research director of the poll.

"While these results may at first seem surprising, this survey by the L.A. Times and USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences allowed voters to answer questions in their native languages — Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean," she added. "And a large number of Asian American and Latino voters were interviewed in order to increase the reliability of the findings."

California has one of the nation's largest concentrations of minorities living near hazardous chemical wastes and air pollution produced by refineries, port operations, freeway traffic and railroads. An analysis of census data by researchers at four universities for the United Church of Christ showed that 1.2 million people in the greater Los Angeles area, 91% of them minorities, live less than two miles from facilities handling hazardous materials such as chrome-plating businesses and battery recycling centers.

Latinos make up 37% of the state's population, Asians are 12.5%, whites are 41.5% and African Americans are 5.8%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. African Americans were included in the survey, but the number of people questioned was too low to analyze reliably.

The survey's findings are no surprise to environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, the Wilderness Society and the California League of Conservation Voters. The groups' own surveys have shown that Latinos and Asians — two of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the state — share serious concerns about the environment.

These organizations have historically relied mostly on white constituencies for donations and influence in crafting and promoting legislation aimed at protecting the environment and cleaning up pollution.

Now they are aggressively reaching out to ethnically diverse communities to gain financial support and inspire a new generation of environmental stewards. Because these communities are more directly affected by pollution, the strategy makes sense, the groups say.

"We spend the vast majority of our resources in districts that are dominated by, or have substantial, Latino and Asian populations," said David Smallwood, Southern California director of the California League of Conservation Voters. "Their concerns will help us build broader support for aggressively dealing with global warming."

Dan Taylor, director of public policy for California Audubon, agreed.

"The poll's findings are a clear expression of the direct threat environmental carelessness presents to the health of these families and their communities," he said. "If we are going to get anywhere with an environmental or wildlife-focused agenda we have to partner with the Latino leadership in the Legislature, or we're not going to win. It's that simple."

State Assemblyman Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) suggested that Latinos and Asians are also concerned about environmental issues because "they either came from countries such as Mexico or China where there are serious pollution issues, or they have relatives who did. They don't want neighborhoods in our country to be like the ones they left back home."

Poll respondents who agreed in advance to be interviewed generally supported Mendoza's basic argument.

"It's getting bad out there when it comes to pollution, global warming and clean water," said Elizabeth Olivares, 24, of Stockton. "We are destroying our world little by little. I have a little brother and two nephews and worry about their future."

About 69% of Latino voters and 49% of Asian voters polled said they personally worry a great deal about having enough water to meet future needs, compared with 40% of white voters, the poll found.

Jason Padilla, 26, of Riverside said he was certain that minorities would become increasingly engaged in environmental issues.

"We're stepping up and saying, 'Hey, we live, hike, camp, fish and play here too,' " Padilla said. "We're getting involved to help make changes that are morally and ethically right and benefit everybody."

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

Resolving BP spill will take years

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Noel L. Griese

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Just before the Deepwater Horizon accident, Florida spent $200,000 on a study of offshore drilling safety that concludes: “Oil spills from offshore exploration, development, production and the transportation associated with these activities are unlikely to present a major risk to Florida.”

So much for studies.

As the editor of Energy Pipeline News, I have followed the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico with an insider’s knowledge of offshore drilling and an idea of what we can expect in the months and years ahead. Unfortunately, my background leads me to conclude that the cleanup will take years to accomplish, and compensating the victims and punishing those responsible will also take time.

Although the Deepwater Horizon may have been the first rig most Americans ever heard of, the Gulf is populated by a tangled network of 3,500 oil-drilling platforms and more than 43,000 miles of pipelines between Texas and Alabama.

The U.S. Gulf had accidents before the Deepwater Horizon burned and sank. Because of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, more than 8 million gallons of oil were spilled from coastal oil facilities and some 3.3 million gallons were spilled from a tank barge when it struck a sunken oil platform. More than 600,000 gallons were spilled from U.S. offshore oil platforms and pipelines.

Testimony before congressional committees reveals that shortcuts to safety were taken on the Deepwater Horizon to save money. The rig, which was costing BP $1 million a day, was 21 days behind schedule. So corners were cut. There’s plenty of blame to go around — for responsible party BP, rig owner Transocean, cementing contractor Halliburton, federal regulators and responders.

Based on an admittedly low-ball U.S. government estimate released in late May, the BP well blowout spilled about 500,000-800,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf through May. That compares with about 3.5 million barrels spilled off shore of Mexico over nine months in 1979 by the Pemex-operated Ixtoc I well that blew out on June 3, 1979, in the second-largest accidental spill in world history. But new estimates from a government technical committee on the amount of oil released through June 3 put the BP blowout already very close to surpassing the Ixtoc I record.

Despite vast U.S. waters, only 62 federal inspectors oversee offshore drilling in the Gulf and U.S. waters along the East and West coasts. Perhaps because its regulatory arm is understaffed, the Minerals Management Service quickly granted permission for BP to take the risks that resulted in the accident.

MMS also collects about $13 billion in annual royalties from the oil industry. This dual role of collecting revenues and enforcing safety put the agency in a conflict of interest with itself. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is in the process of splitting the various MMS functions into three separate offices in an effort to minimize future conflicts of interest.

Despite our experience with the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989, the response to the Deepwater Horizon spill was initially disorganized and inept. Even today, almost two months after the blowout, only a relatively few skimmers are in the Gulf cleaning up oil floating on the surface. Deployment of ocean booms to protect shorelines has been basically ineffective.

The Unified Command responding to the Gulf spill has not explained very well why supertankers are not being deployed to vacuum up oil, as was the case in the Persian Gulf some years ago. Vacuuming in the Persian Gulf was easier because the oil floated to the surface and was not broken up with dispersants.

After you suck this sort of oil into a supertanker, you wait for the oil and water to separate. Then, if there are no regulations against it, you siphon off the water and pump it back into the ocean.

Despite BP’s denials to the contrary, much if not most of the oil spilled in the Gulf is in huge plumes of droplets of oil in colloidal suspension. There are many of these plumes, which are up to 3,000 feet deep and miles long.

Normally, the heavy ends of the oil (used to make asphalt) settle on the ocean bottom. The thick, gooey oil, ranging in consistency from tar to mousse, floats on the surface.

Even if most of the Gulf could be vacuumed up into supertankers to get the droplets of oil, what would end up in the supertankers would be a tiny amount of dispersant and oil, mixed with a huge amount of water. Regulations prohibit dumping the siphoned water back into the ocean, so the responsible party (BP) would have to figure out what to do with much of the Gulf of Mexico sitting as oily water waste in supertankers. It’s doubtful that there’s enough tank capacity onshore to handle all this oily water until it is disposed of properly.

The spill may be reduced in size by various temporary measures, but stopping the oil will likely not happen until August, when two new relief drillings to intercept the blown-out well are completed. When that happens, the well will be cemented and capped.

But expect cleanup of the environment to go on for decades.

Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA and Department of Justice can fine BP up to $4,300 per barrel spilled if willful negligence is proved. Proving negligence should not be difficult.

BP is already on probation in the U.S. after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor criminal charge resulting from oil spills on Alaska’s North Slope.

The experience of the federal government in suing Exxon over the Exxon Valdez accident offers some clues about where future government lawsuits against BP are likely to head.

Less than a year after the Exxon Valdez oil spill of about 262,000 barrels (though the spill may have been larger), a federal grand jury indicted Exxon and its shipping subsidiary on five criminal violations. Exxon, facing $600 million in fines, pleaded not guilty.

In a plea bargain with the Justice Department, Exxon agreed to pay $100 million in fines and restitution. But the federal judge in the case rejected the deal. The parties settled for $125 million.

Later, in 1994, a grand jury in a civil action levied punitive damages of $5 billion against Exxon, but that was reduced by the U.S. Supreme Court to $507.5 million under a maritime law ruling. Maritime law may also apply in the BP case.

In all, Exxon, at risk for $6 billion, ended up paying just over $1 billion in these criminal and civil settlements. Settlements in most such cases are negotiated, delayed and appealed over a long time. By the time many suits are settled, the claimants are dead.

Companies like BP normally turn to contractors to handle the claims process for those seeking immediate damages, such as fishermen who have lost their livelihoods. The contractor employees, who may be overseen by a BP representative, are familiar with techniques for minimizing claims paid. Claimants are often desperate, and settle for cents on the dollar to get paid.

It remains to be seen how BP will exert its political muscle to minimize its losses.

BP has hired 27 more lobbyists, mostly former elected and appointed federal officials, to work its case on Capitol Hill.

The oil and gas industry spent more on federal lobbying last year than all but two other industries, with $174.8 million in lobbying expenditures, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Political action committees set up by the oil and gas producers contributed an additional $9 million in the last election cycle to congressional candidates, with Koch Industries (owner of Atlanta-based Georgia Pacific), ExxonMobil, Valero Energy and Chevron leading the way. BP ranked 19th, with $75,500 in contributions, mostly to Republicans.

BP has also rolled out a $50 million PR campaign featuring a TV spot starring CEO Tony Hayward, whose impolitic comments while the news cameras were rolling, such as “I’d like to get my life back,” have proven to be less than popular.

In paid TV ads, what the CEO says can be controlled.

Noel L. Griese is the editor of Energy Pipeline News, published daily by Anvil Publishers of Atlanta and the author of 17 books on the energy industry and other subjects.

Bumpy road before a smooth drive

By JOSEPH LOH - The Star Online - 25 April 2010
A recently-tabled bill makes it possible for a congestion charge to be implemented for cars entering Kuala Lumpur’s city centre. But critics say a reliable and efficient public transport system needs to be in place first.

WITH the tabling of the Land Public Transport (LPT) Bill in Parliament recently, Malaysia has taken the first step towards the introduction of an area congestion pricing (ACP) scheme in traffic-snarled cities around the country.

This congestion toll system, similar to the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) in Singapore, and the Congestion Charge (CC) in London, England, makes users pay to use roads in the city centre to reduce traffic jams and to promote more efficient use of roads.

This Bill goes hand in hand with another, the Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat Bill (Land Public Transport Commission, SPAD) which empowers the formation of an authority in charge of all matters related to public transport, be it road or rail.

Moaz Yusuf Ahmad, advisor to The Association For The Improvement Of Mass Transit (Transit) explains the purpose of ACP.

“Roads are valuable because there is a limited amount of space in the city. Drivers willing to pay more will have the option of using the roads, but it is not meant to prevent people from driving into the city centre. Rather, it is to discourage them from driving alone, encouraging people to car pool, or to use alternative transport,” he says.

Moaz adds that charging a premium for using roads in the city makes sense.

“If a house in the city costs more than that in the suburbs, the cost of the roads should be higher as well,” he says.

Goh Bok Yen, a transport planning consultant, says that at a basic level, it encourages people to switch to an alternative other than driving.

“The existing road space can be used more effectively and will make better use of the urban road system,” he says.

London and Singapore are considered to be good models of a congestion charge system, and its basic goal has been achieved. In February 2004, one year after London introduced the CC, Transport for London estimated traffic levels during charging hours showed a reduction of 18%, with a reduction of 30% in cars.

This also led to a significant gain in bus reliability, and London buses experienced up to a 60% reduction in disruption caused by traffic jams.

The point to note is that a congestion toll – if properly implemented – can be effective.

Moaz says that cars coming into the city centre are typically of single or low occupancy, and the average number of people in a car is a paltry 1.08.

“If we have an ACP, it would immediately reduce the (number of) cars coming into the city centre. If we increase the people from one to two per car, we can reduce the number of cars by half, and that would make a big difference,” he explains.

The price of deterrence

A pertinent question is the amount that will be charged. In Singapore, the ERP rates vary from 50 cents to S$4.00 (RM1.17 to RM9.30) per road travelled, while London’s CC is £8 (RM39.28) per day.

Goh believes that the quantum charged should be reflected by the price of the substitute available.

“It is like the elasticity of demand. If you have a very good substitute, people will switch to it even though the ACP price is not high. The resistance of people is reflected by availability of public transport,” says Goh.

There is also the question of where the collected funds end up.

London collected £325.7mil (RM1.6bil) in congestion charges in its 2008-2009 financial year, and after deducting all operating costs, had a net profit of £148.5mil (RM729.1mil). This sum was spent entirely on improving transport in line with the Mayor of London’s transport strategy.

Which is why Goh is strongly against privatisation of any local ACP collection system.

“It needs to be pumped back into the roads and the public transport system. If you privatise it, then profits will be channelled away. In Malaysia, we have a painful experience of road tolls. Every time a highway is completed, people should be happy, but these days everybody complains about it. We do not want that repeated for the ACP,” says Goh.

Moaz believes the sharing of information is crucial.

“It is frustrating not to have information, especially in the IT age, We have to inform people how the system works, what it is for, and tell them where the money is going. If we do not do that, people are going to object and think it is just another money pit,” he says.

However, what both London and Singapore share is a vital feature that makes a congestion toll system possible – a comprehensive, efficient and reliable public transport system. This is practically a prerequisite before a congestion toll can be implemented.

Goh says the basic requirement that has to be fulfilled is for motorists to have a viable, alternative mode of transport.

“Is public transport in KL today a reasonable substitute for a private car? It is not, and we are very far from it. It needs to have the elements of comfort, reliability, frequency and safety.

“You want something that can substitute for the whole journey in a reasonable manner. If we implement ACP before reaching that level, we leave the commuter no alternative but to drive and pay,” he says.

Goh adds that before the CC was implemented in London, the public transport system was at a very high standard and carried up to 70% of the commuters to work every day.

“Here, only about 18% of commuters use public transport. But looking at it in a positive light, we have a huge market for public transport,” he says.

Moaz, however, says the public should be aware that public transport will never be as comfortable and convenient as a private car.

“It will never reach that standard but it will give different advantages a private car will not give,” he says.

Comfort is a consideration, but Moaz says this is not the most important factor.

“People know they may have to stand, and sitting space will be cramped, but they are willing to sacrifice that personal comfort,” he says.

The most important factors, in descending order, are reliability, frequency, comfort, speed, information and the fare, he stresses.

The underlying fact is that there are simply not enough buses, trains, routes, accessibility from the house to the station and from the station to the destination to make public transport attractive.

“If we want congestion pricing, we must take a great leap forward in improving the public transport system. At the moment, it is premature to talk about it. What it really needs is a complete revamp of the system.

“Right now, we have not reached an acceptable level of public transport. The recent improvements (in the form of RapidKL and others) are just playing catch-up. What we have done is getting to a level we should have been five years ago,” says Moaz.

Goh agrees, saying that the public transport system should have been improved long before the rapid growth of private vehicle ownership.

“We have not done much for public transport until the last five years, but we have been talking about it for more than 25 years,” he says.

Goh believes that an ACP on its own is not sufficient to solve traffic problems – what is needed is a multi-faceted approach.

“For example, at one time Singapore was targeting low occupancy vehicles, and later high-occupancy vehicles too, and now everyone pays – even motorcycles or public transport vehicles.

“It also wanted to constrain vehicle ownership to restrict the number of cars on the road. They went another step further by having off-peak hours and weekend cars, and those are the ones with red plates,” he says.

Moaz also believes that ACP by itself will not accomplish the goal of reducing the number of cars on the road.

Incentives needed

“That is only one solution, and we would have liked to see other initiatives included in the Bill. For example, there should have been a package of incentives to encourage people to take public transport,” he says.

Apart from improving pubic transport, Goh says, there is a need for alternative routes around the city centre.

“Right now you may have to go through the city centre if you want to get to a particular destination from another. We should have a choice of roads but the linkages are missing,” he says.

He also thinks the proposed roads indicated by the Draft KL City Plan 2020 for ACP is too restrictive.

“The ACP outlined in the plan is constrained mainly to the central business district. It should be an area similar to the area surrounded by the middle ring road (Jalan Tun Razak). Also, with a defined boundary it will be easier to administer,” says Goh.

Moaz goes further and looks at the Commission itself.

“One of our biggest concerns is that the SPAD will be a re-organisation rather than a total reform of public transport. They are combining the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board and the Department of Railways, which handle all commercial transport on roads and rail respectively, into one organisation.

“Structurally it is better, but is it going to make real changes in the public transport system? If there is no reform, it will just be structural and nothing will change on the road,” he says.

Moaz says what is needed is something like the London model, which is called Transport for London (TFL).

“Say we call it Rapid for KL, and it will not be operating a service but instead focuses on managing the system. Companies like Len Seng or Metrobus would work for them, and the RapidKL bus and LRT services could be spun off as individual companies and work for the company. So Rapid for KL would be the single brand and face of public transport for Kuala Lumpur,” he suggests.

Optimistic for the future

Moaz says the new Bills do represent a step forward in reducing Kuala Lumpur’s traffic woes. “Creating the SPAD is a step forward, and it could take us to a major leap in public transport if they are willing to push for it.

“But if the SPAD does not push and take the lead on this, it will be 20 years of the same. Without a total reform of the public transport system, it is premature to talk about ACP,” he says.

“Under the current system, we are limited by a bureaucratic set of rules. Unless we can get past that we will not be able to achieve the quality of service and information required,” adds Moaz.

Goh says all factors such as public transport, alternative roads and other matters need to be achieved before ACP is implemented.

“It would be optimistic to say we can develop it within five years. But in 10 years’ time, it is possible. This would be two five-year plans, and if we don’t achieve it, then we are not serious about it,” says Goh.

Hydrogen + Oxygen = Fuel

Though hydrogen fuel cells had existed since the early 1800’s, the General Motors Electrovan became the first hydrogen-fueled vehicle in 1966. And now, with federal funding for hydrogen-powered car research cut, neither GM nor Long Island is giving up on the possibility of a hydrogen-fueled future.


Monitor inside the Chevy Equinox

PROJECT DRIVEWAY

The Project Driveway Program is one more to add to a laundry list of “green” ideas, only this one could land you in the driver’s seat of a brand new car for two months. Here’s how it works. General Motors loans you an automobile which appears to be a regular, ordinary Chevy Equinox equipped with the usual gadgets and gizmos—AM/FM radio, OnStar Emergency help and a navigation system—however, this Equinox has been converted into a fuel cell. In a fuel cell vehicle, hydrogen combines with oxygen. The two are so attracted to each other they actually create electricity, and the only byproduct is water. GM is running this market test to spread awareness and interest and gain feedback from test drivers. Bari Wien, an intern at EmPower Solar Clean Energy Solutions in Island Park, is one of those drivers. “It seems as if people are fascinated by this new technology that is environmentally and politically beneficial,” says Wien. “What better way to satisfy intrigue and fascination than to drive it yourself?” For more details and to apply to be a test driver visit www.gongos.com.



Under the Hood -- Hydrogen Fuel Cell

THE BOTTOM LINE

Vehicles running on hydrogen use no petroleum and have zero tailpipe emissions Clean steam is the only thing that comes out the back of the car. But certain obstacles have to be overcome before hydrogen cars hit the market on a large scale like: improving battery life, lowering the market price and tweaking the technology. Hydrogen is difficult to make and the process sometimes requires fossil fuels. Some stations rely on waste hydrogen products from factories, instead of fossil fuels. Right now, there is no electric car that can go farther than 200 miles and all batteries have a limited lifetime.

FUELING UP

A pumping station in Point Lookout, scheduled to open in September at the Town of Hempstead’s Conservation and Waterways headquarters, will provide pure hydrogen, blended hydrogen compressed natural gas, as well as pure natural gas fuels for a variety of vehicles.
Hydrogen will be trucked in huge tubes to the station, then fed through pipes controlled by a computer. You attach the tube pipe to the vehicle just like you would during a regular gasoline fill-up. The only difference is you are injecting compressed air rather than a liquid. The station will be part of an engineered network of stations under New York State’s hydrogen roadmap. For more information visit www.toh.li.

—Danielle Valente