Will Transportopia solve transportation problems in Surrey?
IAi??received the following email from the the Surrey Citizens Transportation Initiative (SurreyCiTI) and have spent a few day trying to make sense of it.
Sadly, with many grass-root organizations, they tend to get hijacked by special interest groups and the following has all the appearances of this happening. Carpooling is not a new concept, but Co-op carpooling, except for very small scale operations, has not proven successful. I do not want to be too negative, but I am very much afraid that too many members of SurreyCiTI, were wearing rose coloured glasses when they came to the conclusions that they express here.
Utopian, certainly, but workable, I am afraid not.
TRANSPORTOPIA PROJECT
Surrey Citizens Transportation Initiative (SurreyCiTI) has spent 3 years studying how we move in the City of Surrey. First, with a little team varying with time from 6 to 12 people, we searched how to improve transportation, and organized a few debates that gathered each around 20 people. We produced a dossier that was introduced to the City Hallai??i??s Transportation Committee in September 2010. Finally, in November 2011, we organized 2 debates on our preferred subject during the Municipal Election Campaign which gathered around 50 people each.
The Transportopia Project is the logical outcome of those three years. We came to the conclusion that if we wished our suggestions to be realized we had to start implementing them concretely on our own, with our means. So, the idea to begin with a local, flexible Car-Pooling Co-op was worked on, followed by an extension of it through a phone call service. Then, for not only promoting cars traffic, we had the idea of favouring bicycling through making it secure to park bikes in city centres and offer bike rentals, and that it could be done through the same co-operative way to make renting affordable, but obviously in partnership with malls or city halls of the Surrey area.
The Car Pooling part of the co-op being easier to start, with less means and no obligatory partnership, we could start them in a short future. Bike parking lots demanding partnership can be started when contacts with businesses and city halls come to fruition.
This project could seem either utopian (which it is in a way) or almost the opposite: insignificant, compare to big projects like Street Cars, but it actually could transform the way we move in the Surrey/ Langley/North Delta/White Rock area. Ideally it could even, if successful beyond imagination, make the improvements of public transportation and of new street pavement not necessary.
Imagine a group of cities where people move either through car-pooling or through biking! The extension of sky train, construction of street cars lines or even a rapid buses network wouldnai??i??t be necessary. Less cars driving in the streets would make paving new roads and enlarging existing ones not necessary either. So much tax payer money saved! Therefore, this money, actually much less, could be used for developing separate bike lanes and as subsidies to help the Transportopia Project come to fruition and being implemented in a bigger way than through only non-profit organizations. Nonetheless and through those, it could be a success but would need more time.
Imagine how other cities would envy us and ask us to help them to realize their own Transportopia. The Surrey/Langley/North Delta/White Rock people could be proud of having started
this Transportopia Project. Thinking outside the box is always difficult at the beginning. Then when used to a practice, it seems obvious to have started it. Co-operation between municipalities and the partnership of businesses could be a great asset for this project to come to fruition. See developments and details of this project in the following pages.Transportopia Main Features:
TRANSPORTOPIA has two options: Regular and Super.
Regular: Car-Pooling ai???Drive or Rideai???
(Regular option is free)
Super extends to: Phone Call Service, Secure Bike Parking and Routes.
(Super Option: $ 10 membership, reimbursed if leaving the co-op, and $ 15 annual fee):
A different way of Car-Pooling, mainly locally (regular option):
Drive: A green flag with a T on membersai??i?? car to show they wish to transport someone;
Ride: A small green T-banner pinned on membersai??i?? clothes to show they wish to be transported;
(Shared cost of rides: 2 to 10 cents/km depending on how many riders and if agreed detours).
Car-Pooling with phone call service (Super option):
Through a co-op phone line, you tell where you are and where you go.
So you are always sure to find car-pooling partners at any time anywhere you are.
Ai??A bicyclistsai??i?? Dream becoming true (Super option):
A safe way of bicycling through calm routes, with maps provided;
Secure, guarded bike parking lots in town centres in co-operation with malls and city halls;
A system of renting scooters and bikes with baskets to move in town centres and in between them;
Ai??Paid members take care of bikes safety and bikes and scooters rental, and register new members.
An innovative Workshop to get eco-friendly vehicles (Super option–second phase–):
To improve car efficiency with the help of car mechanics;
To transform gas engines cars into electric engines cars (mechanics and electricians);
To built a prototype of a solar car.
This second phase will be implemented when the co-op has more financial means.
www.transportopia.?
See videos at ?
Phone # ?
Write
your member # here: ____________
