La Vita è Bella Life is Beautiful. La Vita es Bonita. 美麗人生　

242愛的鼓勵 7訂閱站台

單車與步行將列入交通政策與經濟考量，而不再僅重視機動車輛。

這項政策宣示無疑是反映環保與健康生活的趨勢，但是商業團體，尤其是製造業，對這樣的政策改變似乎憂心忡忡，從工業大州俄亥俄州眾議員所提出的問題便可見一斑。機動車輛，尤其是汽車，複雜的生產流程，龐大的供應鏈、經銷配送、維修服務、交通建設，及衍生的保險、貸款、安全認證單位，道路監理、汽油、...　與所帶動的土地開發等等... ，這是多麼龐大的經濟體系，騎單車與步行所能產稱的經濟效益，可能還不及百分之一呢！

既然是談經濟，應該用經濟學理論裡的「邊際效用遞減法則」(Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility)來思考一下這個問題。以機動車輛為中心政策考量的投資，已長年投入大筆資金，其每單位投資所產生的邊際效用已經很低了；而對於單車族與行人的投資，長久以來都維持很少的金額，其所投入的單位成本，所產生的效用依然很高。所以雖然預算有排擠效應，但是「單車與步行列入交通政策與經濟考量」每單位投資所產生的總效用是高過以往「以機動車輛為中心的交通政策與經濟考量」。


March 26, 2010, 10:03 am

Transportation Department Embraces Bikes, and Business Groups Cry Foul

By LEORA BROYDO VESTEL

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced a “major policy revision” that aims to give bicycling and walking the same policy and economic consideration as driving.
“Today I want to announce a sea change,” he wrote on his blog last week. “This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of nonmotorized.”

The new policy, which was introduced a few days after Mr. LaHood gave a well-received speech from atop a table at the National Bike Summit, is said to reflect the Transportation Department’s support for the development of fully integrated transportation networks.It calls on state and local governments to go beyond minimum planning and maintenance requirements to provide convenient and safe amenities for bikers and walkers. “Walking and biking should not be an afterthought in roadway design,” the policy states.

Transportation agencies are urged to take action on a number of fronts, including the creation of pathways for bike riders and pedestrians on bridges, and providing children with safe biking and walking routes to schools.

They are also encouraged to find ways to make such improvements in concert with road maintenance projects and to protect sidewalks and bike lanes in the same manner as roads (by clearing them of snow, for example).

Mr. LaHood also indicated the department is discouraging “transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians.”

Not surprisingly, the news had bike enthusiasts excited.

“It is simply the strongest statement of support for prioritizing bicycling and walking ever to come from a sitting secretary of transportation,” said Darren Flusche, policy analyst for the League of American Bicyclists.

Nonetheless, some business groups have expressed concern that giving walking and biking the same policy considerations as other transportation modes, as Mr. LaHood recommended, would impede progress on other fronts.

“Treating bicycles and other nonmotorized transportation as equal to motorized transportation would cause an economic catastrophe,” warned Carter Wood, a senior adviser at the National Association of Manufacturers. “If put it into effect, the policy would more than undermine any effort the Obama Administration has made toward jobs. You can’t have jobs without the efficient movement of freight.”

At a House appropriations committee hearing last week, Congressman Steven LaTourette, Republican of Ohio, brought up the new policy and asked a Transportation Department official to clarify what Mr. LaHood means by “equal treatment.”

“If we’re going to spend $1 million on a road, we’re not going to have half of it go to a bike lane and half of it go to cars?” he asked, according to a transcript of the hearing.

“My interpretation of that would be equal in the eyes of policymakers as what is the expenditure you make, what is the benefit you get,” responded Roy Kienitz, D.O.T.’s under secretary for policy. “And if the freight project offers the best bang, great, but if the bike project offers a good bang, great for them.”

“I don’t even understand how you get a bang for the buck out of a bicycle project,” Mr. LaTourette subsequently commented. “I mean, what job is going to be created by having a bike lane?”

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/transportation-department-embraces-bikes-and-business-groups-cry-foul/


March 26, 2010, 11:11 am

In Policy Shift, Transportation Department Embraces Bikes

By LEORA BROYDO VESTEL

From our colleagues at Green Inc:

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced a “major policy revision” that aims to give bicycling and walking the same policy and economic consideration as driving.

“Today I want to announce a sea change,” he wrote on his blog last week. “This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of nonmotorized.”

The new policy, which was introduced a few days after Mr. LaHood gave a well-received speech from atop a table at the National Bike Summit, is said to reflect the Transportation Department’s support for the development of fully integrated transportation networks.

It calls on state and local governments to go beyond minimum planning and maintenance requirements to provide convenient and safe amenities for bikers and walkers. “Walking and biking should not be an afterthought in roadway design,” the policy states.

Transportation agencies are urged to take action on a number of fronts, including the creation of pathways for bike riders and pedestrians on bridges, and providing children with safe biking and walking routes to schools.

They are also encouraged to find ways to make such improvements in concert with road maintenance projects and to protect sidewalks and bike lanes in the same manner as roads (by clearing them of snow, for example).

Mr. LaHood also indicated the department was discouraging “transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians.”

Not surprisingly, the news had bike enthusiasts excited.

“It is simply the strongest statement of support for prioritizing bicycling and walking ever to come from a sitting secretary of transportation,” said Darren Flusche, policy analyst for the League of American Bicyclists. Read more here.


http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/in-policy-shift-transportation-department-embraces-bikes/

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The stories were taken from The New York Times.  The copyright remains with The New York Times Company and their respective authors, who do not endorse nor are involved with the production of this blog.


John and company rode bikes on the day of strongest-ever sandstorm hitting Taiwan, Mar. 21, 2010, when the highest concentrations of particulates with 1,724 mg/m^3 was recorded at Shilin.
by Frank   2010.3.21