Beijing transport planners draw on expertise at University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies to help curb car traffic in city and increase public transport use
July 30,
2010
Transport planners in Beijing are drawing on expertise at the University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies to help curb car traffic in the city and increase public transport use.
Professor Peter Stopher has been made an Honorary Professor at the municipal government’s Beijing Transportation Research Centre (BJTRC), a think tank assigned the task of providing the government with solutions to transport problems.
He will help the centre conduct major surveys of transport use in Beijing to inform its policy advice and decision making.
“The problems facing Beijing are huge,” says Stopher. “In a city with a population almost that of Australia, car ownership is growing at about 650,000 cars per year, and the number of cars has more than doubled in the past five years to more than 4.3 million.
“As the standard of living in China rises, so does demand for cars and the demand for space in which to use cars.
“Understanding the way people travel around Beijing is essential to developing effective policies for the city.
“My task is to assist the BJTRC collect more accurate and complete data from which better and more effective policies and plans can be developed.
“Although it is difficult for authorities to curb the growth of car ownership the Beijing municipal government is looking for policies to moderate the growth of car traffic.
“It is investigating tolling and pricing options, as well as restrictions beyond the current weekly car free days imposed on all car owners.
“They are also planning to extend their Metro system by about 200 kilometres in the next five years.
“The results of these surveys are expected to help finalise some of those plans and lead to further metro extensions.”
Stopher has conducted transport surveys for almost 45 years. He will teach staff at the BJTRC how to collect better transport data so it can inform good policy, and accurately describe and analyse the present transport situation in Beijing.
Elsewhere, Stopher has completed transport use surveys in South Australia in 2007 and has current surveys running in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, ACT and Cincinnati, Ohio. Most of these surveys monitor household transport use with GPS technology.